← All posts · September 27, 2026 · 9 min read

How to start a commercial cleaning business (and win your first contracts)

To start a commercial cleaning business, register the business, get the insurance commercial clients will ask for, and then win your first small contracts through people you already know. Each account is won with a walkthrough and a written bid built from your time estimate and your costs, and kept with a clear contract. Commercial cleaning pays in steady monthly contracts rather than one-off jobs, so a handful of accounts can carry a lot of your overhead.

This guide is for owners who already clean homes, or who are deciding between residential and commercial. It covers what changes when your customer is a business, where the first contracts come from, and how to write a bid you won't regret.

How a commercial cleaning business differs from residential

	Residential	Commercial
Who buys	A homeowner or renter	An owner, office manager or property manager
How it's priced	Flat price per job by square footage and service type	A bid per visit or per month, from a walkthrough and your time estimate
Agreement	Booking terms	A written contract with a scope, schedule and notice period
When you clean	Daytime, while the client is out	Often evenings, early mornings or weekends
Paperwork	Insurance is a selling point	A certificate of insurance is usually required before day one
Billing	Card charged after each clean	Often a monthly invoice, sometimes with payment terms
Sales cycle	Days	Weeks, sometimes months

The upside: one office cleaned three nights a week is a steady contract, and you're dealing with one decision-maker instead of dozens of homeowners. The downsides: you'll wait longer for a yes, you'll compete on price with established janitorial companies, and you need staff who can work nights.

Step 1: Set up the business

The setup is the same as any cleaning business: choose a name, register it with your state, get an EIN from IRS.gov, open a business bank account, and get a local business license if your city or county requires one. Rules differ by state and city, so check your Secretary of State's website and SBA.gov. Our guide to cleaning business licenses and registration walks through it.

Write a short commercial cleaning business plan too. It doesn't have to be long: the types of buildings you'll target, your service area, your cost per labor hour, how you'll find your first three accounts, and who does the work once you win them. Our free cleaning business plan template has a section for each.

Step 2: Get the insurance commercial clients ask for

Homeowners sometimes ask if you're insured. Commercial clients usually require proof before you start. Expect some or all of these:

A certificate of insurance (COI). A one-page document from your insurer showing your coverage. Insurers usually issue them quickly and at no extra cost, but ask yours.
General liability, often with a minimum amount the client sets.
"Additional insured" status. The client, or their property manager, is named on your policy for work at their site.
A janitorial bond (sometimes called a fidelity or crime bond), which covers theft by your staff. Common in offices where you hold keys and alarm codes.
Workers' compensation. Required by most states once you have employees, and some clients ask for it regardless.

Ask each prospect for their insurance requirements in writing before you bid, and price in any extra cost. Our cleaning business insurance guide explains each policy in plain terms. We don't recommend specific insurers: get quotes from two or three and tell them exactly what buildings you clean.

Step 3: Choose your first targets

Skip large buildings and anything that goes out to formal public bids for now. Those buyers want years of references. Start with small accounts where the owner or manager decides:

Small offices. Law firms, insurance agents, accountants, real estate offices. Simple layouts, predictable schedules.
Medical and dental offices. Steady and recurring. They may have extra requirements, such as infection-control procedures or how you handle certain waste, so ask what they expect and only take on what you can do properly.
Gyms and studios. Heavy use means frequent cleans, often before opening or after closing.
Property managers. Common areas, lobbies and vacant units between tenants. One good relationship can lead to several buildings.
Realtors. Vacant listings and move-outs. This sits between residential and commercial, and it can bring steady referrals.

Step 4: Find your first commercial cleaning contracts

Warm outreach comes first. The same method from our Road to 10K guide works here: record a 60-second video and send it to 250 people you already know. For commercial, change the ask: "Do you work at, own or manage an office, clinic, gym or building that needs cleaning? I'd love an introduction to whoever handles it." An introduction from someone the manager trusts beats any cold email.

Then, in order:

Your residential clients. Many own businesses or manage offices. Ask them directly.
Walk in. Visit small businesses within a short drive of your home base, ideally mid-morning when it's quiet. Ask who handles cleaning, leave a one-page sheet, and ask when their current contract renews.
Property managers and realtors. Call local property management companies and ask about vacant-unit and common-area cleaning.
Follow up. Many managers aren't unhappy enough to switch today. Note when their contract ends and check back before then.

Grouping accounts close together matters more in commercial than residential. Three offices on the same street, cleaned the same evening, are worth more to you than three spread across town. More ideas in how to get clients for a cleaning business.

Step 5: Do the walkthrough

Never bid without seeing the space. On the walkthrough, write down:

Every room and area: offices, restrooms, kitchen or break room, lobby, conference rooms, stairs.
Floor types: carpet, tile, vinyl, sealed concrete. Floors drive a lot of the time.
Number of restrooms, fixtures and trash cans.
What they want done and how often. Nightly trash and restrooms but weekly dusting is a very different job from everything, every visit.
Who supplies paper towels, toilet paper, soap and trash bags.
Access: keys, alarm codes, which door, and the hours you're allowed in.
What went wrong with their last cleaner. That's what you'll be judged on.

Step 6: Build the bid from your time and your costs

The square-footage price table in the Road to 10K guide is for residential cleaning. Don't use it for offices. Commercial prices vary too much by building, frequency and region for anyone to hand you a reliable "going rate", so build each bid from your own numbers:

Estimate the hours per visit. Go through your walkthrough list and estimate the time for each area. If you're unsure, clean a similar space and time yourself. Be honest: underestimating time is how commercial bids lose money.
Add travel. Drive time to and from the site is time you're paying for.
Multiply by your cost per labor hour. That's cleaner pay plus supplies plus overhead. Our pricing guide works through an example that comes to about $43 an hour. Yours will be different.
Add your profit and any extra costs, such as a bond or additional insurance the client requires.
Multiply by visits per month. Three visits a week is about 13 visits a month (3 × 52 ÷ 12).

An example, with made-up numbers. A small office takes you 1.5 hours per visit including travel, three evenings a week. At a $43 cost per labor hour, each visit costs you about $65. If you want 30% of the price left as profit, divide the cost by 0.7: about $93 a visit, so round to $95. Thirteen visits a month comes to about $1,235 a month. If the client wants a price per square foot, divide the monthly price by the floor area after you've done this math. Don't start from someone else's per-square-foot rate.

Put the bid in writing: the scope by area and frequency, the schedule, the monthly price, what's extra, and when the price is valid until. Keep it to one or two pages.

Step 7: Put the contract in writing

A commercial cleaning contract protects both sides. Include at least:

Scope of work. The task list by area, with frequency (nightly, weekly, monthly).
Schedule and access. Days, hours, keys, alarm codes, and who to call if you can't get in.
Price and billing. Monthly price, invoice date, payment terms, and late fees.
Supplies. Who provides cleaning products and who provides paper goods, soap and liners.
Extra work. How carpet cleaning, floor stripping, window washing or one-off requests are quoted and approved.
Quality issues. How the client reports a problem and how quickly you'll re-clean.
Term and cancellation. The length of the agreement and the notice either side must give (30 days is common).
Price changes. How and when you can raise the price, with notice.
Insurance. What you carry and how you'll provide certificates.
Holidays and closures. What happens when the building is closed.

Have a local business attorney review your template once, then reuse it.

Step 8: Staff for after-hours work

Commercial work often happens at night, so you need people who want evening shifts and can be trusted alone with keys. In the Road to 10K model, cleaners are paid per job, aiming for $30–40 per hour of work, as independent contractors with a signed cleaner agreement and a W-9. Whether someone counts as a contractor or an employee depends on how the work is actually controlled, and regular fixed shifts at one site can raise questions, so read the IRS guidance on worker classification and your state's rules.

Give every cleaner a written checklist for each site, the access details, and a way to report problems the same night. Our cleaning checklist is a starting point you can adapt by area. If a client complains, fix it within a day. Commercial accounts are rarely lost over one mistake. They're lost when mistakes repeat.

Common questions

How do I get my first commercial cleaning contract?

Start with people you already know. Ask your contacts who owns or manages a small office, dental practice, gym or rental building, and ask for an introduction. Then visit small businesses near you in person. Small accounts that don't go out to formal bids are the easiest first wins.

How do you price a commercial cleaning bid?

Walk the building, list every task by area and frequency, and estimate the hours each visit takes. Multiply those hours by your cost per labor hour (pay, supplies and overhead), add travel time, then add your profit. Multiply the price per visit by the visits per month for the monthly price. You can show it as a price per square foot afterwards if the client asks.

Do I need insurance to start a commercial cleaning business?

In practice, yes. Most commercial clients ask for a certificate of insurance (COI) before you start, usually showing general liability, and many ask to be named as an additional insured. Some also ask for a janitorial bond or proof of workers' compensation. Requirements vary by client and state, so ask for them in writing before you bid.

Is commercial cleaning more profitable than residential cleaning?

Neither is automatically more profitable. Commercial contracts bring steady monthly revenue and fewer clients to manage, but they take longer to win and competition on price can be tough. Residential jobs are quicker to land and easier to price by square footage. Many owners start residential and add a few commercial accounts.

Do I need a business plan for a commercial cleaning business?

A short one helps. Write down the kind of buildings you'll target, your service area, your cost per labor hour, how you'll find your first three accounts, and who will do the work once you have them. It keeps your bids consistent.

Still deciding between residential and commercial? Read how to start a cleaning business and our comparison of the most profitable service businesses.