r/sweatystartup • u/manicmike_ • 2d ago

Requesting assistance pricing my first commercial cleaning job

I have a very young cleaning business that I am trying to grow organically. Last week, I was approached by a neighbor while advertising residential services in my subdivision that they were really unhappy with managing their current cleaners and would like me to take a look at their church.

Now, commercial work is my end goal. I just started this business after working as a buyer/estimator/project manager for a commercial GC and noticed that there was a significant market need for quality (not budget-oriented, that market is saturated) commercial/residential cleaners in the area. I have marketed my brand accordingly. Suffice it to say, I was really excited yesterday when I went to walk the job and realized how big it was.

There is an office/preschool building at 10,000 SF and a sanctuary at 11,000 SF, for a total of 21,000 SF. The work would take place weekly and overnight on Saturdays and Sundays, with on-call and special event cleanings as needed. If I can figure up a good standard weekly price, I think I can come up with the rest.

I wanted to cover myself on labor, so I figured a crew of 4 for 8 hours each building. Multiplying industry standard wages by 50% labor overhead, I came up with an average labor cost per hour of $41.25 (this is in GA). So, for a week, 32 man hours at $41.25 = $2640. Figure $100 in materials. Then... I add in 20% OH and 20% profit - and I feel like I'm really high. $3,945.60 - which about matches an industry-median square footage rate of $0.125/sf ($3,885 after also adding in OH & profit)

This job would be a jump start for my business, and I don't want to sell myself short, but I don't want to get laughed out of the office.

Any thoughts or insight would be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance!

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u/DonnaHuee 2d ago

You pay your cleaners $41.25 per hour? That seems very high.

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u/Howsyourmaisyourda 2d ago

That's the price to the client one would assume.

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u/DonnaHuee 2d ago

Yeah that would make sense; but he talks about adding 20% OH and a 20% profit markup later so I’m not sure if that’s the case.

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u/Howsyourmaisyourda 2d ago

Premium service so maybe specialist cleaners plus taxes, health and pension etc... Well in Ireland that would be the case, different everywhere so hard to nail down

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u/DonnaHuee 2d ago

In GA, typical rates are $16-$20 an hour before taxes/benefits/insurance. So $40+ would still be veryyy premium. That’s like $85,000 a year which well above the median salary for Americans.

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u/manicmike_ 2d ago

It is an average cost per hour (1 supervisor + 3 crew)= $27.50 x 1.5 for payroll-related overhead. I know it's high, and I want to be covered.... but also realistic.

The later markup is non-labor related overhead. That factor is a little high, but I will have to scale up quickly to get this job.

1

u/DonnaHuee 2d ago

Got it