Post Construction Cleaning Pricing: Price Each Phase From Its Hours

How do you quote a post construction clean?

Quote it as separate phases, each priced from its own cleaner-hours, then add them. A builder's clean is not one visit: the rough clean, the final clean and the touch-up happen on different days and go at very different speeds.

1. Cleaner-hours per phase = sq ft ÷ your production rate for that phase.
2. Labour = cleaner-hours × loaded rate (wage × (1 + burden %)).
3. Break-even per phase = labour + supplies + cleaner-hours × overhead per sellable hour.
4. Price per phase = break-even ÷ (1 − margin).
5. Job price = the phases added together, plus drive time for every trip.
6. Price per sq ft = job price ÷ sq ft. A check, not an input.

Most results for this search quote per-square-foot ranges or other people's hourly rates. Those come from someone else's wage, speed and town. This page shows arithmetic you can check, and every input is an assumption to replace.

Assumptions used throughout: $18 an hour wage with 30% burden ($23.40 loaded); $29,040 of yearly overhead over 2 people × 220 days × 8 hours = $8.25 per sellable hour; a 35% target margin; a crew of two, priced in total cleaner-hours.

Post construction cleaning pricing calculator

Run the calculator once per phase. It opens on the rough clean of the 3,000 sq ft example; change the production rate and supplies for the final and touch-up phases, then add the three prices.

The same tool is on its own page as the free cleaning job price calculator. No signup, and your numbers stay in your browser.

What does a construction cleanup consist of?

Usually three phases, each with a different job and a different speed. Agree with the builder which ones you are quoting, because each is a separate trip and a separate bill line.

The final clean is the slow one: fine construction dust settles on every ledge and inside every cupboard. The rates in the table are placeholders, not measured speeds. Time your first few jobs phase by phase and replace them.

Debris removal is its own question. If the contract makes you haul it away, price the load as a separate line; the junk removal pricing guide shows how to cost a load.

Worked example: how much to charge for post construction cleaning of a 3,000 sq ft home

On this page's assumptions, a 3,000 sq ft new build is 20 cleaner-hours across three phases and prices at $1,150.77 before drive time, or $0.38 per sq ft.

Phase 1: rough clean

3,000 ÷ 500 = 6 cleaner-hours, with $60 of supplies (heavy bags, scraper blades, vacuum filters, all assumed).

Phase 2: final clean

3,000 ÷ 250 = 12 cleaner-hours, with $45 of supplies. With two cleaners that is 6 hours on site, but you pay for all 12.

Phase 3: touch-up

3,000 ÷ 1,500 = 2 cleaner-hours, with $10 of supplies.

With drive included the job works out to $0.43 per sq ft. Profit before drive is $402.77 on the three phases.

Post construction cleaning price per square foot

Price per square foot is what the phase math works out to. Divide the job price by the floor area after you have priced the hours, not before.

The per-sq-ft figure drifts down as area grows because supplies are a fixed amount per phase in this sheet. On a real commercial fit-out the rates themselves change: open warehouse floor goes faster than a home full of cabinets, so time it rather than scaling a house rate.

Per hour, the 3,000 sq ft job bills $57.54 per cleaner-hour including supplies. That is an output too. If you only quote hourly, set a minimum number of hours, because a builder cannot compare an open-ended hourly quote with a fixed one.

Why you cannot price it like a recurring clean

A recurring clean assumes the place is already clean. A builder's clean starts from dust, stickers and debris, so it runs far slower, and it happens once, so there is no month of repeat visits to average out a bad estimate.

Quote the same 3,000 sq ft home as one standard visit at the recurring placeholder of 500 sq ft per cleaner-hour used in the house cleaning pricing guide, with $8 of supplies, and it prices at $304.46. The phase method says $1,150.77. The gap is the final clean and the extra trips.

Two other differences:

• No × 52 ÷ 12. A one-off job has no monthly conversion. You bill per phase or on completion.
• Your quoting time is not spread. The walk-through for a recurring contract pays back over a year of visits. For a one-off, it is paid by one job, so keep the walk-through hours in your yearly overhead figure.

If the builder likes the work and asks for regular cleaning of a finished office or show homes, that is a recurring contract, priced per visit and per month. The cleaning contract pricing calculator ($39) is built for that part.

Is post construction cleaning profitable? The overrun test

It is profitable only if your hours hold. On this example the three phases earn $402.77. Let the final clean run 4 cleaner-hours over and profit falls to $276.17, because each extra hour costs $31.65 in loaded labour and overhead.

That is 4 × ($23.40 + $8.25) = $126.60 off the job. Two common causes: the builder is not finished when you arrive, and trades come back after your final clean. Put both in writing:

• Start condition. Trades out, power and water on, before the final clean starts.
• Return visits. Extra touch-ups after the agreed one are billed by the hour, with a minimum.
• Minimum charge. A 2-hour touch-up plus 1 cleaner-hour of drive and $10 of supplies prices at $161.46 here. Never go out for less.

The other profit leak is margin maths. Adding 35% to the break-even of the three phases bills $1,009.81, which is $140.96 under the margin price. The markup vs margin guide explains why.

Free calculator, spreadsheet or custom build?

For one builder's job, the free calculator run once per phase is enough. For a saved price sheet you reuse on every bid, use a spreadsheet.

There is no ready-made post construction template in the store. The Job Pricing Starter handles the arithmetic of each phase; a custom build can lay out all three phases and the drive line on one quote.

What to put in your post construction cleaning price sheet

One row per phase, a drive line, a debris line if you haul, and a minimum. Layout: B2 = sq ft, B3 = phase production rate, B4 = wage, B5 = burden %, B6 = phase supplies, B7 = yearly overhead, B8 = people in the field, B9 = billable days, B10 = margin %.

• Timed sq ft per cleaner-hour for rough, final and touch-up.
• Supplies per phase at what you pay.
• Drive hours per trip × cleaners × trips.
• Debris haul-away, if the contract includes it.
• Extras priced separately: exterior windows, floor care.
• Minimum charge and the hourly rate for return visits.
• Start conditions and payment terms per phase.

Step-by-step: Post Construction Cleaning Pricing: Price Each Phase From Its Hours

1. Walk the site. Measure the floor area, note the stage of work, surfaces, windows, cabinets and debris, and confirm which phases the builder wants.
2. Set a rate for each phase. Choose sq ft per cleaner-hour for rough, final and touch-up separately, ideally from timing your own jobs.
3. Price each phase. Cleaner-hours × loaded rate + supplies + cleaner-hours × overhead per sellable hour = break-even. Divide by (1 − margin).
4. Add drive and debris. Add drive hours for every trip and every cleaner, and a separate line for any debris haul-away.
5. Check the total. Divide the job price by square feet as a sanity check and compare with your minimum charge.
6. Write the quote. List each phase with its price, start conditions, the return-visit rate and payment terms.

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