How to Get Commercial Cleaning Contracts: Accounts, Bids, and Bonds

How do you actually get commercial cleaning contracts?

Target commercial accounts directly: offices, medical suites, retail stores, and the property managers who run several of each. Win the RFPs that apply, skip the rest, walk every space before you price it, and carry the insurance and bonding a buyer checks first.

Office, medical, and retail accounts, plus the property manager shortcut

Rank reachable buildings that already pay for janitorial work: office suites, medical and dental offices, retail strips, and gyms. Ask who signs the janitorial line, not the front desk, usually a facilities manager or property management company. One property manager often controls a dozen buildings under a single decision. Pitch the whole portfolio, price it per building, and one signed contract replaces ten sales calls.

The walkthrough bid: price the space you actually see

Never price a commercial account from a floor plan alone. Walk every area you would service, and note frequency and square footage by area. Price the visit and the month as separate lines.

Turn a photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. →

Public RFPs are the model private buyers borrow

GSA is the biggest federal channel. Its own page states that “facility-related services include complete facility maintenance such as janitorial and custodial services”. Cities run a smaller version. Brea, California posted a 2026 RFP for citywide janitorial services on a three-year term. Ann Arbor, Michigan holds a “mandatory pre-proposal meeting” followed by a site walk, and will not open a proposal from anyone who missed it.

Net 30 terms and the insurance limits a buyer checks first

Commercial buyers pay on terms. Brea’s agreement puts it plainly: payment lands “in net 30 days after receipt of an undisputed invoice”. Two 2026 city janitorial RFPs post the exact minimums their contractors carry.

• City of Ann Arbor, Michigan (RFP #26-25): $1,000,000 per occurrence, $2,000,000 general aggregate. Captured September 26, 2026.
• City of Brea, California (janitorial RFP): $2,000,000 per occurrence, $4,000,000 aggregate. Captured September 26, 2026.

Both also require $1,000,000 in auto liability. Employer’s liability runs $500,000 per accident in Ann Arbor and $1,000,000 in Brea. Private buyers rarely publish a number, so treat the range a city posts as a starting benchmark when a property manager asks.

Bonding: two different things buyers ask for

One protects the buyer’s property from your staff. Ann Arbor’s RFP requires employees “bonded for any losses” while assigned to city buildings. The other protects the buyer if you cannot finish the job. The SBA backs that surety bond “up to $9 million” non-federal and “up to $14 million” federal, for a fee of “0.6% of the contract price”.

Getting the account, from target list to signed contract

1. Build and rank the commercial target list

   List office, medical, retail, and property management accounts, ranked by square footage and renewal timing.

2. Book the walkthrough and measure by area

   Walk every space, note frequency and square footage by area, and write the scope to match what you saw.

3. Price the bid with terms, insurance, and bonding built in

   Quote net 30 terms, carry the liability range a buyer expects, and confirm whether a fidelity or surety bond applies.

4. Submit where an RFP applies and track the renewal date

   Watch GSA and agency postings for federal buildings, respond to a posted RFP where one exists, and calendar the renewal window.

What the crew costs before you price the bid

Janitors and cleaners earn a mean wage of $18.64 an hour, median $17.71 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), wages paid, not rates billed. Burden and margin ride on top, as our contractor hourly labor rates by trade page breaks down.

SimplyWise Cost Estimator for commercial cleaning bids

Keep reading

• Contractor Hourly Labor Rates by Trade.
• Best Cleaning Business Software.