Guides
How to bundle commercial cleaning services
How to package commercial cleaning services into tiers: a frequency matrix, the rules for what stays outside every tier, and pricing each tier to earn on its own.
What to take away
- A package is a frequency matrixthe same task list at different frequencies and coverage, so the buyer chooses how much cleaning rather than which cleaning.
- Price the lowest tier to contribute on its own. If it only exists to make the middle tier look reasonable, half your customers will buy it and you will lose money on half your customers.
- Put three things outside every tierconsumables, periodics, and emergency calls. They are quoted, never bundled.
- Name tiers by what the building gets, not by adjectives. "Five nights, restrooms nightly, full vacuum weekly" beats "Premium."
- Every tier states its inspection cadence. That line is what the customer is actually buying.
Start from one scope
Take the nightly scope you already deliver for one building type, as a task list per area with frequencies. That list is the raw material. Packaging is deciding which frequencies move between tiers and which stay fixed. The services and packages guide explains why packages are compared and scopes are worked; this page is the method for building the tiers.
The frequency matrix
The tiers differ by frequency and coverage, never by quality. Restrooms are cleaned properly in every tier; what changes is how often.
Tier Frequency Matrix
Basic
- Restrooms cleaned
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum full
- Weekly
- Hard floor damp mop
- Weekly
- High dusting
- Not included
- Service nights per week
- Three
- Supervisor inspection
- Monthly
Standard
- Restrooms cleaned
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum full
- Twice weekly
- Hard floor damp mop
- Twice weekly
- High dusting
- Quarterly
- Service nights per week
- Five
- Supervisor inspection
- Twice monthly
Full
- Restrooms cleaned
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum full
- Every visit
- Hard floor damp mop
- Every visit
- High dusting
- Monthly
- Service nights per week
- Five
- Supervisor inspection
- Weekly
Basic
- Trash and liners, all stations
- Every visit
- Restrooms cleaned and disinfected
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum, traffic lanes
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum, full
- Weekly
- Hard floor damp mop
- Weekly
- Kitchen counters and sink
- Every visit
- Kitchen appliance exteriors
- Monthly
- Dusting below shoulder height
- Monthly
- Interior partition glass
- Quarterly
- High dusting
- Not included
- Service nights per week
- Three
- Inspection by a supervisor
- Monthly
Standard
- Trash and liners, all stations
- Every visit
- Restrooms cleaned and disinfected
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum, traffic lanes
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum, full
- Twice weekly
- Hard floor damp mop
- Twice weekly
- Kitchen counters and sink
- Every visit
- Kitchen appliance exteriors
- Weekly
- Dusting below shoulder height
- Weekly
- Interior partition glass
- Monthly
- High dusting
- Quarterly
- Service nights per week
- Five
- Inspection by a supervisor
- Twice monthly
Full
- Trash and liners, all stations
- Every visit
- Restrooms cleaned and disinfected
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum, traffic lanes
- Every visit
- Carpet vacuum, full
- Every visit
- Hard floor damp mop
- Every visit
- Kitchen counters and sink
- Every visit
- Kitchen appliance exteriors
- Every visit
- Dusting below shoulder height
- Twice weekly
- Interior partition glass
- Weekly
- High dusting
- Monthly
- Service nights per week
- Five
- Inspection by a supervisor
- Weekly
Your matrix will differ; the shape is what matters. Notice that the tasks a missed visit would make visible, restrooms and trash, are every visit in every tier. Notice also that inspection is a row, because it is a cost and a promise.
Rules for what never goes in a tier
- Consumables. Paper, soap, and liners are customer-supplied, passed through at cost plus a stated handling allowance, or included with a usage history behind the figure. Stated on every quote, outside the tier.
- Periodics. Strip and wax, carpet extraction, and exterior glass are calendar jobs with their own price. Putting them inside a monthly figure means they are done late or free.
- Emergencies and one-time work. Post-event cleanups and flood response are hourly with a minimum.
- Anything you cannot supervise. If you cannot inspect it on the stated cadence, it is not in the tier.
Pricing the tiers so each one earns
- Price the Basic tier from its own minutes, using the method in the pricing cluster: minutes per task, times frequency, times loaded labor, plus supplies and overhead share, with the margin applied. If Basic does not contribute, raise its price or remove it. Never subsidize it from Standard.
- Price Standard and Full the same way. The gap between tiers should track the labor difference, not a marketing instinct.
- Check contribution per labor hour across the three. If Full earns less per hour than Basic, its frequencies are too generous for its price.
- Test the matrix on the next five walkthroughs and record which tier each buyer chose and what they asked to change. Adjust the rows, not the prices, first.
Records make step three possible. The IRS page on what records a business should keep describes documents that support income and expenses; for packaging, the useful habit is timesheets by account and tier, so each tier's real hours are known.
Pricing Tiers to Earn
- Price Basic from own minutes and margin.
- Price Standard and Full the same way.
- Check contribution per labor hour.
- Test matrix on next five walkthroughs.
Naming and describing tiers honestly
Describe each tier by its rows: nights per week, per-visit tasks, weekly tasks, inspection cadence. Avoid adjectives that promise a standard you cannot show; the Federal Trade Commission's advertising guidance for small businesses says advertising claims must be truthful and supported, and a brochure is advertising.
"Disinfected to a clinical standard" is a claim. "Restrooms cleaned and disinfected every visit with the product specified in your scope" is a description.
Where a tier touches hazardous products or clinical spaces, packaging is also a safety question.
OSHA's cleaning industry page lists hazards the agency ties to cleaning work and links the standards. Before you sell the tier, use it to ask what written programs and training your crews need for the products the scope names.
What the tiers commit you to
Each row you add means equipment and training to own. A Full tier with weekly interior glass and monthly high dusting needs extension tools and someone trained to use them safely on a ladder at night.
The equipment and setup guide shows what each task needs, and the hiring and training guide covers training a crew to a written standard.
Do not add a row you cannot staff.
A business plan for a cleaning company should carry the matrix and the contribution per hour of each tier. Which lines beyond nightly janitorial are worth adding at all is tested in the service-line profitability protocol.
Common questions
Should every building get all three tiers?
Offer the two that fit the walkthrough. A building with one restroom and no kitchen does not need a Full tier, and offering it invites a negotiation about rows that do not apply.
What if a customer wants to mix rows from different tiers?
Price the custom matrix from its own minutes. The tiers are a starting point, not a menu law. Write the result as its own scope.
How do I move an existing customer onto the matrix?
At renewal, map their current scope onto the nearest tier and show the rows that change. Most accept a clearer document at the same price.
Do I show the matrix on my website?
Show the rows without prices. The price depends on the walkthrough, and a public figure becomes a ceiling in every negotiation.
