What does office cleaning cost?
Office cleaning runs roughly $0.10–0.18 per square foot per month on weekly service in New Jersey, $0.07–0.25 nationally, or $30–75 per cleaner-hour when billed by time. It is the cheapest commercial category per square foot, and the reason is who buys it: cleaning is specified by the building rather than the occupier, and tendered at portfolio scale on price.
Office is the most quoted and least consistent figure in commercial cleaning. It is also the one where the two standard ways of pricing — per square foot and per cleaner-hour — disagree most sharply, and it is worth knowing why before comparing bids.
Figures retrieved
What the market charges
New Jersey runs above national averages, which is a wage effect rather than a market one: the 2026 state minimum wage is $15.92, and NJ commercial rates sit 10–25% above national.
| Scope | Rate | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey, weekly | $0.10–0.18 | per sq ft / month |
| National, recurring | $0.07–0.25 | per sq ft |
| Hourly | $30–75 | per cleaner-hour |
| NJ premium over national | +10–25% | — |
| NJ minimum wage, 2026 | $15.92 | per hour |
Where the published figures contradict each other
This is worth stating plainly because almost no cost guide does. Take the New Jersey office figures above: $0.10–0.18 per square foot per month on a 5,000 sq ft office gives $500–900 a month. The same source's worked example for the same building is $2,000–3,600 a month. Those cannot both be per month.
Read the second as the true one and the implied labour rate is $70–130 per cleaner-hour — against the $30–75 the same body of sources quotes hourly. The two bases disagree by roughly a factor of two, and no amount of arithmetic reconciles them.
The practical advice: when comparing two office quotes, establish the basis first. Per visit or per month, per cleaner-hour or per crew-hour, and at what frequency. Most apparent price differences in this category are unit differences.
What drives the number
Production rate is the starting point: ISSA 612 puts general office at 3,500–5,000 sq ft per cleaner-hour, among the fastest commercial work there is. That is why office is cheap per square foot despite commanding a reasonable hourly rate.
Restroom count, not floor area, is the usual swing factor. ISSA rates restrooms at 800–1,200 sq ft per cleaner-hour, four times slower than open office, so two identical floorplates with different restroom provision price differently.
Who buys it. In multi-tenant towers, cleaning sits inside the building's operating costs and is tendered at portfolio scale on price — an occupier there is not really a buyer. Owner-occupied and single-tenant offices buy their own, and that is a different market with different service expectations.
Questions people actually ask.
Is office cleaning priced per square foot or per hour?
Both are used, and they frequently disagree for the same building. Per square foot suits recurring contracts with a stable scope; hourly suits variable or one-off work. When comparing quotes, convert both to the same basis before deciding which is cheaper.
How often should an office be cleaned?
Weekly is common for smaller professional offices, nightly for anything with significant footfall or shared restrooms. Frequency and per-visit cost move in opposite directions: more frequent visits cost less each, because less accumulates between them.
Why is my building's cleaning included in rent?
In multi-tenant buildings, cleaning is usually specified by the property manager and recovered through service charges, tendered across a portfolio on price. If you occupy space in one, you are not choosing the contractor — which is worth knowing before soliciting quotes.
Related guides
Price an office
Floor area, what the space is, and how often. A real figure before anyone visits.