Commercial Cleaning Scope Checklist for Office Bids

An office cleaning bid is only as good as the scope behind it. If you send cleaning companies a square footage and a request for a price, each one will guess at the work, and the cheapest bid will often be the one that guessed least. A written scope that lists every space, every task, how often each is done and how the team gets in turns those guesses into prices you can compare line by line.

Use the checklist below to build that scope before you request bids. It works for a single-suite office, a multi-floor tenant space or a medical practice, and it doubles as the standard you hold the winning provider to.

1. List every space in the building

Walk the premises with a floor plan and record each area, its approximate size and its floor type. Missed rooms are the most common source of change orders.

• Private offices and open work areas
• Conference and training rooms
• Reception and waiting areas
• Kitchens, break rooms and coffee stations
• Restrooms, showers and locker rooms
• Stairs, elevators, corridors and lobbies
• Storage, copy and mail rooms
• Entrances, vestibules and exterior walkways
• Excluded areas, such as server rooms, labs or another tenant's suite

Note carpet, vinyl, tile, sealed concrete or wood for each area. Floor type determines both the routine method and the periodic work, such as carpet extraction or floor refinishing.

2. Separate routine work from periodic work

Routine tasks happen every visit. Periodic tasks happen weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly. Keep them on separate lists so a task that should happen twice a year is not priced as nightly work, and a monthly task is not quietly dropped.

3. Set frequency by area, not by building

Different spaces need different schedules. Restrooms and shared kitchens usually need attention every visit; private offices often need less. State your operating days, the preferred service window (after hours, early morning or daytime) and whether you need a daytime porter for restroom checks and spills. A schedule built by area keeps the cost focused on the rooms that actually get heavy use. For example, an office might specify restrooms and the break room five nights a week, open work areas three nights, private offices once a week and conference rooms after scheduled events.

4. Document access, security and site rules

Access details change both labor time and staffing. Put them in the scope so every bidder prices the same conditions.

• Keys, key cards and alarm codes, and who issues them
• Sign-in, badge or escort requirements
• Restricted rooms and whether a staff member must be present
• Parking, loading access and elevator reservations
• Background checks or site training required for cleaners
• Who to call for a locked door, a spill or a building issue

5. Assign supplies and waste handling

State who provides paper goods, hand soap, liners, chemicals and equipment, and whether consumables are billed at cost or included. Describe where trash and recycling go and how far that is from the suite. Ordinary office waste is different from medical, hazardous or construction waste. Specialized waste has to follow the site's own disposal process and should be listed separately so nobody assumes a janitorial team will take it.

6. Compare bids on the same basis

Once every bidder works from the same scope, compare more than the total.

1. Ask each bidder to mark anything they exclude.
2. Ask for the rate for extra work and how periodic tasks are approved and billed.
3. Compare staffing, supervision and how quality is checked.
4. Confirm liability insurance and how cleaners are vetted.
5. Check the cancellation, holiday and re-clean terms.

For context, our published commercial prices start at $150 per visit: small offices $150 to $250, medium offices $250 to $480 and large offices $480 to $850. Medical and dental spaces are priced at $0.18 to $0.32 per square foot because of the extra disinfection and sequence they need. A bid far outside those ranges is worth a follow-up question about what it includes.

7. Walk the site, then attach the scope to the agreement

Invite finalists to walk the building before they price. A walkthrough reveals what a floor plan hides: occupied desks, cluttered storage, floor transitions, secure doors and the distance to the dumpster. Afterward, attach the final scope to the service agreement and use it at the first quality review, room by room. A scope that lives in the contract is the simplest way to keep standards steady when staff or schedules change.

Our broader guide to commercial cleaning services covers contract types and how to judge a provider, and the New Jersey commercial cleaning guide shows how a regional market prices the same work.

Next steps

Draft the space list, split routine from periodic work and set frequencies by area before you contact anyone. Then send the same document to every bidder. If you would like a price built on your scope, our commercial cleaning team can review it and confirm a price before any work starts; periodic items such as carpet cleaning and pressure washing can be quoted on the same proposal. You can also request a quote directly with your floor plan attached.