Pillar

Pillar/Free tools

Lancaster, PA

Post-construction
cleaning pricing
calculator

Square footage, phase, and debris level in. Crew hours, a flat bid, and price per square foot out.

It builds the price from labor hours, because that is how the job actually costs out. The math it runs is printed below.

No signup

Bid worksheet

Updates as you type

Job inputs

Total finished area to be cleaned.

sq ft

How dirty is the site before you start?

/hr
%
%
%

Estimated bid price

$857

$0.29 per sq ft

17.1

Crew hours

1.1

Working days

2-person crew on 8 hour days.

Cost breakdown

Labor
$429
Supplies and equipment
$43
Overhead
$86
Profit
$300

Most final cleans land between $0.30 and $0.50 per square foot. Walk the site before you commit to a number.

01The math

The numbers inside
the tool

Nothing hidden. These are the defaults it runs, so you can check them against your own jobs before you trust the result.

sq ft / production rate x phase x debris = crew hours

(labor + supplies + overhead) / (1 - margin) = bid price

Production rates

Baseline is a final clean at average debris.

Residential
175 sq ft / labor hr
Light commercial
275 sq ft / labor hr
Heavy commercial
375 sq ft / labor hr

Phase multipliers

A rough clean is mostly debris removal. The detail is in the final.

Rough clean
x 0.6
Final clean
x 1.0
Touch-up
x 0.4
All three phases
x 1.9

Debris multipliers

Heavy drywall dust means every surface gets wiped more than once.

Light
x 0.8
Average
x 1.0
Heavy
x 1.45

Sanity-check the result

$0.30 to $0.50per sq ft

Most final cleans land in this band. Heavy debris and multi-phase jobs price above it, and a result far below it usually means a routine-cleaning rate slipped in.

02Go deeper

The tool does the math.
The guide teaches the method.

Bid with the calculator, defend the number with the guide. Change orders, scope, and walkthroughs are covered there, not here.

How to price post-construction cleaning

The method behind this tool. Walkthroughs, the three phases, change orders, and what never to leave out of a bid.

Learn more

Commercial cleaning calculator

For recurring janitorial contracts. Price per visit, monthly value, and price per square foot.

Learn more

Cleaning lead calculator

A two-minute check of your website, reviews, and response time, and how many jobs each gap costs.

Learn more

All free tools

03Questions

Quick answers on
pricing the clean

How does this calculator price a post-construction clean?
It prices from labor hours, not a flat rate pulled from the air. Square footage divided by a production rate gives baseline hours, phase and debris multipliers adjust them, and your labor rate, supplies, overhead, and margin turn those hours into a flat bid.
Is the calculator free to use?
Yes. No signup, no email, no download, and you can run as many bids as you want.
What production rates does the calculator use?
The baseline is a final clean at average debris: 175 square feet per labor hour for residential, 275 for light commercial, and 375 for heavy commercial or industrial. Check them against your own last few jobs and adjust the inputs to match.
What is a typical price per square foot for post-construction cleaning?
Most final cleans land between $0.30 and $0.50 per square foot, with heavy debris and multi-phase work pricing above that band. Use the band as a sanity check on the result, not as the way you build the number.
Can I price a rough clean or a touch-up on its own?
Yes. Pick the phase and the hours scale to it: a rough clean runs about 60 percent of a final clean, a touch-up about 40 percent, and all three phases together about 190 percent.
How accurate is the estimate?
It is a starting point built on typical production rates, not a quote. Walk the site before you commit, and swap in your own rates once you have job history to compare against.

Get started

Bid it here.
Run it in Pillar.

Turn the number into an estimate the customer signs on site, then a schedule and an invoice. Free for one person, at 100 jobs, 100 estimates and 100 invoices a month, with no card to enter.

Free for one

Start freeOr book a walkthrough