What Does Tile and Grout Cleaning Cost in Jupiter and Palm Beach County?
My last name is Mullarkey, which is one letter away from malarkey, and I have been hearing that joke for 27 years. So I got in the habit of being straight with people before anybody has the chance to make it. Here is the number.
- Tile and grout cleaning Base rate, standard service
- $0.60 / sq ft
- Typical main living area Roughly 500 to 1,500 square feet of floor
- $300 to $900
- Whole house Based on a real 2,700 square foot job
- About $1,600
Those are starting numbers for standard service on standard condition, and they are not guaranteed quotes. Every floor is a little different. What I can promise is that you get the real number before I start, and it does not move once I am in your house.
Most cleaning companies in this county will not put a price anywhere near their website. I would rather publish mine. I am not overpriced against my competition, and honestly I am probably underpriced for what we do, so hiding the number never made sense to me.
What that works out to on a real floor
Multiply your tile square footage by 60 cents and you are close. To save you the math:
| Floor area | What that usually is | Approximate cost |
|---|---|---|
| 200 sq ft | Two bathrooms, or a small kitchen | $120 |
| 500 sq ft | Kitchen and entry, or a large great room | $300 |
| 1,000 sq ft | Most of a main living area | $600 |
| 1,500 sq ft | Main living area plus hallways and baths | $900 |
| 2,700 sq ft | Whole house, wall to wall tile | $1,620 |
The small end of that table is where the math stops being useful. A single bathroom does not cost twelve dollars just because it is twenty square feet, because the truck, the hose and the setup cost the same on a small floor as a big one. Small jobs get priced on the job. Call me and I will tell you the number on the phone.
One more exception worth knowing. That rate is for ceramic and porcelain tile with cement grout, which is most of what is in Palm Beach County homes. Natural stone is a different animal. Slate, travertine and marble each have their own porosity and their own finish, and slate floor cleaning in particular should never be priced off a ceramic tile rate. If your floor is stone, describe it to me on the phone and I will quote it separately.
Why it is per square foot and not per room
Carpet gets priced per room. I charge $50 for a standard room and that works, because carpeted rooms have doors and walls around them. Tile does not work that way. It runs out of the entry, through the kitchen, down two hallways and into three bathrooms, and calling that eleven rooms or four rooms is just a way of picking a number. Square footage is measurable and you can check my math.
Tile is not our side service
The name on the truck says carpet cleaning, and we clean plenty of it. But this is Florida, and we do more tile than carpet. Most homes down here are tile straight through the living space, which means the floor you look at every day is grout, and grout is porous. Everything that ever got mopped across it went down into it and stayed.
That is why grout lines go from light gray to dark gray over a few years while the tile itself still looks fine. The tile is glazed and sheds dirt. The grout absorbs it. If your floor looks tired and you cannot work out why, it is almost always the grout lines rather than the tile.
Great experience, great prices. They responded right away and I was very happy with the service. I had 3 chairs cleaned and both bathroom floors cleaned. I was surprised how white they are now!
Will your grout come back white?
Sometimes completely. A customer who had us do a 2,700 square foot house put it better than I can: she said she had honestly forgotten her grout was white. It had been eight years.
But not every floor does that, and I am not going to pretend otherwise on a webpage to get you to call. There is a difference between grout that is dirty and grout that is discolored. Dirty comes out. Discolored is a change in the grout itself, and no amount of cleaning will undo it. Same with a sealer that has already failed and gone cloudy.
So here is how I handle it. I look at your floor and I tell you which one you have got before I start. If it is going to come back, I will say so. If it is not going to come all the way back, I will say that too, and then if you still want it cleaned, I will give it my best shot. That is the same way I handle a rug the dog has ruined. You get an honest read first and an honest effort second, and you never get a surprise at the end.
About sealing
Sealing is worth asking about, and the reason is timing. Sealer goes on a clean floor. Once we have pulled years of soil out of your grout lines, that is the one moment when sealing actually does what it is supposed to do, and it is the cheapest it will ever be to have done because the floor is already prepped.
I quote sealing with the job, once I know your square footage and what shape the existing sealer is in. Ask me on the phone and I will fold it into the number rather than bringing it up as an extra once I am standing in your kitchen. Nobody likes that, and I do not do it.
What the price includes, and what it never includes
No piecemealing. That is the complaint I hear most about this industry, and it always happens on site. This spot is another ten dollars, the entry counts as a room, the bathroom was not in the quote. I build the whole price up front and that is the price. DJ can walk into a house I have never seen and the same number comes out of his mouth that came out of mine on the phone, because we do not have two prices.
No coupons either. No twenty percent off, no buy one get one. Those bring in people shopping on price alone, and price shopping is how you end up with somebody who rushes your floor and leaves.
And no waivers handed to you at the door. Plenty of cleaners walk in making excuses before they start. I would rather look at the floor, tell you what I think, and then do the work.
Who shows up and what we put on your floor
Me or DJ. That is the whole company. DJ has been with me thirteen years, we fish together, and you get the same two faces every visit instead of whoever was available.
I am IICRC-certified in hard surface cleaning and restoration, which is the certification that actually applies to your tile, along with carpet cleaning and water restoration. DJ is certified in carpet cleaning. There is an art to hard surface work and a lot of ways to do it wrong, which is the main argument for hiring somebody who was trained rather than somebody with a rented machine.
We use New Line products, made here in Florida. Consumer-friendly chemistry, nothing proprietary and nothing secret. I am spraying it in a room I am standing in, so I care what is in it. Ask to see the label and you will see the label.
Superclean Services did an excellent job cleaning my tile floors. Jonathan was timely and efficient. He communicated his arrival times clearly, shared information about the cleaning process and chemicals used, and was very consistent in the service that he provided.
The equipment is maintained for the same reason. The gas is full, the oil is changed, the tires are good. We are not dripping oil in your driveway and we are not going to break down halfway across your floor.
How often you actually need this
Less often than most companies will tell you. I am not going to call you in six months and there is nothing to sign up for. I have customers who have been with me ten years and I see them when they need me. One waited eight years and the floor still came back.
The honest test is to look at your grout lines next to a spot that never gets walked on, like under a piece of furniture or inside a closet. If the traffic areas are a few shades darker, that is your answer.
Getting a number for your floor
I cover Palm Beach County from Stuart in the north down through Boca Raton in the south, west Boca included, and west as far as Wellington. Tile is tile whether it is in Jupiter or Boca Raton, and the rate is the same either way.
Square footage is usually all I need, and if you are not sure, tell me which rooms are tile and I can work with that. If it is easier, text me a photo of the floor. That is how most of these conversations go anyway, and you will have a free quote back fast.
If your grout is the reason you are embarrassed to have people over, tell me that. Those are my favorite calls. Tell me what you need and we will make it happen.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average cost to have tile and grout cleaned?
I base my price at 60 cents per square foot for tile and grout cleaning. On a typical Florida main living area that lands somewhere around $300 to $900 depending on how much floor there is, and a whole house of 2,700 square feet works out to roughly $1,600. Those are standard rates for standard condition, not guaranteed quotes, because every floor is a little different. Give me the square footage and I'll give you a real number.
Is tile cleaning priced per room or per square foot?
Per square foot. Rooms are a useful unit for carpet, where I charge $50 for a standard room, but tile runs continuously through hallways, entries, kitchens and baths, so square footage is the only honest way to measure it.
Do you seal the grout too?
Yes, sealing is work we do, and it is worth asking about while the floor is clean because that is the only time it can be done properly. I quote sealing with the job once I know the square footage and the condition of the existing sealer, so call and ask rather than assuming it is in or out.
Will my grout go back to white?
Sometimes completely. One customer told me they had forgotten their grout was white until we finished their house. Other floors have grout that is permanently discolored rather than dirty, and cleaning will not change that. I will tell you which one you have before I start, and if you still want it cleaned I will give it my best.
Is there a minimum for a small job like two bathrooms?
Small floors are priced on the job rather than straight off the per foot rate, so call me with what you have. I clean single bathrooms and I clean whole houses, and I would rather tell you the number on the phone than have you guess from a calculator.
Do you clean tile and grout in Boca Raton?
Yes. Boca Raton is the southern end of my service area, west Boca included, and the same 60 cents per square foot base rate applies there that applies in Jupiter. I run from Stuart down to Boca Raton and west as far as Wellington. Call me with the square footage and I'll quote it.
Does this rate apply to slate, travertine or marble floors?
No, and you should not assume it does. Natural stone is a different job from ceramic or porcelain tile. Slate, travertine and marble each have their own porosity and their own finish, so slate floor cleaning is not something to price off a ceramic tile rate. Describe the floor to me on the phone and I'll quote it separately.
What products do you use on tile and grout?
New Line products, manufactured in Florida. Consumer-friendly chemistry, nothing proprietary and nothing secret. Ask to see the label and you will see the label, and I will leave some behind if you want it.
How often should tile and grout be professionally cleaned?
Less often than most companies will tell you. I have customers who go years between visits and one who waited eight, and I am not going to put you on a schedule or call you in six months. When the grout lines look a few shades darker than the tile, that is your answer.
Want a number for your floor?
Call Jonathan directly. You get me, first name, no script. Tell me the square footage or text a photo, and you will have a free quote in the same conversation.
Tile and grout cleaning in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Tequesta, Abacoa, North Palm Beach, Juno Beach, West Palm Beach, Wellington, Stuart, Hobe Sound, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton.
