IndustriesCommercial cleaning
A cleaning business plan built on contracts, not hours
Cleaning is one of the few sectors where a plan can show contracted, recurring revenue from month one — which is exactly what a lender wants and exactly what most cleaning plans fail to present. The model is a contract book, not an hourly rate.
Written for an SBA or bank loan, which is where most plans in this sector goNAICS 561720
Where the money goes
Typical shares of revenue in this sector. Shown as a starting point to argue with, never as a target to hit — your own figures replace all of these at intake.
- Direct labour
- 45%
- The whole business. Everything else is a rounding error beside it.
- Supplies and consumables
- 6%
- Chemicals, paper, bags. Low and predictable.
- Vehicles and travel
- 5%
- Route density decides this. Scattered contracts cost more than they look.
- Insurance and bonding
- 3%
- Commercial clients require both before they sign.
A worked model
One plausible commercial cleaning, built out in full.
Not an illustration. These assumptions were run through the same engine the product uses, and the plan review was run over the result. It is here so you can see the shape of the answer before you start.
- Year 1 revenue
- $271.4K
- Year 3 revenue
- $1M
- Operating profit from
- Month 9
- Year 3 net margin
- 8.6%
- Coverage, first full year
- 4.81×EBITDA less tax, over debt service
Balance sheet ties in all 60 periodsNo blocking findings — this model would exportLowest cash $26.1K in month 16
The revenue build
Not a growth rate. These are the drivers a reader can argue with, which is the only kind worth putting in a plan.
Cleaning contracts
Contracts × monthly value
- Opening contracts
- 0.0
- New per month
- 1.2
- Monthly value each
- $2,900
- Term
- 24 months
- Cost of salesMaterials and consumables
- 6.0%
Sixty months of it
Monthly revenue against monthly EBITDA. Both are flows, so they share an axis honestly — plotting a cumulative cash balance beside a monthly figure would flatten the one that matters. The cash trough is in the strip above.
- Monthly revenue
- Monthly EBITDA
Year by year
| Year | Revenue | EBITDA | Net income | Closing cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $271.4K | -$68.4K | -$98K | $32.6K |
| Year 2 | $772.6K | $125.4K | $97.4K | $96.4K |
| Year 3 | $1M | $135.5K | $86.3K | $187.8K |
| Year 4 | $1M | $120.4K | $75.8K | $262.1K |
| Year 5 | $1M | $118.9K | $76.2K | $334.7K |
Sources and uses: $125K debt, $120K owner capital, $95K of fit-out and equipment. 15 people on the payroll by month 36.
Against the commercial cleaning band
Benchmarks warn; they never overwrite. An assumption outside the band is flagged with its source so you can justify it — substituting an industry median would destroy the specificity that makes a plan credible.
- Gross margin
- 46.6%in band
- 30.0%median 42.0%55.0%
- Net margin
- 8.6%in band
- 4.0%median 10.0%18.0%
Source: Building services benchmarks, 2026 · NAICS 561720 · secondary tier. Secondary-tier bands are usable as ranges, not as something a lender will read; where a figure has to survive scrutiny we substitute RMA Annual Statement Studies or IRS SOI data.
What they will ask first
A plan that answers these before they are asked reads as competent. One that does not gets sent back with them attached.
- How many contracts, at what monthly value, on what term?
- A contract book with terms is underwritable. A projected hourly rate multiplied by projected hours is not.
- What is your churn, and what replaces a lost contract?
- Commercial cleaning contracts are rebid. A plan assuming a contract runs five years without re-tender will be challenged.
Where these plans get sent back
Labour supply, not demand
Growth is capped by the ability to hire and retain cleaners. A revenue ramp without a matching hiring plan is the most common gap here.
Customer concentration
One contract at forty per cent of revenue makes the whole plan a single-customer bet, and a lender prices it that way.
Licences and filings to budget for
These belong in the use of funds, not in a footnote. A missing permit line is the cheapest possible reason to be sent back.
- General liability insurance and a fidelity bond, usually required by the client
- Workers' compensation coverage in every state you operate in
- Employment eligibility verification for all staff
Requirements vary by state, county and city, and they change. Treat this as the list to go and verify locally rather than as legal advice — the product tracks the dated ones as configuration with a source and an effective date, and prints which version it assumed.
Start from these defaults, then make them yours.
The intake pre-fills this sector’s drivers and tags each one as your figure or an industry default — and says which in the finished plan.