Our Guide to Bidding for Cleaning Contracts

January 12, 2022

6 tips for bidding for cleaning contracts

Are you bidding for cleaning contracts, but are yet to see success? If you’re new to the bidding process, you might not know what it takes to produce a winning bid. In this blog, we’ll go through bidding in the cleaning industry and offer you tips for success.

Bidding in the cleaning industry

Many businesses in the cleaning industry bid on contracts as a way to secure work. As part of this process, vendors are expected to respond to RFPs (Request for Proposals).

RFPs can be complex, and usually require high-quality responses from potential vendors. Many buyers issue this type of solicitation, including businesses in the public and private sectors. They can also be released by local, state and federal governments.

A number of businesses may want to procure various cleaning services. The cleaning sector is vast and covers:

  • Residential cleaning
  • Educational institutions
  • Commercial cleaning
  • Corporate cleaning
  • Industrial
  • Local government.

6 tips for bidding for cleaning contracts

If you want to increase your chances of success when bidding for cleaning contracts, try out these tips!

  1. Find a suitable project

Before you actually start bidding for cleaning contracts, you need to find a suitable project for your business. If you bid for work that isn’t relevant to your company, you’re unlikely to achieve success.

To help you find a suitable project, you could ask yourself the following questions:

  • Have you got enough experience to deliver the work?
  • Is your experience relevant?
  • Do you meet the required financial standing?
  • Can you offer the buyer something unique in the market?
  • Does the work fit with your long-term strategy?
  • Do you have time to deliver the work?
  • If you were in the buyer’s shoes, would you choose yourself for the project?

If you answer ‘no’ to these questions, there’s a good chance that the opportunity is not right for your business.

  1. Read the buyer’s specifications

When you’re bidding for cleaning contracts, it’s important that you read every page of the buyer’s specifications. Whether it’s 1 page or 100 pages, you need to read it all. If you don’t, you could miss key requirements and struggle to tailor your RFP response to the opportunity.

It will also help you determine how much time needs to be dedicated to each part of the bid. Planning is a crucial part of the bidding process. Without it, you’ll struggle to write a successful cleaning proposal.

  1. Give yourself plenty of time

Another important thing to remember is to give yourself plenty of time to complete the work. Deadlines for bids are extremely strict. So, if you miss the deadline, you’ve missed out on that opportunity.

To help with this, you could work backwards from the submission date. Work out how long each stage of the process will take and make sure you have time to complete it.

It’s also really important that you don’t submit your RFP response at the last second. You should try and give yourself several hours before the deadline to submit. For example, if the deadline is 12pm, don’t wait until 11:59am to submit your bid. That way, you’ll have time to fix any technical issues that arise and still submit your bid on time.

  1. Create a bid management plan

To increase your chances of success when bidding for cleaning contracts, you should think about producing a bid management plan. This will help you keep track of everything that’s involved in the bidding process, such as important dates.

Here’s an example of what could be included in your bid management plan:

  • The work involved for each question
  • Any contract examples
  • Submission guidance
  • Important dates, such as the deadline
  • Formatting guidelines
  • Team roles.
  1. Demonstrate your cleaning experience

When you’re bidding for cleaning contracts, the buyer wants to know why your business should win the work. A good way to demonstrate your experience is to include past cleaning contracts in your RFP response. Typically, the buyer expects to see at least 2 examples from the past 5 years. The examples should also be similar in size, scope, and complexity to the cleaning contract you’re bidding for.

Before including evidence in your cleaning proposal, you need to make sure it’s relevant to the buyer’s project. If it’s not relevant, it won’t help you win the work. For example, if you’re trying to secure a commercial cleaning bid, don’t share examples of landscaping work with the buyer.

  1. Proofread and edit your cleaning proposal

A really simple way of increasing your chances of success is to proofread and edit your cleaning proposal. When bidding for cleaning contracts, many businesses overlook this stage of the RFP writing process. However, it’s really important and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Submitting a bid that is full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes won’t impress the buyer. They might even assume that you didn’t care enough about the contract to edit your response.

To ensure the buyer has the best possible impression of your business, you need to carefully proofread your response. You could even ask someone else to review your work for you. A second reviewer might find mistakes that you couldn’t see in your own work. So, they’ll help you make sure that your cleaning bid is ready for submission.

In conclusion

It’s common for vendors in the cleaning industry to secure work through the bidding process. If you want to increase your chances of success, there are certain tips and tricks you can use.

Firstly, you need to find a suitable cleaning contract for your business. If you have no chance of winning the bid, don’t waste your time and resources on an RFP response. You also need to read the buyer’s specifications, carefully and thoroughly. Otherwise, you could end up overlooking important details that are crucial to your success.

Another tip for bidding for cleaning contracts is to give yourself plenty of time. Plan every step of the process and make sure you have enough time to submit the bid. To help you with this, you could create a bid management plan. This will help you keep track of important details, such as timescales and key dates.

To increase your chances of success, you could also demonstrate your cleaning experience to the buyer. Remember, you should expect to include at least 2 examples from the past 5 years in your RFP response.

Finally, you need to proofread and edit your response before submitting it. This step is often overlooked, but is a crucial part of bidding for cleaning contracts. 

Need support writing your next bid?

Not got the time to write winning bid responses in-house? Don’t worry, our Bid Consultants can help. We provide three bid and RFP writing support services.

Our services

RFP Writing 

Our RFP Writing service is the perfect solution to ensure that you submit a high-quality bid, even when you’re busy. Our writers will break down the solicitation documents, allowing you to see what the bid and the contract involves. This will help to ensure that you have all the specified evidence and meet the requirements of the contracting authority.

Our RFP Writers will then craft persuasive, high-quality responses, attach supporting evidence and even submit the bid on your behalf. Upload the solicitation documents for a free quote.

RFP Mentor

Have you already written a bid but need a second pair of eyes to review your work? Our RFP Mentor service will do just that. Simply send over your bid responses and the solicitation documents.

Our writers will then assess your work, ensuring that your responses are in line with the specification. They will also check for any spelling or grammar errors. You can then submit your bid with confidence. Upload your work for a free quote.

Proposal Ready 

Do you need help with preparing a bid proposal? Proposal Ready can help businesses that are new to bidding or those in need of rejuvenating their content. Our Bid Consultants will create:

  • 3 designed and company branded case studies
  • 5 company branded and professionally designed resumes for key personnel
  • 1 company branded bid proposal credentials document that can be used to respond to future RFPs.

Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including: 

 

All information and data on this blog site are for informational purposes only. Hudson Outsourcing LLC makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity, of any information. Hudson Outsourcing LLC will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided AS IS with no warranties and confers no rights.

Hudson Outsourcing LLC will not be responsible for any material that is found at the end of the links that may be posted on this blog site. 

Because the information on this blog is based on Hudson Outsourcing LLC’s own opinion and experience, it should not be considered professional financial investment advice. The ideas and bidding strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional. Hudson Outsourcing LLC’s thoughts and opinions will also change from time to time as the market changes and as Hudson Outsourcing LLC develops.

Share This Insight

Contact
A Bid Writer

Recent Posts

Similar Insights

Latest Insights August 25, 2025

Inclusive procurement—or supplier diversity—is a powerful strategy that extends an organization’s purchasing efforts beyond conventional…

Read More
Latest Insights August 18, 2025

The rise of remote and hybrid work has transformed bidding. Global bid teams—spanning multiple time…

Read More
Latest Insights August 11, 2025

With tightening regulations like GDPR (Europe), CCPA (California), and standards such as ISO 27001 gaining global…

Read More
Latest Insights August 4, 2025

In today’s procurement landscape, tender evaluators are asking for more than compliance—they want measurable social…

Read More
Latest Insights July 28, 2025

Responding to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) remains one of the most strategic ways for businesses…

Read More
Latest Insights July 21, 2025

In today’s competitive landscape, businesses are constantly pitching for new clients, funding, and strategic partnerships….

Read More

Request a Callback