Free tool
How many cleaners does your building need?
Put in the square footage, the building type and the restroom fixtures. You get the cleaner hours a visit takes, the crew that fits inside a normal cleaning window, and the hours a week that adds up to. No price, no email, no call.
Facility managers are usually handed a bid with a crew size and a shift length already decided. This is the arithmetic behind that number, so you can check whether a bid staffs your building properly or quietly under-staffs it.
The arithmetic
What the calculator is doing
Nothing hidden. Three numbers and one division.
- 01
Square feet divided by a production rate
A production rate is how much floor one trained cleaner covers in an hour for that kind of building. The rates below are typical industry ranges that contractors estimate from, checked by the Desert Elite office.
- 02
Plus 4 minutes a restroom fixture
Toilets, urinals and sinks are counted one by one, because restrooms do not scale with floor area and they decide how a building is judged.
- 03
Divided by a crew that fits the window
Most buildings want the work finished inside about four hours after close. The calculator picks the smallest crew that fits, which is how a shift is actually staffed.
The rates
Production rates by building type
Square feet one cleaner covers in an hour, for a full clean. Typical industry ranges checked by our office, shown so you can check the work.
| Building type | Sq ft per cleaner hour | What slows it down |
|---|---|---|
| Office building | 2,800 to 3,800 | Desks, carpet, kitchens and restrooms on a nightly round. |
| Medical or dental | 1,800 to 2,600 | Exam and treatment rooms, disinfection dwell time, regulated waste. |
| Warehouse or distribution | 6,000 to 12,000 | Open floor run with a ride-on or walk-behind machine, plus offices and restrooms. |
| School or daycare | 2,400 to 3,400 | Classrooms, corridors and high-use restrooms between sessions. |
| Retail or showroom | 3,500 to 5,000 | Sales floor, entrances, fitting rooms and restrooms. |
| Multi-tenant property | 3,000 to 4,200 | Lobbies, corridors, elevators and shared restrooms. |
| Gym or fitness | 2,000 to 3,000 | Equipment, mats, locker rooms and showers. |
| Restaurant or food service | 1,500 to 2,200 | Front of house, restrooms and the non-food-contact side of the kitchen. |
These are industry starting points, not Desert Elite quotes. Your building sets its own rate at the walkthrough, and the agreed scope is what the crew carries.
Next step
Have us check the number on site
A walkthrough takes under an hour. You get a written scope of work for your building, with the crew and the hours in writing.