Hi i currently own my own cleaning company in ILLINOIS.
I have been cleaning residential homes in Illinois for the past nine months and I am ready to also switch to offices in the night time..

I am just a little confused on what to do for offices though... Sq footage or hourly rates???

I went on a bid a month or so ago for a 6000 sq ft office and decided to charged about .06 for general cleaning and then i told them .09 Cents per sq ft for in depth cleaning.....

I never had received a call ..

u also calle dmy competitors in the area and found oud some are charging 140 hr for cleaning a 2 bedroom condo the first time and some quoted me 100-140 hr which is wayy more than what i charge....

Is offices and residential alike with hourly rates???

Please help THANK YOU!

HI i am from the Chicago area and I am inquiring on how to start bids on offices. I currently own a residential cleaning co in the area that is fully insured and incorporated and I am trying to expand my horizon to commercial offices and I am very unsure on how to bid on these jobs ..and what are good hourly rates.. depending on who supplies the paper towel and supplies....
To if they customer suplies everything.. I just want to know if theres an equation.... or some simple rules to follow...

Any adivce is greatly appreciated..!

[Original questions from two threads merged together.]

Cheriedow2006

My friend and I clean offices on the weekend for 3 different businesses. We charge by the job. The insurance company we clean is two floors. We charge $400.00 a month. My friend cleans houses for a living and she charges a daily rate. If she does extra (like carpet cleaning) she will charge extra for that. We live in West Virginia and it's hard to find jobs (even cleaning jobs). I would just look at the job and give them a monthly estimate. You can usually tell how long it will take you to do the job.

Clough

Hi, Cleaningman23!

I know just the person who can answer your question the best, and that would be Stringer. He runs a very large cleaning outfit in the Chicago area.

I'll let him know about your post.

If you need help with advertising for free on the Internet in order to maximize your exposure, I'll be happy to help you in that way.

Thanks!

Clough

I just sent Stringer an email. Hopefully, he should be along sometime during the evening. But, I'm not sure how soon.

He's usually on here most nights...

Thanks!

Cleaningman23

Hi Clough! Thank you for the referral . I seen you guys answer a few other posts on here and have seen good results! I do greatly appreciate any answers or advice from you guys!
Hopefully i can get this ballpark figure moving as I am well frustrated with some past bids i have done! Thank you again

Stringer

Hi Cleaningman.

May I ask you a few questions?

How long have you been in the residential cleaning business?

Are you incorporated? Do you have employees?

Do you have special equipment such as a carpet cleaning machine, backpac vacuum, etc?

Cleaning commercial is for the most part a different animal, than residential cleaning. You need the knowledge and proper equipment to do the job properly, quickly and effectively; time IS money especially in this business.

You say that you bid $.06 for 6,000 sq ft. That is $360.00 per month, I have to assume that that was not 5 days per week cleaning, probably 2 or maybe 3 days per week.

Getting started in the commercial cleaning business even if you have experience in residential is not always easy. You are almost forced initially to go after the smaller accounts where there isn't too much competition from the mid to larger companies.

But going after 3,500, 4,000, 6,000 sq ft buildings is a good start. But you want at least 3 days per week, preferably 5 days a week service, that is the boost that is needed to go beyond the 'red line' costs.

You say that they never called you back? Did you call them back? If I may I would like to say here that 'order takers' give prices, salespeople go after the sale and have much more success. The market presently is extremely competitive and all the salespeople from your competitors are out in force making deals that a year ago they would not have considered.

You bid $.06 and didn't get the job, to me that was a very low bid. Many things happen in this business, a friend knows a friend kind of thing...your example may be just an abnormally. Have you bid any other commercial jobs, if so please explain.

Please answer the above and we can get together again to move forward.

By the way, I am in the Chicago area (and no I do not mind competition at all), what town are you in, if I may ask?

Thanks,

Stringer

Stringer

HI Cleaningman,

Do you have two threads open for this question:

http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/small-b...ea-338198.html

I answered your first thread dated April 4th, that I pasted above...my answer there was directed to those questions....

Clough, could you straighten this out my friend and maybe incorporate it into one thread, that would be easier?

Stringer

Cleaningman23

Hi Stringer! Thank You for any advice and Thank You for responding to my Question. but here it is for you...

I have been in business since last July. So ive been in the business for about roughly about 9 months. I did have prior cleaning experience but not much about pricing...

My business is Incorporated ! Right now I am in the process of hiring two employees and finally have built up some steady customers..


Yes! i do have a Backpack hepa vacuum which i invested 600 into and other vacuums also.

The carpet cleaning system i offer at the moment is a Dry-Cleaning Carpet system similar to "chem dry". I am currently looking into a steam clean machine but was not sure if it was a safe investment at the moment. Since no one yet has asked me.

On the estimate i went on. The client explained to me that they wanted weekly cleaning of the office(once a week) and then a In- Depth Cleaning where we would wipe the conference table down with pledge and dust the tops of cabinets and other misc extra chores. *NOT INCLUDING WINDOWS* To my knowledge they would be supplying the paper towel and garbage bags and we would supply the chemicals and other misc cleaning materials

I quoted the client .06 per sq ft since he would be a weekly customer and .09 cents for the in depth cleaning.

That was my only commercial cleaning estimate I have been on so far . I did not call them back and follow up on the estimate though.

My company is located around Orland Park in the south suburbs.
May i ask which town are u in currently?


I am also wondering what is the average out here in our area for commercial bids.. Do you typically go by sq ft ?? whats a good bid when the customer supplies the materials or when I supply them?

Thank You So much for your experienced knowledge.

Btw do you know if there is any cleaning related convention that they have in the chicago-land area?

Cleaningman23

Yes i did make two. I apologize. I answered Your question on the other forum .. but i quoted you...

Cleaningman23

I accidentially quoted you not replied ..sorry bout that...