RATES

Square-foot cleaning rates describe a building. Tasks price it.

Per-square-foot numbers are easy to advertise and easy to get wrong. Two 10,000 sq ft buildings can differ by a factor of two in restroom labor. SweepTally prices tasks; you may still quote a footage equivalent after the takeoff.

When footage is useful

Open warehouse aisles, empty floors and simple offices can be discussed in square feet once you have timed the machine or mop. Footage is a communication tool after the inventory, not a substitute for it.

When footage hides the job

Medical exam rooms, restaurant kitchens, school restrooms and apartment trash rooms do not scale smoothly with floor area. Travel between buildings on a campus is not in the square footage at all.

How to convert

Take off the tasks. Compute monthly price. Divide by included area if the customer wants a footage statistic. Do not start from a national “average rate” and work backwards — that is how underbids are born. The warehouse example shows machine time as a task on a large floor.

Common questions

What is a typical commercial cleaning rate per square foot?

SweepTally does not publish a market average. Wages, scope and visits vary too much for a honest single number.

Can Takeoff accept square feet?

Yes. You enter the area included in the clean, then rooms and services. Production remains your rates.

Should buyers demand a footage price?

Demand a scope. A footage number without visits and restrooms is not enough to hire on.