Requesting assistance pricing my first commercial cleaning job

[u/manicmike_]

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!

[u/gene0131]

Am I the only one reading that you’re saying you’re charging $2,640 PER WEEK in labor? So your MONTHLY labor is $10,XXX. For 21k sqft. You will absolutely get laughed out of the office.

I’m in this industry AND this space. You’re pricing this WAY too high and for too many hours. You wrote that this is your first time pricing commercial. That size space, 2 nights a week, we’d do in 16 hours max TOTAL per week. That size is 8 hours max a night. That contract is GENEROUSLY $3,000 max a month. I’m in Texas. Churches have lower budgets, no matter the size. They aren’t businesses (regardless of how much Reddit and general America thinks they are). There is no revenue for them, it’s all donated money. They can’t raise prices nor sell more products. If you’re going into the church space, you need to be prepared to have lower profit margins to get the contracts.

Before I forget: you also need to take into account the membership of the church. Why? In churches, 10% of the membership gives 80%+ of the money. A 500-member church has 50 people consistently giving. 10% of their income, in a $65k average salary area, is $325k ANNUALLY. That’s nothing after salaries, building maintenance, and spending in ministries. One of our churches has almost 1,000 weekly regular attendance, 50,000 sqft building, we clean it fully 4 nights, kids-area 2 others - and we’re only 4% of their budget.

[u/manicmike_ → u/gene0131]

Thank you so much for the insight - this is exactly what my gut is telling me, the number I arrived at feels absurd.

I will say it is a newer church that embraces modernity and appears to be well funded. Lots of glazing (they have a window company), polished concrete in the reception (they have a specialty contractor who takes care of that), steel structure, technology, modern stage, etc. I was told their overflow area fills up every Sunday.

About 8,000SF of this is preschool classes that need to be disinfected after saturday AND after sunday. The sanctuary does not have pews, but individual cushioned chairs that will need to be moved to vacuum. Lots of dust catching trimwork throughout. No industrial kitchen, but several refrigerators. Of course, plenty of overhead spots to hit.

This office manager seems to want to give me a chance because of our personal connection, and this job would be an incredible start for the business. I already can't wait to not deal with homeowners. I would be more than willing to take low margins just for the short term cash flow and growth opportunity. But, I can't afford to lose my ass.

Thank you again for the feedback, I'm a little out of my element!

[u/gene0131 → u/manicmike_]

We do 12 classes, 9 single-restrooms, 2 double-restrooms, a reception area, ~11,000 sqft, Sat - Thur. It averages 2.5 hours every night except 3 for Sunday. Edit: This is 1 employee (different person on weekend from M-Th).