How to get commercial cleaning contracts: a step-by-step method

How to get commercial cleaning contracts in 8 steps

1. Choose one client type you can service well, such as small offices, medical clinics or gyms, and a territory you can reach within a short drive of your base.
2. Build a list of every business of that type in your territory, with the phone number, website and email each one publishes, and note signals such as opening hours and review counts.
3. Call to find the decision maker (office manager, practice manager, facilities or property manager) and ask when the current cleaning contract ends and what they would change.
4. Book a walkthrough: measure the space, list the room types and floor surfaces, note traffic, hours of access and anything the client complained about.
5. Price the job from the walkthrough: estimate labour hours from the area and tasks, add supplies, equipment and overhead, then your margin, and turn it into a monthly price.
6. Send a written proposal within one working day: scope of work by area and frequency, the monthly price, start date, insurance details, references and a trial period if you offer one.
7. Follow up on a schedule: a call two or three days after the bid, then again before the decision date; if they renew with someone else, note the next renewal date in your CRM.
8. Once you win, deliver a short quality check with the client after the first weeks, ask for a reference, and use that site to win similar businesses nearby.

Which clients to target first

A new or growing cleaning company wins faster with clients that need regular service, decide locally and do not run formal tenders. Start with one type, learn its needs, then use your first contracts as references for the next ones.

• Small and mid-size offices: evening or early-morning cleaning several times a week. The office manager often decides alone.
• Medical, dental and veterinary clinics: daily cleaning with strict hygiene. Ask for the practice manager, not a clinician.
• Gyms and fitness studios: floors, changing rooms and equipment every day. A busy gym notices a bad cleaner quickly, which opens the door to a switch.
• Property managers and homeowners’ associations: common areas, lobbies and stairwells. One manager can hand you several buildings.
• Daycares and private schools: frequent cleaning where children are. Bring your products and checklists into the first conversation.
• Car dealerships and showrooms: glass, showroom floors and offices that receive customers all day.

Build a target list for your area

Your list is the engine of the whole method. Write down every business of your chosen type within your service radius, with its address, public phone number, website and any published email. Staying close to your base cuts travel time between sites, which matters once you run evening routes.

Do it by area and by client type, not as one long mixed list. A list of 60 dental clinics in your county is easier to work, and to pitch consistently, than 300 assorted businesses. Note what you can see from the outside: a large building, long opening hours or many reviews usually mean more traffic and more cleaning.

Track every call in a simple CRM or spreadsheet: who you spoke to, who decides, when the current contract ends, and when to call back. Contract end dates are the most valuable thing you collect; many businesses only switch at renewal.

Reach the person who decides

The receptionist rarely signs. Ask a short, direct question: “Who looks after your cleaning contract?” Then ask that person three things: who cleans today, what they would improve, and when the agreement ends. Do not pitch a price on the first call; aim for a walkthrough.

Call outside the client’s busy hours: mid-morning for offices, early afternoon for clinics, late morning for gyms. For property managers, email is often the way in, then call to confirm. Visiting in person works too, especially for shops and showrooms, if you keep it to two minutes and leave a card.

How to price and bid on a cleaning contract

Bid from the walkthrough, never from a guess. The method below is the one most commercial cleaners use; the numbers in the example are an illustration only, and your own wages, rates and costs will be different.

Illustration only: an office of 5,000 square feet cleaned five nights a week, at a production rate your team achieves of 2,500 square feet an hour, takes 2 hours a night, about 43 hours a month. Multiply by your loaded hourly labour cost, add supplies and overhead, then your margin, and you have a monthly price you can defend line by line.

• Measure the cleanable area and split it by room type: offices, restrooms, kitchens, corridors, floors that need special care.
• Use your own production rates (area cleaned per hour for each type of space), measured on your current jobs, to estimate labour hours per visit.
• Multiply by visits per month and by your loaded labour cost: wages plus payroll taxes, insurance and paid time off.
• Add supplies, consumables you provide (bin liners, paper, soap), equipment wear and travel time.
• Add overhead (admin, vehicles, software, supervision) and then your margin. Quote a monthly price, and price periodic work such as carpet or window cleaning separately.

What to put in your proposal

A good proposal reads in two minutes and leaves no room for doubt. Clients compare scope as much as price, and a vague bid loses to a clear one.

• A scope of work by area and frequency (daily, weekly, monthly tasks), so both sides know what is included.
• The monthly price, what it includes, and the price of extras such as deep cleans or floor care.
• Start date, hours of service, key and alarm handling, and who to call when something is wrong.
• Proof of insurance and, where relevant, bonding, plus how your staff are vetted and trained.
• Two or three references from similar sites, and a short trial period or easy exit clause to lower the risk of switching.

Public tenders and government cleaning contracts

Government cleaning contracts are published on official portals: SAM.gov for US federal opportunities (state and city agencies have their own portals), Contracts Finder and Find a Tender in the UK, and CanadaBuys for the Canadian federal government. Registration is required before you can bid.

Be honest with yourself before bidding. Public tenders ask for paperwork (registrations, insurance certificates, method statements, references, sometimes past performance on contracts of similar size), they are often scored heavily on price, and decisions take weeks or months. They suit a company with references and admin capacity; most small cleaners win their first contracts privately, then bid publicly once they have a track record.

Subcontracting is a middle path: larger facility services firms that win big contracts sometimes hand parts of them to local cleaners. Contact them as a supplier, with your area, team size and insurance. Margins are thinner, but it builds references.

Bid sites or direct prospecting?

Lead and bid sites send the same request to several cleaning companies, so you compete mostly on price, often for clients outside your ideal area. Direct prospecting is slower to set up but you choose the client, the area and the timing, and you are often the only quote on the table.

Many companies use both: bid sites to fill gaps, and a weekly prospecting routine to build a portfolio of clients close together on the same routes.

Insurance and bonding

Commercial clients will ask for proof of insurance before signing. In the US, general liability insurance is the baseline, and many clients also ask for a janitorial bond, which covers theft by employees; workers’ compensation is required in most states once you have staff. In the UK, public liability insurance is standard and employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement once you employ people. Check the exact rules with a broker in your state or province.

Follow up and win the renewal

Most contracts are not lost on price but on silence. Call two or three days after sending the bid, then again before the date the client gave for a decision. If the answer is no, ask when the new agreement ends and put a reminder a month or two before that date.

With clients you already have, schedule a short quality check after the first weeks and again before renewal. A client who sees you checking your own work rarely goes looking for someone else, and is more willing to give a reference or introduce you to the building next door.

Templates you can adapt

Hi, this is [name] from [company], a commercial cleaning company here in [town]. Who looks after the cleaning contract for your office? … Thanks. Could you tell me who cleans for you today, and roughly when that agreement comes up for renewal? We clean [type of business] around [area], and I’d be glad to do a short walkthrough and send you a written quote, with no commitment. Would [day] morning work?

Hi [name],

Thanks for showing me around [business name] today. As promised, our proposal is attached. In short:
- [frequency] cleaning of [areas], [hours of service]
- [monthly price] a month, supplies included; extras such as floor care priced separately
- Start date [date], with a check-in with you after the first two weeks

Our insurance certificate and two references from similar sites are included. Happy to answer any question by phone.

[name], [company], [postal address], [phone]
If you’d rather not hear from us again, just reply “no thanks”.

Hi [name],

When we spoke in [month], you mentioned your cleaning agreement ends in [month]. If you are reviewing it, we would be glad to walk the site again and send an updated quote. We now clean [number] [type of business] nearby.

Would a 20-minute visit next week suit you?

[name], [company], [postal address], [phone]
Reply “no thanks” and I won’t write again.

Where LeadsIt fits

LeadsIt builds the target list for step 2: search one client type, such as dental clinics or property managers, in one city, and get every business found with the phone number, website and emails it publishes, then work the list in the built-in CRM with notes and call-back tasks. Your first search is included with a new account, no card needed; then packs start at $6.90, with no subscription, and credits never expire.

Frequently asked questions