How to Calculate Cleaning Times

Calculating cleaning times, or production rates, can be a difficult task due to the number of variables in each particular situation. But help is out there if you know where to look.

Because there are so many variables – cleaning frequency, customer expectations, building surfaces, equipment used, and level of quality, to name a few – and accurate production rates are so essential, the best practice is to develop your own building-specific rates. Conducting your own times study is one of the best methods to determine the production for a given task.

How to Perform a Time Study

1. Choose a task
2. Measure the area
3. Note building variables
4. Observe and record
5. Average the rate
6. Adjust for variables
7. Fine-tune your rates

The following example comes from ISSA’s Smart Staffing Bidding & Estimating Guidebook.

Task: Remove trash

Area: 15,000 square feet

Density: Normal, no variables

Use the following formula to determine your

production rate: 60 / (average minutes from time study) x (number of square feet in the study)

Average Time 180/6 = 30 Minutes

In this study, the formula would be:

60 / 30 x 15,000 = 30,000 square feet per hour

Since there were no variables, we now know that the base production for trash removal in this building is 30,000 square feet per hour.