How much does a Commercial Cleaning cost to buy?

A typical Commercial Cleaning sells for 2x to 3x seller's discretionary earnings. With estimated SDE of $80K, expect to pay roughly $160K to $240K before adjustments for assets, debt, growth, and local market quality.

What are the profit margins for a Commercial Cleaning?

The average profit margin for a Commercial Cleaning is around 20%. Labor is 50-60% of revenue, plus cleaning supplies, equipment, vehicle costs, insurance, and bidding/sales costs.

How much does it cost to start a Commercial Cleaning?

Startup costs range from $15K to $50K depending on location, equipment, and scale.

Service

Commercial Cleaning

Bigger contracts, bigger checks, longer retention

Bottom line

Accessible entry point; validate local supply before buying.

Commercial cleaning businesses provide janitorial services to offices, retail stores, medical facilities, and other commercial properties. Contracts are typically monthly and run for years, providing highly predictable revenue. This is the scaled-up version of residential cleaning with larger contracts and stickier clients.

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Acquisition score

Strong

Avg Revenue

$400K

Profit Margin

20%

Acquisition Multiple

2x - 3x

Startup Cost

$15K - $50K

How It Works

Win contracts with property managers, offices, and facilities through bidding and networking. Deploy cleaning crews nightly or on a set schedule. Contracts range from $500/month for small offices to $10K+/month for large facilities. Revenue is highly predictable with multi-year agreements.

Revenue Range

Low End

$150K

Typical

$400K

High End

$1.0M

BizBite underwriting snapshot

Watch / verify

Commercial Cleaning has enough high-level data for a first look, but BizBite has not assigned a category-specific operating model yet. Treat the score as preliminary.

Speculative / 100

Data confidence

medium

52/100

Financing fit

medium

Category-level fit before lender-specific diligence.

Confidence cap

Weak source data caps the final score.

Why it may work

+SBA dataset shows 121 recent comparable loans

Be careful

!Source link status has not been verified yet
!No last-checked date yet
!No category operating model yet
!No category model yet

Real Acquisitions in This Category

SBA 7(a) change-of-ownership loans · NAICS 561720 · Janitorial Services

Deals tracked

322

121 in last 24 mo

Median loan

$400K

$201K–$744K p25/p75

Implied deal size

$471K

median · ~85% LTV

Charge-off rate

—

not enough resolved loans

Deal Size Distribution

<$150K

$150K–500K

143

$500K–1M

$1M–2M

>$2M

Deal Flow Over Time

12-month momentum

-10.9%

deal volume vs prior 12 mo

Median loan Δ

+34.7%

57 recent · 64 prior

Financing Profile

Median rate

9.75%

9% fixed · last 24 mo

Median term

120 mo

standard 10-yr

Collateralized

of loans secured

Median jobs

supported per deal

Top lenders in this space

Live Oak Banking Company35

The Huntington National Bank32

BayFirst National Bank9

Customers Bank9

Old National Bank7

Where deals happen

FL31

CA28

CO18

MN18

OH17

IL13

WA13

MA11

NC11

NJ10

Franchise vs independent

Franchised acquisitions finance at $500K median vs $360K for independents — a +39% franchise premium. Franchises make up 26% of deals tracked.

Recent Comparable Deals

Closed	State	Loan	Implied deal	Jobs	Franchise
Mar 2026	FL	$905K	$1.1M	40	Fish Window Cleaning Services
Mar 2026	CO	$600K	$706K	6	—
Mar 2026	SC	$50K	$59K	8	—
Mar 2026	SC	$480K	$565K	8	—
Mar 2026	PA	$768K	$904K	54	—
Mar 2026	PA	$60K	$71K	54	—
Feb 2026	OH	$300K	$353K	45	—
Feb 2026	CO	$424K	$499K	5	—
Feb 2026	OH	$2.3M	$2.7M	45	—
Feb 2026	FL	$478K	$562K	12	—

Volume rank #22/544Deal-size rank #467/544Momentum rank #213p90 loan: $1.3MData as of Mar 2026

Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA dataset, filtered to acquisitions (loans where business age is "Change of Ownership"). Implied deal size assumes an 85% loan-to-purchase ratio, a common SBA change-of-ownership structure. Charge-off rate shown only when 10+ loans have resolved (paid in full or charged off). Interest rates reflect last 24 months only. Actual deal values vary with equity injections, seller financing, and working capital terms.

Pros

+Long-term contracts provide predictable recurring revenue
+Higher revenue per client than residential
+Night/weekend work means less competition for labor
+Scalable with systematic crew deployment

Cons

-Competitive bidding can drive margins down
-Losing one large contract can significantly impact revenue
-Managing multiple crews across locations is complex

Best For

Operators who can build relationships with property managers and scale teams

Operating Costs

Labor is 50-60% of revenue, plus cleaning supplies, equipment, vehicle costs, insurance, and bidding/sales costs.

SBA Financing Estimator

Adjust the deal — see if it cash flows after debt service

$-3/mo

after debt service

Deal price — $600K

Range: $600K (2×) to $1.6M (3×+)

Down payment — 15% ($90K)

SBA minimum equity injection is 10% for change-of-ownership

Interest rate — 9.75%

SBA median for this category: 9.8%

Loan term — 10 years (120 mo)

SBA median for this category: 120 months

Down payment

$90K

15% equity injection

Loan amount

$510K

85% SBA-financed

Monthly payment

$7K/mo

$290K total interest

Monthly profit

$7K/mo

at 20% margin

Monthly cash flow after debt service

$-3/mo

Margin does not cover debt service at these terms. Lower the deal price, increase the down payment, or extend the loan term.

Estimates only. Excludes owner compensation, capex, working capital draws, and taxes. Margin assumes average occupancy and volume. Actual SBA terms vary by lender and borrower profile.