[pmarty]

Starting a new business and having a hard time finding any information on how to bid jobs. We already have our business license, insurance and bond and are ready to go. We are located in Dallas TX.

Thank you,

P and L Cleaning

[Stringer]

What Is The Average Price For Cleaning?

Huh? Average price? Seriously?

This is a question we get almost every week. Most people who ask, want to know what the average square foot price is or what the average hourly rate is. Or, they ask what the "going rate" is in their area.

I'm always amazed at how many people think there is a document or chart out there somewhere with all this information. Boy, a document like that would be worth a pretty penny! Sure, there are surveys done every year that the trade magazines publish, but they are nowhere near accurate. They simply give broad averages.

Think about all the different variables when it comes to cleaning:

type of account (office, medical, educational, industrial, retail, etc, etc, etc... )
frequency of cleaning (monthly, bi-monthly, weekly, twice a week, three times a week, 5 times a week, 7 times a week)
location
specifications and level of cleanliness desired by the client
employee productivity

I could go on and on with this list, but you get the point. When this question was recently posted in our discussion forum at The Janitorial Store, another business owner offered this advice:

My recommendation is to first know your real numbers; labor costs, productivity rate and overhead costs. Do you know exactly what it costs you every hour that an employee is on the clock? Do you know what every supply you use is costing you down to the cents per ounce? Do you know what it costs you per customer to get a new account? What does it cost you for every employee you lose? How fast or slow do your people move? Just a few of the parts of the equation that affect what you will charge vs what someone else charges. There are industry averages for these categories, but they are only averages of what others across the country are doing. At the end of the day, its knowing your costs and charging what your market will bear to be competitive.

Research, practice, time and experience will help you learn what YOUR "going rate" should be. Don't rely on "averages". Do the work needed to price services at a profitable price for YOUR company.

-www.thejanitorialstore.com


This is an interesting article that answers some of your question/s.

To price any job it is basically on a job by job basis Marty. A lot of information goes into pricing such as; density, specifications, labor, time factors, equipment costs, supply costs, etc. To come up with an 'average' is almost impossible.

Give me some specifics about this job and let's see where that takes us.

Stringer