I have looked for posts on pricing and have found some. I called several cleaners in the area and have gotten folks not wanting to quote over the phone. They want to come look. I was going to start around 10 cents/sq.ft. and use a range from there. How do you guys do it. Commercial only.

David, I never quote over the phone. There are to many variables. Look down at my response to Ralphs question on pricing. That's why most cc'ers want to come out in person,, As far a base price .10sf is good in my area. I just put in a bid for 205,000sf (Indian casino) here and the co. who beat me came in at 03 sf..
I guess they're using good old water for that price..

BTW don't worry if you lose the bid.. Just keep sending your postcards reminding them once a month you are still around. Eventually the company will start cutting corners, and thats when you make your move!!! Hope that helps???

I never really book commercial work over the phone either.

Go and look. take advantage of selling yourself and your company and how you can 'fix their problems.'

While .10 is an avg. rate for commercial pricing,, you can go down to .07 cents per foot and make big profits still.

Alot depends on the job at hand.
Is it wide open and fairly clean?
is it nasty , trashed, tiny rooms or tons of cubicles.


Just try to get an idea for how many hours you think. that is one route.

and an owner op like myself can go lower than someone employing workers, etc. Esp an experienced owner/op.

You will get a feel for what you are after and them as well when you go.
You get better each time.


Steve Dobson
ProFloor
Custom Cleaning Services

One very important question that I rarely see people address directly when discussing per square foot pricing is: How many square feet?

We have a minimum of $140 for carpet cleaning. To illustrate what a difference the job size makes, that means we charge

$140/sf if you have one square foot,
$70/sf if you have 2 square feets, and
$1/sf if you have 140 square feet, and
50 cents/sf if you have 280 square feet.

So what do I charge...$140, $70, $1, or 50 cents?

If the job size is small, per square foot pricing is not logical. Use minimums.

And when you compare your price to someone else's, ask: "How many square feet?" If a 50,000 sf job is truly a normal size job for a company, then they may have a hard time understanding why a residential only company could possible spend all day and only clean 2,000 sf. And having them compare #'s on this or other board is useless unless you specify how much fuzzy stuff you are cleaning.

agree with the rest, go meet them face to face. nothing like giving a free demo either.

one thing that i wanted to mention that Garrett touched on...

when you do get rejected (we all do more times than not), don't take it personally. just get back on the phone, get back on the pavement and keep getting your card and marketing info in front of ppl.

thanx --- Derek.