Many cleaning professionals visit the International Custodial Advisors Network (ICAN) Ask the Experts (ATEX) page for insight. We deliver advice to help you perform your job.
Friday’s Question
My crew and I have been cleaning a 45,000 square foot building for the last three years. We are there Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5 p.m to 9 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There are five of us cleaning. We are required to clean 20 restrooms three times per week, including refilling papers and soaps. All offices are cleaned and vacuumed.
About 30,000 square feet of vinyl composite tile (VCT) floors are swept and mopped. We sweep and degrease 10,000 square feet of floors in two machine shops on Saturday. Manufacturing work areas are dusted and cleaned one time per week. The company pays for supplies, which I am responsible for ordering as needed. I would like to know what the monthly cost should be.
Friday’s Answer
John Walker recommends getting a copy of the new ISSA 612 Cleaning Times book by Ben Walker to compare your times with the standard times.
Gary Clipperton, president of National Pro Clean Corp. says: Your city is showing an hourly labor rate of US$13.12 for non-union workers, but this could range higher for core city union pay scales. With 390 total labor hours per month, and using national averages for expenses like overhead and profit, [your hourly billing rate would probably be $26.24.] This would bring your contact to $10,223 per month.
Since this amount seems high, there are ways to reduce your expenses as well as considering less than a 30 percent profit. I hope that, with these numbers, you can massage them to work to your benefit.
View additional bidding & estimating questions and answers from ICAN/ATEX here.
