Janitorial bidding software is bought by a commercial cleaning contractor who has lost a contract by bidding too high on a floor plan and kept one by bidding too low on the restrooms. The bid it produces is hours: each area's square footage and tasks converted through the company's own production rates into minutes per visit, summed into hours, multiplied by the visits per month, priced at a loaded rate, with supplies and consumables per visit, equipment amortised over the contract, then the overhead and the markup that make a monthly price. The estimate template on this site works that arithmetic for one contract at a time and prints the lines.
Production rates are the whole bid
The rate at which a cleaner vacuums an open office, mops a corridor, services a restroom or empties the bins is a number the company measures on its own contracts, by floor type and by density of furniture, and it is the only input the bid cannot borrow. Bidding software that ships with generic rates has to be corrected with the company's own before the first bid; software that lets the company keep its rates by task and floor type earns its licence on the second contract.
Frequency, periodic work and the exclusions
The monthly hours are the per-visit hours times the visits per month, plus the periodic work on its own schedule, floor stripping and refinishing, carpet extraction, high dusting, window cleaning inside, each priced at its own rate. The bid states what is excluded, exterior glass, construction clean, biohazard, and what the client supplies, so the periodic work is neither done for free nor lost at the walk-through.
The loaded rate, supplies and the monthly price
Price the hours at a rate that carries payroll taxes, insurance, supervision and travel, add supplies and consumables per visit and the equipment over the contract, then apply the overhead percentage and the markup. The client sees the scope, the schedule, the monthly price and the terms; the company keeps the hours and the rates. Pro on this site files every bid against the client and the building, so the renewal is repriced from the hours rather than negotiated from the total.
Questions people ask about janitorial bidding software
How does janitorial bidding software calculate a bid?
Areas and tasks through production rates into minutes per visit, hours times visits per month, at a loaded rate, plus supplies, equipment, overhead and markup, as a monthly price with the scope attached.
Where do production rates come from?
From timing the company's own cleaners on its own contracts by task and floor type; generic rates in software are a starting point that must be replaced.
Should a janitorial bid show hourly rates to the client?
No. Show the scope, the frequency and the monthly price; the hours and rates stay with the estimate so the client compares scope rather than rates.