Tool
Cleaning scope calculator
Enter the cleanable area and how many times a week it is cleaned, and this tool returns a range of labor hours per visit, per week and per month. It is a planning estimate to hold a bid against, not a quote and not a market average. You can change every assumption, and nothing is asked of you to see the result.
Reviewed September 30, 2026
Get a cleaning company
Free. Takes a minute. One company that serves your area contacts you.
Your building
Toilets, urinals and sinks
Change the assumptions
Planning assumption. Dense or cluttered space.
Planning assumption. Open, lightly used space.
Planning assumption.
Default is the U.S. mean for building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations, May 2025 (BLS). Miami metro: $18.23.
- Labor hours per visit
- 5.6 to 10.6
- Labor hours per week
- 28 to 53
- Labor hours per month
- 121.3 to 229.7
- Wages per month, not a price
- $2,385 to $4,515
A planning estimate from your inputs and the assumptions above. Wages exclude payroll taxes, insurance, supplies, supervision, overhead and margin. Get site-specific quotes.
The formulas
- Hours per visit = cleanable square feet ÷ production rate, plus restroom fixtures × minutes per fixture ÷ 60.
- Hours per week = hours per visit × visits per week.
- Hours per month = hours per week × 4.33 (52 weeks ÷ 12 months).
- Wages per month = hours per month × hourly wage.
The tool runs the first formula twice, once with a slow production rate and once with a fast one, so the answer is a range. A real building lands somewhere inside it depending on density, floor types and how much furniture has to be worked around.
Where the defaults come from
| Assumption | Default | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Production rate, slow case | 2,000 sq ft per labor hour | CityPreferred planning assumption. Not a measured benchmark or a published standard. Replace it with your incumbent's actual hours if you have them. |
| Production rate, fast case | 4,000 sq ft per labor hour | CityPreferred planning assumption, as above. |
| Minutes per restroom fixture | 3 | CityPreferred planning assumption. Restrooms are slower than open floor, so they are counted separately. |
| Hourly wage | $19.66 | Mean hourly wage for building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations, United States, May 2025. [1] The Miami metro figure in the same table is $18.23. |
What the wage figure leaves out
Wages per month is hours multiplied by an hourly wage and nothing else. A contract price also has to cover payroll taxes, workers' compensation and liability insurance, supplies and equipment, supervision, travel, overhead and the provider's margin. This tool does not estimate those, so the wage figure is a floor under a bid, never a prediction of one.
Periodic work is also outside the result: floor refinishing, carpet extraction, window cleaning and post-construction cleanup are priced as separate projects.
How to use the result
- Ask each bidder for labor hours per visit. If a bid's hours fall below the low end of your range, ask what the bidder is leaving out.
- Divide each monthly price by its monthly hours. Compare that figure with the wage in your market. The gap has to pay for everything in the list above.
- Get site-specific quotes. Only a walk-through sees floor condition, clutter, fixture counts and access rules.
Questions and answers
- Is this what my cleaning contract should cost?
- No. It estimates labor hours and the wages those hours cost. A contract price is higher, because it also covers taxes, insurance, supplies, supervision, overhead and margin.
- What production rate should I use?
- Your own, if you have it: divide the area your current crew cleans by the hours they take. If you do not, leave the default range and treat the answer as wide.
Sources
- 1.U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Southeast Information Office. Occupational Employment and Wages in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, May 2025 (Table A), May 2025 estimates. Read September 30, 2026.