Built by commercial cleaners. For commercial cleaners.
Commercial Cleaning Calculator: Stop Guessing What to Charge
Learn how to calculate labor, payroll costs, overhead, and profit before submitting your next cleaning bid. See how Cinch helps turn your numbers into a professional proposal.
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One Wrong Number Can Cost You an Entire Cleaning Contract
Bid too low and you could spend years servicing an account that barely makes money. Bid too high and you might lose a contract you could have won. The goal isn't to be the cheapest cleaning company. It's to know your numbers and submit a price that makes sense for your business.
Underestimating Labor
Missing just a few cleaning hours each week can significantly reduce your profit over the life of a contract.
Forgetting Your True Costs
Payroll taxes, workers' compensation, supplies, equipment, and overhead all affect what it actually costs to service an account.
Guessing at Profit
A price that covers your expenses isn't necessarily a profitable price. You need to understand your margin before you submit the proposal.
See How Your Cleaning Bid Changes When Your Costs Change
Adjust the numbers below to see how labor, overhead, and profit affect an estimated monthly cleaning price.
For reference only — square footage alone doesn't set cleaning hours. Scope, floors, restrooms and traffic matter too.
How many nights or days per week the building is cleaned.
Total cleaner hours per visit, across all cleaners.
What you pay cleaners per hour before taxes and benefits.
Payroll taxes, workers' compensation and other employer costs, as a % of wages.
Chemicals, consumables, equipment and maintenance for this account.
Insurance, supervision, admin and other business costs, as a % of direct cost.
Profit as a % of the price (not a markup on cost). Capped below 100%.
Suggested monthly bid
$3,330
- Estimated monthly labor hours86.7 hrs
- Loaded monthly labor cost$2,167
- Supplies & equipment$150
- Estimated overhead$348
- Total estimated monthly cost$2,664
- Estimated monthly profit$666
- Estimated annual contract revenue$39,963
Illustrative estimate only — not Cinch's formula and not a guarantee of profit or winning the contract. Real production rates depend on scope, facility type, frequency and layout. Local taxes, specialty cleaning, travel, supervision and other costs may need to be added separately.
Want to Build the Actual Bid and Proposal?
The sample calculator helps you understand the numbers. Cinch helps you organize the complete bidding process.
7-day free trial. Credit card required.
How to Calculate a Commercial Cleaning Bid in Four Steps
- 1
Estimate Your Cleaning Labor Hours
Start with the building's actual cleaning requirements. Square footage matters, but so do floor types, restrooms, traffic levels, cleaning frequency, and the scope of work.
- Building size
- Cleaning frequency
- Scope of work
- Restroom and common-area requirements
- Estimated production rates
- Special cleaning requirements
Accurate labor hours are the foundation of a profitable bid.
- 2
Calculate Your True Labor Costs
Your employee's hourly wage isn't your total labor expense. Payroll taxes, workers' compensation, and other employer costs need to be accounted for.
Example assumptions: $20/hr wage × (1 + 25% payroll burden) = $25/hr loaded labor cost.
- 3
Add Supplies, Equipment, and Overhead
Labor is usually a major cost, but it isn't the only one. Your bid should account for the additional expenses required to deliver the service.
- Cleaning chemicals and consumables
- Equipment and maintenance
- Insurance
- Supervision and management
- Administrative expenses
- Other contract-specific costs
- 4
Apply Your Target Profit Margin
Once you understand your total estimated costs, determine the margin your business needs. Remember that a 20% profit margin is different from adding a 20% markup to your costs.
With $1,000 in costs: a 20% markup = $1,200 price (16.7% margin). A 20% margin = $1,000 ÷ 0.80 = $1,250 price ($250 profit).
The goal isn't simply to win the contract. It's to win a contract your company can service profitably.
From Walkthrough to Winning Proposal — All in Cinch
Instead of keeping your estimates in spreadsheets and rebuilding proposals manually, Cinch brings the bidding process into one connected workflow.
Step 1
Build Your Bid
Enter the job details, review your labor and operating costs, and develop a price based on the work required.
Step 2
Create Your Proposal
Take your completed pricing information into a professional proposal without starting from scratch.
Step 3
Manage Your Opportunity
Keep prospect information, follow-up activity, and sales opportunities organized as you work toward the contract.
See How Cinch Handles Your Next Bid
Book a 15-Minute Demo
Built From Real Commercial Cleaning Experience
Cinch wasn't created by someone guessing how a commercial cleaning company operates. It was developed from firsthand experience building and running a commercial cleaning business, managing employees, pricing contracts, and servicing customers.
- 20+ years in commercial cleaning
- Founder of an eight-figure commercial cleaning company (iPro)
- 4× Inc. 5000 honoree through iPro
Your Spreadsheet Can Calculate a Number. Cinch Helps You Manage the Process.
Traditional spreadsheet approach
- Enter estimates manually
- Manage separate proposal documents
- Track prospects in another system
- Update pricing and customer information across multiple tools
- Keep sales follow-up organized separately
The Cinch approach
- Use a commercial cleaning-focused bidding calculator
- Build professional proposals
- Manage prospects and opportunities in the CRM
- Keep your sales workflow more connected
- Access additional business management tools as your company grows
Commercial Cleaning Calculator FAQs
Keep Learning How to Price and Win Cleaning Contracts
Your Next Cleaning Bid Should Start With the Right Numbers
Stop relying on guesswork when pricing commercial cleaning contracts. Use Cinch to organize your costs, build professional proposals, and manage the opportunities you're working to win.
Built for commercial cleaning businesses.
7-day free trial. Credit card required. See trial and billing terms.