How to Price a Commercial Cleaning Job (Without Guessing)

You run a residential cleaning business. You know your pricing. You've got your systems dialed in.

Then someone emails you about a 25,000 square foot office and warehouse.

And for a moment — you freeze.

Not because you don't want the work. Because you genuinely don't know where to start. Commercial is a different animal. Bigger spaces, different surfaces, windows, warehouses, bathrooms you've never counted before. The gut-feel pricing that works for a 2,000 sq ft home doesn't translate here.

So you do one of two things: you throw out a number and hope it sticks, or you say "let me get back to you" — and lose the momentum entirely.

This post gives you a better option.

Why Commercial Pricing Trips Up Residential Operators

The instinct most owners have is to scale up their residential rate. "I charge $0.12 per square foot at home, so this 10,000 sq ft office should be $1,200."

That math ignores everything that makes commercial different:

Surface mix matters. Carpet and hard floors have different production rates. A space that's 60% carpet takes significantly longer per square foot than an all-tile office. Same square footage, different hours.

Add-ons aren't optional. Deep cleaning windows, scrubbing warehouse floors, sanitizing multiple restrooms — these aren't extras you tack on. They're the job. They need to be calculated separately, not eyeballed.

Your labor cost scales with hours, not rooms. In residential, you can mentally picture a 3-bedroom house. In commercial, you need actual production rates to estimate how many hours a job takes — and therefore what it costs you to execute it.

Your margin has to hold. Commercial jobs are often one-time or infrequent. There's no recurring revenue to absorb a mispriced quote. Get the number wrong once and you've worked for free.

The 5 Numbers That Determine Your Price

Every commercial quote comes down to five inputs:

1. Total square footage — by surface type: Break it down: office space vs. warehouse, hard floor vs. carpet. Don't quote on gross square footage alone.

2. Add-on scope: How many bathrooms? How many windows — interior and exterior? These are the hours that get missed most often on commercial quotes.

3. Your hourly labor rate: What you actually pay each employee per hour. Not what you charge, what it costs you.

4. How many people on the job: This determines your on-site time, not your total hours. A 40-hour job with 4 people is a 10-hour day on site.

5. Your desired profit margin: For one-time commercial work, aim for 40–45%. You're not building a relationship yet. Price accordingly.

Use the Calculator

We built a free tool that runs this math for you in real time. No spreadsheet. No formula memorization.

Here's how to use it:

Step 1 — Enter the space: Input square footage for the office area and warehouse separately. Select the carpet percentage for the office — the tool adjusts production rates automatically.

Step 2 — Add the scope details: Enter the number of bathrooms, interior windows, and exterior windows. These feed directly into the hour estimate.

Step 3 — Enter your labor costs: Your hourly rate per employee and how many people you plan to send. The tool calculates total hours and on-site time.

Step 4 — Set your margin: Choose between 35%, 40%, 45%, or 50%. For one-time commercial deep cleans, 40–45% is the standard range.

Step 5 — Read your range: The tool gives you a low-end and high-end price, a breakdown of labor and direct costs, and a price-per-square-foot figure you can use as a sanity check against your local market.

What to Do With the Number

The calculator gives you a range — not a fixed price. That range accounts for variability in how long the job actually takes and what supplies run you.

Before you send a formal quote, do one more thing: walk the space.

A photo and a description from the client will get you close. But the condition of the space can shift your price by 20–30%. A warehouse that hasn't been cleaned in two years is not the same as one that gets monthly maintenance.

When you present the quote:

• Give a range, not a single number. It signals that you know what you're doing.
• Break out the components — offices, warehouse, bathrooms, windows. Itemized quotes build trust and make it easier for the client to adjust scope if needed.
• Ask about frequency. A one-time deep clean is priced differently than a recurring contract. If there's ongoing work on the table, you have room to be competitive on the initial job.

A Quick Market Sanity Check

Once you have your number, run it against these industry benchmarks:

• Office deep cleaning: $0.15 – $0.25 per sq ft
• Warehouse cleaning: $0.08 – $0.15 per sq ft

If your estimate is well below this range, your margin is probably thin. If it's well above, double-check your hours — you may have over-estimated.

For the job we described above — 10,000 sq ft offices, 15,000 sq ft warehouse, 6 bathrooms, 20 windows — a fair market range lands between $3,100 and $5,350 depending on condition, market, and margin.

The Real Takeaway

Commercial pricing isn't complicated. It's just unfamiliar the first time.

Once you break it down into square footage, surface type, scope, and labor cost — it's the same math you've always been doing. Just on a bigger canvas.

Use the calculator to get your baseline. Walk the space to adjust for reality. Present a confident, itemized quote.

That's it. That's the whole playbook.

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