I just did an estimate for church pews today (first time) and I don’t see how you can do it for anything less than $2-$3/linear foot. LOTS of solution will be used, plus factoring in time for filling jugs if needed, dumping jugs, etc. We ended up bidding ours at $3.50/linear foot because the church doesn’t think they are going to do it, and we really don’t want to do it, so if we have to do it we want it to be worth our time. Not trying to take advantage of the church by any means, just realizing the scope of work that will be involved (foresee 2-3 extraction machines with 3 employees taking almost all day). Over 1300 linear feet total. We also bid on the carpet as that is the one we would prefer to clean.
I am a firm believer that too many carpet cleaners give away the farm to land commercial gigs and they don’t make as much money as they think they do (if any) from these jobs when labor and materials are factored in. As many other operators have mentioned, sometimes projected cleaning time is a better factor of price over room/square footage for commercial gigs.