Where commercial cleaning contracts come from, how to qualify for them, how to walk a site and build a bid that covers your real labor costs, what to put in a proposal and how to keep clients once you win.
⏱ 7 min readUpdated November 2026Commercial cleaning
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Found it: the walk-through timerTime how long it takes you to walk the building during the site visit. It is a rough but honest sanity check against the labor hours in your bid.
In shortTo win commercial cleaning contracts, pick a target market such as offices, medical facilities or property managers, get the insurance, bonding and references buyers ask for, find leads through networking, property managers, bid boards and public procurement, walk every site before you bid, price the job from realistic labor hours plus supplies, overhead and profit, and submit a clear proposal. Keep contracts by showing up consistently, inspecting your own work and communicating proactively.
Key takeaways
Pick a target market before chasing every lead.
Price from production rates and labor hours, not guesses.
Keep contracts with consistent quality and proof of service.
Choose your target market
Commercial cleaning covers many kinds of buildings, each with different needs: offices, medical and dental clinics, schools and daycares, retail stores, gyms, industrial facilities, property management portfolios and government buildings. Starting with one or two segments lets you build relevant references, learn the specific requirements and market yourself clearly. Medical facilities, for example, require infection control knowledge and often specific training; offices may value after-hours reliability and security. See types of cleaning services.
EZTime task management lets you assign one-time or recurring tasks to each shift and see them done.
General liability insurance, and workers’ compensation once you have employees. Many buyers require specific limits and want to be named as additional insured. See cleaning business insurance.
Bonding: a janitorial or fidelity bond reassures clients that their property is protected against employee theft.
For government work: federal contracts require registration in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov), and state and local agencies have their own vendor registration.
Where to find contracts
Your network: businesses you know, local business groups and chambers of commerce.
Property managers: one relationship can lead to several buildings.
Direct outreach: visit or call businesses in your target segment; offer a free walkthrough and quote.
Public procurement: cities, counties, school districts and federal agencies post cleaning bids on their procurement portals.
Subcontracting: larger facility service companies sometimes subcontract buildings to smaller cleaners.
Referrals: ask happy clients to introduce you to neighbors and other locations.
Walk the site before you bid
Never price a commercial job from square footage alone. On the walkthrough, record:
Bid checklist complete.
Ask what the client dislikes about their current cleaner. The answer tells you what to emphasize in your proposal.
Price from labor hours
Labor is the largest cost in commercial cleaning, so price from realistic hours. Estimate the time each area and task takes per visit, multiply by visits per month, then multiply by your full hourly labor cost, including payroll taxes and workers’ compensation. Add supplies, equipment, travel between sites, supervision, overhead and profit. Our janitorial bid calculator and cleaning time estimator help, and our guide on how much to charge for cleaning services covers pricing in more depth.
Illustrative monthly bid for a small office (made-up figures)
Your figures will differ. The method matters: if your actual hours run over the estimate, the contract can quickly become unprofitable, so track real hours per site from the first month.
Write a proposal that wins
A short introduction focused on the client’s needs, including what they told you on the walkthrough.
A clear scope of work: tasks by area and frequency.
Your quality control process: inspections, checklists and how issues are reported and fixed.
Staffing: who will clean, supervision, background checks and training.
Insurance, bonding and references.
Price, what it includes and excludes and how extra work is priced.
Start date, contract term and how either side can end it.
Government contracts start with one registration
Public buildings are steady cleaning customers, but federal work has an entry step many small companies miss. To participate in federal contracting, a business must register in the System for Award Management (SAM), the database agencies search to find contractors (SBA: federal contracting basics).
Registration is free on the official SAM.gov site, so be wary of services charging to do it. State and local governments run their own vendor registrations, often through a procurement portal. Register in the ones near you, set alerts for janitorial bids and read a few awarded contracts to see how others price.
Contract terms to check before you sign
Scope and frequency: attach the task list so there is no argument later about what was included.
Price adjustments: a clause allowing increases when minimum wage or supply costs rise, or an annual review.
Extra work: how one-off requests such as carpet shampooing or post-event cleanups are priced and approved.
Payment terms: invoice timing and due dates; long payment terms strain cash flow because you pay cleaners weekly or biweekly.
Term and termination: contract length, notice periods and any cure period to fix problems before termination.
Keys and security: responsibility for keys, alarm codes and lockouts.
Hiring restrictions: whether the client may hire your cleaners directly.
Have an attorney review your standard contract once, then use it as your template for every client.
Keep the contracts you win
Most commercial cleaning contracts are lost through small failures: a missed night, an empty soap dispenser, a complaint that was not answered. Keep clients by:
Assigning consistent cleaners to each site and covering absences reliably.
Responding quickly to any complaint and confirming when it is fixed.
Checking in with the client periodically, not just when something goes wrong.
Showing proof of service: times on site and completed checklists.
How EZTime helps cleaning companies
EZTime lets cleaners clock in at each site with a GPS stamp or by tapping an NFC tag, so you can show clients when the work was done. Hours are tagged to each client so you can compare actual labor with your bid, and digital checklists with photo proof document quality. See EZTime for cleaning services.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find commercial cleaning contracts?
Use your network, approach property managers and businesses in your target segment, watch public procurement portals, seek subcontracting with larger firms and ask satisfied clients for referrals.
Do I need to be bonded for commercial cleaning?
It is not always legally required, but many commercial clients expect a janitorial or fidelity bond along with liability insurance. Some contracts require specific coverage.
How do I price a commercial cleaning bid?
Walk the site, estimate the hours for each task and frequency, multiply by your full loaded labor cost, add supplies, supervision, travel, overhead and profit. Track actual hours after you win to check the estimate.
How do I get government cleaning contracts?
Register with SAM.gov for federal work and with state and local vendor systems, monitor their procurement portals and respond to bids exactly as specified.
Why do cleaning companies lose contracts?
Usually because of missed cleans, inconsistent quality, slow responses to complaints and frequent staff changes. Inspections, consistent staffing and proof of service help prevent this.
Where can I find cleaning bids and RFPs?
Look at city, county, school district and state procurement portals, federal opportunities on SAM.gov, property management companies and commercial real estate firms. Many private contracts never appear as public bids, so direct outreach still matters.
What should a cleaning contract include?
Scope by area and frequency, service hours, supplies, quality inspections, pricing and payment terms, how extra work is requested and billed, insurance requirements and termination notice. Attach the cleaning checklist as an exhibit.
As soon as you have hourly staff, two jobs take more time than most owners expect: recording hours accurately and building a schedule everyone can see. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers must keep accurate records of hours worked and pay non-exempt employees overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek, and some states add daily overtime or meal-break rules. This is general information, not legal advice.
A simple setup that scales
Have staff clock in from their phone, a shared tablet or a wall time clock, so every punch is recorded automatically.
Publish the weekly schedule in one place and let employees request shift swaps and time off.
Export approved hours to payroll at the end of each pay period instead of retyping timesheets.
Disclaimer: This guide on commercial cleaning is general information, not legal or financial advice. Licensing, insurance, bonding and procurement requirements vary by location and client. Confirm requirements before you bid.
