This is a question that cleaning business owners ask themselves all the time. After all, how can you know how much to charge if you don't know how long it takes to clean?

Think of it this way -- the total time it takes to clean a building (or home), is as easy as adding up the sum of all the individual tasks. So in order to do that, we must evaluate just how long it takes to clean any given area. The hard part is that different people clean at different speeds, so two people who have the same instructions and tools will not necessarily finish at the same time.

The amount of time it takes to clean, is something the cleaning industry refers to as a Production Rate. Production rates use the average time it takes to clean an item or area under normal circumstances. This can be a helpful tool to estimate your time, but always keep in mind that there are often other variables that may affect the overall cleaning time. Some of these variables include:

• the building's age
• condition of equipment (old vacuum in need of repair vs new vacuum)
• type of equipment (upright vacuum vs back pack vacuum)
• climate (snow, rain, etc. often slows down the cleaning of entryways)
• type of flooring
• new employee vs experienced employee (newbies are often slower)
• location of dumpsters
• extra time needed to clean equipment
• number of building occupants
• and many more...

So rather than "winging it" when bidding on a new account, list the tasks that need to be performed, estimate the time on each task, and then add up the total time. Now that you have a total time estimate, it will be easier to come up with a winning price!

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Steve Hanson helps owners of small cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through his online community at TheJanitorialStore.com. Read inspirational cleaning success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com, and sign up for weekly cleaning tips at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com.