I recently got a an e-mail asking about measuring office carpet cleaning jobs. Wall to wall, or just actual cleanable sq ft. I thought I'd share my response here with you...

In most offices it's just about impossible to only measure actual cleanable carpet. I prefer the wall to wall method figuring at a lower rate. I generally bid under .10 on a good sized job. However on a small job like the dentist office that I mentioned it was more like .20+ per sq ft. It all boils down to the account. But as a rule .10 is the benchmark, then I go up or down from there according to the job. On many large jobs I'll go in at around .07 wall to wall, and I generally find that I'm in line with the competition. On the other hand, I've lost work to Stanley Steamer in my market where they bid at .03 per sq ft. So this rule of thumb is only an approximate. I hope this helps to give you some ideas.

Rick Gelinas

That's how I do it too.

Most of the time I count the ceiling tiles, and multiply to get the room size. That goes a little faster than measuring.

I begin about 10¢ a foot, and take everything into consideration, like building access, water access, electric outlet access, problem areas, etc.
In the end the "per square foot price" is based on the amount of time I estimate the job will take. If I know it's gonna be easy, and fast, I might go down to 7¢. The more pain in the Butt, and slower it's gonna be, the higher the price. The highest I normally go on "BIG" jobs has been 15¢.
Just did a Church last week, @15¢. Took me 3 1/2 hours, paid $647.
(I over estimated the "Pain in the Butt factor on that one)
Me Likeee,
Tom