Commercial Cleaning Cost Per Square Foot, by Vertical (2026 Data)

Commercial cleaning pricing is one of the most opaque categories in commercial real estate operations. Vendors quote in different units (per square foot, per visit, per month, per hour). Quoted ranges span 3-4x for "the same" facility. And most published pricing data is either marketing material from a single vendor or franchise-network data from companies whose pricing structure looks nothing like an enterprise operator's.

This piece is what we wish the industry had: honest ranges, the variables that move the number, and how to read a competing vendor's quote.

The honest answer

Commercial cleaning costs typically range from $0.05 to $0.55 per square foot per month, depending on facility type, cleaning frequency, scope, and market. That range is so wide because the variables are so wide. Use this guide to narrow your specific number.

Cost per square foot, by facility type

Facility Type	Typical Range (per sq ft / month)	Driver
General office (Class B)	$0.05 – $0.15	Low restroom density, low traffic, predictable scope
Class A office	$0.10 – $0.20	Higher finish standards, day-porter coverage common
K-12 school	$0.08 – $0.18	Traffic density high but cleaning windows long; summer deep-clean cycles
Higher education	$0.10 – $0.22	Mix of classroom, lab, residence, and admin spaces
Outpatient medical clinic	$0.18 – $0.35	OSHA BBP protocols, EPA List N disinfectants, terminal cleaning
Hospital / inpatient	$0.25 – $0.55	24/7 ops, isolation rooms, terminal cleans, infection-control documentation
Industrial / warehouse	$0.04 – $0.10	Large square footage, narrow scope (typically office & restroom only)
Light manufacturing	$0.08 – $0.18	EHS coordination, shift-aware scheduling, restroom intensity
Data center	$0.20 – $0.45	Background-vetted staff, anti-static protocols, sub-floor decontamination
Hotel / hospitality	$0.15 – $0.40	24/7 public-area maintenance, brand-standard QA, event turnover
Restaurant	$0.30 – $0.80	F&B sanitation, health-code compliance, high-intensity scope

Two notes on these ranges. First: they assume 5x/week service frequency for office-type spaces and 7x/week for medical/hospitality/data center. Daily-cleaning-only assumptions will skew lower. Second: they reflect 2025-2026 U.S. labor market pricing in mid-tier metro markets. NYC, SF, Boston, and similar high-cost-of-living metros run 25-40% higher; rural and small-metro markets run 15-25% lower.

The seven variables that move the number most

1. Cleaning frequency

The biggest single driver. 7x/week is roughly 40% more expensive than 5x/week (not 40%, because some cost components are fixed regardless of frequency). 3x/week is roughly 60% of 5x/week. Below 3x/week, you're paying primarily for fixed setup costs and getting diminishing operational value.

2. Square footage

Per-sqft pricing scales non-linearly. A 10,000 sqft facility might cost $0.18/sqft/month. A 100,000 sqft facility of the same type might cost $0.12/sqft/month — because supervision, equipment, and travel overhead spread across more area. A 1M sqft portfolio under one operator might drop to $0.08/sqft/month.

3. Restroom count + intensity

Restrooms drive 30-50% of total cleaning labor in most office buildings, despite being a small fraction of total square footage. A facility with one restroom per 50 employees costs significantly more per square foot than one with one restroom per 200 employees. When evaluating per-sqft quotes, normalize for restroom count.

4. Hours of operation + cleaning window

Spaces that need to be cleaned during business hours (lobbies, common areas with foot traffic, day-porter coverage) cost more than after-hours-only work. 24/7 facilities (hospitals, data centers, hospitality) cost more because labor is required across three shifts.

5. Floor surface mix

VCT (vinyl composition tile) requires periodic strip-and-wax cycles ($0.25-$0.50/sqft per cycle, typically 2-4x/year). Terrazzo requires diamond honing. Polished concrete requires re-burnishing. Carpet requires extraction. The "monthly clean" rate doesn't include these; they're amortized or quoted as separate projects. Make sure your RFP specifies whether floor-care cycles are included in the recurring rate.

6. Compliance + certification requirements

Medical, education, and government facilities have compliance requirements (OSHA BBP, background checks, security clearance, E-Verify) that drive labor cost up 10-20% versus general commercial work. Data center clearance requirements (drug screen, SOC 2 attestation, badge issuance) drive up another 10-15%.

7. Staffing model

Direct-W-2-employed staffing typically costs 5-15% more than subcontracted or franchise-network staffing — because the vendor is absorbing higher labor cost, training cost, benefits, and supervision. This shows up in the price; cheaper bids often reflect a cheaper labor model rather than operational efficiency. Worth knowing what you're buying.

How to read a commercial cleaning quote

A quote you can defend in a procurement review should have:

Per-facility monthly all-in number — labor + supervision + supplies + equipment + insurance, all rolled in
Implied labor hours per visit — divide monthly cost by labor rate ($28-$45/hour fully-loaded depending on market and labor model), then by visits-per-month. Compare across vendors. If one vendor's implied hours are 30% lower than the others', they're either operationally more efficient or planning to under-staff.
Floor-care cycle separated — strip/wax, carpet extraction, terrazzo refinishing as line items with frequency
Special-project pricing — post-construction clean, emergency response, biohazard remediation
Annual escalation clause — 3% is industry-standard; flat is rare; double-digit escalation is a red flag
Contract term — month-to-month with 30-day notice is buyer-friendly; multi-year auto-renewal is vendor-friendly

Common pricing traps

The "introductory rate"

Some vendors quote year 1 at 70-80% of year 2+ pricing to win the contract, then jump 20-30% at renewal. Always ask: "What's the year-2 rate at renewal?"

The supplies pass-through

"Supplies billed at cost + 15%" sounds reasonable but can become a margin lever if the vendor controls procurement. Either negotiate fixed supply rates or include supplies in the all-inclusive number.

The hidden-special-projects assumption

"Quarterly deep clean included" sounds great until you discover quarterly deep clean means "we'll send the regular crew an hour early." Specify: which areas, which tasks, what's the verification.

The "$0.03/sqft" outlier

If a vendor quotes 70% below the market range for your facility type, they are not 70% more efficient. They've planned to use staffing-agency labor on weekends only, no supervision, and no QA — and they're betting you won't catch it until you're three months in and locked in.

What's a fair price for your specific facility?

The answer depends on facility type, square footage, restroom density, floor-surface mix, frequency, and market. For most enterprise-grade commercial facilities, fair pricing falls within the per-sqft ranges in the table above — and the variation within each range is explained by the variables in this guide.

If you want a specific number for your facility, schedule a 15-minute facility scoping call. We'll walk through your square footage, restroom count, floor mix, and frequency requirements, and give you a number — even if Greater Clean isn't the right fit. Knowing the fair-market number is useful even if you go with another vendor.