What is the NAICS code for janitorial services?

The NAICS code for janitorial services is 561720, Janitorial Services. It is the right code for most recurring cleaning contracts: nightly cleaning of offices, restrooms, break rooms, lobbies and common areas, plus window cleaning. It applies no matter what industry the building serves.

Buyers get tripped up by the contract that is mostly cleaning, with other work attached. A solicitation that bundles nightly janitorial, floor care, a day porter and some light maintenance can reasonably point at three different codes. Below are the neighboring codes, what each one covers, and how to pick for a bundled scope.

What NAICS 561720 covers

561720 covers establishments primarily engaged in cleaning building interiors, the interiors of transportation equipment such as aircraft, rail cars and ships, and windows. The Census Bureau's examples include custodial services, housekeeping services and washroom sanitation.

In buyer terms, a contract coded 561720 is the one where a crew comes in on a schedule and cleans the inside of the building. That includes the tasks most facility managers think of as janitorial:

• Trash and recycling removal
• Restroom cleaning and restocking
• Dusting and wiping of desks, counters and touchpoints
• Vacuuming and mopping
• Routine floor maintenance on hard floors
• Interior and exterior window cleaning

The code follows the work, not the client. Cleaning a medical office, a school, a federal courthouse or a distribution center is still 561720 when interior cleaning is the main job. For a sense of what a full scope looks like, see our janitorial services page.

The neighboring codes, side by side

Classification mistakes usually happen one code over. These are the ones that come up when you write a cleaning or building services solicitation:

Two rules sit behind the table. First, a code describes the principal purpose of the contract, not every task in it. Second, the client's industry never decides the code. A hospital cleaning contract does not become a health care code.

The older SIC system grouped much of this under 7349, Building Cleaning and Maintenance Services. Some insurance and vendor forms still ask for it.

How to code a bundled cleaning solicitation

Real contracts are rarely pure janitorial. A typical multi-service scope for an office or medical building looks like this:

• Nightly janitorial, five nights a week
• A day porter during business hours
• Quarterly carpet extraction and a yearly strip and refinish of hard floors
• Light maintenance: lamp changes, ceiling tiles, small hardware fixes, issue reporting

On federal work, the contracting officer picks the single code that best describes the principal purpose of the acquisition. In practice that usually follows the largest share of contract value. Private procurement teams that code their own vendor records can use the same test.

Rough it out by share of the annual price:

Three traps to watch:

1. A floor care line does not make it 561740. Quarterly carpet extraction inside a janitorial contract is part of the cleaning scope. 561740 fits when carpet work is the contract.
2. A maintenance punch list does not make it 561210. Lamp changes and ceiling tiles on a cleaning contract are an add-on. 561210 describes a contractor staffing several support functions in your facility.
3. Trade work does not belong in a janitorial solicitation. If the scope includes electrical or plumbing repairs, split it into its own solicitation. Our light facility maintenance page shows where the cleaning contractor's work stops and licensed trades start.

Why the code changes who bids

On federal and many state solicitations, the NAICS code sets the SBA size standard, the receipts limit under which a company counts as small. A small business set-aside is open only to companies under that limit for the code you chose.

Codes in the same group carry different limits, and 561210 has a higher receipts limit than 561720. Coding a mostly-janitorial contract as facilities support can let larger companies into a small business set-aside. Coding a true facilities support contract as 561720 can shut out firms that would otherwise qualify. Bidders can appeal a NAICS designation, which delays the award. Check the current SBA table before you release, because limits are adjusted periodically.

Reading a bidder's codes

A cleaning company's registration usually lists several codes. Federal contractors register in SAM.gov with a primary NAICS code and any number of secondary codes, so a janitorial firm might list 561720 alongside 561210, 561740 and 561790.

That list tells you what a company is willing to bid on, not what it does well. When you check a bidder, look past the codes to the buildings it cleans today:

• Ask which current accounts look like yours in size, type and schedule.
• Ask which services it performs with its own staff and which it hands to another company.
• Ask for references from contracts with the same mix of services as yours.

The PSC code that goes with it

Federal solicitations also carry a Product and Service Code, which describes what is being bought rather than who sells it. Custodial and janitorial work is usually S201, Housekeeping, Custodial Janitorial. A combined facilities support contract is often S216, Facilities Operations Support. Keep the NAICS and PSC consistent: a solicitation coded 561720 with a PSC for something else invites questions from bidders.

Where private buyers run into NAICS codes

You do not need a NAICS code to hire a cleaning company for a private building, but you will meet one in a few places:

• Vendor onboarding forms. Procurement systems often ask for the supplier's primary code. For a janitorial vendor, it is 561720.
• Supplier diversity reporting. Spend by category is often tracked by code.
• RFPs that mirror government templates. Many property managers and school districts reuse public RFP formats, which ask for a code.
• Insurance and risk reviews. Classification codes help underwriters and risk managers understand what the vendor does in your building.

For public facilities, see how we approach government facility cleaning. If you are writing the scope itself, our janitorial RFP guide covers the bid sheet and the fields that make proposals comparable.

Price the split before you pick the code

The code decision rests on one number: the share of the annual price each service represents. Request a free facility assessment and ask for janitorial, porter, floor care and light maintenance priced as separate lines. The split tells you whether 561720 or 561210 describes your contract, before a bidder raises the question. Or call (202) 968-1190.