Commercial cleaning handles surfaces and workspaces — desks, kitchens, meeting rooms, washrooms used by staff. Janitorial covers the whole building — common areas, floor programs, waste, supplies, maintenance, after-hours access. Most contracts blend both, but the words mean different things and the difference shows up in how you scope your quote.
If someone walks into your space, “commercial cleaning” is what they see. If they don’t see it but the building depends on it, that’s “janitorial.”
| Commercial Cleaning | Janitorial Services | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Workspaces and visible surfaces | Building infrastructure and common areas |
| Typical scope | Desks, kitchens, meeting rooms, washrooms | Lobbies, hallways, elevators, floor programs, supplies, waste |
| Frequency | 2–5 visits/week typical | Daily, often with overnight crews |
| Typical buyer | Office manager, small business owner | Property manager, facility manager, condo board |
| Building size | Single tenant, <10,000 sq ft typical | Multi-tenant, 10,000+ sq ft typical |
| Pricing model | Per visit, per square foot | Flat monthly rate, often with supplies included |
Commercial cleaning is the routine cleaning of business workspaces — the spaces your staff and visitors actually use. The scope is usually focused: desks, kitchens, meeting rooms, washrooms, lobbies, the visible parts of the space someone notices walking in.
Typical commercial cleaning tasks:
Commercial cleaning is what most small and mid-sized offices need. The contract is usually scoped around how often (daily, weekly, bi-weekly), how much (square footage), and what extras are included (washroom supplies, kitchen consumables, periodic deep cleans). Pricing typically runs $0.08–$0.15 per square foot per visit for standard office work — full pricing breakdown here.
Janitorial service is the ongoing facility-maintenance side of cleaning. The scope is broader and the orientation is operational rather than aesthetic. A janitor isn’t just cleaning surfaces — they’re keeping a building running.
Typical janitorial scope:
Janitorial is what property managers and facility teams need to keep multi-tenant buildings, condos, retail plazas, and large industrial facilities running. Pricing is usually a flat monthly rate that covers labour, supplies, equipment, and a defined scope. A 20,000 sq ft commercial building with daily janitorial typically runs $3,000–$5,000/month — full breakdown on our janitorial services page.
Commercial cleaning is bounded — a defined set of tasks in a defined space. Janitorial is open-ended — whatever the building needs to keep operating, within an agreed scope sheet. A janitor will restock toilet paper, change a bulb, report a leak, and sweep the loading dock. A commercial cleaner generally won’t.
Commercial cleaning is typically scheduled in distinct visits — two to five times per week. Janitorial is usually daily, often with overnight crews and weekend coverage. A multi-tenant building can’t go 48 hours without washroom restocks; a small office can.
Commercial cleaning is priced per visit, usually per square foot. A janitorial contract is a flat monthly rate that includes labour, equipment, supplies, and a written scope. Janitorial contracts are bigger numbers but easier to budget because there are no surprise add-ons.
Office managers usually own commercial-cleaning vendor relationships directly. Janitorial relationships sit with property managers, facility managers, or condo boards — sometimes with a procurement officer involved. The questions a buyer asks change accordingly: a janitorial RFP almost always requires a $2M Certificate of Insurance, WSIB clearance, and three comparable references; a commercial-cleaning quote often skips straight to “what does it cost.”
Janitorial contracts come with documentation expectations — visit logs, complaint resolution records, monthly quality reports. Commercial cleaning rarely does. If your contract requires the cleaner to prove what they did and when, you’re describing a janitorial program.
The key signal: you control your whole space, your scope is predictable, and the cleaner only needs to show up at agreed times.
The key signal: the building depends on a vendor who’s present daily, manages supplies, handles waste, and does work beyond just cleaning surfaces.
Most mid-to-large commercial properties hire one vendor to handle both — commercial cleaning of tenant suites plus full janitorial of common areas. There’s no rule saying it has to be two contracts. In our experience, one vendor with one scope sheet is dramatically easier to manage than two vendors arguing about whose job the lobby is.
The blended scope usually looks like:
One vendor, one quote, one scope sheet, one point of contact. Easier for everyone.
We run commercial cleaning and janitorial as separate services, but most of our contracts blend them. The scope sheet attached to your quote details which tasks fall into which bucket and at what frequency. Everything sits inside one operational system — the brief, scope sheet, visit logs, and issue tracking we keep for every building.
If you’re not sure which side of the line you need, send us the building details and we’ll send back a quote that names everything explicitly. You can compare it to other quotes line by line.
Commercial cleaning focuses on workspaces and visible surfaces — desks, kitchens, meeting rooms, washrooms used by staff. Janitorial covers the whole building infrastructure — common areas, floor programs, waste handling, supply restock, light maintenance, after-hours access. Most mid-to-large buildings need both, typically from one vendor.
In absolute dollars, yes — janitorial covers more, runs more frequently, and includes supplies and equipment. But per square foot per visit, the two are comparable. The difference is what’s included in the scope, not the underlying labour rate. A janitorial contract for 20,000 sq ft typically runs $3,000–$5,000/month; commercial cleaning of the same space might be half that for a much narrower scope.
Yes — most established commercial cleaning companies do both, with one scope sheet covering the full property. This is usually simpler than splitting between two vendors. One contract, one quote, one point of contact.
If your space is under 2,000–3,000 sq ft and the scope is small, hourly works. Above that, per-visit or flat-monthly pricing gets you a defined scope, clearer accountability, and lower per-task cost. Janitorial is almost always flat monthly because the scope is too broad to bill hourly without surprise overruns.
$2 million general liability is the GTA commercial standard. Larger commercial buildings, REITs, and healthcare facilities often require $5 million. WSIB clearance and bonding are also expected. Ask for the Certificate of Insurance before signing — a reputable vendor will send it with the proposal, not after the contract.
Walk your space and look at what’s outside your office door. If it’s all yours — single tenant, no shared common areas, predictable schedule — you need commercial cleaning. If there are tenants you don’t manage, common areas that need daily attention, a waste program, or a building where the cleaner has to be present overnight, you need janitorial.
Keep reading
How much does commercial cleaning cost in Ontario? — per-square-foot and monthly pricing for offices, medical, retail, and warehouse spaces across the GTA.
Tell us about your space and we’ll send back a written quote that names every task. Compare it line by line to anything else on your desk.
Or call us directly at (647) 864-5458 — Mon–Fri, 8 AM – 6 PM ET