In-House vs. Outsourcing: The True Cost of Commercial Cleaning

The true cost of an in-house cleaner is higher than the employee’s hourly wage. Employers also need to account for payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, paid time off, employee benefits, recruiting and training, cleaning equipment and supplies, supervision, and coverage when the employee is unavailable.

Outsourcing can shift many of those responsibilities to a commercial cleaning company, while in-house cleaning may still make sense for facilities that need full-time on-site support or already have an established facilities team. The right choice depends on the total cost, cleaning scope, staffing needs, and level of operational control required.

How Much Does an In-House Cleaner Actually Cost?

According to 2025 wage data from the Oregon Employment Department, janitors and cleaners in Lane County earn an average of $18.62 per hour, or about $38,748 per year for full-time work. That annual wage is only the starting point.

For example, an Oregon employer using that wage would also be responsible for the employer share of Social Security and Medicare, state and federal unemployment taxes, Paid Leave Oregon contributions when applicable, and workers’ compensation. The business may also need to cover paid absences, employee benefits, recruiting and onboarding, equipment, cleaning supplies, and the management time required to schedule, supervise, and inspect the work.

When those costs are included, an $18.62 hourly wage can translate into a much higher fully loaded cost. The example below shows how the cost of maintaining an in-house cleaning position can approach $62,000 per year, or about $30 per hour.

The payroll-related costs are based on current federal and Oregon requirements. Employers pay 7.65% for their share of Social Security and Medicare. Oregon’s 2026 unemployment insurance rate for a new employer is 2.4%, and employers with 25 or more employees contribute 0.4% of wages to Paid Leave Oregon. Employers that qualify for the full federal unemployment tax credit generally pay an effective FUTA rate of 0.6% on the first $7,000 of wages.

Workers’ compensation adds another cost that can be easy to underestimate. Cleaning and building operations are classified differently from clerical office work, and the actual premium depends on the employee classification, insurer, claims history, and other rating factors. Oregon uses separate workers’ compensation rates for hundreds of occupational classifications. The example above uses an indicative 2026 rate for building operations employees, but an employer’s actual premium may be higher or lower.

Absence coverage matters too. Oregon employees generally earn up to 40 hours of protected sick time each year, with paid sick time required for employers that meet the applicable employee threshold. The example above assumes five sick days and ten vacation days. Because the building still needs to be cleaned when the regular employee is away, the calculation includes the wages required to cover those hours.

The equipment, supplies, recruiting, and management figures are illustrative operating assumptions rather than statewide mandated costs. In this example, the business spends $1,200 per year on equipment, $2,400 on cleaning supplies, incurs one $1,500 recruiting and onboarding cost, and spends two management hours per week overseeing the cleaning program. For context, first-line housekeeping and janitorial supervisors in Lane County earn an average of $24.46 per hour.

Employee benefits can increase the difference further. For businesses that provide health insurance, KFF reported a national average 2025 single-coverage premium of $9,325, with covered employees contributing an average of $1,440. That leaves approximately $7,885 paid by the employer on average.

In this illustrative scenario, an employee with an $18.62 hourly wage represents an estimated annualized cost of about $29.75 per hour, or approximately $61,900 per year.

Even without employer-sponsored health insurance, the estimated cost is roughly $54,000 per year, or $26 per hour.

These figures show why the hourly wage alone does not represent the full cost of operating an in-house cleaning program.

What Does Outsourced Commercial Cleaning Include?

Outsourced commercial cleaning includes more than the labor required to clean a facility. The cleaning company takes responsibility for staffing, hiring, training, scheduling, supervision, quality control, and many of the operational costs that a business would otherwise need to manage internally.

The exact scope depends on the cleaning contract, but a professional commercial cleaning program may include:

• Recruiting, screening, and hiring cleaning employees
• Employee training and site-specific instruction
• Payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, and employee-related costs
• Scheduling and management of cleaning staff
• Coverage when a regular cleaner is sick, on vacation, or leaves the company
• Supervisors and operational management
• Routine quality inspections and performance monitoring
• Commercial cleaning equipment and maintenance when provided under the service agreement
• Cleaning chemicals and consumable supplies as specified in the contract
• Safety procedures and employee training
• Ongoing communication and issue resolution
• Specialized services such as carpet cleaning, hard floor care, window cleaning, and pressure washing when included in the contract or scheduled separately

With an in-house cleaning program, the business is responsible for building and managing these systems itself. With outsourcing, many of those responsibilities shift to a company whose primary operation is cleaning and maintaining commercial facilities.

At Brothers Cleaning Services, commercial clients also have access to a dedicated operations team, trained in-house cleaning employees, independent quality audits, and janitorial management software used to monitor service and communicate with clients. Brothers uses its own employees rather than subcontracting cleaning work, so staffing, training, supervision, and quality management remain under one company.

With many of these responsibilities included in the service relationship, the contract price represents more than the cleaning labor performed at the facility.

In-House vs. Outsourced Cleaning Cost Comparison

An accurate in-house vs. outsourced cleaning cost comparison should use the same facility, cleaning scope, service frequency, and coverage requirements on both sides. Comparing an employee’s hourly wage with a commercial cleaning contract does not provide an equal comparison because the two figures include different costs and responsibilities.

For an in-house cleaning program, businesses should calculate wages, employer payroll costs, benefits, absence coverage, recruiting, equipment, supplies, supervision, and management time. For outsourced cleaning, the comparison should include the annual contract price, any supplies or specialized services excluded from the agreement, and the internal time required to manage the vendor relationship.

Using the Lane County example above, an employee earning $18.62 per hour may represent an estimated fully loaded cost of about $61,900 per year, or approximately $29.75 per annualized hour once the major costs of maintaining the position are included.

For an in-house program, the business carries both the direct cleaning cost and the administrative burden behind it. That includes finding employees, keeping shifts covered, purchasing equipment, managing supplies, handling performance issues, and replacing workers when turnover occurs.

With outsourced cleaning, many of those costs are consolidated into one contract price. The business still needs to manage the vendor relationship and confirm that the agreed scope is being delivered, but it does not need to operate the cleaning workforce itself.

This does not mean outsourcing will always have the lower dollar cost. The right comparison is:

Total annual in-house cleaning cost vs. total annual outsourced cleaning cost for the same scope, frequency, and level of service.

Only then can a business determine which option provides the better fit for its facility and operations.

When Does In-House Cleaning Make Sense?

In-house cleaning can make sense when a business needs cleaning staff on site throughout the day or already has the management structure, equipment, and processes required to support an internal cleaning team.

A dedicated in-house employee may be the better fit when the position involves more than routine janitorial work. For example, a day porter may respond to spills, restock supplies, handle light facility tasks, prepare rooms, assist with deliveries, or address cleaning needs as they arise throughout the workday.

In-house cleaning may also be practical when:

• The facility requires a cleaner to remain on site for most or all of the business day
• Cleaning employees perform additional facility or maintenance duties
• The company already operates a large facilities department with supervisors and established cleaning systems
• The business already owns the necessary equipment and has processes for purchasing supplies, training employees, and managing quality
• The organization wants direct control over daily assignments and immediate changes in priorities

In these situations, the additional administrative costs of an in-house program may be easier to justify because the employee is providing ongoing value beyond scheduled cleaning.

When Does Outsourcing Cleaning Make More Sense?

Outsourcing commercial cleaning often makes more sense when a business needs consistent scheduled cleaning but does not want to operate and manage its own cleaning workforce.

This is common for offices, medical facilities, schools, retail properties, industrial facilities, and other commercial buildings where most cleaning can be completed before or after normal operating hours. Instead of hiring employees specifically for those shifts, the business can contract with a cleaning company that already has the staff, equipment, supervision, and systems needed to perform the work.

Outsourcing may be a better fit when:

• Cleaning is primarily needed during scheduled evening, nighttime, or early morning shifts
• Recruiting and retaining reliable cleaning employees has become difficult
• Managers or office staff are spending too much time scheduling, supervising, or replacing cleaners
• The business needs dependable coverage for vacations, sick days, and employee turnover
• Multiple locations need to be cleaned under a consistent program
• The facility requires commercial equipment or specialized services that would otherwise need to be purchased separately
• The business wants cleaning quality to be monitored through an established supervision and inspection process
• Cleaning needs change over time and staffing must be adjusted without hiring or laying off internal employees

For these businesses, outsourcing can convert many separate cleaning expenses and management responsibilities into a more predictable service arrangement.

Can In-House and Outsourced Cleaning Be Used Together?

Yes, many businesses use a hybrid cleaning model that combines in-house staff with an outsourced commercial cleaning company.

This approach can work well when a facility needs someone on site during business hours but does not need that employee to handle every cleaning task. An in-house day porter or facilities employee can take care of immediate needs, while an outsourced cleaning team handles scheduled janitorial work after hours.

A hybrid model may include:

• An in-house day porter for spills, restocking, touchups, and daytime cleaning needs
• Outsourced evening or nighttime janitorial cleaning
• Outsourced carpet cleaning and hard floor care
• Outsourced window cleaning and pressure washing
• Additional contracted cleaning during busy periods, events, seasonal demand, or staffing shortages
• Specialized cleaning services that require equipment or training the in-house team does not have

This setup allows a business to keep direct control over tasks that require an immediate on-site response while outsourcing routine, labor-intensive, or specialized cleaning work.

It can also reduce the pressure on an internal facilities team. Instead of hiring enough employees to cover every shift, absence, and specialized cleaning task, the business can use its in-house staff where they provide the most value and rely on a commercial cleaning company for the rest.