Guides
Commercial Cleaning Business Quote Template: Ten Fields and Scope to Include
Commercial cleaning quote template with the ten fields a facility manager expects, two placeholder pricing examples, and the omissions that get quotes rejected.
What to take away
- A commercial cleaning quote is a scope document with a price attached, not a price with a scope attached. Facility managers compare scopes; the price only matters once the scopes match.
- The template has ten fields. Leave any of them blank and the blank becomes the argument six months later.
- Consumables, periodics, and access get their own lines. Those three are where every "but I thought that was included" begins.
- The pricing examples here use placeholders, not figures, because a figure that fits your town is unknown to this page. The structure is what transfers.
- Attach the walkthrough sheet. A quote the customer can trace to their own building is one they trust.
The template fields
| Field | What goes in it | Why the facility manager needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Customer and site | Legal customer name, site address, the building contact, and the billing contact if different | Vendor onboarding forms ask for exactly this |
| Areas in scope | Every area type with its cleanable square footage and fixture counts | Lets them check your survey against their floor plan |
| Nightly tasks | Task list per area, in the words you will train crews with | Becomes the inspection checklist |
| Weekly and monthly tasks | Same, by frequency | Stops "you never dust the vents" disputes |
| Periodic services | Strip and wax, carpet extraction, high dusting, interior glass: frequency and price each, or excluded | The line most often assumed and least often included |
| Consumables | Customer-supplied, passed through at cost plus a stated handling allowance, or included | The most common margin leak in the trade |
| Schedule and access | Service nights, arrival window, keys, alarm, guard desk, parking | Their security team will ask before you start |
| Monthly price | One figure for the recurring scope, plus what changes it | What they compare, once scope matches |
| Extras and changes | Hourly rate with a minimum for emergencies; how added areas are priced and approved | Prevents free work and unpaid growth |
| Term, start, and review | Contract length, start date, first review date, notice period | Puts the renewal conversation on the calendar |
Every figure in the price field should trace to a line in the areas and tasks fields, which is the method described in how to price a building step by step.
Worked example one: a small professional office
Placeholders stand in for your own numbers.
How the office monthly price is built
- Two restrooms and one kitchen drive nightly minutes M
- M times service nights N gives monthly labor
- Loaded labor W converts minutes to cost
- Margin decided in advance sets the price
- Monthly price Pm is the result
- A third restroom triggers a walkthrough addendum
Small professional office
- Areas
- reception, open office of A1 square feet, four private offices, one conference room, one kitchen, two restrooms with R fixtures each.
- Nightly
- empty trash and replace liners at every station, vacuum carpet in traffic lanes, spot-clean glass at the entry, clean and disinfect restrooms, wipe kitchen counters and sink.
- Weekly
- full vacuum of all carpet, dust horizontal surfaces below shoulder height, mop hard floors in kitchen and restrooms.
- Monthly
- high dusting, clean interior partition glass, detail the kitchen appliance exteriors.
- Periodics
- carpet extraction at frequency Fc, priced Pc per visit. Strip and wax not applicable.
- Consumables
- customer supplies paper and soap; contractor supplies liners and chemicals, included.
- Access
- five nights per week, arrival after 6 p.m., key and alarm code held by the contractor, street parking.
- Monthly price
- Pm, derived from nightly minutes M, service nights N, loaded labor W, and the margin decided in advance.
- Extras
- hourly rate He with a two-hour minimum. Added areas priced by walkthrough addendum.
- Term
- twelve months, ninety-day review, thirty-day notice.
The customer can see that Pm depends on M, and that M depends on the two restrooms and the kitchen. If a third restroom opens next year, the addendum is a recalculation rather than a negotiation.
Worked example two: a medical-adjacent suite
Same template, different lines, to show where the structure earns its keep.
Office quote versus medical suite quote
Small office
- Restrooms
- Two
- Exam rooms
- None
- Consumables
- Contractor liners
- Regulated waste
- Not named
- Access
- Key and alarm
- Monthly price
- Pm
Medical suite
- Restrooms
- Three
- Exam rooms
- Six
- Consumables
- Customer supplies all
- Regulated waste
- Excluded
- Access
- Badge access
- Monthly price
- Pm2, higher per square foot
Medical-adjacent suite
- Areas
- waiting room, front desk, six exam rooms, one lab-style prep room, staff break area, three restrooms including one patient restroom.
- Nightly
- the office tasks above, plus exam room surfaces wiped with the product the customer specifies, restroom disinfection to the customer's written standard.
- Consumables
- customer supplies all disinfectants and paper; the contractor does not substitute products. Stated in the field, because product substitution in a clinical setting is a liability question for both parties.
- Regulated waste
- excluded. The suite's own waste vendor handles it. Stated in the field.
- Access
- after close, badge access, alarm, staff parking.
- Monthly price
- Pm2, higher than the office per square foot because fixture count and wipe-down time per room drive M, and because the bad-night allowance is larger.
The point is not the figure. It is that the medical suite's quote names its exclusions, and the office's quote does not need to.
What facility managers reject
- A single line reading "complete janitorial service" with a price. They cannot compare it, and they assume the worst about what is missing.
- Quotes with no fixture counts, which signal that no one walked the building.
- Consumables left unmentioned.
- No hourly rate for extras, which means the first spill becomes a fee argument.
- Claims on the cover letter that cannot be supported. The Federal Trade Commission's advertising guidance for small businesses applies to a quote's marketing language as much as to a flyer: "guaranteed lowest price" on page one is a claim you have to be able to prove.
Keeping the quote honest after signing
File the quote, the walkthrough sheet, and every addendum by account. The IRS page on what records a business should keep is about tax records. The discipline it describes, documents that support each transaction, is the same one that lets you show a customer which version of the scope they signed.
When wages move, the BLS wage tables are one way to see whether the local occupation estimate moved with them, before you decide whether Pm needs a review. Whether an account is still worth holding at the reviewed price is answered in the break-even and contribution arithmetic.
The template also changes with the building type you sell to. Which buildings suit a new operator is covered in which markets suit a cleaning business. The equipment and setup guide explains what a periodic line commits you to owning. The rules that turn one building's cost into a quote are in the pricing and profit guide.
Common questions
Should the quote show my hourly labor cost?
No. Show the monthly price and the scope that produces it. The labor arithmetic is yours; the scope is what the customer is buying.
How long should a quote stay valid?
State a validity period on the document. Wages and supply costs move, and an old quote accepted late is an underbid you agreed to.
Do I need a separate quote for periodics?
Put them on the same document, each on its own line with a frequency and price, or an explicit exclusion. A separate document gets lost.
What if the customer will not allow a walkthrough?
Offer a range conditional on a site visit, in writing. A firm price without a visit is a guess you will be held to.
