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| Thursday, July 29, 2010 |
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| [Friday, January 19, 2007] |
| I am interested in doing some contract house cleaning, but do not have any idea how to estimate or bid it. Some of the contractors here do not need a bid, but I do not have any idea what to charge. I have been on your site and found it very helpful, but wanted to know how to charge in the Florida area.
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| Bidding & Estimating - Nancy Ferro |
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Post-construction cleaning of new homes could well run 16¢ to 24¢ a square foot in your area. The higher prices are for difficult jobs such as expensive homes with skylights, second and third floor windows to clean, and having intricate architectural design. Lower prices are for high volume tract homes.
A 2,000 sq. ft. home at $.20 = $400 and would likely take 2 people one full day to complete. However, if windows were not properly masked and overspray is everywhere, I would double my price as it would take an entire day to clean just the windows. Add to that any second story ladder work and extra time for decorator panes. It is not unusual for windows to take over 30% of the job.
Each cleaning contractor has different labor rates, overhead, insurance rates, cleaning production rates, and desired profit ratios. With that in mind, if your rates were close to the ones below, you might shoot for $23 an hour per worker.
$10 an hour labor cost (average Florida janitorial rate)
2 payroll taxes and insurance
1 chemical and equipment
3 overhead
7 profit
$23 Hourly billing
Some states are starting to require a contractor’s license to do post-construction cleaning. This can require several hours of viewing videos and taking a contractor’s test, so check with the Construction Contractor’s Board under your state phone listings. Most building contractors will require bonding, liability insurance, and workers comp.
Landing the maid service for occupied homes is quite different. The same 2,000 sq. ft. home would likely take two people 1 ½ hours to clean on a weekly basis unless kitchen detail is excessive or you must do laundry. At $23 an hour your billing price would be $69. Since cleaning variables are different for each job, a sliding scale is your best bet. With a few jobs under your belt you will be able to tweak your labor rates, expenses, and production times.
Gary Clipperton
National Pro Clean Corp.
(719) 598-5112
www.nationalproclean.com
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| ICAN representative |
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