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Free pricing kit

The Commercial Cleaning
Bid Calculator

A free Excel calculator that prices recurring cleaning work from labor hours and your real costs, with a 10-page guide to every input, the math behind the price and a worked example from walkthrough to proposal.

  • Excel workbook + 10-page PDF guide
  • Instant download
  • Free

By Shawn Grant, Founder & CEO, ClearFM · Updated October 27, 2026

Get the calculator kit

Both files are ready to download the moment you submit, and the links come to your inbox too.

  • Excel calculator with seven tabs and a worked example
  • 10-page guide with definitions and a full input reference
  • Free to use on every bid and to share with your team

The starting point

Most cleaning bids start from a square-foot rate. The margin goes missing somewhere between the walkthrough and the first invoice.

  • A bid goes out at a competitor’s price per square foot, which carries their wages, their crew speed and their overhead. You can’t see any of them.
  • Payroll taxes, workers’ comp and paid time off never make it into the price, so a cleaner bid at $17.50 an hour actually costs you $21.11.
  • Someone adds 15 percent to cost and calls it a 15 percent margin. On the guide’s example contract, that gap alone gives away $944 a year.

None of these show up on the day you win the bid. They show up months later as a crew that can’t finish inside the customer’s window, a margin half the size you planned, and a renewal you can’t afford to keep at the same price. The calculator puts every cost on its own line, so you can see what the price covers before the customer does.

Every price starts as labor hours. Square footage only tells you how many hours to expect.

What one optimistic number costs

7.2%

The real margin on a bid priced for 15 percent, when the crew cleans the building at 2,200 square feet an hour and the bid assumed 2,500. On the guide’s example, an 8,000-square-foot dental office cleaned five nights a week, the price drops from $3,675 to $3,380 a month while the crew works the same hours, and about $3,500 a year goes with it. That’s why the calculator starts from production rates you time on your own crews, and why the guide shows you how to run the time study.

From the Lakeside Dental Group example in the guide: a fictional office priced at the calculator’s default costs. Your own numbers will differ.

What you get out of it

Six things the calculator does on every bid

01

Price from hours, not someone else’s square-foot rate

Enter cleanable square feet, restroom fixtures, task minutes and site condition. The calculator turns them into cleaning hours per visit and per month, using production rates you set from your own crews.

02

See what an hour of cleaning really costs

Wages, supervision, payroll taxes, unemployment, workers’ comp, benefits, paid time off, supplies, equipment and mileage each get their own line, so nothing quietly drops out of the price.

03

Keep the margin you planned

Set a target margin and the calculator works out the price that keeps it after overhead. Adding 15 percent to cost only earns 13 percent, and the guide shows why with one example.

04

Catch a bad bid before the customer does

Three checks flag a bid that earns less than your minimum per cleaning hour, a crew that can’t finish inside the customer’s window, and a production rate far faster than your own.

05

Negotiate with frequency instead of discounts

Price Options shows the monthly price at one to seven visits a week and five margins. When the budget is $3,000, offer four nights at full margin before you cut the price on five.

06

Send a proposal that keeps your costs private

Bid Summary turns the bid into a one-page proposal with your company details, scope, periodic services and monthly price. Hours, wages and margin stay on your side of the file.

How the calculator prices a job

Five steps from square feet to a price you can defend

The same chain runs down the right side of the Bid Calculator tab, one visible line per step, so when the price moves you can see which input moved it.

  1. 1Hours per visitSquare feet divided by your production rate, plus restrooms, other tasks and setup
  2. 2Hours per monthHours per visit times visits per week times 4.333 weeks
  3. 3Direct job costWages, supervision, labor burden, travel, supplies and equipment
  4. 4Total costDirect cost plus your overhead rate. This is your break-even
  5. $PriceEnough above total cost to keep your margin, then your minimum, periodic work and rounding

What you’re getting

Built to use on your next walkthrough, not to read once

  • 7workbook tabs
  • 10guide pages
  • 3checks on every bid
  • 1worked example
The Bid Calculator tab. Yellow cells are yours. The price, cost build and checks fill in on the right.
STEP 4 · EXAMPLE AND SENDINGCLEANING BID CALCULATOR GUIDEWORKED EXAMPLE AND STEP 4Lakeside Dental, fromwalkthrough to proposalThe workbook ships with this fictional job filled in: an 8,000-square-foot dental office cleaned five nights a week by two cleaners, ten miles round trip from the shop, with three hours after the lastpatient leaves.BUILDING TO HOURSRESULTGeneral area: 8,000 ÷ 2,200 sq ft per hour3.64 hRestrooms: 12 fixtures × 3 minutes0.60 hOther tasks and setup: 20 + 15 minutes0.58 h Cleaning hours per visit4.82 hTime on site with 2 cleaners2.41 hVisits per month: 5 × 4.33321.67Cleaning hours per month104.4 hHOURS TO PRICEMONTHLY Wages, supervision and 20.65% burden$2,343Mileage, supplies and equipment$311Direct job cost$2,654Overhead at 12%$319Total cost (break-even)$2,973 At 15% margin: $2,973 ÷ 0.85$3,497Periodic services, spread monthly$177Monthly price, rounded up to $5$3,675 Wages $1,827Supervision $115Burden $401Mileage $165Supplies, equipment $146 Overhead $319Profit $525Periodic $177Figure 3. Where the $3,675 goes. The bid earns $33.49 per cleaning hour against a $30 floor, and the crew finishes in 2.41 of the 3hours allowed.Negotiate with frequency, then sendPrice Options reprices the bid at 1 to 7 visits a weekand five margins. If the office manager’s budget is$3,000, five nights can’t get there: the break-even is $2,973 before $177 of periodic work. Four nights comesto $2,980 with the full 15% margin. Offer the frequencychange before the discount.Bid Summary turns the bid into a one-page proposalwith your company details, terms, scope, periodicservices and monthly price. It never shows hours,wages or margin. Print it or save it as a PDF, then savethe workbook under the customer’s name.VISITS10%15%20%3 $2,160$2,280$2,4104$2,820$2,980$3,1505$3,485$3,675$3,8956 $4,145$4,375$4,640Figure 4. Part of the Price Options grid. Monthlyprice by visits a week and margin.clearfm.io5
The guide’s worked example. One job from walkthrough notes to a $3,675 monthly price.

Start with the worked example. Lakeside Dental Group, a fictional 8,000-square-foot dental office, comes filled in, so you can watch every number build to the monthly price before you type over it with your own job.

Written for

For the people who turn walkthrough notes into a monthly price

  • Owners of commercial cleaning companies who price their own bids and want to see exactly what each one covers
  • Estimators and sales reps who need one consistent way to turn walkthrough notes into a price
  • Residential cleaning companies moving into commercial contracts, who need to price by the month instead of the visit
  • Operations managers checking whether existing accounts still cover today’s wages before renewal season

Before you download

Questions owners ask first

What’s in the download?

Two files: the Commercial Cleaning Bid Calculator, an Excel workbook with seven tabs, and a 10-page PDF guide. Four core pages cover setup, entering a job, the three checks and a worked example. The appendices hold definitions, the detail behind every default and a full input reference. Download buttons for both appear as soon as you submit the form, and an email brings you the same links.

How does the calculator price a job?

It starts from labor hours. Cleanable square feet divided by a production rate, plus restroom fixtures, other tasks and setup, gives hours per visit. Those hours are priced at your wage plus labor burden, then supplies, equipment, mileage and overhead are added to reach your break-even. The price is set to keep your target margin, with your minimum price, periodic services and rounding applied.

Will my customer see my costs or margin?

No. The Bid Summary tab is the only page meant for the customer. It shows your company details, the scope, periodic services, the monthly price and your terms. Hours, wages, overhead and margin stay on the other tabs.

Where do the default numbers come from?

The wage reference comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, payroll tax rates from IRS Publication 15, and the mileage rate is the IRS standard business rate from July 1, 2026. Production rates, restroom minutes and periodic-service prices are placeholders for you to replace. The guide shows how to set each one from your payroll, your books and a short time study.

Does it work in Google Sheets?

It’s built for Microsoft Excel, and it opens in Google Sheets too. Excel gives the best results.

What if more than one person on my team quotes jobs?

The spreadsheet works best with one estimator. With several, copies drift and the same building gets priced two ways. ClearFM’s Professional plan includes CPQ, which builds every quote from one set of company services and rates, sends it with your branding and lets the customer accept it online.

Is it free to use?

Yes. Use it on as many bids as you like and share it with your team. It’s a pricing tool, not tax, legal, accounting or insurance advice, so confirm your payroll and insurance rates with your accountant and insurer.

Download the calculator kit

Both files are ready to download the moment you submit, and the links land in your inbox, so they’re there for your next walkthrough.

  • Excel calculator with seven tabs and a worked example
  • 10-page guide with definitions and a full input reference
  • Free to use on every bid and to share with your team

Get the calculator kit

Enter your details and the kit is yours straight away.

For teams with more than one estimator

Quoting with a sales team? Put your pricing in one place.

A spreadsheet works for one estimator. At two, the copies start to drift: a wage increase lands in one file and not the others, and two reps price the same building two ways.

ClearFM’s Professional plan includes CPQ (configure, price, quote) built for commercial service providers. Every quote starts from one set of company services and rates, goes out with your branding, and can be accepted online. The accepted scope stays on the account for whoever schedules the crew and sends the invoice.

See how quoting works in ClearFM

SpreadsheetClearFM CPQ
Where rates liveA copy in every rep’s fileOne set of company services and rates
When a cost changesUpdate every copy by handUpdate it once
What the customer getsA printed or PDF summaryA branded quote they accept online
After the yesSomeone retypes the scopeAccepted scope on the account for scheduling and invoicing

Branded quotes are included from the Starter plan. CPQ is part of Professional.

Run your next walkthrough through it

Price your next job from your own costs. If more than one person quotes for you, we’ll show you the same job quoted in ClearFM, from your rates to an accepted quote.

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