Estimate hours and price for rough, final and touch-up cleans after a build or renovation, using your own production rates.
Hours per phase = floor area ÷ that phase’s production rate.
Window hours = windows × minutes per window ÷ 60.
Labor cost = labor hours × wage × (1 + burden %).
Overhead = labor hours × overhead per labor hour.
Price = (labor + direct costs + overhead) ÷ (1 − margin %), or your minimum charge if that is higher.
A 5,000 sq ft office fit-out gets all three phases. The rough clean takes 6.3 hours, the final 12.5 and the touch-up 3.3; 30 windows add 3 hours, for 25.1 crew-hours. At $24 with 22% burden, labor is $734.44. Supplies and disposal add $370 and overhead $200.67, for a cost of $1,305.11. A 20% margin gives $1,631.38, about $0.33 per sq ft.
Fictional numbers for illustration only.
Builders and general contractors usually ask for cleaning in phases: a rough clean after drywall and trades, a final clean before handover and a touch-up before the owner moves in. Each phase runs at a different pace, so this calculator lets you enter a rate for each.
If you are new to construction cleaning, run a pilot job, record crew hours per phase and use those rates. Dust levels, flooring and the number of trades still on site change the pace a lot.
Post-construction cleaning is often done in stages: a rough clean to remove debris and dust, a final clean once trades are out, and a touch-up before handover. Each stage has its own labor hours and its own risk of rework if other trades return. Quote each pass separately so a delay does not eat the margin of the first.
Heavy dust, paint overspray, stickers on glass and adhesive on floors turn a quick job into a long one. Walk the site first. Photograph the worst areas and note the extras you expect, such as window track cleaning or polishing fixtures. Add a line for specialty tasks and agree the scope with the builder in writing.
Schedule each pass for a day the site is clear of other trades. Confirm with the builder 24 hours before. Record arrival, delays caused by other trades and the time the builder signed off. Delays you did not cause are billable if your contract says so.
Builders often schedule them weeks apart, and some only buy the final clean. Separate phases make the quote easy to adjust.
It depends on the site rules and the hazards. Ask the general contractor for the site induction and PPE requirements before the first visit.
Add travel and setup time per visit to the window minutes or as extra hours.
Margin is profit as a share of the price; markup is profit as a share of cost. A 20% margin equals a 25% markup. Mixing the two up is one of the most common reasons small contractors underprice.
Say so in the quote. Industrial vacuums and lifts are often the cleaner’s cost.
Charge a touch-up visit and agree the rate beforehand.
Photograph it before you start and tell the builder in writing.
EZTime records cleaning crew hours by site, so you can check every bid against reality. Book a demo to see it.