School cleaning prices per square foot
Schools are mostly hard floors and heavy traffic: classrooms and hallways with VCT, a gym, a cafeteria and busy restrooms, cleaned every school night. Here is what that work costs per square foot, computed from production rates.
Quick answer
$0.18 to $0.23 per sq ft per month
About $4,617/month for a 20,000 sq ft school and $36,624/month for 200,000 sq ft. Smaller buildings cost more per square foot: restrooms, trash and break rooms do not shrink with the floor area.
How this is computed
- Sizes: 20,000 and 200,000 sq ft, the typical range for schools.
- Scope: BidLoom's default areas and tasks for a school (listed below), on its default schedule of 5 visits a week, timed with BidLoom's production rates (approximations of ISSA 612 from public sources).
- Labor: $15.00/hr base wage, burdened to $16.82/hr with FICA, FUTA, US-average SUTA (2.7%) and janitorial workers comp (3.5%, EMR 1.00), no benefits.
- Supplies at 6% of labor, and the price at a 30% margin.
These are the defaults a new BidLoom account starts with, so the full bid opens at the same price. Pick your state below, or set your own wage and rates in the app.
- Hours per visit
- ~21.3 hrs
- Monthly price at 30% margin
- ~$11,729/mo
- Per sq ft per month
- $0.20
Burdened labor at $16.82/hr (US averages). State paid leave estimates use the higher-obligation tier within 10–49 employees; employee deductions are excluded. Tasks done on every visit follow the visits per week; the others keep the schedule below unless there are fewer visits. Fewer visits add a per-visit buildup: each visit has more to clean.
What the estimate includes
The default areas and tasks for a school. In the full bid you change, add or remove any of them.
Classrooms
40% of the floor
- Dust Mop & Damp Mop Floor5× a week
- Empty Trash5× a week
- Wipe Desks & Surfaces5× a week
Hallways
15% of the floor
- Dust Mop / Auto Scrub5× a week
- Empty Trash5× a week
Gymnasium
20% of the floor
- Dust Mop Gym Floor5× a week
- Damp Mop Gym Floor2× a week
- Empty Trash5× a week
Restrooms
4 restrooms
- Clean, Disinfect & Restock Restroom5× a week
Cafeteria
15% of the floor
- Clean & Disinfect Tables5× a week
- Damp Mop Floor5× a week
- Empty Trash5× a week
Schools: frequently asked questions
How are VCT floors in schools priced?
Nightly care of vinyl composition tile (VCT) in classrooms and hallways is dust mopping, damp mopping or auto scrubbing, priced by square feet per hour. Stripping and refinishing VCT is periodic work, usually over the summer, and is bid separately from the nightly contract.
Is summer deep cleaning included in this price?
No. This estimate is the nightly contract during the school year. Summer floor refinishing, carpet extraction and other deep cleaning are one-time jobs; BidLoom can price them as a separate one-time bid.
What makes school cleaning take longer?
Restrooms used by many students, cafeteria tables and floors after lunch, and trash in every classroom. Restrooms and trash are priced per fixture and per can, so they weigh more in a small school than in a large one.
Is this school cleaning estimate a quote I can send?
No. It is a starting point priced from BidLoom's default areas and tasks for this building type and size. A real bid needs a walkthrough: the actual rooms, floor types, restroom count and the schedule the client wants. The free BidLoom account starts the full bid with these numbers filled in, lets you change every area, task and rate, and makes the PDF proposal.
Why is the price shown at a 30% margin?
A margin is profit as a share of the price: at 30%, a contract priced at $1,000 costs $700 to deliver. 30% is the margin a new BidLoom account starts every bid at; you can change it on any bid or in Settings. Markup, profit as a share of cost, is a different number: a 30% margin is about a 43% markup.