How to get commercial cleaning contracts

Two roads to the same signed contract

Commercial cleaning work comes from two places, and they need different habits.

The public road is tenders: a government body, a school district or a housing association posts what it needs, when, and how to bid. Anyone who qualifies can answer, and the rules are written down. The catch is speed. Of the 28 open federal cleaning jobs in our SAM.gov read below, about half gave three weeks or less between the latest posting and the deadline, and 5 gave less than a week.

The private road is offices, clinics, gyms and shops that never post anything. You find them, you write to the person who manages the building, and you win the work on a walk-through and a quote. It is slower to start and stickier once you are in.

For the rest of the work, from your Google profile to your reviews, see our four-week plan for finding customers.

Public tenders: what we found on SAM.gov on 8 Nov 2026

SAM.gov is where US federal agencies post contract opportunities. On 8 Nov 2026 we searched it for active notices mentioning janitorial work and kept the ones coded as janitorial services (NAICS 561720) that were still taking replies. That left 28 separate jobs: Forest Service ranger districts, VA medical centers and national cemeteries, Coast Guard and FEMA offices, military bases, and four embassies and bases abroad.

SAM.gov, read by us on 8 Nov 2026. Method in the note at the foot of the page.

Two things stood out. First, the clock. 14 of the 28 were due within 11 days, and the earliest two were due on 9 Nov, the day after our read. If you check SAM.gov once a month, you will see most of these only after they close.

Second, who may bid. 19 of the 28 were marked for small businesses of one kind or another: 11 for any small business, 5 for firms in the SBA's 8(a) program, and 3 for service-disabled veteran-owned firms. The 8(a) program is run by the SBA for small firms owned by people who are socially and economically disadvantaged, and only firms certified in it can bid on those. Only 9 of the 28 were open to any firm, whatever its size.

5 of the 28 weren't bids yet, three of the 8(a) ones among them. They were sources sought notices: the agency asking who is out there before it writes the tender. Answering one costs an hour and puts your name in front of the buyer before anyone has priced anything.

In the UK, Find a Tender carries public notices in the same way. Reading its public data feed on 8 Nov, the cleaning notices published since 1 Oct included Fife Council's window cleaning contract (closing 2 Dec, set to run 1,440 days, about four years) and close cleaning for three housing associations in and around Glasgow: the shared stairs, landings and entrances of their blocks.

Housing associations are easy to overlook as buyers. Glen Oaks Housing Association's contract runs three years from April 2027, with room for two more, and it warns bidders the list of properties may grow. A school trust in England, Delta Academies Trust, also put a cleaning framework out in October, set to run 1,800 days.

In the US, also check your state's procurement portal and the bid page of your city and school district. They post smaller jobs, closer to home.

How to read a tender notice

This one was posted on 6 Nov 2026: the US Coast Guard looking for a cleaner in Key West, Florida. These lines are quoted from the notice, with date ranges written with "to". We left out the contacts' names and emails.

1This synopsis/solicitation is being advertised as Small Business Set-Aside only.2Applicable NAICS Code: 5617203Wage determinations: 2015-4583, Rev 34 dated 08/17/20264Base Year: 01 December 2026 to 30 November 20275Option Year 3: 01 December 2029 to 30 November 20306It is highly recommended and encouraged that a site visit is performed at the Unit to verify the requirements within the SOW7All questions must be submitted to ... by no later than November 16, 2026, at 9:00 AM (0900) EST8Past performance references: 3 recent relevant contracts with organization names, contract numbers, and point of contact (if applicable)92. Price: Base plus 3 option years10Offerors must have an "ACTIVE" registration status in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to the close of this solicitation11Quotes are to be received no later than close 3:00 PM EST (1500) 20 November 2026.

Other notices ask for more. FEMA's office in Las Vegas, New Mexico wanted about 13,008 square feet cleaned through to March 2027, and every cleaner had to pass FEMA's vetting before starting. Budget time for that between the award and the first shift.

Private buildings: who to approach and why now

Most commercial cleaning is never put out to tender. It is bought by one person, and your job is to reach that person in the week they are thinking about it.

Who signs: property managers for multi-tenant offices, office managers at single-tenant firms, practice managers at medical, dental and vet clinics, gym and studio owners, business managers at private schools, and general managers at car dealerships.

When they are thinking about it:

• They are moving in. A new lease, a fit-out finishing, a new branch opening. Everything gets set up again, cleaning included.
• They are hiring a cleaner, custodian or porter. The job ad is public, and a contract may be simpler than a new employee.
• A new manager just started. Someone new in the job has no loyalty to the cleaner the last manager hired.
• Their own customers are complaining. A gym or a restaurant with recent reviews about dirty bathrooms has a problem it can read every morning.

Write to the manager about that reason, offer a walk-through at a time that suits them, and say what you would do in their building. The quote comes after you have seen it.

What buyers check before they sign

Mistakes cleaning companies make here

• Bidding on everything. 28 open jobs sounds like a lot until you count the ones you can staff. Four on our list were abroad. Pick by the distance your crew can really cover.
• Pricing the first year only. The Key West notice weighs the base year and all three options, and wages rise.
• Missing the questions deadline. It comes days before the bid deadline, and the answers often change the scope.
• Letting the registration lapse. An expired SAM.gov registration at the close means no award, however good the price.
• Skipping sources sought notices. They are the cheapest hour you will spend on public work.
• Turning up at an office with a flyer and nothing specific to say. The front desk bins it.

Where our crew fits

Tess, Hunter and Mo are three of our agents, and between them they cover both roads.

Tess, our Tender Finder, reads new public notices in the US and the UK, checks them against the work you say you do, tells you to bid or skip each one, and warns you before each deadline.

Hunter, our Lead Finder, works the private road. Tell him who you clean for, say clinics and offices in your county, and he looks for the ones with a reason to need a cleaner now: a move, a new branch, a job ad for a custodian. Each one comes with where he saw the reason. Mo, our Cold Email Agent, then writes a different first email to each company, addressed to whoever manages the building. Connect your mailbox and they leave from your own address.

Tess is wrong for you if you clean outside the US and the UK. And the whole crew is the wrong buy if you only clean homes: everything on this page is about commercial buildings, and none of these agents knocks on a front door.

Questions cleaning companies ask about contracts