Janitorial workload and bid calculator
Work out how many labour hours a building needs and what to charge for it. Enter each area with its square footage, a production rate and how often it is cleaned; add the periodic work the contract calls for; set your wage and margins. The method is the standard workloading formula: minutes per visit = square feet ÷ square feet per hour × 60.
Routine areas
Rates are starting points. Replace them with your own timed rates for the building; a walkthrough with a stopwatch beats any table.
| Area | Sq ft | Sq ft / hour | Visits / week | Per visit | Remove |
|---|
Periodic work
Strip and refinish, extraction, windows and high dusting are priced per year and spread across the monthly price so the hours are reserved before the nightly route eats them.
| Task | Sq ft | Sq ft / hour | Times / year | Per year | Remove |
|---|
Labour cost and price
Burden covers payroll taxes, WSIB or workers' compensation and benefits; 15–25% is typical. Margin is a share of price, not a markup on cost.
How the numbers are built
- Each routine area: minutes per visit = square feet ÷ square feet per hour × 60, multiplied by visits per week.
- Weekly hours × 52 ÷ 12 gives routine hours per month; periodic hours per year ÷ 12 are added.
- Labour = hours × wage × (1 + burden). Supplies are a share of labour; overhead a share of labour plus supplies.
- Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin), so a 20% margin on a $4,000 cost is $5,000, not $4,800.
Where the starting rates come from
The presets are round numbers in the range trade references such as the ISSA Cleaning Times publish for general cleaning with standard equipment. They are deliberately conservative and they are not the tables themselves. Time your own crew on a representative floor and overwrite them; a building with heavy soil, dense furniture or long travel between areas runs well below the preset.