Cleaning & janitorial
Janitorial Bid Calculator
Build a competitive bid where the specification is fixed and the margin has to be deliberate.
Result
A planning estimate, not a quote. Access, the age of the equipment, what is found once it is opened up and local labour rates all move the real figure, sometimes a long way.
Get a Free Business AuditWhat moves the number
- Production rates you can genuinely achieve at the specified standard.
- Contract length, which affects equipment amortisation and mobilisation recovery.
- Mobilisation cost, including recruitment and any TUPE-style staff transfer obligations.
Where this one goes wrong
Bidding to win and hoping to improve later. Commercial cleaning contracts are frequently multi-year at a fixed rate, and a bid that assumes efficiency gains you have not yet made locks in the loss for the whole term.
Questions
About this calculator
What is mobilisation cost?
Recruitment, training, equipment, initial deep clean and the management time to set the contract up. It is real, it is front-loaded, and it has to be recovered across the term.
Should I bid below cost to win a site?
Only with a clear plan for how it becomes profitable and a term short enough to correct it. On a long fixed-price contract it is a decision you live with for years.
What about transferring existing staff?
Where it applies it brings their terms with them, which may differ from your own pay structure. That has to be established before bidding rather than discovered after.
The formula
total = hours x people x rate + parts + call-out, then sales tax
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How to use this calculator
- Hours on site (h). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 3 h.
- People needed. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.
- Labour rate charged ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $55.
- Parts and materials ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $12.
- Call-out or diagnostic fee ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $95.
- Sales tax (%). Leave at zero if you are quoting before tax.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to estimated total, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Hours on site | 3 h |
| People needed | 1 |
| Labour rate charged | $55 |
| Parts and materials | $12 |
| Call-out or diagnostic fee | $95 |
| Sales tax | 0% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Estimated total main result | $272 |
| Labour | $165 |
| Before tax | $272 |
| Sales tax | $0 |
About $272: $165 of labour, $12 of parts and a $95 call-out.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour rate charged, this is what happens to estimated total. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour rate charged ($) | Estimated total |
|---|---|
| $28 | $191 |
| $41 | $230 |
| $55 example above | $272 |
| $83 | $356 |
| $110 | $437 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Hours on site (h)
- Measured in h, between 0 and 400, starting at 3 h.
- People needed
- A number, between 0 and 40, starting at 1.
- Labour rate charged ($)
- A money amount, starting at $55.
- Parts and materials ($)
- A money amount, starting at $12.
- Call-out or diagnostic fee ($)
- A money amount, starting at $95.
- Sales tax (%)
- Leave at zero if you are quoting before tax.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Estimated total | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Labour | A money figure. |
| Before tax | A money figure. |
| Sales tax | A money figure. |
Time is the variable that bites
Pricing that works out on paper fails when the job takes longer than quoted. First cleans, heavily soiled sites and access problems all run over, so it is worth pricing the first visit separately from the recurring one.
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.