Written for owners of US cleaning businesses: janitorial and custodial contractors for offices, medical buildings, schools and property managers, residential and maid services, and specialty cleaners doing post-construction, move-out, window, carpet and biohazard work.
The short version
- Have your paperwork ready before the RFP.A current certificate of insurance, a janitorial bond, inspection records from similar buildings, and a written start-up plan.
- Answer the RFP in its own order.Buyers score against their evaluation criteria, so answer them one by one, in the order they are listed.
- Price in successor crews and wage rules.Check whether a successor law makes you keep the outgoing crew for a set period, or whether a public contract sets the wage.
Property managers, medical offices, schools and municipalities buy janitorial work. They choose on response time, inspection records, references from similar buildings, insurance readiness and a clear start-up plan. Read the RFP's evaluation criteria and answer in their order.
Have these ready before the RFP arrives
- A current certificate of insurance (COI) with the additional insured endorsements clients ask for, and a janitorial bond.
- Inspection records and scores from similar buildings, with references.
- A start-up plan: walk-through against the scope, equipment and supplies, uniforms and badges, key and alarm handover with a signed log, training, and a joint inspection in week two.
- For medical accounts, documented bloodborne pathogens training.
- For green building and public clients, Green Seal GS-42 or ISSA CIMS-GB certification.
Taking over an account can mean taking over the crew
Successor janitor laws
In California, a covered successor contractor retains for 60 days the predecessor's covered employees who worked at the site for the preceding four months or longer, unless reasonable and substantiated performance or conduct grounds justify not hiring a particular employee. If fewer are needed, retain by seniority within job classification and keep the statutory preferential hiring list for the others. During the transition, discharge only for cause. At the end, evaluate each in writing and offer continued employment if satisfactory. In New York City, a successor at a covered building retains the prior building service employees for a 90-day transition period, then evaluates them in writing and offers continued employment to those performing satisfactorily. As of Oct 2026.
Cal. Lab. Code 1060 to 1065; N.Y.C. Admin. Code sec. 22-505
A covered successor in California must retain them for 60 days, and in New York City for 90 days, so a bid without those hours is short from the first night.
Several other states and cities have successor or displaced worker ordinances for building services, so check the account's city before you bid.
Public and federal bids
State and city work is posted on procurement portals. For federal work, register in SAM.gov and renew every year. Small business set-asides need the right SBA certification: 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB or SDVOSB.
New York public building service contracts
Building service employees on contracts with public agencies, such as schools, state agencies and cities, are paid the prevailing wage and supplements set by the fiscal officer. Price those rates, not your standard wage. As of Oct 2026.
N.Y. Lab. Law Article 9, secs. 230 to 239
The Service Contract Act
Subject to statutory exemptions, a federal or District of Columbia contract over $2,500 whose principal purpose is janitorial services in the United States through service employees is covered. Apply the wage determination's minimum wages and fringe benefits to each service-employee classification. A successor contract for substantially the same services in the same locality generally inherits the predecessor collective bargaining agreement's wage and fringe minimums, subject to the variance process. As of Oct 2026.
41 U.S.C. 6701 to 6707; 29 CFR part 4
Do not price to EO 14026: it was revoked by EO 14236 on March 14, 2025, and DOL no longer enforces it. Other wage duties remain: EO 13658 still covers certain contracts entered into, renewed or extended from January 1, 2015 through January 29, 2022 and not renewed or extended since, and the Service Contract Act applies on its own terms. Check the solicitation and the contract history with DOL and the contracting officer before you choose the wage floor. As of Oct 2026.
Residential work
Homes are won with a Google Business Profile carrying steady, genuine reviews, neighborhood platforms, recurring weekly or biweekly plans and referral credits. Never buy, write or suppress reviews: the FTC rule on consumer reviews carries civil penalties (16 C.F.R. part 465).
A janitorial bond is not liability insurance. It pays clients for theft by your employees, and many forms pay only after a conviction, so buyers who ask for a COI and a bond need both.
Asked in Greymill
If it does (As of Oct 2026):
Keep the old contractor's janitors who worked the site for the last four months or longer, for 60 days.
Leave someone out only on reasonable, substantiated performance or conduct grounds.
Need fewer? Keep them by seniority within job classification, with a preferential hiring list for the rest.
At the end, evaluate each in writing and offer continued employment to those who are satisfactory.
So price 60 days of their hours and wages, plus the evaluations. Get their headcount and pay rates first.
For Friday: a current certificate of insurance, your janitorial bond, inspection scores from similar buildings, and a start-up plan with a joint inspection in week two. Answer in the order of the RFP's evaluation criteria.
Want me to draft the start-up plan?
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Sales & Quotes works it through for your business.
I run a cleaning business in [state], in the US. I want to bid for [type of account, for example a medical office building, a school district or a federal building] in [city]. We have [insurance limits, bond amount and certifications] and [number] similar accounts with inspection scores of [scores]. Tell me what to have ready, whether successor-worker or wage determination rules apply, and draft our answer to [paste the evaluation criteria].
More for cleaning and facilities in the US
- Bidding a janitorial account by the square foot without losing moneyBuild a janitorial bid from cleanable square feet and production rates up to a fully burdened labor cost, overhead and margin, then protect it from the next wage increase.Read the lesson
- Making payroll every week while accounts pay in 45 daysWhy a growing janitorial business runs short of cash, how much working capital the payroll gap needs, and the forecast, terms and funding that close it.Read the lesson
- Does my state charge sales tax on cleaning, and what do I file for subcontractors?Whether janitorial work is taxable depends on the state and the type of building, and the 1099-NEC threshold for paying subcontractors changed for 2026.Read the lesson
- The registrations and OSHA rules a cleaning company actually has to meetMost states do not license cleaning, but registration, hazard communication, bloodborne pathogens, injury reporting and a few state rules apply to janitorial and specialty cleaners, with a HazCom date this fall.Read the lesson
- The janitorial contract clauses that decide whether an account makes moneyEscalation, termination, indemnity, insurance and payment terms decide an account's margin long after the bid, and recurring residential plans carry their own auto-renewal rules.Read the lesson
- Paying cleaners right for drive time, per-house pay and overtimeDrive time between houses, flat per-house pay, state minimums and pay-frequency rules are where cleaning businesses underpay without meaning to.Read the lesson
- Our cleaners are on 1099s and someone is asking whether they are really employeesPaying your own cleaners as independent contractors, or running cleaning teams as franchisees or app workers, can fail state and federal tests and bring back payroll tax, wages and penalties.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every cleaning and facilities lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- programs (Winning work: commercial, public bids, residential and franchises)
- 16 C.F.R. part 465 (Winning work: commercial, public bids, residential and franchises)
- Lab. Code 1420 to 1434; 1429.5 (State and local janitorial law: ca, ny, tx, fl)
- Cal. Lab. Code 1061(b)(1) to (3), (e), (f) (State and local janitorial law: ca, ny, tx, fl)
- Admin. Code 22-505 (State and local janitorial law: ca, ny, tx, fl)
- Lab. Law 230 to 239 (State and local janitorial law: ca, ny, tx, fl)
- Tax Code 151.0048, 151.051 (State and local janitorial law: ca, ny, tx, fl)
- Pub. 94-111 (10/2006), Cleaning and Janitorial Services; 34 TAC 3.356(a)(7) (State and local janitorial law: ca, ny, tx, fl)
- Occupations Code ch. 1958 (Licenses, registrations and federal contracts)
- 41 U.S.C. 6702(a), 6703(1) to (2), 6707(c) (Licenses, registrations and federal contracts)
- EO 14236 sec. 2 revokes EO 14026 (Licenses, registrations and federal contracts)
- 31 U.S.C. 3901 to 3907 (Licenses, registrations and federal contracts)
- 31 CFR 1010.380 as amended by 91 Fed. Reg. 52508, final rule effective August 14, 2026; FinCEN alert updated August 11, 2026 (Licenses, registrations and federal contracts)
- 15 U.S.C. 1681b(b); Gov. Code 12952 (Licenses, registrations and federal contracts)
- 516.2, 516.5 (Operations and software)
- Lab. Law 195(4) (Operations and software)
- Fla. Stat. 440.02(20)(b)2, CFO nonconstruction coverage FAQ; Tex. Lab. Code 406.002(a),406.033(a); CA 3700 and NY WCL 10 retained (Insurance and bonds)
- Scopes Manual class 9014 (Insurance and bonds)
- Tex. Lab. Code 406.122(a)-(b), 406.123(a)-(b), 406.127 illustrate status and coverage distinctions (Insurance and bonds)
- Reporting threshold (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- 29 CFR 1910.1200(j)(2)(ii) and (j)(3)(ii), alternative workplace labeling (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- 785.35, 785.38 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- 778.111 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Coverall North America v. Commissioner, 447 Mass. 852 (2006) (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- state court small claims pages (Contracts and payment: commercial and residential)
- B&P 17200; Bus. & Com. Code 17.41; GBL 349; Fla. Stat. 501.201 (Contracts and payment: commercial and residential)
- B&P 17602(a)(4) to (6), (d), (f), (h), (j) as amended by AB 2863 (Contracts and payment: commercial and residential)
- 15 U.S.C. 8403(1) to (3); Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC, 8th Cir. No. 24-3137 (Contracts and payment: commercial and residential)
- B&P 17600 to 17606; GBL 527-a (Contracts and payment: commercial and residential)
- (c)(1)(iv), (f)(2)(i) (Safety: hazcom, bloodborne pathogens and heights)
- 1904.1, 1904.32(b)(6), 1904.39 (Safety: hazcom, bloodborne pathogens and heights)
- 1910.27(b)(1)(i) (building owner certifies anchorages in writing), 1910.27(b)(2)(i) (Safety: hazcom, bloodborne pathogens and heights)
- Penalty amounts; 91 FR 31358, "the 2026 adjustment is cancelled entirely" (Safety: hazcom, bloodborne pathogens and heights)
- 8 CCR 3203; Lab. Code 6401.9 (Safety: hazcom, bloodborne pathogens and heights)