Commercial Carpet Cleaning Cost Per Square Foot
Commercial carpet cleaning cost per square foot in the Seattle area: $0.25, $0.20 from 5,000 sq ft, $260 minimum, chairs. Text for a written price.
By Yuri and Tatiana, owners of Shining Cleanse LLC, a family cleaning company based in Everett, WA and licensed in 10 cities across Snohomish and King County.
Commercial carpet cleaning cost per square foot with us is $0.25 for areas under 5,000 sq ft and $0.20 from 5,000 sq ft, with a $260 minimum per visit and weekday evenings included. For small offices the minimum often sets the bill. For larger ones, traffic and cleaning frequency set the yearly budget.
Below is how the math works, what pushes a quote up, and how to compare written quotes for commercial carpet cleaning. Every number for our own work is also on our pricing page.
What is the average commercial carpet cleaning rate per square foot?
Rates vary with the method, the size of the area and the minimum, and we do not know of a reliable published average for Snohomish and King County. So compare written quotes on the same terms, and start with how the area is measured: it should be the carpet that actually gets cleaned, not the building’s total square footage. A 3,000 sq ft office with tile in the kitchen, restrooms and lobby might have only 2,200 sq ft of carpet.
For spaces in Redmond and our other licensed cities, we measure from your floor plan or square footage, look at your photos of the worst areas and ask any questions by text before we quote. Here is how our rates work out:
| Carpeted area | Rate | Price per visit |
|---|---|---|
| 600 sq ft | minimum applies | $260 |
| 1,000 sq ft | minimum applies | $260 |
| 2,000 sq ft | $0.25 per sq ft | $500 |
| 3,000 sq ft | $0.25 per sq ft | $750 |
| 6,000 sq ft | $0.20 per sq ft | $1,200 |
| 8,000 sq ft | $0.20 per sq ft | $1,600 |
Each visit includes a thorough pre-vacuum, a pre-spray of traffic lanes, entries and under desks, the cleaning itself, spot treatment of coffee, food and ink where the fiber allows, and a short report with photos. Washington sales tax, where it applies, is shown as a separate line.
Why do commercial carpet cleaners charge a minimum?
The minimum covers the fixed part of the job: driving out, unloading and setting up the machines, pre-vacuuming and packing up. Those steps take about the same time whether the carpet is 500 or 1,000 sq ft.
That is why a small suite pays more per square foot. A 600 sq ft office billed at our $260 minimum works out to about $0.43 per sq ft. The way to get more out of a minimum visit is to add an area you would otherwise skip. An 800 sq ft office is billed at the $260 minimum; add a 300 sq ft carpeted conference room and the 1,100 sq ft visit is $275, so the extra room costs $15.
Our job
Our jobDoes traffic level change the price?
Not the rate, but it changes the work and the number of visits a year. Entries, main corridors and break rooms collect most of the grit. A carpet that has gone a long time between cleanings needs a first restorative clean with hot water extraction before a lighter program can keep it looking good. We put that first visit and the follow-up program in one written quote, as three options with frequency, areas and price.
Coffee, food and ink spots are treated as part of the visit where the fiber allows, not billed one by one. Old dye stains, chair-wheel burns and worn traffic lanes do not come out, and we say so before we start.
Our rates assume small items are off the floor and that we clean around desks. If you want desks and filing cabinets moved, we quote it as a separate line, so you can choose to move them yourself.
Keeping carpet on a schedule is also about how long it lasts. Our article on how professional cleaning protects business assets covers carpet alongside other finishes.
How much does it cost to clean office chairs?
Fabric task chairs are $9 each for 10 or more and $12 each for fewer, cleaned in the same visit as the carpet. A 1,200 sq ft office with 12 chairs comes to $300 for carpet plus $108 for chairs, $408 in total. Waiting-room sofas are $169 and loveseats $129. Cubicle panels are quoted per panel. Leather and mesh chairs are wiped, not extracted.
Is evening carpet cleaning more expensive?
Not with us. Weekday evening work is included in the rate, and Saturday visits add 15%. Sunday and overnight visits are priced in writing. A 2,000 sq ft office cleaned on a weekday evening is $500; the same job on a Saturday is $575.
Drying time decides which slot makes sense. We clean commercial carpet with hot water extraction, which takes 4–8 hours to dry with air movers running. A weekday evening works for areas nobody needs first thing in the morning, and a whole office is usually booked for a Friday evening or a Saturday. Low-moisture encapsulation, a solution worked into the fiber that dries to a crystal holding the soil, dries in 1–2 hours. Some companies offer it; we do not at the moment.
If you are choosing between the two, our comparison of encapsulation and hot water extraction for commercial carpet covers the trade-offs, and our guide to how long carpet takes to dry after cleaning explains drying in detail.
How does cleaning frequency change the yearly budget?
The per-visit price is only half of the budget. The other half is how many visits a year your traffic needs. Shaw Contract’s printed carpet maintenance checklist suggests hot water extraction once a year for light-traffic areas such as private offices, twice a year for moderate traffic such as shared offices and conference rooms, and four times a year plus monthly interim cleaning for heavy-traffic entrances, main hallways and break rooms. The checklist describes its chart as a general guideline to customize, and it recommends a hot water extraction after every third or fourth encapsulation. A program with interim cleans mixes both methods. Ours uses extraction on a schedule by zone, and the restorative visits belong in the budget from the start.
Here is a first-year example for a 2,000 sq ft office cleaned quarterly at our published rate:
| Visit | Price |
|---|---|
| First restorative visit, 2,000 sq ft at $0.25 | $500 |
| Three quarterly visits at $500 each | $1,500 |
| First-year total, before chairs or tax | $2,000 |
You do not have to clean every zone at the same frequency. Entries and corridors can be on a tighter schedule than private offices. Associations budgeting corridor carpet together with lobby cleaning can use our guide to HOA common area cleaning. For a full schedule by zone, see how often office carpets should be cleaned, and for the regular cleaning itself, our commercial cleaning cost guide for the Seattle area.
What does a per-square-foot price not cover?
- Moving desks, filing cabinets, servers or furniture you have not cleared. We quote that as a separate line.
- Cubicle panels, quoted per panel on request.
- Water damage, flooding, mold and carpet repair. Those need different equipment and training, and we refer them out.
- Stripping and waxing hard floors.
- Permanent damage: worn traffic lanes, chair-wheel burns, sun fading and old dye stains. Cleaning improves the carpet around them but does not reverse them.
We work in offices, clinics, daycares, retail stores, common areas, and restaurants and cafes (see restaurant and cafe cleaning). Hotels and motels are quoted case by case. If the carpet is being cleaned because a lease is ending, see office move-out cleaning at lease end for the order of movers, IT and cleaning.
How to compare commercial carpet cleaning quotes
Two quotes with the same rate can end up hundreds of dollars apart. Before you sign, check:
- Square footage: who measured it, and is it carpet only?
- The minimum per visit.
- The method for each visit, and the drying time your staff should expect.
- Whether pre-vacuuming and spot treatment are included.
- Evening and weekend charges.
- Furniture moving: included, excluded or a separate line.
- Chairs and seating: priced per piece or not offered.
- A written report after each visit.
- Proof of insurance. We carry general liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, with a certificate (COI) on request.
Carpet in homes and rentals is priced per room instead; our guide to carpet cleaning cost per room explains how that works.
Our jobFAQ
Can you clean the carpet while our office is open?
We schedule commercial carpet after hours, after you close, overnight, or on your day off, so nobody walks on wet carpet and nobody works around a machine. Hot water extraction needs 4–8 hours to dry, so for areas staff use first thing in the morning we book a Friday evening or a Saturday.
How do businesses pay for carpet cleaning?
Commercial accounts get a monthly invoice, Net 15, or we charge a card on file after each visit, whichever you prefer. The quote shows every line, and nothing is added on site without your written yes.
Can you add our building as additional insured?
Yes, where a building or property manager requires it. On request, we send a Certificate of Insurance for our general liability policy before the first visit, and the building can be named as additional insured on that certificate.
Get a written price
Text 2–4 photos of the space to (425) 539-5492, or your floor plan, with the approximate carpeted square footage and when the space is empty. Or request a written quote. We reply with a written price the same business day (Mon–Fri 9am–7pm, Sat 9am–5pm). For larger spaces, send more photos; we ask any questions by text and confirm the price in writing.
commercial carpet cleaningoffice carpetpricingcost per square footcommercial carpet cleaning cost per square foot