Cleaning Bid Template — San Jose, CA 2026

San Jose’s city minimum hit $17.95/hr in 2024; California’s statewide floor is $16.50; SEIU-USWW scale on major tech campuses runs $22–$25/hr with full health and pension. Campus facility management teams audit service quality at a level most suburban BSCs have not encountered. A BSC entering without a clear labor-cost model, proper California workers’ comp coverage, and AB 5 compliance for any subcontracted crews will not survive renewal.

Loaded Labor Cost in Silicon Valley

BLS OEWS May 2024 (SOC 37-2011) puts the San Jose MSA mean in the $20.50–$22/hr range. San Jose’s city minimum is $17.95/hr; California’s statewide floor is $16.50. See the wages breakdown for the San Jose MSA.

Burden math on a $21/hr base: FICA 7.65% = $1.61; FUTA/SUTA ~2.5% = $0.53; California workers’ comp approximately $3.20 per $100 payroll per the California Division of Workers’ Compensation; health insurance ~$4/hr; vacation ~5%. Total burden: 29–35%, loaded rate near $27–$30/hr. AB 5 compliance for subcontracted crews requires the ABC test; back-wage liability for misclassification runs three-plus years.

Sample Scope of Work: Tech Campus Office Building

Hypothetical 70,000 sq ft Class A-minus tech campus building in Sunnyvale or Mountain View. Campus accounts often have full-service kitchens, outdoor plaza cleaning, and after-hours access restrictions tied to security badge systems.

Task	Frequency	Notes
Restroom service + restock	5x/week + 2 mid-day passes	High-occupancy tech floors; EPA Safer Choice required
Lobby and exterior entry glass	5x/week	Valley fog and pollen require daily exterior wipe; UV treatment quarterly
Common-area vacuuming	5x/week	Low-noise cordless for open engineering floors
Hard-floor auto-scrub	3x/week	High-traffic campus corridors justify 3x cycle
Full-service kitchen cleaning	5x/week + deep clean Friday	Espresso bars, commercial dishwasher areas; scope separately from breakroom
Conference room reset	5x/week	AV, whiteboards, charging stations; pod rooms daily
Day-porter coverage (8 hr)	5x/week	Tech tenants expect continuous porter presence; 8-hr day shift standard on large campuses
Outdoor plaza and common area	3x/week	Leaf blow, furniture wipe; pressure wash quarterly
High-dusting: vents and data areas	Monthly	ESD protocols required near server rooms
Carpet and hard-floor deep clean	Quarterly	Campus accounts typically schedule quarterly; bid separately

San Jose Going Rates: Class B Office and Tech Campus

Silicon Valley tech campus rates command $0.22–$0.32/sq ft/month for full-service accounts with day porter. San Jose CBD Class B: $0.16–$0.22. Santa Clara suburban parks: $0.13–$0.18. Day-porter bill rate: $28/hr x 2.4 = approximately $67–$70/hr; an 8-hr campus porter runs near $3,000/month. Use the day-porter ROI calculator. Medical office adds +25–35%; post-construction +45–60%.

California Licensing and Insurance Requirements

California requires no statewide janitorial license; San Jose requires a San Jose Business Tax Certificate. Workers’ comp is through the California Division of Workers’ Compensation; proof is required before a business license is issued. Tech campus accounts require $2M/$5M GL; Class B standard is $1M/$2M. Bonds of $10,000–$25,000 standard; tech campuses often require $25,000 fidelity bonds.

SEIU-USWW and Prevailing Wage on Federal Tech Facilities

SEIU-USWW covers a significant share of Silicon Valley tech campus accounts at $4–$7/hr above the BLS mean with full health and pension. Non-union shops bidding SEIU buildings face an immediate cost disadvantage. NASA Ames and federal labs require SCA compliance; pull wage determinations from SAM.gov. California minimum wage: CA DIR minimum wage page.

What Silicon Valley Buyers Expect in a Bid Response

Monthly base service: hours by position; supervisor on-site ratio of 1:8 common on large campuses.
Kitchen and amenity scope: full-service kitchen cleaning quoted separately from standard janitorial.
Green certification documentation: LEED or WELL buildings require Green Seal or EPA Safer Choice product list at bid.
ESD compliance statement: list ESD-compliant equipment near server rooms or data centers.
Overhead and margin: 12–18% overhead; 8–14% profit; pass-throughs explicitly quoted.

Local quirk: Tech campus facilities teams conduct quarterly performance audits with written scoring rubrics. Request a copy during the bid walk so you understand how performance is measured and price accordingly.

Bid Walk Checklist: San Jose MSA

Confirm badge enrollment and background check process; tech campus crews need individual access, typically 2–3 weeks lead time.
Verify AB 5 compliance for any subcontracted specialists; California back-wage liability is joint.
Walk the full-service kitchen independently; scope and price those hours separately from standard janitorial.
Identify LEED or WELL certification; product documentation required at bid, not at award.
Note server room adjacency; ESD equipment and chemical restrictions apply near data closets.

The SEIU-Nonunion Tradeoff in the Valley

A non-union shop can win a tech campus account at SEIU-equivalent wages and benefits without a collective bargaining agreement, but the cost structure is essentially identical. The real tradeoff is not union versus nonunion: it is whether you can staff and retain at $22–$25/hr with full benefits in a metro where warehouse and fast-food operators compete for the same workers. BSCs who cannot hold crews at that rate should not bid large Silicon Valley campus accounts regardless of the hourly bill rate on the proposal.

Primary Sources

Model your Silicon Valley accounts with the scope-of-work generator and run pricing through the bid stress-test tool. For tech campus medical clinic accounts, see the healthcare cleaning hub. Track per-account profitability with the account profitability auditor.

By the Opora Editorial Team · Last updated: 2026

Commercial Cleaning Bid Template — San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Commercial cleaning bid template — San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA