Haleridge Commercial Capital, a small-business funding service in Las Vegas, Nevada, shows Clark County, NV cleaning companies how to add payroll timing to a commercial cleaning bid: estimate labor and supplies, count the payrolls before the first payment, and decide whether working capital or a line of credit should carry the gap.
Why a good bid can still hurt cash flow
Commercial cleaning contracts may be invoiced monthly, with payment terms such as 30 days or longer. If crews are paid weekly or biweekly from day one, a new contract can start with several payrolls paid out before any money comes in. Clark County, NV had 526 janitorial employer establishments in 2023, 58.4% with fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns 2023).
How to estimate commercial cleaning jobs
- Measure the cleanable square footage and list the tasks for each area.
- Apply a production rate (square feet per hour) for each task to get labor hours.
- Multiply by the hourly cost of labor, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation.
- Add supplies, equipment wear and supervision.
- Add overhead and margin.
That is the standard method for how to bid office cleaning jobs. The step an estimate can leave out is the next one.
Add a cash-flow line to the bid
Count how many payrolls will go out before the first payment arrives, and multiply by the new crew's payroll. That figure is the working capital the contract needs.
Illustration only
A hypothetical company bids $11,500 a month to clean a Clark County, NV office building nightly, invoiced at month end and paid net-30. The new crew costs $2,700 a week. Work starts on the 1st; the first invoice goes out on the 31st and is paid around day 60. In that time about eight or nine weekly payrolls, roughly $22,000 to $24,000, are paid for this contract before its first payment. All figures are invented for illustration.
Bridging the bid: one loan or a reusable line
For a single new contract, a working capital loan sized to the gap and repaid from the contract is one option. For a company adding contracts regularly, a line of credit that refills as clients pay may fit better; compare the total dollar cost of each. The commercial cleaning page compares the two for janitorial firms.
Records that support the request
- The signed contract or award letter, with price and payment terms.
- Payroll reports for the existing business.
- Business bank statements.
- Nevada payroll account records; see the Modified Business Tax checklist.
Bid-side habits that protect cash
- Ask whether the client can pay on shorter terms or twice monthly.
- Invoice on the last day of the month, not a week later.
- Price supplies for the first month into the start-up, not spread over the year.
- Do not start two large contracts in the same month unless the funding is in place.
Further reading
For the county's Census counts, open the Las Vegas, NV page; the other three east-valley posts sit on the Haleridge blog.
Supplies and equipment in the first month
A new contract may also need a floor machine, carts, vacuums and a first stock of chemicals and paper goods. Equipment can go through equipment financing; supplies are usually part of the working capital figure. Put both in the start-up budget so the bid covers them and the funding request reflects the true first-month outlay.
By Haleridge Commercial Capital · Updated
