Is Hiring a Commercial Cleaning Company Worth It?
By Bailey Cotter · Director of Sales Pinellas Park, Fla. — 2 min read
Setting a cleaning contract against an hourly wage leaves out most of what an in-house cleaner actually costs. Here is the full list, what a contract takes off your hands, and the cases where hiring your own is the better answer.
The comparison that leaves most of the cost out
The usual test is a contract price against the hourly wage of the person you would hire instead. That sets a whole service against one line of it. The contract price already carries the payroll taxes, the insurance, the supplies, the machines and the cover for a night when nobody turns up. The wage carries none of them.
What an in-house cleaner costs beyond the wage
Add these before you compare anything.
- The wage. Florida's minimum reached $15.00 an hour on September 30, 2026.
- Payroll taxes. The employer's share of Social Security and Medicare is 7.65% of wages, before federal and state unemployment tax.
- Workers' compensation. Florida requires it once a business outside construction has four or more employees.
- Supplies and equipment. Chemicals, liners, paper and soap, plus a vacuum, and a scrubber or burnisher if the floors need one, and the upkeep of all of it.
- Cover. Vacation, sickness and turnover leave the building uncleaned unless someone else knows the route.
- Supervision. Somebody on your own payroll has to check the work, and that time comes out of their real job.
What a contract takes off your hands
A contract moves those costs, and the risk of a missed night, onto the company you hire. The part worth checking is supervision, because it is what an in-house arrangement most often goes without. Across Pinellas County our supervisors have run more than 1,100 inspections, separate from the cleaning itself, so a missed detail is caught by us rather than by you.
When hiring your own is the better answer
If what you need is someone in the building through the working day, restocking restrooms, dealing with spills and keeping a lobby presentable while people use it, that is a day porter's job rather than a nightly route. It can be your own hire or a porter supplied under contract, and both are reasonable.
A small office with one restroom and a simple floor may also cost less to keep in-house, as long as somebody owns the cover for the weeks that person is away.
How to work it out for your building
Add the wage, the 7.65%, a real figure for workers' compensation and supplies, and the cost of covering two or three weeks of absence a year. Set the total against a written quote for the same scope. If your figure is lower and you have someone who will supervise the work, keeping it in-house may be right. If not, the contract is the number that already includes everything on that list.