How to win janitorial and custodial contracts in BC
Who buys cleaning services in BC, what janitorial tenders ask for, how to price by square foot and frequency, and the BC rules that affect cleaning contracts.
Short answer
BC municipalities, school districts, health authorities, Crown corporations and federal buyers contract out building cleaning, usually on multi-year terms. Tenders specify buildings, square footage, frequencies and standards. To win, price from production rates and real labour costs, show supervision and quality control, and know the BC rules on successorship and any buyer living wage policy.
Janitorial work is one of the most common public service contracts in BC, and one of the most competitive. Every city hall, rec centre, library, fire hall, school and federal office needs cleaning, and many are cleaned by contractors. The work is steady and usually runs for years. Winning it takes sharp pricing and a convincing plan for quality.
Who buys cleaning services in BC?
- Municipalities and regional districts: city halls, recreation centres, libraries, fire halls, works yards, transit facilities.
- School districts: some use their own custodial staff and contract out specific buildings, shifts or extra cleaning.
- Health authorities: mostly specialised, with infection control standards. Non-clinical health services are also covered by BC's successorship rules (see below).
- Crown corporations, colleges and universities.
- Federal buyers: RCMP detachments, federal offices and other sites, through CanadaBuys.
What does a janitorial tender ask for?
- Buildings and areas, with square footage, floor types and room counts.
- Frequencies: daily, weekly, monthly and periodic tasks (floor stripping and refinishing, carpet extraction, high dusting, window cleaning).
- Standards: what "clean" means, sometimes using an industry standard or the buyer's own checklist, and how inspections will work.
- Hours of work and building access, including security and key or fob control.
- Supplies: who provides consumables (paper, soap, liners) and equipment.
- Staff: supervision, training, uniforms, and often criminal record checks for schools and sensitive sites.
- WorkSafeBC, insurance and safety program, including WHMIS training for chemicals.
- Green cleaning requirements, such as certified products, at some buyers.
How do I price a janitorial contract?
Start from production rates: how many square feet of each type of space one cleaner can clean per hour to the required standard. Then:
- Work out hours per night (or per visit) for each building from the square footage, space types and frequencies.
- Add periodic work spread across the year.
- Multiply by your loaded labour rate: wages plus employer costs, WorkSafeBC premiums and paid time off.
- Add supervision, quality inspections, supplies and equipment, travel between buildings, and overhead.
- Add profit, and check the result per square foot against past awards.
On multi-year contracts, labour is most of the cost, so how wages will rise matters. How to price a multi-year contract covers price adjustment clauses.
What BC rules affect cleaning contracts?
Successorship when contracts are retendered
Since 2019, BC's Labour Relations Code extends successorship to some retendered service contracts, including building cleaning. Where a unionized cleaning contract is retendered and a new contractor takes over substantially the same services, the union's bargaining rights and collective agreement can carry over to the new contractor. If you're bidding on a contract currently held by a unionized firm, find out what that means for your labour costs before you price. Get labour-law advice if you're unsure. Our article on retendering and successorship explains more.
Living wage policies
Some BC buyers require contractors working on their premises to pay a living wage. New Westminster became Canada's first living wage employer in 2011, and its policy covers contracted staff who work on City premises for more than an hour at a time. Check every tender for a living wage, fair wage or social procurement clause; it changes your labour cost. See social value in BC tenders.
How do I make my proposal stand out?
- A staffing plan: how many cleaners per building, on which shifts, and who supervises.
- Quality control: how often you inspect, with what checklist, and how you fix problems before the buyer sees them.
- Continuity: how you cover sick days and turnover, which is the buyer's biggest worry with cleaning contractors.
- Communication: a named contact, a log or app for requests, and response times.
- Relevant experience: buildings of similar size and use, with references.
Where to start
Set up free CrewBid alerts for janitorial work in your area, and look at the renewal calendar for contracts likely to come back out. Read how to write an RFP proposal that scores well before your first bid.
Sources
Rules and forms change. Check the official page before you rely on a detail here.