Scope & bidding

Commercial Cleaning Scope of Work & Bid Checklist

A practical walkthrough checklist and blank bid worksheet for defining areas, tasks, frequencies, labour assumptions, exclusions and service evidence.

Centrov Editorial Team · September 22, 2026 · 7 min read

The practical answer

A priceable cleaning scope identifies the place, tasks, frequency, access constraints, service standard and responsibility for supplies. Estimate labour only after those details are clear, and record exclusions before sending the bid.

Start with a walkthrough, not a square-foot rate

Two buildings with the same floor area can require very different labour. A busy washroom, tightly packed desks, elevators and a short access window all change the work. Record what you observed and which assumptions still need the client’s answer.

Identify the physical address and each serviced area. Count fixtures and bins where they affect work, note surface types and condition, and separate cleanable space from gross building area. Ask who opens the building, where equipment can be stored, how waste leaves the property and which rooms are off limits.

Keep access codes and sensitive client instructions in the secured job record. A bid should explain the access arrangements without becoming a public list of credentials.

Define the scope by area, task and frequency

Use this table as a starting checklist. It is deliberately not a cleaning specification: agree the actual tasks, frequencies, products and standards for the building with the client.

Walkthrough prompts for an office-cleaning bid
Area	Discuss the tasks	Resolve before pricing
Reception and entrances	Floors, door glass, bins	Surface condition, traffic, access window
Offices and meeting rooms	Accessible surfaces, floors, waste	Occupied desks, restricted rooms, meeting calendar
Washrooms	Fixtures, touchpoints, floors, restocking	Fixture count, consumable owner, service standard
Kitchen and break areas	Counters, sinks, floors, waste	Appliances included, food handling boundaries
Periodic work	Carpet care, floor treatment, high dusting	Separate frequency, equipment, approval and price

For each task, record whether it happens every visit, weekly, monthly or by separate approval. Define how completion will be checked. “Clean kitchen” is hard to estimate or inspect; a list of included surfaces, exclusions and agreed frequency is much easier to manage.

A blank bid worksheet you can copy

Copy the following worksheet into your estimating document. Fill gaps during the walkthrough and keep the dated version with the proposal. No registration is needed.

Building / address: ______________________________
Walkthrough date / scope version: _________________
Client decision-maker / approver: _________________
Areas, tasks and service standards: _______________
Frequency by task / visits per month: _____________
Access window / setup and travel allowance: _______
Labour hours per visit (all workers combined): _____
Monthly recurring hours: _________________________
Periodic work and extra hours: ___________________
Loaded labour cost per hour: _____________________
Supplies / equipment / overhead allocation: _______
Consumables supplied by client or contractor: _____
Excluded work / separate prices: __________________
Total modelled cost / target margin: ______________
Price before tax: ________________________________
Service evidence / review contact: ________________
Change request and approval process: ______________
Open assumptions to resolve before submission: ____

“Labour hours” means the combined time of everyone doing the work. Two cleaners working three hours is six labour hours, not three. For an illustrative 20 visits per month, six labour hours per visit produces 120 monthly hours before any separately planned periodic work.

Review the bid before it leaves the office

Check that the monthly calendar matches the service frequency, including closures and periodic tasks.
Confirm who supplies consumables, equipment, storage and waste access. Unassigned responsibility becomes unplanned cost.
Check that setup, supervision, movement through the building and close-out time are represented.
Use loaded labour costs and a defined overhead basis. Do not confuse a markup on cost with a margin on revenue.
Resolve exclusions and document how the client approves a changed scope. Keep price changes connected to that approval.

Once work starts, compare approved hours and service issues against this scope. A repeated overrun may indicate an unrealistic time allowance, a changed building or work outside the agreed plan. Investigate the reason before reducing service or changing the next quote.

Put the method to work

Walk through a cleaning contract with us →