Commercial Cleaning Bid Template: What Goes on the Sheet, Line by Line

What goes in a commercial cleaning bid template?

A usable template is two documents that share one set of numbers: an internal bid sheet that prices the work, and a client-facing proposal that describes it. Most free downloads are only the second half, a nicely formatted page with a blank where the price goes.

The ranking results for this search are mostly proposal layouts from document-software companies and marketplace listings. They help with presentation. None of them tells you what number to write in the price box. This page covers both halves, with the arithmetic shown so you can check it. For the bidding method itself (walk-throughs, production rates, where to find bids), read the companion guide on how to bid commercial cleaning jobs.

Try the pricing half: per-visit bid calculator

The calculator prices one routine visit from the same lines as the bid sheet. It starts with the 6,000 sq ft example below; type over it.

Multiply the price by visits per week × 52 ÷ 12 for the monthly line. The janitorial bid sheet template does that conversion and shows break-even per visit and per month side by side.

How much to charge to clean a 6,000 sq ft office (a filled-in bid sheet)

On the assumptions below, a 6,000 sq ft office cleaned three times a week, plus carpet extraction every quarter, bids at $1,571.20 a month, or $0.262 per sq ft per month. Every input is a placeholder for your own number.

Assumptions: one cleaner at $18 an hour with 30% burden; 3,000 sq ft per cleaner-hour blended across the building; $8 of supplies a visit; $29,040 of yearly overhead over 2 people × 220 days × 8 hours ($8.25 per sellable hour); 35% margin; drive time left out.

Break-even for the routine cleaning is $926.90 a month. Below that, the contract costs you money every month it runs.

Scope of work: the section clients actually read

The scope lists every task with its frequency. It is what the client compares between bids, and it is what you will be held to, so write only what your hours cover.

Each frequency tier costs different hours. If the weekly tasks add half an hour to one visit a week, price that half hour into that visit instead of stretching the nightly production rate to cover it.

Add an exclusions list too: what you do not do (for example, exterior windows above ground floor, biohazard cleanup, moving furniture). It prevents scope creep more than any clause.

The pricing block: janitorial bid sheet formulas

These formulas make the bid sheet calculate itself. Layout: B2 = cleanable sq ft, B3 = production rate, B4 = wage, B5 = burden %, B6 = supplies per visit, B7 = yearly overhead, B8 = people in the field, B9 = billable days, B10 = margin %, B11 = visits per week, B12 = periodic job price, B13 = times per year.

Keep inputs in one colour and formulas locked, so no one overtypes a formula when they update the square footage.

Pricing periodic services on the bid

Price periodic jobs as separate jobs, then spread them: job price × times a year ÷ 12. Quarterly carpet extraction at $435.69 a time adds $145.23 to each month.

Assumptions: two people for 4 hours, $30 of solution and supplies, same wage, overhead and margin as the routine cleaning. Spreading it into the monthly price keeps invoices even; billing it when done is also fine. Either way, it belongs on its own line so the client can see what they are paying for and drop it without renegotiating the whole bid.

Common mistakes in cleaning bid templates

Most template errors are in the pricing half: weeks per month, markup instead of margin, and labour at the wage.

Other gaps worth checking in any template you download: no line for drive time, no separate periodic services, a price-per-sq-ft figure typed in rather than calculated, and no annual contract value (which is what the client's approver usually looks at). The markup vs margin guide covers the margin error in detail.

Word, PDF or spreadsheet: which bid template should you use?

Write the proposal in whatever looks clean, a Word document or PDF is fine. Price it in a spreadsheet, because a spreadsheet recalculates when the square footage or frequency changes and a Word table does not.

The cleaning bid template spreadsheet covers the pricing half: break-even per visit and per month, the monthly price, annual contract value, an "am I underpricing?" check, a production-rate check against the ISSA 612 band, and a contract log with win rate. Free start: the Job Pricing Starter. Need it built around your own line items and branded quote page? That is the $497 custom build.

How to write up a cleaning bid proposal that wins

Lead with the scope and the monthly price, make it easy to check, and end with a clear way to accept. Buyers compare bids line by line, so the clearest one has an advantage.

• One page summary first: building, frequency, monthly price, start date.
• Scope table by frequency, as above.
• Periodic services as optional priced lines.
• Term and notice period, and when the price is reviewed.
• Exclusions.
• Insurance and contact details, and an acceptance signature block.

Leave off your wage, burden, overhead and margin. Those belong on the internal sheet. Other trade pricing guides using the same method: window cleaning and pressure washing.

Step-by-step: Commercial Cleaning Bid Template: What Goes on the Sheet, Line by Line

1. Record the building. Enter cleanable square footage by area type, restroom fixtures, floor types and access hours from the walk-through.
2. Set production rates. Enter sq ft per cleaner-hour for each area type and let the sheet calculate hours per visit.
3. Enter your costs. Wage, burden %, supplies per visit, yearly overhead, people in the field, billable days and target margin.
4. Read the monthly price. The sheet prices one visit, divides by (1 − margin), and multiplies by visits per week × 52 ÷ 12.
5. Add periodic lines. Price each periodic job separately and spread it: job price × times a year ÷ 12.
6. Copy the totals into the proposal. Move scope, monthly price, periodic options, term and exclusions into the client document. Keep costs internal.

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