Free tool
Enter the building, the restrooms and the schedule. The calculator workloads each zone with ISSA production rates, prices restrooms by fixture, loads the wage with taxes and insurance, and divides by your overhead and profit to give a monthly price you can defend on a walkthrough.
Bid calculator
Every input starts at a default from the published sources below. Change what you learned on the walkthrough and the price updates as you type.
| Line | Amount |
|---|
| Zone | Sq ft | Sq ft/h | Factor | Hours |
|---|
No periodic lines selected. Tick strip and wax, extraction, windows or disinfection above to price them separately.
| Service | Quantity | Each | Times a year | Monthly equivalent | Annual |
|---|
Method
The same chain a workloading consultant uses, with every constant sourced. Nothing is hidden and nothing is proprietary.
zone hours = sq ft / rate x density x condition x scope. General office runs 3,750 sq ft an hour, corridors 5,500, break rooms 2,000, clinical rooms 2,000 with a 1.15 disinfection dwell uplift, classrooms 3,750, warehouse lanes 6,000, retail floors 4,500, fitness floors 3,500, sanctuaries 4,500. The facility type sets the zone mix; the zone table above shows the split.
Sources: ISSA, how to calculate cleaning times; ISSA 540 cleaning times table; ISSA 612 rates explained; warehouse cleaning cost guide.
minutes = toilets x 4 + urinals x 3 + sinks x 2.5 + showers x 3 + 3 per room, scaled by traffic (0.85 low, 1.30 high). ISSA's RCL-7 standard is 3 minutes per fixture across a full clean; the per fixture split comes from contractor timing guides.
Sources: ISSA RCL-7; ISSA production rates explained; The Janitorial Store on production rates.
Standard scope prices office, corridor, classroom, retail and fitness zones at 75% because full vacuuming and dusting run two or three nights out of five. Light scope is 60%. Restrooms, kitchens, clinical rooms and warehouse lanes are never scoped down. Cubicle density adds 20%, worn surfaces 15%, occupied daytime work 12%.
Sources: industry benchmarks for staffing and frequency; janitorial production rate conditions; estimating job time; daytime and weekend premiums.
Setup, supply closet and travel: 0.25 hours. Security check-in at a secured site: 0.17 hours. Dock and trash haul at a warehouse: 0.25 hours. Then hours per visit x frequency factor, where 1x a week is 1.20 and 7x is 0.97 because soil compounds between visits.
Sources: how to write a janitorial bid; fixed time additions.
visits per month = visits per week x 4.33 (52 weeks over 12 months). Weekly tasks such as a warehouse auto-scrub add their own hours x 4.33.
Sources: Connecteam; ProTeams; ZenMaid.
loaded rate = wage x burden. US median $17.71 x 1.25 = $22.14 an hour; Canada C$19.74 x 1.16. The burden covers FICA 7.65%, unemployment 2% to 5%, workers compensation (NCCI 9014 averages $2.43 per $100 of payroll), general liability 1% to 3% and PTO 2% to 5%. Weekend visits carry a 20% premium on their share of the hours.
Sources: BLS janitors and building cleaners; Job Bank Canada, light duty cleaner; workers comp rates for janitorial; cleaning labor cost benchmarks; cost to hire in Ontario.
Supplies at 5% of labor (8% medical, 7% gyms), equipment amortization 3%, supervision and quality control 7%. Consumables the client asks you to supply are a pass-through, not part of this.
Sources: cleaning business profit margins; CMM on bidding and estimating; supervision share of labor.
price = direct cost / (1 - overhead 12% - profit 15%), then max(price, $75 x visits per month). Dividing rather than marking up means the percentages land on the invoice where your P&L expects them. The result is checked against the facility's per sq ft per month band, widened for frequency by (visits / 5)^0.6, and against $25 to $45 billed per labor hour. Contracts under $800 a month are flagged.
Sources: bid and price commercial cleaning contracts; CMM bidding 101; ISSA rates per square foot; 2026 commercial cleaning cost guide; Housecall Pro pricing guide; strip and wax pricing; day porter pricing.
Missing inputs
We tested the public janitorial bidding calculators before building this one. The formulas were mostly fine. The inputs were the problem.
Several tools ask you to type hours per visit, which is the number you came to find. Without a rate per square foot the output is only as good as your guess.
A four fixture restroom takes the same minutes whether it is 60 or 160 square feet. Tools that price restrooms by floor area under-bid small busy ones and over-bid large quiet ones.
Real five night accounts rotate vacuuming and dusting. Pricing all five as full cleans over-bids the general areas by about a quarter, which is the single biggest reason calculators lose 5x office bids.
Taxes, unemployment, workers compensation, liability and paid time off add 13% to 30% to the hourly wage. A calculator that multiplies raw wage by hours prices the job below cost.
A 30% markup on cost is a 23% margin on price. Tools that mix markup on labor with margin on price produce a number nobody can reconcile with the P&L.
Strip and wax, extraction and windows belong on their own lines with minimum charges. Hiding them in the monthly figure makes the recurring price look uncompetitive and the work invisible.
Some tools use proprietary rates, a single high-cost metro's wages, or overhead and margin figures you cannot see. You cannot challenge a rate you cannot read, and neither can the client.
A price is only useful next to the market. This tool checks each bid against the facility's per square foot band, adjusted for frequency, and the billed rate per labor hour.
Questions
It is as accurate as the production rates behind it. The defaults are ISSA 540 and consultant rates for each zone type, which is where a competent bidder starts. The conditions inside a specific building decide how far the real number lands from the benchmark, so time one visit after the walkthrough and replace the defaults with what you measured.
Published ranges are per month at roughly five visits a week for a plain office. Restrooms, a nightly kitchen, medical disinfection, seven day service and small buildings all push the figure above the band. For anything under about 3,000 square feet or more than five visits a week, check the billed rate per labor hour instead: $25 to $45 is the normal range.
A real five night contract is not five full cleans. Trash, restrooms, kitchens and high touch surfaces are nightly; full vacuuming and dusting run two or three times a week. Vacuum and dust are about half the general area minutes, so the standard scope prices those zones at 75 percent of a full clean. Restrooms, kitchens, clinical rooms and warehouse lanes are never scoped down.
By fixture, not by area. The calculator uses 4 minutes per toilet, 3 per urinal, 2.5 per sink, 3 per shower and 3 minutes per room for restocking, then scales by traffic. A four fixture corporate restroom and a four fixture plant restroom take different time, which is what the traffic selector is for.
The wage is what the cleaner sees. Payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, general liability and paid time off add 13 to 30 percent on top. The US default of 1.25 is the middle of the published range with supervision kept as its own line. Canada defaults to 1.16 for CPP, EI, vacation pay, WSIB and statutory holidays.
Because your profit and loss statement measures margin on price, not markup on cost. A 30 percent markup is only a 23 percent margin. Dividing direct cost by one minus 12 percent overhead minus 15 percent profit gives a price where those percentages of the invoice actually land where you planned.
No. Periodic work is priced per square foot on its own line with a minimum charge, and the client can choose to have it rolled into the monthly invoice at the annual cost divided by twelve. Folding it into the nightly rate hides the work and makes the recurring price look uncompetitive.
Canada is fully supported with a Job Bank median wage of C$19.74 and a 1.16 burden multiplier. Australia is a wage note only: the Cleaning Services Award Level 1 rate of A$27.08 with a 1.25 burden, and no published per square foot bands, so only the per labor hour check is shown.
We call and email the decision-makers in your territory and hand you the ones who agreed to a quote or a walkthrough.
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