How to compare commercial cleaning bids fairly

Comparing commercial cleaning bids fairly means making them describe the same job before you look at the price. Put every bid on one sheet, priced against the same scope and frequencies. Then check whether the hours behind each price can actually deliver it.

This assumes your request already went out. If you have not sent one yet, start with our janitorial RFP guide, which covers the scope, bid sheet, and process. What follows is what to do when the bids are on your desk.

Build a leveling sheet first

A leveling sheet is a spreadsheet with your scope down the left and each bidder across the top. Every line is either priced, included, or excluded. Nothing is assumed.

Start with these rows:

Fill it from each proposal as written, not from the sales call. If a line is missing, write "not stated" and ask. Bidders who cannot fill a row in writing have told you something.

While you fill it in, watch for the phrases that shrink a scope without saying so:

• "As needed." Needed by whom, judged when? Ask for a frequency.
• "Spot clean." Spot cleaning glass or carpet is not cleaning it. Find out when the full clean happens.
• "Common areas." Does that include tenant suites, private offices, and the break room?
• "Periodic floor maintenance." With no frequency, it can mean once a year.
• "Up to" a number of hours. A ceiling, not a commitment.
• "Standard supplies." Which products, which dispensers, and who pays when usage goes up?

Each one should become a line with a frequency or a number before the bid goes into the comparison.

Separate the base price from everything else

Most bid gaps hide in what is bundled. Split each bid into four parts before comparing totals:

1. Nightly base scope. The recurring cleaning, priced monthly.
2. Day porter hours. Priced by the hour or as a monthly line.
3. Periodic work. Floor burnishing, scrub and recoat, strips, carpet extraction, high dusting, each with a frequency.
4. Consumables. Paper, soap, liners, and whether they are included or billed at cost.

Then convert everything to an annual figure. A bid with a low monthly base and two strips a year priced separately can cost more over twelve months than a higher monthly bid that includes quarterly recoats. Periodic work is where proposals differ most, and our commercial cleaning cost guide lists the drivers behind those lines.

Check the hours behind each price

This is the step most buyers skip, and the one that tells you which bid will still be working in month six. Cleaning is mostly labor. A price that does not carry enough labor hours cannot deliver the scope, however good the proposal reads.

Ask every bidder for nightly labor hours, then do the arithmetic:

• Monthly labor hours = hours per night × service nights per month (five nights a week is about 21.7 nights a month).
• Cost per labor hour = monthly base price ÷ monthly labor hours.

A hypothetical example for the same five-night scope:

Bidder C looks cheapest, but it is the most expensive per hour. It is cheap because it plans about 40 percent fewer hours than A. Either C has found a much faster way to clean your building, or the hours will run out before the scope does.

Now flip it. If one bidder's cost per labor hour sits far below the others and below what local wages plus taxes and insurance could support, ask how. Public wage data for janitors in your area, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, gives you a floor to compare against.

We quote a project price for each building and scope, and break out the labor hours behind it when you ask. Ask every bidder for the same.

Insurance, inspections, and people

Once the numbers are level, compare what stands behind them. These rows decide whether a problem gets fixed or argued about:

• Insurance. Get a certificate of insurance from each finalist and check it against your requirements. Our post on what a certificate of insurance should show covers what to look for.
• Bonding and background checks. Ask whether crews are background-checked and whether the company is bonded.
• Supervision. Who inspects, how often, and how you see the results.
• Your contact. One named account manager, or a general support line.
• Response. How urgent requests are handled during the day, and how fast.
• Training. How new crew members learn your building before working alone.

Terms and the transition

Two bids with the same price can carry very different risk. Check the term, the notice period, and the price escalation clause. A multi-year term with a long notice period and automatic yearly increases is a different deal from a one-year term with a short exit.

Then ask each finalist for a written transition plan: start date, building walk, key and alarm handover, supply inventory, and who inspects in week one. Our guide to switching commercial cleaning companies covers what that handover should include.

What the low bid really costs

The cheapest bid often costs more, and the reason is rarely visible on the bid itself. Thin hours show up later as costs you pay in other ways:

• Your time. Every missed restroom or full trash can becomes an email from a tenant or employee to you.
• Floor damage. Rushed crews mop finished floors with the wrong chemical or skip dust mopping, and the next strip comes a year early.
• Turnover on the crew. Understaffed routes burn people out, and every new cleaner relearns your building.
• The rebid. If the contract fails in year one, you run this whole process again, plus a transition.

Before you award on price alone, hold a short clarification call with the low bidder. Ask them to walk through nightly hours by area, what is excluded, and how they would handle a busy restroom at 2 p.m. Their answers will tell you whether the low number is efficiency or a gap. For what else to ask, see how to hire a commercial cleaning company.

Questions to send every finalist

Copy these into one email so every answer comes back in the same form:

• What are your nightly labor hours, by area?
• Which tasks in our scope are excluded or priced separately?
• What periodic work is included, and on what dates?
• Who supplies consumables, and how are they billed?
• Who inspects, how often, and how will we see the results?
• Who is our account manager, and how do we reach them during the day?
• What are the term, the notice period, and the escalation clause?
• What does the first 30 days look like?

Add a bid you can check

If you are leveling bids now, we will walk the building, price the same scope, and show the labor hours behind our number so you can compare it line for line. Book a free facility assessment or call (202) 968-1190.