How Much Should I Charge for Office Cleaning a Week? Price the Visit, Then the Month

How much should I charge for office cleaning a week? The formula

Price one visit from the hours it takes, multiply by visits per week for the weekly price, then multiply the weekly price by 52 and divide by 12 for the monthly invoice. Each step can be checked.

1. Hours per visit = cleanable sq ft ÷ your production rate (sq ft one cleaner finishes in an hour).
2. Break-even per visit = hours × loaded labour rate + supplies + hours × overhead per sellable hour.
3. Price per visit = break-even ÷ (1 − margin).
4. Weekly price = price per visit × visits per week.
5. Monthly invoice = weekly price × 52 ÷ 12.

Small offices bill monthly but are costed weekly, which is why this page works in weeks first. If you are bidding a larger building from a walk-through, the commercial cleaning bid method covers production rates by area type on a 10,000 sq ft example. This page covers the 1,500 to 5,000 sq ft office and how the weekly figure becomes a monthly one. Nothing here is a going rate; every input is an assumption you replace.

Weekly office cleaning price calculator (per visit)

The calculator prices one visit. Enter the office's cleanable area and your production rate, then multiply the price to quote by visits per week, and that weekly figure by 52 ÷ 12.

It starts on the 3,000 sq ft example below, so the price should read $67.66. The office cleaning contract calculator spreadsheet does the weekly-to-monthly step for you and adds restroom fixtures, extra task hours and drive time per visit.

Worked example: a 3,000 sq ft office cleaned 3 nights a week

At an assumed 2,500 sq ft per cleaner-hour, a 3,000 sq ft office takes 1.2 hours a visit and prices at $67.66 a visit, $202.98 a week at 3 visits, and $879.58 a month.

Assumptions, every one of them yours to replace: one cleaner paid $18 an hour with 30% burden, so $23.40 loaded; $6 of supplies a visit (liners, chemicals, paper only if you supply it); $29,040 of yearly overhead spread over 2 people × 220 billed days × 8 hours, which is $8.25 per sellable hour; 35% margin. They match the other cleaning guides on this site. The 2,500 sq ft per hour is a blended rate for the whole office, restrooms and kitchen included. Time your own first visits and change it.

The arithmetic: $67.66 × 3 = $202.98 a week. $202.98 × 52 = $10,554.96 a year. Divide by 12 and the monthly invoice is $879.58. Break-even is $43.98 a visit, $131.94 a week and $571.74 a month, so any monthly quote under $571.74 on this office loses money before you earn a profit.

Office cleaning price by visits per week: 1, 2, 3 or 5

The weekly price scales in a straight line with visits, because each visit is priced the same. Per square foot it rises with frequency too, which is why a per-sq-ft rate means little without the visit count next to it.

A second office: 5,000 sq ft of mostly open floor at an assumed 3,000 sq ft an hour with $8 of supplies a visit. It takes 1.67 hours and prices at $93.46 a visit.

The bigger office is not 5/3 times the price of the smaller one. The faster production rate on open floor pulls its per-sq-ft figure down. If a client asks to cut to once a week, check the rate first: an office cleaned once a week usually has more build-up per visit than one cleaned nightly, so the same production rate may be too generous.

Monthly contract price: why weekly × 4 undercharges

A month is 52 ÷ 12 = 4.33 weeks on average, not 4. Billing the weekly price × 4 leaves four weeks of visits a year unbilled, every year of the contract.

On the 3-visit schedule, × 4 bills $811.92 a month against the correct $879.58. That is $67.66 short a month, exactly one visit's price, and $811.92 a year. The months with an extra cleaning week still get cleaned; under × 4 they are simply not paid for.

Two more errors hit small contracts: pricing at the bare wage instead of the loaded rate ($18 vs $23.40 here), and adding margin as markup. At 35% markup the visit would be $59.37, a real margin of 25.93%, $1,293.01 a year less at 3 visits a week. See the cleaning business profit margin guide.

Minimum price per visit for a small office

Set a floor per visit, because a very small office still costs you the drive, parking, unloading and setup. Price that time as hours on the visit rather than leaving it out.

A 1,500 sq ft office at 2,500 sq ft an hour is 0.6 hours of cleaning. Priced on area alone with $5 of supplies, it comes to $36.91 a visit. Add an assumed 0.5 hours of drive and setup and the visit is 1.1 paid hours:

With travel counted, the visit prices at $61.25, not $36.91. At 2 visits a week that is $122.50 a week and $530.83 a month. The gap is the drive and setup time you would otherwise pay for out of your margin.

Two ways to handle this on a price list: add the drive and setup hours to every visit, as here, or set a minimum price per visit and charge whichever is higher. The cleaning contract pricing spreadsheet has a minimum visit price setting and a drive line for this reason. Whichever you use, the minimum should come from your own hours, not a round number that feels right.

What changes the weekly price: restrooms, kitchens, trash and periodic work

Anything that adds minutes to every visit belongs in the visit price; anything done monthly or quarterly is priced as its own job. Mixing the two is how small contracts drift into loss.

• Restrooms. Fixtures take time regardless of floor area. Three restrooms in 3,000 sq ft clean slower than one. Lower the rate or add fixture minutes.
• Kitchens and break rooms. Dishes, microwaves and counters are time. If wanted every visit, cost them every visit.
• Trash and recycling. Count the bins and the walk to the dumpster.
• Periodic tasks. Carpet extraction, floor scrubbing and high dusting are priced separately and billed when done.

An extra 0.25 hours a visit, say a kitchen added to scope, is $12.17 a visit at the house rates: $36.51 a week and $158.21 a month at 3 visits. Clinics and dental offices carry disinfection scope that slows the rate further; the medical office cleaning pricing guide covers that case.

How much to charge to clean a 6,000 sq ft office, and per hour

Use the same formula. A 6,000 sq ft office at an assumed 3,000 sq ft an hour with $8 of supplies, 3 visits a week, comes to $109.69 a visit and $1,425.97 a month on the house rates.

That office is worked through line by line, as a filled-in bid sheet, in the commercial cleaning bid template guide. It is shown here only so the number is on the page.

Is $50 an hour for office cleaning good?

Divide your price by hours to see the hourly figure. The 3,000 sq ft example bills $56.38 per cleaner-hour, against a break-even of $36.65 per cleaner-hour. So $50 an hour clears break-even on these costs but falls short of the 35% margin price. With your own wage, overhead and supplies the line moves.

Office cleaning calculator, spreadsheet or per-sq-ft chart?

A per-sq-ft chart tells you what someone else charged. A calculator or spreadsheet built on your production rate and costs tells you what you need to charge. Use the chart only as a check.

The cleaning contract pricing spreadsheet works in Excel and Google Sheets. It gives break-even per visit and per month on 52 ÷ 12, the monthly price to quote, annual contract value and 12-month profit, checks your production rate against the published ISSA band, and logs the contracts you bid and win.

What to put in your office cleaning price sheet

• Cleanable sq ft and the production rate you assumed.
• Restroom count, kitchen and trash scope per visit.
• Drive and setup hours per visit, and your minimum visit price.
• Loaded labour rate, supplies per visit, overhead per hour, margin.
• Price per visit, visits per week, weekly price, monthly invoice (× 52 ÷ 12).
• Periodic tasks with their own prices and dates.

Weekly-to-monthly office cleaning formulas in Excel

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 = drive and setup hours per visit.

Keep B11 and B12 in their own cells so a change of frequency or a new address reprices the contract in one place.

Step-by-step: How Much Should I Charge for Office Cleaning a Week? Price the Visit, Then the Month

1. Measure the cleanable area. Confirm the square feet you actually clean, and count restrooms, kitchens and trash points.
2. Set your production rate. Pick sq ft per cleaner-hour from timing your own visits, and divide area by it for cleaning hours per visit.
3. Add drive and setup time. Add the hours spent driving, parking and setting up, so small offices are not priced below cost.
4. Price one visit. Hours × loaded rate + supplies + hours × overhead per sellable hour = break-even. Divide by (1 − margin).
5. Multiply by visits per week. Price per visit × visits per week gives the weekly price.
6. Convert to the monthly invoice. Weekly price × 52 ÷ 12. Price periodic tasks separately.

Related guides