What the state adds to the price, and what it lets you verify
Federal rules for cleaning contractors are thin; the expensive differences are state-level. What Georgia charges in sales tax, whether it licenses cleaning companies at all, and what its wage floor does to Ailey labor cost are below with official sources.
Two free marketplace paths: one request brings back multiple vetted cleaning contractors who know they are competing for the account.
Georgia does not charge sales tax on commercial cleaning services, so a Ailey cleaning quote is the whole price - Georgia taxes tangible personal property; most services are exempt. Only accommodations, in-state transportation of persons, admissions, and charges for games/amusement are enumerated as taxable..
Most states do not license commercial cleaning companies, which surprises buyers who assume a board exists to check - in Ailey that means insurance certificates, a written scope and real references do the verifying that a licence would elsewhere.
Georgia janitors and cleaners earn a median of $16.50 an hour per federal wage data, which is the labor floor under every Ailey cleaning quote - labor is roughly the whole cost structure in this trade.
Most states do not license commercial cleaning companies, which surprises buyers who assume there is a board to check. What Georgia does or does not require - and what that means for verifying a Ailey contractor - is set out below, with the state's own source next to it.
Cleaning is labor, and labor is priced locally. What Georgia sets as its wage floor, and what janitors in the state actually earn at the median, explain more of the spread between Ailey quotes than any vendor's sales pitch does.
Put a compliance check out to competing bids before comparing prices
Two free marketplace paths: one request brings back multiple vetted cleaning contractors who know they are competing for the account. Competing bids on identical scope are the only reliable way to learn what your building actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual cleaning company pays to appear in our research.
What Georgia adds to a cleaning contract
| Question | Georgia answer |
|---|---|
| Sales tax on commercial cleaning | No - not taxable - Georgia taxes tangible personal property; most services are exempt. Only accommodations, in-state transportation of persons, admissions, and charges for games/amusement are enumerated as taxable. Cleaning/janitorial is not enumerated. (O.C.G.A. 48-8-30(f)(1)) |
| Median janitor wage (federal data) | $16.50 per hour |
| State minimum wage | $7.25 |
Georgia does not tax cleaning services at all, because the state taxes only tangible goods plus four enumerated services, none of which is janitorial work.
This page is independent research, not legal, tax or insurance advice. Sales-tax treatment, licensing rules, wage floors and contract law vary by state and change - verify current requirements with your state's revenue and labor agencies, and have significant contracts reviewed by your own counsel or broker before signing.
Why Georgia rules move Ailey quotes
Two of the three state variables land directly on your invoice. Sales tax, where a state charges it on cleaning services, is added to every monthly bill - on a mid-size contract that is real money over a year. The wage floor sets the labor cost every bid is built on, which is why identical buildings in different states get materially different quotes. Licensing is the third and it works differently: it does not change the price, it changes what a Ailey buyer can verify before signing.
What this means in Ailey
A certificate of insurance proves someone had coverage on the day it printed. It confers no rights on you, it does not obligate the insurer to notify you if the policy lapses, and the limits shown may already be partly consumed. Ask for the certificate from the broker, name your entity as additional insured, and re-request it at renewal.
This page is independent research, not legal, tax or insurance advice. Sales-tax treatment, licensing rules, wage floors and contract law vary by state and change - verify current requirements with your state's revenue and labor agencies, and have significant contracts reviewed by your own counsel or broker before signing.
Put a compliance check out to competing bids before comparing prices
Two free marketplace paths: one request brings back multiple vetted cleaning contractors who know they are competing for the account. Competing bids on identical scope are the only reliable way to learn what your building actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual cleaning company pays to appear in our research.
Common questions
Are commercial cleaning companies licensed?
In most states there is no cleaning-specific license to check, which surprises buyers who expect a board to verify. A few states do license or register cleaning contractors, and many cities require a general business license. Where there is no license, verification falls to insurance certificates, references and written scope - not to a registry.
Does cleaning less often save money?
Less than you would think, and sometimes not at all. Soil accumulates between visits, and industry measurement puts the additional cleaning time required by infrequent service at 60-70%. The per-visit price rises as frequency falls, so halving the schedule does not halve the bill - and the building looks worse in between.
Do I still need pandemic-level disinfection?
Federal guidance now tells buyers to determine whether disinfecting is necessary at all before purchasing disinfectants, and notes that disinfectants - which EPA regulates as pesticides - are more hazardous than plain cleaners. Routine whole-building fogging sold as standard is worth questioning; targeted disinfection of high-touch surfaces where circumstances warrant it is a different conversation.
What does floor stripping and waxing cost?
Strip and refinish runs about $0.30-$0.80 per square foot in 2026 pricing, and scrub-and-recoat - the lighter maintenance version - about $0.20-$0.40. Most vendors apply a minimum service fee of roughly $250-$500, which makes small jobs disproportionately expensive per square foot.
How do I compare two very different cleaning bids?
Normalize three things before you look at price: total cleanable square footage, frequency per area, and exactly which specialty services are inside the monthly fee. Most large gaps between bids disappear once those are matched - and the ones that survive are usually explained by staffing model or supervision, which is worth paying for.
Put a compliance check out to competing bids before comparing prices
Two free marketplace paths: one request brings back multiple vetted cleaning contractors who know they are competing for the account. Competing bids on identical scope are the only reliable way to learn what your building actually prices at.
External links go to the marketplaces' own sites and forms. This site may earn a referral fee at no cost to you - it never changes the data above, and no individual cleaning company pays to appear in our research.