Bid on cleaning contracts with a price you can explain line by line
A cleaning bid is won or lost on two things: a price that covers your real labor cost and a document the buyer can compare without calling you. Janitorial lets you bid on cleaning contracts in your service area with the labor math done for you and the proposal drafted from the request.
Commercial and public-sector work only. Cancel any time. Your pricing data stays yours.
What bidding on a cleaning contract involves
When a business or agency asks for cleaning bids, it is asking several companies to price the same scope so it can compare them. Private buyers often ask informally: a walkthrough, a few questions and a proposal by a certain date. Public buyers use a formal request for proposals with fixed deadlines, required forms and published evaluation criteria.
In both cases the buyer is comparing more than the monthly number. They look at whether you understood the building, whether the schedule makes sense, whether your staffing looks realistic and whether you meet their insurance and compliance requirements. The lowest bid does not always win, and an underpriced bid that wins can cost you money for three years.
- A defined scope and frequency to price against
- A walkthrough or site visit, sometimes mandatory
- A deadline for questions and a deadline for the bid
- Requirements such as a certificate of insurance or bonding
Commercial cleaning bids: a step-by-step process
- 1 Read the whole request first. Note the frequency, service hours, supplies responsibility, the term and anything unusual such as clean room areas or after-hours security rules.
- 2 Attend the walkthrough and measure. Confirm cleanable square footage, floor types, restroom and breakroom counts and access to water and storage.
- 3 Ask your questions in writing, before the question deadline. Clear answers protect your price.
- 4 Calculate labor hours from a production rate for the facility type, then build crew size, monthly hours, wages, supplies, overhead and margin on top.
- 5 Sanity check the result as a price per square foot against what similar buildings in your area pay.
- 6 Write the proposal: scope of work, cleaning schedule, pricing table, terms, and the documents the buyer asked for.
- 7 Submit before the deadline and confirm receipt.
- 8 Record the result and the winning price when you can learn it, so the next bid starts smarter.
Cleaning bids that lose money, and how to avoid them
The most common mistake is pricing from a flat rate per square foot without looking at the building. A small medical office with many exam rooms and restrooms takes far more labor per square foot than an open-plan office of the same size. The second mistake is leaving out supplies, travel time or supervision. The third is locking a low price into a multi-year term with no adjustment clause.
Build a cleaning bid from labor hours
The calculator below starts with an office building and a target margin you can change. Enter the square footage and frequency, pick the region, and see the labor hours, crew size and monthly price your bid needs to cover. No account needed.
AI bid pricing
Enter the facility details. Get a monthly contract price, a crew plan and a proposal preview.
Results
Monthly contract price
6,000 USD
Price per sq ft0.326 USD
- Low
- Target
- High
- Production rate (sq ft per labor hour)
- Labor hours per visit
- Crew size
- Time on site
- Monthly labor hours
- Labor cost
- Supplies
- Overhead
- Margin
Note on the estimate
The estimate uses general industry ranges for commercial cleaning production rates and wages. On the Pro plan you set your own production rates and wage rates per area, and every price in your account uses them.
Proposal preview
Scope of work
Cleaning schedule
Pricing
- Labor cost
- Supplies
- Overhead
- Margin
- Monthly contract price
Full PDF proposals with your logo are part of every plan.
How Janitorial helps you bid faster and more consistently
- Every contract request in your service area arrives with an AI price range, so you know within a minute whether the job is worth a walkthrough.
- AI bid pricing shows production rate, labor hours per visit, crew size, monthly labor hours, labor cost, supplies, overhead and margin, and every input is editable.
- The proposal builder turns your price into a scope of work, a cleaning schedule and a pricing table with your logo. On Growth, the AI proposal builder drafts the terms as well.
- Win and loss tracking and price history per facility type on Growth show where your bids land.
- Starter includes up to 15 bid responses per month. Growth, Pro and Enterprise have no limit.
Bidding on cleaning contracts: common questions
How many bids can I submit each month?
Starter includes up to 15 bid responses per month. Growth, Pro and Enterprise include unlimited bid responses.
Should I always bid the lowest price?
No. Buyers compare scope, staffing and reliability along with price. A bid you can explain line by line, with a realistic crew plan, often beats a lower number that looks like a guess.
What should a cleaning bid include?
A scope of work, a cleaning schedule by frequency, a pricing table with the monthly price and any add-ons, your terms, and the documents the buyer requested, such as a certificate of insurance.
Can two estimators on my team get the same price?
Yes. AI bid pricing uses the same inputs and rates for every estimate, so the same building gives the same number. On Pro you set your own production and wage rates per area.
Can I bid on public-sector cleaning contracts too?
Yes, on Growth and higher. The public-sector feed includes city, county, school district and federal janitorial RFPs matched to your area.
Start bidding on cleaning contracts near you
Get requests in your service area with the labor hours already calculated, and send your first bid today.