How Do You Evaluate and Compare Janitorial Bids?

Step one: janitorial bid leveling

Bids arrive with different assumptions, formats and exclusions, so the totals are not comparable as received. Build a leveling sheet with one column per bidder and fill in the same lines for each. Where a bidder left something out, ask in writing rather than guessing, and send the same clarification to every bidder.

Use labor hours to evaluate janitorial bids against the scope

Divide each bid's cleanable square footage by its weekly labor hours to get an implied production rate, then compare bidders. Similar rates suggest everyone read the scope the same way. A bid with far fewer hours than its peers is either unusually efficient or missing tasks, and it should explain which. Remember that restrooms, clinical rooms and other dense spaces need more hours than open office, so compare buildings of the same type.

Ask each finalist for a staffing chart: how many people, on which nights, for how many hours, and under which supervisor. A bid that cannot produce one has not really been built from your scope, however polished the rest of the proposal looks.

Check the price against the wage floor

Multiply each bid's weekly hours by the minimum wage that applies at the site, whether the state rate or a higher city rate, then add payroll taxes, workers' compensation, paid sick leave, supervision and supplies. If the bid price sits close to or below that rough floor, the vendor cannot pay its people lawfully and stay in business. Under Labor Code section 2810, a client that knows or should know a janitorial contract is underfunded for labor law compliance takes on its own exposure.

Check employment status too. California's ABC test, codified in Labor Code section 2775, makes it hard to treat cleaners as independent contractors, and a bid that relies on them is a warning sign. Confirm each bidder's current registration with the Labor Commissioner under the Property Service Workers Protection Act.

Red flags in a low janitorial bid

A low price is not a red flag by itself; some vendors are genuinely efficient. Unexplained gaps are the problem. Look for these signs on the leveling sheet, and ask the bidder to explain each one in writing before deciding.

• Weekly hours far below other bidders for the same scope
• No supervisor hours, or one supervisor stretched across too many sites
• Consumables or periodic work quietly excluded
• Cleaners described as independent contractors or unnamed subcontractors
• Scope language that rewrites your frequencies
• No backup coverage plan for absences
• Missing insurance details or registration
• A start-up plan without dates or names

Janitorial bid evaluation criteria and scoring

Score only the bids that survive leveling, using the criteria you published. A points scale keeps the discussion structured and leaves a record of why a vendor was chosen. The weights below are an illustration; adjust them to what matters most in your building.

References are worth real effort. Call property or facility managers at buildings like yours and ask about crew consistency, turnover, how problems were fixed and how quickly the vendor's managers engaged. If possible, walk one of the bidder's current sites at the time the crew works.

How EBS expects to be evaluated

EBS prices after a supervisor walks the building, and the quality system behind its numbers can be shown rather than described: eHub inspection records, follow-up and corrective-action tracking, field supervision and backup staffing. It is a licensed and insured company with more than 25 years in commercial cleaning, and its people are trained before any site assignment and background-checked. Leveling an EBS proposal against others is exactly the comparison it is prepared for.