Nightly janitorial is usually the second largest line in a facility budget after utilities, and the hardest one to compare between vendors. Two quotes for what looks like the same building can differ dramatically. That is because each one rests on very different assumptions about hours and scope.
Here is what those numbers actually mean, and how to work out what your building should cost.
The ranges
Most janitorial contracts price per square foot per month. The rate then depends on how often you clean, the mix of spaces, and how much detail work the scope covers. In practice, a walkthrough is the only way to land on a real number for your building.
Buildings with more restrooms, kitchens or food service sit higher, because those areas take more labor on every visit.
- Small office, light clean twice a week – a lean scope focused on restrooms and common areas
- 10,000 sq ft office, five nights a week – a full nightly scope with floors and restrooms every visit
- Larger facility with daily disinfection or specialist work – a detailed scope with added labor and materials
The four things that set your price
1. Frequency
This is the biggest lever you control. Going from five nights to three does not cut the price by 40 percent. Some tasks still happen every visit, so expect to save 25 to 30 percent.
A common middle ground: restrooms and trash five nights, floors and detail work three nights.
2. Restroom count and traffic
Restrooms take the most labor per square foot of any space in a building, and they are the thing occupants complain about first. For example, two buildings of identical size with different restroom counts are not the same job.
3. Floor type
Carpet is vacuumed. Hard floor, meanwhile, is swept, mopped, and periodically scrubbed or burnished. So hard floor costs more month to month, and the periodic work is often quoted separately.
Ask whether stripping, waxing and burnishing are inside the monthly price or extra. This is where two quotes most often differ without either being wrong.
4. Building type
Medical suites, food service and childcare all carry higher rates because of disinfection requirements, documentation and the risk involved. Usually a general office is the cheapest thing to clean per square foot.
Why the lowest bid is usually the most expensive
Cleaning is a labor business. In fact, roughly 60 to 70 percent of any janitorial price is wages. When one bid is dramatically lower than the others, one of four things is true:
- They are budgeting fewer hours than the building needs
- Wages sit below market, so turnover will be constant
- Subcontractors do the work, and the contractor does not control them
- The scope was misread, so the price rises later
The pattern with underbid contracts is predictable. Months one and two are fine. Then by month four the crew has changed three times, nobody knows the building, and quality falls off. After that you are re-tendering, which costs more than the difference you saved.
Questions that reveal the real price
- How many labor hours per night are you budgeting? This is the single most useful question. It turns an abstract price into something you can sanity check.
- Are the same people cleaning my building every visit?
- Are they your employees or subcontractors?
- Who supplies consumables? Paper, liners and soap can be 10 to 15 percent of the total.
- Is periodic floor work included? Scrubbing, burnishing, carpet extraction.
- What happens when someone calls in sick?
- How do I report a problem, and what is the response time?
What should be in the contract
- A task list by frequency – nightly, weekly, monthly, quarterly
- Which areas are included and which are excluded
- Consumables: who supplies, who pays
- Periodic floor work with a schedule
- Access, alarm and key handling
- Insurance certificates and background check policy
- A notice period that is not longer than 30 days
Be careful with long lock-in periods. After all, a company confident in its work does not need a two-year contract with a heavy exit penalty.
Where you can genuinely save
- Reduce frequency on low-traffic areas. Storage and rarely used conference rooms do not need nightly attention.
- Consolidate trash points. Central bins instead of desk-side bins can cut 15 to 20 minutes a night in an open office.
- Put day porter hours where they matter. A few hours during the day often does more for how the building feels than an extra night.
- Buy consumables yourself if you have storage and a good supplier.
Getting a number for your building
An honest janitorial quote comes after a walkthrough, not before. Square footage, restroom count, floor types, traffic and access all change the hours, and hours are the price.
We provide nightly janitorial across Greater Cincinnati with a written task list by frequency and a named contact for your building. Have a current quote you would like a second opinion on? So send it over, and we will tell you what it covers and what it leaves out.
What sits behind the rate
Two line items people forget when comparing janitorial quotes. Chemical choice is one: products certified under EPA Safer Choice cost more per gallon, and buildings chasing green certification usually require them. Insurance is the other. In Ohio, coverage is administered through the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, and a contractor who is not current is a liability you inherit.