How to bid floor cleaning based on square footag

[harley]

Hello:

I have had a cleaning business for about 1 1/2 years. I have been doing primarily homes and small offices. I was just asked for a proposal to clean an eye glass manufacturing facility. I have no experience calculating a bid based on square footage. I need to know about how long it will take to clean approx. 28,000 to 30,000 square feet of sealed concrete floor with a machine. The facility has both a push floor machine and a riding floor machine available for us to use. My rate is $25/hr. Is that in the ball park for floor cleaning?

Thanks, Sandi

[Grizzly]

First we need to know what size of machine you have available. A propane, ride on Tennant with a 50" width will do approx. 30,000 sq. ft. per hour. The cost of rental of one of these machines in my area in Ontario is 1300.00 per day. This is I believe , one of the biggest machines for indoor use. The productivity goes down from there so judge accordingly. Are they providing chemicals, appropriate pads, do not forget to count in oil spots, grease areas, etc. if they are particular.

Bill

[harley]

Thank you for the informain Bill. Now I have some place to start.

Sandi

[harley]

Hello:

Bill, the floor machine we will be using is a Minuteman SCV 28/32, with a cleaning width of 28'' or 32" depending on which brush is attached. The company currently has their own staff cleaning and they believe they spend about 28 to 30 hours per week (6 days/week) cleaning the 28,000 to 30,000 square feet. They also said that of the 28,000 to 30,000 square feet only 8, 000 to 10,000 needs to be cleaned daily, the remainder is cleaned every other day. If you can give some help with estimating this floor cleaning time for my proposal I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks , Sandi

[Grizzly]

Alright Sandi, this is the wildest of guesses. I don't know how bad the debris load is and how long it will take you to dust mop , damp mop or if you have a push sweeper to use. The autoscrubber should do around 10,000 sq ft. per hour at least to clean the floor. The rest of the time will depend on cleaning up dust and debris as I said and detailing. The prices will depend on what is prevalent in your area. I operate in Canada so my prices will be meaningless.

Bill