What commercial cleaning costs in Reno, and what changes the price

Why nobody can give an honest price per square foot over the phone

A price per square foot is the first thing most buyers ask for, and it sounds fair. The trouble is that two buildings of the same size can need very different amounts of work. A 10,000 square foot office with open desks and one set of restrooms is a different job from a 10,000 square foot medical suite with exam rooms, four restrooms and a waiting room that sees people all day.

Underneath, every cleaning company prices the same way. It estimates the hours a trained cleaner needs to clean your space to the standard you want, multiplies by what that cleaner costs (wages, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation and insurance), then adds supplies, supervision and overhead. Square footage is only the starting point for estimating the hours.

The seven things that move the price

1. How often the crew comes. Generally, more visits means a higher monthly price, and this one choice drives most of it. It is not straight math, though. When a crew comes once a week, a full week of trash, restroom use and floor soil is waiting, so that one visit runs long. Coming twice can cost about the same, or even less, because each visit is lighter and the crew works more efficiently.
2. The square footage that actually gets cleaned. Storage rooms, empty suites and locked areas can come out of the scope, and the price comes down with them.
3. Restrooms and break rooms. These are the slowest rooms in any building. Every toilet, urinal, sink and kitchen counter adds minutes on every visit.
4. Floor types. Carpet gets vacuumed; hard floors get swept and mopped. Waxed vinyl tile also needs scheduled stripping, waxing and buffing, usually priced as floor care.
5. How busy the space is. More people at desks and more visitors walking in (a showroom, a waiting room, a lobby) mean more trash, more fingerprints on glass and more soil on floors.
6. Special requirements. Exam rooms in a doctor or dental office, fitness rooms, showroom glass or a strict key and alarm routine all take more time or care.
7. Supplies. Paper towels, toilet paper, soap and can liners can be part of the monthly price or billed separately. Ask which, because it changes every comparison.

What is different about cleaning in Northern Nevada

A few local conditions show up in every Reno quote. From November into spring, sand, de-icer and snowmelt get tracked into entries, so lobbies, mats and hard floors need more attention and wear faster. The dry, windy climate puts more dust on ledges, vents and glass than people moving here from wetter places expect. And buildings in Truckee, Incline Village, Minden, Gardnerville or Fernley carry drive time that has to be planned into the schedule.

One-time cleans are priced by the job

Deep cleans, apartment turnovers, post-construction cleans and event cleanup are priced per job instead of per month. The math is the same (hours times labor cost), but the hours come from the condition of the space instead of a routine. A unit that sat empty for months, or was left in rough shape, takes far longer than a standard turn. A good vendor tells you before the work starts, not on the invoice. See apartment turnover cleaning, post-construction cleaning and deep cleaning.

How to get a price you can trust

Ask for a written scope with the price: a room by room list of tasks, how often each one happens, the nights the crew comes and what is included, like supplies and floor care. A number without a scope cannot be compared to another number. Our walkthrough and written scope page shows what a complete one looks like.

Then compare the hours behind each price. If one company plans 12 labor hours a week for your building and another plans 6, they are not quoting the same job, even if both say “nightly cleaning.” Our guide on how to compare janitorial bids walks through it step by step.