While many sectors of the global economy were impacted negatively by governmental decisions surrounding COVID-19, commercial cleaning wasn’t one of them. As a matter of fact, in the U.S. alone, the commercial cleaning industry is worth a staggering 117 billion dollars.
That massive number tells us the importance that cleanliness has taken on to satiate new expectations timid consumers have of where they do business.
If you’re feeling the pressure internally or externally to step up your cleaning game, you may be mulling over the commercial cleaner cost question and whether or not your business can stomach it. Keep reading to better understand the factors the impact cleaning rates and to discover averages that’ll help you frame your partnership decisions.
Commercial Cleaner Costs Vary
While we’d like to be able to quote you a clean number on what you’re likely to pay when hiring commercial cleaning, we can’t. That’s because several factors will severely impact what you pay for a cleaning service.
Below, we discuss those factors so you can better understand the price you receive when you request a formal quote.
Type of Business
The kind of business you need to have cleaned will have implications on the rate you’ll pay. For example, if you have a 1000 square foot office that’s non-consumer facing where your team sits on computers all day, you’re going to pay a lot less for cleaning than if you had a 1000 square foot restaurant.
Why? Because consumer-facing buildings have higher cleanliness standards and restaurants even more so.
Bottom line, the more pressure you put on your cleaner to do a meticulous job, the more they’ll charge.
Your Area
Location matters when it comes to getting the best prices on services. This is directly tied to the cost of living.
As an example of extremes, if you were to hire a professional cleaning service in the tiny town of Pueblo, Colorado, you would pay much less for the same level of service than if you were hiring a team in San Francisco.
San Francisco has much higher expenses and those expenses will all get passed down to you as a consumer.
Specialty Equipment
Every commercial cleaner knows how to clean a desk. Not every cleaner will know how to properly clean a commercial refrigerator.
With that in mind, expect to pay more for your services if you have a lot of specialty equipment that needs to be tidied up. To save money, some people choose to clean specialty equipment themselves and hire help to manage general tasks.
COVID Considerations
How is your community reacting to COVID? Are things largely business as usual? Is the government imposing strict regulations on businesses that are still running?
The more pressure your cleaner feels from COVID, the more effort and investment they’ll have to put into complying with standards in every job they tackle. Again, those extra expenses and effort will be passed down to you on the consumer level.
Contract Versus Hourly
If the cleaning job you put out is a one and done job, your cleaning quote will be based on whatever your cleaner’s hourly rate is. If your job is recurring, we suggest getting a contract rate.
A contract rate is a flat, discounted rate that your cleaner might offer if you give them regular, guaranteed work. Even the best commercial cleaning services may not advertise contract rates. We still recommend striking up the conversation if you’re planning on a recurring arrangement.
You may find that cleaners are willing to strike special, off the books deals with you so long as you’re not afraid to ask!
Company Versus Freelancer
The final common factor that’ll affect the price you’ll pay for a commercial cleaner is whether your cleaner comes from a company or is a freelancer.
In general, freelancers are cleaners you’d hire from an app-based gig platform. These cleaners work for themselves and are probably a little cheaper/flexible than their more organization-based counterparts. As a downside, several freelancers don’t have business licensure (which may be required in your area) or an insurance policy.
Hiring a cleaner without insurance means that if they damage your property on the job, you’ll have limited recourse.
For that reason, we recommend giving special consideration to more formal commercial cleaning organizations.
Let’s Talk Averages
With the information we’ve laid out, we hope you understand that being able to quote you on cleaning without knowing anything about you is impossible. If you’re still hungry for averages though, here are a few baselines for you:
For a busy city like Las Vegas Nevada, a typical commercial cleaner charges between about $200 to $300 per job, according to popular freelance platforms. Standard office cleanings might range from $30 to $50 per hour while medical office and restaurant cleanings can range from $50 to $150.
Discover the Value a Commercial Cleaner Can Bring to Your Business
Hiring a commercial cleaner is an additional expanse during a time when money is tight for most businesses. Still, you may be surprised by how much value cleaners can bring to your operation via time savings, emboldening consumer confidence, and more.
The only way to find out for sure if working with a commercial cleaner is right for you is to take the leap and try it out. If you do, we’re confident you’ll wonder how you ever lived without a dedicated sanitation partner.
Looking for more commercial cleaner information? Need general guidance on growing your business in today’s market?
If so, check out more of the content we have available on our blog.
