How to start a commercial cleaning business and land your first contract.

Form an LLC (or Ltd in the UK / Corp in Canada). Get an EIN/UTR. Open a business bank account. Then layer in the insurance commercial buyers actually ask for: general liability ($1–2M is standard), workers' comp (legally required in most states/provinces once you hire), and a janitorial bond ($10K–$25K is typical and unlocks bigger contracts). Most first-contract failures aren't pricing — they're insurance. Facility managers will literally refuse to sign without a Certificate of Insurance naming them as additional insured.

The cleaning companies that scale fastest pick a vertical and dominate it. Options: • General office (easiest entry, lowest margins, biggest market). • Medical/dental (higher margins, more compliance, repeat revenue). • Industrial/warehouse (large square footage, lower hourly rate, hard to break into). • Post-construction (project-based, highest single-job revenue, lumpy pipeline). • Multi-tenant retail (great recurring revenue, property-manager relationships). Pick one, build credibility there, expand later.

You do not need $30K of equipment to start. A realistic starter kit: • Two commercial vacuums (HEPA): $400–$800. • Microfibre system (mops, cloths, buckets): $300. • Chemical starter kit (neutral cleaner, disinfectant, glass, restroom): $200. • Backpack vacuum for productivity: $500. • Floor machine (rent for the first year, buy when you have a contract that justifies it). Total: under $3,000 to credibly bid on most office and small-medical work.

For general office, most US/UK/CA markets price between $0.08–$0.18 per square foot per visit, or $25–$55 per labor hour at the loaded rate. Build bids off production rate (sq ft per hour) — not gut feel. A defensible bid sheet beats a low-ball quote every time. We wrote the full pricing framework in our pricing guide — link below.

Most new commercial cleaners default to flyers, door-knocking and 'asking around.' That can land your first one or two contracts — but it doesn't scale and it's wildly inconsistent. The fastest, most repeatable way to land your first commercial contract is direct outreach to facility decision-makers: cold email + LinkedIn, ~50 contacts per day, with a sharp offer. Our clients average their first booked walkthrough in week one of outbound.