How to Quote an Office Cleaning Job, Step by Step
Most contractors have the pieces — a rate guide, a labor worksheet, a bid template — but not the order they go in. This walks through one job from first phone call to submitted number.
The six steps, in order
Each step feeds the next one. Skipping the measurement step is the single most common way contractors underprice a job.
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1. Get the real square footage
Ask for it directly — don't estimate from the outside of the building. Usable cleanable square footage (minus mechanical rooms, elevator shafts, and permanently locked areas) is what you price against, not gross leasable area.
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2. Confirm the building type and class
A Class A high-rise with a lobby attendant and a single-story Class C office park bill very differently for the same square footage — different finishes, different security requirements, different expectations.
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3. Lock down frequency before you price anything
Nightly, three-times-a-week, and weekly service on the same space produce three different numbers, not one number scaled down. Get this answered before you touch a rate table — see the full breakdown in the pricing guide.
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4. Apply a base rate range for the type and frequency
Use per-square-foot ranges by building class and service frequency as a starting point, then adjust up for restrooms-to-headcount ratio, carpet vs. hard floor mix, and access hours.
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5. Run the labor and margin check
Before you send a number, work out crew hours against the rate to confirm the job actually pays a sustainable wage plus a margin — a rate that looks competitive on paper but doesn't survive payroll isn't a bid, it's a mistake with a delay on it.
A worked example
Take a 12,000 sq ft single-story Class B office, cleaned three nights a week, with two restrooms per floor and mostly carpet.
Start with the per-square-foot range for Class B at 3x/week frequency, which lands you a base monthly range before adjustments. Add a modest premium for the restroom ratio — more fixtures per square foot means more time, regardless of total floor area. Carpet-heavy floors add vacuum time that a hard-floor building of the same size wouldn't need.
Once you have a number, run it against estimated crew hours for that scope. If the math doesn't leave room for a sustainable hourly wage plus 15–20% margin, the number is too low no matter where it landed in the "typical" range — the range is a starting point, not a guarantee.
For the full rate tables this example pulls from, see the office cleaning rate guide by building type. For the hour-by-hour math, use the labor cost and margin worksheet.
What separates a bid that wins from one that doesn't
Common approach
- Quote from a gut-feel number close to what the last job charged
- Skip the walkthrough or rely on the listing's square footage
- Quote one flat number with no breakdown
- Find out about deal-breaker access restrictions after the contract starts
What actually works
- Quote from a rate range anchored to building type and frequency
- Confirm actual cleanable square footage on a walkthrough
- Break the price into scope, frequency, and inclusions
- Ask about access hours, security, and current pain points before quoting
Questions that come up mid-quote
What if the facilities manager won't give me exact square footage?
Ask for the number from their own lease documents or building management system — most have it on hand even if they don't volunteer it. If they genuinely don't know, a walkthrough with a rough pace-and-measure is better than guessing from a listing photo.
Should I quote a range or a single number?
Send a single number for the scope you've defined, with the range shown as how you got there. A visible range without a final number reads as indecision to a facilities manager comparing bids.
How do I handle a building that mixes carpet, hard floor, and high-traffic areas unevenly?
Break the square footage into zones and weight each zone's time separately rather than applying one blended rate to the whole floor plate — uneven buildings are where flat per-square-foot pricing loses money fastest.
What's the biggest mistake in this whole process?
Pricing before confirming frequency. A rate that's correct for nightly service is wrong for three-times-a-week service on the same space, and the two get confused constantly when contractors price from memory instead of from a confirmed schedule.
Have a job in front of you right now?
Send the building type, square footage, frequency, and location and a real person will reply with a rate range and the questions still worth asking before you finalize — or start from a fillable bid template.