There’s no standard price list for commercial cleaning cost in Vancouver or the Fraser Valley. What you pay depends on how much floor area is cleaned, how often, what the scope includes and when crews can get in. Recurring cleaning is usually quoted as a flat monthly rate built from an estimate of labour hours, while one-off work is priced by the hour or as a fixed project price.
For a rough benchmark, JAN-PRO Canada says commercial cleaning rates can range from $0.05 to $0.55 per square foot, and advertises its own rates as starting at $225 per month. The article doesn’t say whether the square-foot figure is per visit or per month, so the number to budget around is a written, fixed-price quote based on a walkthrough and an itemized scope. This guide shows how those quotes are built, so you can check them and compare commercial cleaning prices fairly.
How commercial cleaning is priced
Most contractors use one of five pricing models, and many combine them, such as a monthly rate for routine janitorial work plus separate prices for periodic tasks like carpet extraction.
| Model | How it works | Typically used for | Ask about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Time on site multiplied by an hourly rate | One-off cleans, small or irregular jobs, extra work outside a contract | Estimated hours, minimum charges, who approves extra time |
| Per visit | A fixed price for a defined scope each visit | Small offices and common areas cleaned once or twice a week | What happens if a visit is missed or cut short |
| Monthly flat rate | Scope and visits per week converted into equal monthly payments | Recurring janitorial programs | Which periodic tasks, holidays and supplies are included |
| Per square foot | A rate multiplied by cleanable floor area | Benchmarking, larger offices, multi-site portfolios | Whether it’s per visit, per month or per year, and which areas count |
| Fixed project price | One price for a defined job | Post-construction cleaning, carpet extraction, floor refinishing, pressure washing | Assumed condition, access, and what counts as a change |
Whatever the model, most cleaning prices are built from labour hours: hours per visit, times visits per week, spread over the year. With 52 weeks in 12 months, a month averages about 4.33 weeks. Knowing that lets you sanity-check any quote.
What drives commercial cleaning cost in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley
Cleaning is labour-intensive, so anything that adds time on site adds cost. For context, Job Bank’s median wage for light duty cleaners in B.C.’s Lower Mainland–Southwest region is $21.91 an hour, and $24.83 for janitors, caretakers and heavy-duty cleaners (2023–2024 data). B.C.’s general minimum wage has been $18.25 an hour since June 1, 2026. A contractor’s billed rate must also cover payroll costs, WorkSafeBC premiums, insurance, supervision, equipment, supplies, travel and overhead, so it sits well above any wage figure.
| Factor | Why it changes the price | Tell bidders |
|---|---|---|
| Cleanable area | More floor area means more labour per visit | Square footage by floor, and any excluded areas |
| Frequency | Every added visit adds labour; infrequent visits can take longer each time | Visits per week for each area |
| Occupancy and traffic | More people means more trash, washroom use and floor soil | Headcount, daily visitors, peak periods |
| Floor types | Carpet, resilient flooring, sealed concrete and stone need different methods | Floor types by area, and any finish requirements |
| Washrooms and kitchens | Fixture cleaning, disinfection and restocking take time | Number of washrooms, fixtures and kitchens |
| Consumables | Paper, soap and liners are billed by the contractor or bought by you | Who supplies what |
| Access and timing | After-hours work, security sign-in, elevator bookings and parking add time | Access windows, key and alarm procedures, parking |
| Travel and route density | Driving time between sites is paid time | Your address, and any other sites to include |
| Periodic tasks | Carpet extraction, floor refinishing, high dusting and interior glass add labour and equipment | Which tasks you want and how often |
Worked examples: hours, visits and square feet
These examples use made-up figures to show the arithmetic. They are not quotes or market rates; your building’s numbers come from a walkthrough.
Example 1: Turning hours into a monthly price
Assume 3 labour hours per visit, 5 evenings a week and a 4.33-week month. That’s 3 × 5 × 4.33, or about 65 hours a month. The monthly price is those hours times the hourly rate, so every $1 difference in the rate moves the monthly bill by about $65, and every $5 by about $325. When two quotes are far apart, compare the hours before the rate.
Example 2: Calculating cleaning cost per square foot
Assume a hypothetical quote of $2,000 a month for 10,000 square feet of cleanable space, cleaned 5 nights a week (about 21.65 visits a month).
- Per square foot per month: $2,000 ÷ 10,000 = $0.20
- Per visit: $2,000 ÷ 21.65 = about $92
- Per square foot per visit: $92 ÷ 10,000 = less than one cent
One quote, two very different per-square-foot numbers. Any cleaning cost per square foot figure, from a bidder or a B.C. or national benchmark, is only useful once you know the time period and which areas were measured.
Example 3: Setting frequency by zone
Assume each nightly visit takes 4 hours: 1.5 for washrooms, the kitchen and entrances, and 2.5 for open office areas. The open areas move to a full clean 3 nights a week, with a 1-hour trash-and-tidy pass on the other 2.
- Before: 4 hours × 5 nights = 20 hours a week
- After: (1.5 × 5) + (2.5 × 3) + (1 × 2) = 17 hours a week
That’s 15% fewer labour hours, about 13 a month, while washrooms, the kitchen and entrances still get nightly service.
How to compare cleaning quotes apples to apples
Quotes only compare fairly when every bidder prices the same work. Send every bidder the same written scope, or ask each to walk the building and put an itemized scope in writing, then check each quote against this list.
What each quote should spell out
- A scope list by area: entrances, offices, meeting rooms, washrooms, kitchens, stairwells and elevators.
- A frequency table of daily, weekly, monthly and periodic tasks.
- Estimated hours per visit or crew size, so you can see the labour behind the price.
- Who supplies consumables such as paper, soap and liners, and how they’re billed.
- Periodic tasks such as carpet extraction and floor refinishing, and whether each is included or priced separately.
- Supervision: who inspects the work, how often, and how problems get fixed.
- Reporting, such as signed checklists or photo-documented condition reports.
- Proof of liability insurance and WorkSafeBC coverage; our guide to WorkSafeBC clearance letters explains how to check.
- Key, fob and alarm procedures.
- Contract term, notice period, price changes and what happens when a visit is missed.
Look closely at any quote far below the rest: it may assume fewer hours, a thinner scope or excluded supplies, or leave out insurance and WorkSafeBC costs. For a sample scope, see our commercial cleaning service and the office cleaning checklist in our guide to janitorial vs. commercial cleaning.
Ways to control cost without cutting quality
Set frequency by zone, not by building
Washrooms, kitchens and entrances usually need attention every service day; private offices, storage rooms and low-use meeting rooms often don’t. A frequency table by zone, like Example 3, puts labour where people notice it. Update it when a floor is vacated or a team goes hybrid, so you aren’t paying to clean empty space.
Choose between a day porter and evening service
Evening cleaning avoids working around staff. A day porter, meaning a cleaner on site during business hours, restocks washrooms, handles spills and keeps busy lobbies presentable. Some buildings pair a short day-porter shift with a lighter evening clean.
Manage consumables deliberately
Contractor-supplied paper and soap are convenient, and the price may include a margin for sourcing and delivery. Buying your own can cost less, but someone has to order, store and track it. Either way, standardize dispensers and ask for monthly usage.
Plan periodic work and stop grit at the door
Schedule carpet extraction and floor refinishing as a planned calendar for quieter periods. Good entrance matting and a regular exterior sweep keep grit, and the wear it causes, outside, which matters most in the wet season.
Regional factors: downtown access and Fraser Valley routes
Downtown Vancouver and town-centre towers
Downtown and in busy town centres, access can matter as much as floor area. Security sign-in, limited service elevators, loading-bay rules and paid parking add time to every visit, so tell bidders where crews park and unload and when the building locks. See commercial cleaning in Vancouver.
The wet season across Metro Vancouver
From fall to spring, rain and grit come into lobbies and elevators on every pair of shoes, and the North Shore gets heavier rain than most. Budget for extra entrance and floor care in the wet months rather than a flat year-round scope.
Janitorial services prices in Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley
The same pricing models apply in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Mission. The Job Bank wages above cover the whole Lower Mainland–Southwest economic region, and WorkBC’s profile of that region (which it calls Mainland/Southwest) includes both the Greater Vancouver area and the Fraser Valley, so published wage data won’t show a separate valley rate. Differences are more likely to come from route planning and site conditions: large parking lots, industrial and agricultural grit, snow, ice and de-icer in winter, and dust, pollen and in some years wildfire smoke in summer. See commercial cleaning in Abbotsford and our Fraser Valley service area.
What drives strata cleaning costs
Strata cleaning follows the same logic, but the building type changes where the hours go. A high-rise spends them on lobbies, elevators, corridors, garbage rooms, amenity spaces and the parkade; a townhouse complex has fewer interior spaces but more walkways, mail kiosks and garbage enclosures.
- Number of lobbies, elevators and corridor floors
- Garbage, recycling and bike rooms
- Amenity spaces such as gyms, lounges and guest suites
- Move-in and move-out traffic
- Seasonal work such as pressure washing walkways and parkade cleaning
- How much reporting council wants to see
Frequency is the main lever council controls. Our guide to how often to clean strata common areas covers frequencies by area, the strata cleaning contract checklist covers what to put in writing, and our strata cleaning service shows a typical scope.