Commercial cleaning proposal: what to include (free template)

A proposal is how a building manager decides whether to hire you. It should show you understood the building, say exactly what you'll clean and how often, and make the price easy to say yes to. Here's what goes in one, how it differs from the contract, and a free fill-in template.

JobTill · October 18, 2026 · 7 min read

This is practical guidance from running service businesses, not legal advice. Your contract terms belong in a separate service agreement, ideally one a local attorney has reviewed.

Proposal or contract: what's the difference?

A proposal and a contract do different jobs. The proposal sells: it describes the work, the schedule and the price, often with a few options. The contract protects: it sets payment terms, price reviews, cancellation, insurance and what happens when something changes.

Some owners send one document that does both. That can work, but long legal sections bury the parts the decision-maker cares about. Keeping them apart keeps the proposal short. For the contract side, see what to put in a commercial cleaning contract and the free contract checklist.

What to include in a commercial cleaning proposal

1. Cover details

Your business name and a contact person, the client's name, the site address, the date, and how long the price is good for, for example 30 days. A valid-until date stops an old price from coming back six months later.

2. What you heard

Two or three sentences on what the client told you during the walkthrough: what isn't working now and what matters most to them. "Second-floor restrooms run out of paper by mid-afternoon" shows you listened, and it makes the scope below easier to follow.

3. Scope of work, area by area

This is the heart of the proposal. "General office cleaning" means something different to everyone. List each area and what's done there:

Our office cleaning checklist has a fuller task list by area and frequency you can copy from.

4. Frequency and schedule

Which days you'll clean, the time window, and how holidays are handled. If different areas run on different schedules, say so in the scope table, as above.

5. What's not included

Write down what the regular price does not cover: interior and exterior windows, carpet extraction, hard-floor stripping and refinishing, high dusting, fridge clean-outs, and cleanup after events. Listing them heads off "I thought that was included", and it gives the client a menu of extras.

6. Optional extras

Price the common extras on their own lines, per visit or per job, so the client can add them later without a new proposal. Leave them out of the monthly price.

7. Supplies and equipment

Say who provides chemicals and equipment, and who provides consumables like toilet paper, paper towels, soap and trash liners. If you supply consumables, say whether they're in the monthly price or billed separately.

8. Pricing

Make the price easy to find and easy to compare. A good way is two or three options that change the frequency, not the quality of each visit:

A few rules of thumb:

• Show one monthly price per option, and say what it includes.
• Keep it to three options at most. More than that slows the decision down.
• If the building needs a heavy first clean, price it as a one-time line, separate from the monthly price.
• If you also show a per-visit or per-square-foot figure, make sure it matches the monthly price.

Not sure how to get to the number? Start with how to price commercial cleaning jobs and the free pricing worksheet.

9. Start date and the first weeks

Give a proposed start date, and what has to happen before it: keys and alarm codes handed over, supplies stocked, and a short walk with the client's contact after the first week to check everything is as they want it.

10. How you'll check quality

Say how you'll check the work, for example a monthly inspection with a short written summary, and how the client reports a problem. Clients like knowing there's a plan before anything goes wrong. See our janitorial inspection checklist.

11. About your business

One short paragraph: how long you've been cleaning commercial buildings, the insurance you carry (general liability, workers' compensation), whether you're bonded, and that a certificate of insurance is available on request. Only include what's true, and offer references if you have them.

12. A short terms summary

Two or three lines are enough: when you invoice, your payment terms, and how long the agreement runs. Then point to the contract: "Full terms are in our service agreement, which we'll send when you choose an option." Don't paste the whole contract in.

13. How to accept

Tell the client exactly what to do next: choose an option, add their name, title and the date, and sign or approve it online. The easier this step is, the faster you'll hear back.

Common proposal mistakes

• Pricing from a phone call instead of a walkthrough.
• "General cleaning" with no list of areas and tasks.
• No exclusions, so every "while you're there" becomes free work.
• Too many options, or options that differ in ways the client can't see.
• No valid-until date.
• Burying the price several pages in, behind company history.
• Copying last month's proposal and leaving the old client's name in it.
• Promising things the price doesn't cover, like "anything else you need".

After the client says yes

Send the service agreement with the full terms, confirm the start date, and collect keys and alarm codes. Then turn the scope into your crew's checklist. The scope in the contract should match the scope in the proposal word for word, so copy it across rather than rewriting it.