- A fair price covers the labor, supplies, supervision, insurance and a reasonable margin for the scope you need.
- Compare at least three itemized bids for the same written scope.
- A price far below the others usually means less labor or a narrower scope.
"What should I pay?" is the most common question buyers ask, and the most common wrong answer is a flat number. A fair price is one that matches your scope and lets the vendor do the work properly.
What a fair price pays for
- Labor. Wages, payroll taxes and workers' compensation. This is the largest part.
- Supervision and training. Someone has to schedule, inspect and fix problems.
- Insurance. General liability and related coverage.
- Supplies and equipment. Chemicals, cloths, vacuums and floor machines.
- Overhead and margin. Software, vehicles, administration and profit so the company can stay in business.
If a price is too low to cover these, something gives. Usually that is hours on site or the quality of supervision.
How to find a fair range for your building
- Define the scope. Frequency, tasks, restrooms, flooring and supplies.
- Collect three itemized bids based on the same scope. See how to evaluate bids.
- Ask for labor hours. Divide the monthly price by the number of hours to understand the effective hourly rate. If it is barely above minimum wage, the vendor is likely cutting corners or relying on unreported labor.
- Compare to the median, not the minimum. The middle bid is often the best reference.
An illustrative calculation
This is a made-up example to show the method, not a market price. Suppose a vendor spends 20 labor hours per week on your building and the price is $1,000 per month. A month has roughly 4.3 weeks, so that is about 86 labor hours. $1,000 divided by 86 is about $11.60 per hour, which has to cover wages, taxes, insurance, supplies, supervision and profit. That would not work. Always check that the math leaves room for all of those.
Paying less without losing quality
- Reduce frequency of low-use areas
- Take supply purchasing in-house if you can buy cheaper
- Bundle services with one vendor
- Choose a longer, fair term in exchange for a rate lock
See how to negotiate commercial cleaning rates.