Cleaning Proposal Examples

Total cleanable square footage: 45,000 sq ft

Building type: Office — multi-tenant, 11 tenants

Service window: After 6:30 PM, Monday–Friday

Crew size: 2 cleaners per shift

Understanding of your requirements

You told us on February 26 that the current contractor has been arriving at 5:30 PM, while tenants on the second and third floors are still working, and that you have received four written complaints about it since November. You also flagged the restrooms specifically — the two cores serve roughly 190 occupants and they are where tenant complaints concentrate.

The floors are in reasonable condition. The lobby concrete has not been burnished in about eighteen months and shows traffic lanes from the entrance to the elevators. The entrance glazing faces the parking lot and is the first thing every tenant and visitor sees.

This proposal starts service at 6:30 PM, after your 6:00 PM lease-hours cutoff, cleans both restroom cores nightly with quarterly grout detail, and puts entrance glass on the nightly list rather than the weekly list.

Three specifics, three responses. Every claim in that section traces to something observed on the walkthrough — a date, a complaint count, an occupant number, a condition. None of it could have been written before visiting the building, which is exactly the point.

The template ships with seven standard exclusions. This proposal added three, each drawn from the walkthrough:

• Storage, mechanical, and IT rooms (1,750 sq ft) — swept monthly on request, quoted separately
• Snow and ice removal
• Dumpster hauling, which remains under the owner's existing contract

None of those is obviously excluded to a property manager. All three are the kind of thing that becomes a dispute in month four.

All 29 tasks marked, no blanks. Rows that did not apply to this building were deleted rather than left empty.

Four lines instead of one. A single "monthly cleaning: $5,775" invites the client to negotiate the whole number. Four lines invite them to negotiate one line, and restroom sanitation is the line they are least likely to cut.

How the $5,775 was built

The production rate of 5,355 sq ft per hour is the example rate published in ISSA's free article on calculating cleaning times. The wage is the BLS median for Janitors and Cleaners (SOC 37-2011), May 2024. The burden multiplier sits inside the typical 1.15× to 1.30× range.

Overhead and margin are the two lines no external source can give you. Every other figure above traces to something published. If you are guessing at those two, you are guessing at your price.

Cross-check the hours against production rates, price them in the cost calculator, then finish quoting a commercial cleaning job with your walkthrough numbers.

This section is what separates a professional proposal from a price quote. Most cleaning contracts are not lost over poor work. They are lost because the contractor could not prove the work was done.

How service is documented

• Every shift is logged with a GPS-verified check-in and check-out timestamp
• Photo documentation is captured on site and attached to the shift record — restroom cores, entrance glass, and all periodic floor care
• A service report is delivered to the client contact after each completed shift
• Shift history is retained and searchable for the full contract term

Quality inspections

• Supervisor inspection frequency: Twice weekly, unannounced, against a written 40-point checklist
• Joint client walkthrough: Monthly for the first quarter, then quarterly
• Inspection scoring: Scored checklist with photo evidence on any flagged item; scores delivered with the monthly invoice

Issue resolution

Deficiencies reported by the client are acknowledged within one business day and corrected on the next scheduled service visit, or sooner where the condition affects safety or sanitation. Each reported issue is logged with a resolution timestamp and photo confirmation.

Any deficiency reported before 3:00 PM is corrected that same night at no charge. Where the same item is flagged three times in thirty days, we deliver a written corrective action plan within five business days.

• Primary service contact: Marcus Hale · (973) 555–0148 · mhale@example.com
• After-hours escalation: (973) 555–0199, 24/7

Certificates of insurance are provided prior to the service start date and are maintained for the term of the agreement.

• General liability: $2,000,000 per occurrence / $4,000,000 aggregate
• Workers compensation: Statutory — New Jersey; employer’s liability $1,000,000
• Commercial auto: $1,000,000 combined single limit
• Janitorial bond: $50,000
• All personnel are screened prior to assignment in accordance with applicable law — criminal background check and E-Verify before first shift
• All personnel are employees or documented subcontractors; no undocumented labor is used
• Safety data sheets for all chemicals used on site are available on request and maintained in the janitorial closet
• Client will be named as additional insured on request

• Cure period, 15 days. Written notice describing the deficiency, fifteen days to correct it, before termination is available.
• Termination, 30 days after a 90-day floor. The floor recovers mobilization cost. Thirty days notice on its own does not.
• Annual adjustment tied to CPI-U or minimum wage, whichever is greater. Not "reviewed annually." A published number the client cannot argue with.
• Repricing on material change. Occupancy, square footage, scope, or access. This is what reopens the price when the vacant fourth-floor suite gets leased.

By signing below, both parties agree to the scope, frequency schedule, pricing, and terms described in this proposal.