Commercial Cleaning Prices per Square Foot in Canada (2026 Guide)
Typical commercial cleaning prices per square foot in Canada for 2026, hourly and monthly rates, what drives the cost, and how to price your own contracts.
Commercial cleaning prices per square foot in Canada are usually quoted between about $0.05 and $0.35 per square foot, depending on the building, how often it is cleaned and whether the rate is per visit or per month. Most contracts are priced from labour hours, then expressed per square foot.
Key takeaways
- Published Canadian rates range from about $0.05 to $0.35 per square foot, so always check whether a quote is per visit or per month.
- Hourly rates are commonly $30 to $60 per cleaner per hour, and most small offices pay a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a month.
- Labour is typically 50 to 70% of the price, so accurate time estimates matter most.
- Price from production rates and your real costs, not just from what competitors charge.
Commercial cleaning prices per square foot: typical ranges
Published Canadian price guides quote a wide spread, partly because some mean per visit and others per month. For example, HomeStars' 2026 office cleaning cost guide lists recurring office cleaning at $0.10 to $0.25 per square foot per visit, while Raindrop Janitorial's Ontario guide lists $0.05 to $0.10 for basic offices and $0.15 to $0.25 for healthcare and industrial space on a monthly basis. Treat these as a reality check, not a price list.
| Service | Typical published range |
|---|---|
| Basic office cleaning | $0.05 – $0.25 per sq ft |
| Medical and dental offices | $0.15 – $0.35 per sq ft |
| Deep cleaning (one-off) | $0.20 – $0.50 per sq ft |
| Hourly rate | $30 – $60 per cleaner per hour |
| Carpet extraction | $0.08 – $0.25 per sq ft |
Monthly prices by office size
| Office size | Typical monthly price (HomeStars) |
|---|---|
| Under 1,000 sq ft | $200 – $500 |
| 1,000 – 5,000 sq ft | $500 – $2,000 |
| Over 5,000 sq ft | $2,000 – $5,000+ |
Larger buildings usually get a lower price per square foot, because cleaners spend less time travelling and setting up relative to the space they clean.
What affects commercial cleaning prices?
Labour time
Labour is the biggest cost, typically 50 to 70% of the quote. Therefore, the price depends mostly on how many hours the building takes each visit, which depends on the tasks, the layout and the number of washrooms and kitchens.
Frequency
Five nights a week costs more per month than two, but each visit is usually cheaper per square foot because the building stays cleaner between visits.
Type of space
Medical clinics, labs, food areas and client-facing offices need more detail and disinfection, so they cost more. Warehouses and storage areas cost less.
Floors
Carpet, hard floors and specialty surfaces need different equipment and periodic work such as extraction or refinishing, which is often priced separately.
Hours and access
Overnight or weekend cleaning can add around 10 to 20% because of wages and security access. In addition, locations with difficult parking or loading add time.
Location
Downtown Toronto and Vancouver command higher rates than smaller cities, mainly because wages and travel costs are higher.
Quality standard
A contract that requires APPA Level 2 in every area costs more to deliver than Level 3 in back-of-house areas. Agree on the APPA cleaning standards you're pricing for before you quote.
How to calculate commercial cleaning prices per square foot
Instead of copying competitors, build the price from your own numbers:
- Measure the cleanable square footage and count fixtures (toilets, urinals, sinks).
- Estimate the time with production rates. The ISSA cleaning times are the industry reference; for example, ISSA lists spot cleaning at about 1,000 square feet per hour and restroom fixtures at about 3 minutes each.
- Multiply hours by your loaded labour cost: wages plus payroll taxes, workers' compensation, vacation pay and supervision.
- Add supplies and equipment, usually a small percentage of labour.
- Add overhead and profit, then divide by square footage to get your price per square foot.
For example, a 10,000 sq ft office that takes 4.5 hours a night at a loaded cost of $32 per hour costs $144 in labour per visit. Add supplies ($10), overhead ($30) and a 15% margin, and the price is about $212 per visit. Over 22 visits that is roughly $4,660 a month, or about $0.47 per sq ft per month (about $0.02 per sq ft per visit). The same building could be quoted very differently depending on the unit used, which is why you should always price from time rather than from a single per-foot number.
Our step-by-step guide on how to bid janitorial contracts walks through this in detail.
Why the cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest
Low bids usually mean fewer hours. As a result, tasks get skipped, quality slips, staff turn over and the contract is re-tendered within a year. For building owners, the better question is: what quality level will this price deliver, and how will it be measured? Regular scored inspections, like a cleaning audit, answer that question.
Frequently asked questions
How much do commercial cleaners charge per square foot in Canada?
Published Canadian guides quote roughly $0.05 to $0.25 per square foot for routine office cleaning and about $0.15 to $0.35 for medical offices, but some quote per visit and others per month. A real quote should be built from the hours the building takes.
Is it better to charge per hour or per square foot?
For recurring commercial contracts, a monthly price built from square footage and estimated hours is most common, because clients prefer a fixed cost. Hourly pricing suits one-off or unpredictable jobs.
What is the average hourly rate for commercial cleaning in Canada?
Published ranges are about $30 to $60 per cleaner per hour, with higher rates in large cities and for specialized work.
Why do larger buildings cost less per square foot?
Larger buildings have more open, repetitive space that cleaners cover quickly, while set-up and travel time are spread over more square feet.
Price with confidence, then prove the quality
Knowing commercial cleaning prices per square foot helps you quote competitively, but keeping the contract depends on quality. NeatScore lets your supervisors score every building on the APPA scale and send clients branded reports, so your price is backed by proof. Start a free 7-day trial or see our pricing.
