A typical Ottawa office cleaned five nights a week pays about $0.12 to $0.28 per square foot per month in 2026, so roughly $1,200 to $2,800 a month for 10,000 square feet. Smaller suites on a two or three night schedule usually fall between $450 and $1,200 a month, and clinics, fitness studios and food-adjacent retail sit above the office rates because of the disinfection and restroom load. Hourly contracts in the region generally run $30 to $50 per labour hour, HST extra.
Those are planning ranges, not a quote. The rest of this guide explains how Ottawa contractors build a price, what the Ontario-specific items on a contract should look like, and how to compare two bids that look nothing alike on paper.
Price ranges by type of building
The table assumes after-hours service with the standard scope: waste and recycling, restrooms, kitchen or break room, vacuuming, damp mopping, and dusting of reachable surfaces. Ontario's 13% HST is added on top of every figure.
| Building type | Visits per week | Typical monthly range |
|---|---|---|
| Office suite, 2,000 to 4,000 sq ft | 2 to 3 | $450 to $1,200 |
| Office, 10,000 sq ft | 5 | $1,200 to $2,800 |
| Office floor, 25,000 sq ft | 5 | $2,600 to $6,000 |
| Medical or dental clinic, 3,000 sq ft | 5 | $1,100 to $2,400 |
| Retail unit or showroom, 5,000 sq ft | 3 to 6 | $700 to $1,900 |
| Light industrial or warehouse office area, 15,000 sq ft | 3 to 5 | $1,300 to $3,200 |
Rates per square foot drop as the building grows, because the crew's travel time, setup and supervision are spread over more floor area. A 2,500 square foot law office in Centretown can cost more per square foot than a full floor in a tower on Queen Street, even though the monthly total is much lower.
What pushes an Ottawa quote up or down
Restrooms and kitchens per square foot. This is the single biggest driver. Two offices of the same size can be 40% apart in price if one has six washrooms and a full staff kitchen and the other has two washrooms and a coffee station.
Winter entrance care. From November to April, Ottawa sidewalks and parking lots carry rock salt and grit that walk straight onto lobby floors. Contractors budget extra time for entrance mats, wet floors and salt haze on hard surfaces, and buildings with large glass lobbies on Laurier or Elgin tend to need more of it. Some firms add a seasonal line item; others fold it into a higher year-round rate. Ask which one you are looking at.
Access and security. Secured government-adjacent buildings around Tunney's Pasture or the downtown core often require staff with security screening, sign-in procedures and escorts for after-hours work. Each of those adds labour time or limits the pool of workers, and both raise price.
Schedule. Five nights a week is the most efficient schedule per visit because the space never gets far from clean. Dropping to three nights lowers the monthly bill, but not by 40%, because each visit takes longer. Day porter coverage in a multi-tenant lobby is billed separately, usually hourly.
Supplies and consumables. Some quotes include toilet paper, hand towels, soap and liners; others bill them at cost plus a markup or leave them to the client. A quote that looks $200 a month cheaper may simply have moved consumables off the sheet.
Work that is normally priced on its own
Routine janitorial covers what the crew can do every visit. The following are quoted as separate projects or on a schedule written into the contract:
- Carpet extraction, typically once or twice a year for offices and quarterly for busy lobbies
- Floor stripping and refinishing for vinyl composition tile, usually once a year, with scrub and recoat in between
- Interior and exterior window washing
- High dusting of ductwork, light fixtures and exposed structure in warehouses or open-ceiling offices
- Post-construction or post-renovation cleaning when a suite is fitted out
If a bid leaves these out entirely, it is not cheaper, it is incomplete. Ask each bidder to price the periodic items in the same document, even if they are optional, so you can see the full-year cost of each proposal. Our specialized cleaning page describes what each of these jobs involves.
Ontario items an Ottawa cleaning contract should cover
WSIB clearance. In Ontario, a contractor that sends employees into your building should be able to produce a current WSIB clearance certificate. Without it, a workplace injury can become your problem as the building owner or tenant. Ask for the certificate before the first visit and again at renewal.
Insurance certificates. Request a certificate of insurance naming your company or the property owner as an additional insured, with commercial general liability at the level your lease requires. Many Ottawa office leases ask tenants to make sure their service contractors meet the landlord's minimums.
WHMIS and product safety. Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act requires that hazardous products used in your workplace carry WHMIS 2015 labels and have safety data sheets available on site. A professional contractor keeps a binder or digital folder in the janitorial closet. If a bidder cannot say what products they will use, treat it as a red flag.
Employment standards. Hourly bids well below the regional range are often built on wage assumptions that do not survive Ontario's Employment Standards Act, including minimum wage, which is indexed every October, plus vacation pay, public holiday pay and statutory remittances. Low bids like that usually end in turnover, missed visits or a mid-contract rate increase.
Contract terms. Look for a clear scope by area and frequency, a defined inspection or reporting routine, a termination clause of 30 to 60 days for performance problems, and a price adjustment clause tied to a published index rather than open-ended annual increases.
Comparing two bids that look different
Put every bid on the same basis before you compare totals:
- Confirm the square footage each bidder used. Contractors measure differently, and a 10% gap in area explains a 10% gap in price.
- List the visit schedule by area. Some bidders clean private offices twice a week while restrooms get nightly service; others clean everything every visit.
- Separate consumables, periodic work and routine janitorial into three totals.
- Check whether supervision and quality inspections are included or billed as a management fee.
- Add HST to everything so you are comparing the invoice amounts.
Once the bids are normalized, the lowest total is often not the one that looked lowest at first. The pricing calculator gives a quick baseline you can hold a quote against.
Frequently asked questions
How much does office cleaning cost per square foot in Ottawa?
Most Ottawa offices cleaned five nights a week pay about $0.12 to $0.28 per square foot per month, before HST. Buildings over 50,000 square feet can fall below that range, while small suites, clinics and spaces with many washrooms tend to sit above it.
Why is a clinic more expensive to clean than an office of the same size?
Clinics have far more touch points per square foot, and each one has to be wiped with an approved disinfectant and left wet for the contact time printed on the label. Exam rooms, waiting areas and extra washrooms all take longer than open office space, so the labour per visit is higher even when the building is small.
Does winter change commercial cleaning prices in Ottawa?
Many contractors either add a winter line item for entrance and salt care from about November to April or build it into a flat year-round rate. Either way, buildings with heavy foot traffic and large hard-floor lobbies spend more on entrance maintenance in winter than in summer.
Should an Ottawa cleaning quote include HST?
Quotes normally show prices before tax and add Ontario's 13% HST on the invoice. When you compare bids, add the tax to each total so you are looking at what you will actually pay.
Get matched with an Ottawa cleaning team
Simple Service cleans offices and commercial buildings across Greater Montréal. For Ottawa, tell us about your facility, its size, schedule, floor types and any security requirements, and we'll connect you with a commercial cleaning team that serves Ottawa. See the Ottawa commercial cleaning page or send your details through the contact form.