What to ask on a commercial cleaning quote form

A commercial cleaning quote form should ask six things: the building type, rough square footage, how many cleanings a week, what hours the crew can be in, when the current cleaning contract ends, and who to contact. That's enough to decide whether the building fits your crews and to show up at the walkthrough ready. Ask much more and a facility manager closes the tab. Ask less and you end up driving forty minutes to look at a job you'd never take.

Why "Get a free quote" doesn't work for buildings

A homeowner wants a price. A facility manager wants a written bid they can compare with two others and defend to whoever signs, and they know nobody can price a 20,000 sq ft office from a web form. A "Get a free quote" button next to a booking calendar tells them you clean houses.

Name the button for what actually happens next: "Request a walkthrough." It says you'll come look at the building and bid in writing, which is what the manager expected anyway. Give the form its own page or section under that heading, and make it the main button on every screen of your site.

The six fields on a commercial cleaning quote form

Use choices wherever you can. A manager filling this in at their desk between other jobs will tap a button faster than they'll type a sentence.

Building type

Offices, medical or dental, schools or daycares, warehouses, retail, and "something else." This tells you whether you take the job at all, which crew fits it and which checklist you'll bring to the walkthrough.

Rough square footage

Offer ranges (under 2,000, 2,000 to 5,000, 5,000 to 10,000 and so on) plus "not sure." Plenty of office managers don't know the number, and an exact-figure box makes them stop and go looking. A range is enough to rough out crew hours before you go.

Cleanings a week

One, two, three, five, or other. With square footage, this sets the size of the job. It also screens out a one-time deep clean if you only want recurring contracts.

Hours

When can the crew be in the building? After close, early morning, weekends, or a day porter during business hours. You'll know right away whether it fits a route you already run.

Current contract end date (optional)

"When does your current cleaning contract end?" Mark it optional and add "if you have one." The answer tells you whether this is a start-next-month job or a bid they're collecting for spring, and you can plan your follow-up around it. Many buildings are mid-contract when they start looking, so don't make it required.

Contact

Name, company or building, and a phone or email (whichever they check first; ask for one, not both). Add an optional notes box for things like "two floors, shared restrooms on each."

Keyholder Commercial Cleaning, a sample design for a fictional business, splits a form like this into three short steps: the building, then its size and how often, then where to send the bid. Short steps feel like less work than one long form on a phone.

What to say around the form

The form gets filled in when the manager knows what they're signing up for. A few lines around it do that.

Say how fast you respond, and pick a time you can hit in a bad week. "We'll call within one business day" is a fine promise if you keep it.

Say who comes to the walkthrough. If it's you, say so with your name. Managers like knowing the person who walks the building is the person who writes the bid.

Say what the walkthrough covers and how long it usually takes: you'll go through each area, count restrooms, look at the floors and ask about access, alarm codes and supplies. Then say when the written bid arrives, and if your agreements run month to month, say that here too.

Put two or three trust facts near the button, such as background checks, insurance and how you handle keys, if they're true for you. We go through which ones buyers look for in what facility managers check on your website before they call. Add a download link for your capability statement on the same page, so the manager can forward it before you've met. There's a section-by-section guide in how to write a capability statement for a cleaning company.

Last, one line under the button about what you do with their details, like "We only use this to set up your walkthrough."

After they submit

Show a confirmation on the page that repeats your promise, who will call and by when, and make sure that call happens.

When you call or email, offer two walkthrough times and send a calendar invite with the address, your name and your phone number. A few questions before the visit save a second trip:

• Who will walk the building with you, and how do you get in?
• Is there a written scope of work or an RFP you should read first?
• Are there sign-in, badge or escort rules?
• Which areas are giving them trouble with the current cleaner?

Bring a printed capability statement and a notepad, and send the written bid when you said you would. If the form told you their contract ends in four months, put a reminder in your calendar for a month before that date and follow up then.

We build and look after commercial cleaning websites with a walkthrough request on every screen and these fields already on the form. See Keyholder Commercial Cleaning, a sample design for a fictional business. It's $99 to start, refunded if you pass on the preview, and $399 all in at our founding price for the first 25 clients. Hosting is $99 a month.