What do the three metrics cover?

Cost per square foot per year, cleaning hours per 1,000 square feet, and labor burden rate. Each metric is broken out across seven commercial facility types, so you're checking your number against buildings that clean like yours instead of against one blended average that flattens everything together.

How does the regional adjustment work?

It multiplies the published national median by a factor derived from BLS metropolitan wage indices. Mountain West is the 1.00 baseline; from there it's West Coast +18%, Northeast +15%, Southwest −2%, Midwest −5%, and Southeast −8%. The low and high bounds don't move — those stay at the national published ranges, so the regional factor shifts the midpoint only.

How were the low and high values set?

Where the sources report quartile data, the 25th percentile anchors the low, the 50th anchors the median, and the 75th to 90th anchors the high. Outliers above the 90th percentile are excluded — cleanrooms and critical environments price on a different logic and would stretch the range past the point of being useful for ordinary commercial space.

Am I looking at a national number or a regional one?

Both, depending on how far you take it. The published national median is the starting point for every facility type, and applying the regional factor gives you an adjusted median for your market. Since the low and high stay national, a regionally adjusted median can land closer to one end of the published range than you'd expect — that's the math working correctly, not a data problem.

What does the labor intensity figure represent?

Labor intensity shows the estimated annual cleaning hours per 1,000 square feet, derived by dividing the benchmark rate by an assumed blended hourly cost of $21.09 and converting to a per-thousand-square-foot basis. It helps you gauge how much direct labor the rate implies, independent of overhead and profit.

How are the low, median, and high benchmarks determined?

The benchmarks come from aggregated industry data stored in the calculator's seed tables, segmented by vertical. Each vertical has its own cost-per-square-foot-per-year distribution. The region multiplier then scales those national figures up or down to reflect local market conditions.

Why does my bid show as below market when I know my costs are tight?

The flag compares your entered rate to the low and high ends of the benchmark range for that vertical and region. A below-market flag means your bid falls under the reported low, which may indicate aggressive pricing, lower service frequency, or cost efficiencies not reflected in the industry average.

Cleaning Bid Benchmarks

Low looks aggressive until you lose money every night.

Inputs

Vertical

Region

Square footage

Service frequency

Your bid ($/sqft/yr)

Compare your proposed rate against industry benchmarks for commercial cleaning contracts, broken down by building type and region. Enter the facility's square footage and optionally your own bid to see where you fall within the typical low, median, and high rates reported across the sector.

Instruction

Pick the vertical that matches the building type you are bidding.
Set the region to apply the local cost multiplier to national baseline figures.
Enter square footage and optionally your bid rate to see the benchmark range and whether your number sits below, within, or above market.

Worked example

A 65,000 sqft office on the national band (no regional uplift).

Benchmark lands about $1.20–$2.75/sqft/yr (median ~$1.85) — roughly $78k–$179k/yr on this building, ~$120k/yr at median.

Questions operators ask

What does the labor intensity figure represent?: Labor intensity shows the estimated annual cleaning hours per 1,000 square feet, derived by dividing the benchmark rate by an assumed blended hourly cost of $21.09 and converting to a per-thousand-square-foot basis. It helps you gauge how much direct labor the rate implies, independent of overhead and profit.
How are the low, median, and high benchmarks determined?: The benchmarks come from aggregated industry data stored in the calculator's seed tables, segmented by vertical. Each vertical has its own cost-per-square-foot-per-year distribution. The region multiplier then scales those national figures up or down to reflect local market conditions.
Why does my bid show as below market when I know my costs are tight?: The flag compares your entered rate to the low and high ends of the benchmark range for that vertical and region. A below-market flag means your bid falls under the reported low, which may indicate aggressive pricing, lower service frequency, or cost efficiencies not reflected in the industry average.