Commercial cleaning cost in Australia 2026

If you run an office, a retail shop, a warehouse or a strata building, commercial cleaning cost is one of those line items that's easy to overpay on and hard to compare. One cleaner quotes an hourly rate, the next quotes per square metre, and a third gives you a flat monthly figure — and none of them line up.

This guide breaks down what commercial cleaning actually costs across Australia in 2026: the hourly rates, the price per square metre, and how strata and office contracts are put together. Whether you're in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide, the ranges below will tell you fast whether a quote is fair or dressed up.

Want a ballpark before you ring around? You can send your site details through the free commercial cleaning enquiry tool and have local cleaners quote your actual space.

Last updated: July 2026.

Key takeaways

• Commercial cleaning in Australia costs roughly $35–$65 per hour in 2026, with the national average around $45–$55/hour. Sydney and Melbourne sit 10–20% higher.
• Priced per square metre, standard office cleaning runs about $2–$4 per m² per clean; high-spec sites like medical or food premises can hit $5–$8 per m².
• Strata common-area cleaning typically costs $300–$1,500 per month for small-to-medium blocks, and $1,500–$5,000+ for large complexes with pools, gyms and lifts.
• The single biggest cost driver is frequency — daily service costs far more per month than a weekly clean, but often less per visit.
• All rates are usually quoted exclusive of GST (add 10%), and consumables like paper and soap are often billed separately.

What this guide covers

• How much does commercial cleaning cost in Australia in 2026?
• Commercial cleaning price per square metre explained
• Office cleaning cost per hour: what you're paying for
• Strata cleaning cost and how common-area contracts work
• What drives commercial cleaning rates up or down
• How to compare commercial cleaning quotes
• Frequently asked questions

2026 commercial cleaning price guide

Here's the quick reference. Commercial cleaning is quoted in three common ways — per hour, per square metre, or as a fixed monthly contract — so the table shows all three side by side.

These ranges are compiled from current Australian commercial cleaning market rates for 2026 and cross-checked against the enquiries that come through Leadkit's cleaning tools. Commercial cleaning is always quoted per site — the numbers here are a planning guide, not a fixed price.

This is a price indication only. Your cleaner will confirm the final price after assessing the site.

How much does commercial cleaning cost in Australia in 2026? {#hourly}

Commercial cleaning in Australia costs between $35 and $65 per hour in 2026, with most offices and businesses landing around the $45–$55 mark. That's the figure most cleaners work back from, even when they quote you a flat monthly rate.

Location matters. Sydney and Melbourne are premium markets — expect $50–$65/hour for a decent commercial contractor, versus $35–$50 in smaller centres. Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and the Gold Coast generally sit in between.

The hourly rate isn't just a wage. A legitimate cleaner has to cover the cleaner's pay under the Cleaning Services Award (the minimum pay rate set by the Fair Work Ombudsman), plus superannuation, insurance, equipment, chemicals and a margin. When a quote comes in well under $35/hour, someone is usually being underpaid or the business isn't properly insured — a real risk if a cleaner is injured on your site.

Across the commercial cleaning enquiries that come through Leadkit, the detail businesses most often leave out is how often they actually need service — and frequency changes the price more than anything else. Nail that down before you ask for quotes.

Commercial cleaning price per square metre explained {#per-square-metre}

Commercial cleaning price per square metre is the fairest way to compare quotes, because it strips out how fast one cleaner claims to work versus another. In 2026, standard office cleaning costs roughly $2–$4 per square metre per clean, while lighter office maintenance can dip to $1.50–$3.50 per m².

Higher-specification sites cost more per metre because they take longer and need specific products and process. Medical centres, laboratories, childcare and food-processing facilities commonly run $5–$8 per square metre thanks to disinfection standards and compliance requirements.

To use the metric, you need two things: your floor area in square metres and the scope of work. Scope of work (often written as the SOW) is the agreed list of exactly what gets cleaned and how often — vacuuming, mopping, bathrooms, kitchen, glass, bins. Two quotes at "$3 per m²" aren't comparable if one includes the bathrooms daily and the other does them weekly.

A quick example: a 400 m² office cleaned at $3 per m² works out to about $1,200 per clean — but if that's a weekly service, your monthly cost is roughly $5,200, not $1,200. Always check whether a per-m² figure is per clean or per month.

If you also need periodic extras like carpet or glass, it's worth pricing those separately — our carpet cleaning quote calculator and window cleaning quote calculator give you an instant ballpark for those tasks on their own.

Office cleaning cost per hour: what you're paying for {#office-hourly}

Office cleaning cost per hour in Australia sits at $35–$50 for a standard fit-out, rising to $50–$65 in the major metros or where after-hours access is required. For a typical small office of 150–250 m² cleaned two to three times a week, most businesses land somewhere between $400 and $1,200 per month.

What actually fills those hours: emptying and relining bins, vacuuming and mopping floors, wiping desks and common surfaces, cleaning and restocking bathrooms and kitchens, and spot-cleaning glass and entryways. On bigger sites you may also pay for a day porter — a cleaner who stays on-site during business hours to keep bathrooms and kitchens presentable between the main cleans.

Two line items catch people out. First, consumables — toilet paper, hand towel, soap, bin liners. Some contracts include them; many bill them on top, and they can add $50–$200 a month depending on foot traffic. Second, periodicals — the deeper tasks done monthly or quarterly rather than daily, like carpet steam-cleaning, hard-floor stripping, and high dusting. Ask which periodicals are inside the monthly fee and which are extra.

Insist that anything sprayed or applied in your workplace has a Safety Data Sheet on file — Safe Work Australia sets the model rules for hazardous chemicals, and a professional cleaner will already have this sorted.

Strata cleaning cost and how common-area contracts work {#strata}

Strata cleaning cost in Australia is usually quoted as a fixed monthly fee, which gives the owners corporation a predictable budget line. In 2026, a small block (under 20 units) with a weekly clean typically pays $300–$700 per month; a medium building of 20–50 units on two to three cleans a week runs $600–$1,500; and large complexes with 50-plus units, pools, gyms and lifts commonly reach $1,500–$5,000+ per month.

Strata (or common-area) cleaning covers the shared spaces owners and tenants use every day: lobbies, hallways, stairwells, lifts, car parks, bin rooms, and any pool or gym areas. It usually excludes the inside of individual units.

Frequency and amenities drive the number. A walk-up block with no lift and a single stairwell is cheap; a high-rise with two lifts, a basement car park and a pool needs far more labour and gets billed accordingly. Pressure-washing of car parks and entryways is often a periodical extra rather than part of the weekly rate — you can sanity-check that separately with our pressure washing quote calculator.

If you're on the strata committee, remember the cleaning contract sits alongside your other maintenance obligations. Owners corporations are governed by state law — in NSW, that's overseen by NSW Fair Trading — so get the scope of work in writing and reviewed at each renewal.

What drives commercial cleaning rates up or down {#drivers}

Commercial cleaning rates move on a handful of factors, and knowing them lets you shape a quote instead of just accepting one.

• Frequency. Daily service costs the most per month but often the least per visit; a fortnightly clean is cheap monthly but pricey per visit. Match frequency to actual foot traffic.
• Site type and hygiene standard. A plain office is at the bottom of the range; medical, childcare and food premises sit at the top because of disinfection and compliance.
• Access and hours. After-hours, weekend or early-morning cleaning attracts penalty rates under the award, which flows straight into your price.
• Size and layout. Open-plan is faster per square metre than a warren of small offices, lots of glass, or multiple bathrooms.
• Consumables and periodicals. Whether paper, soap and deep-clean tasks are included or billed on top can swing a monthly quote by hundreds of dollars.
• Location and wage pressure. Cleaning wages track broader cost-of-living movements — the Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes the CPI and wage data that award rates are indexed against each year.

The cheapest headline rate rarely wins once you factor in insurance, reliability and what's actually included. A slightly higher rate from a cleaner who turns up, is properly insured and restocks the bathrooms is almost always better value.

How to compare commercial cleaning quotes {#compare}

The trick to comparing commercial cleaning quotes is to force every cleaner onto the same scope of work, then convert their price to a per-square-metre or per-month figure. Once the numbers are like-for-like, the real gaps show up fast.

Get at least three quotes, and give each cleaner the identical brief: floor area, number of bathrooms, frequency, hours of access, and whether consumables are included. Ask each to break the quote into the recurring clean, the periodicals, and consumables separately — a cleaner who won't itemise is usually hiding a thin scope or a fat margin.

Check the non-price basics too: public liability insurance (at least $10–$20 million is standard), workers' compensation, an ABN, and references from similar sites. For a warehouse or industrial site, confirm they hold the right equipment and Safety Data Sheets for any degreasers or industrial chemicals.

Give every cleaner the same scope and the same square metres — that one step turns three confusing quotes into a clear ranking.

If you also run a home or smaller premises, the same logic applies at a smaller scale — our house cleaning cost guide for 2026 walks through domestic rates the same way, and you can browse every cleaning quote calculator in one place to price individual tasks.

Frequently asked questions {#faqs}

Q: How much does commercial cleaning cost per hour in Australia in 2026?

A: Commercial cleaning costs about $35–$65 per hour in Australia in 2026, with a national average around $45–$55/hour. Standard offices and retail sit at the lower end ($35–$50), while Sydney and Melbourne sites, or specialised work like medical and industrial cleaning, sit at the top ($50–$65). Rates below $35/hour are a red flag — the cleaner may be underpaying staff or running without proper insurance. Remember these figures are usually quoted exclusive of GST, so add 10%. For a price tied to your actual site rather than a generic hourly figure, send your details through a commercial cleaning enquiry and let local cleaners quote the real space.

Q: What is the commercial cleaning price per square metre?

A: In 2026, commercial cleaning price per square metre is roughly $2–$4 per m² per clean for a standard office, dropping to $1.50–$3.50 for lighter maintenance and rising to $5–$8 per m² for high-spec sites like medical centres, laboratories and food premises. Per-square-metre pricing is the fairest way to compare cleaners because it removes differences in how quickly each claims to work. Just confirm whether the rate is per clean or per month — a 400 m² office at $3/m² is about $1,200 per clean, which becomes roughly $5,200 a month on a weekly service.

Q: How much does strata cleaning cost per month?

A: Strata cleaning cost runs about $300–$700 per month for a small block under 20 units on a weekly clean, $600–$1,500 for a medium building of 20–50 units cleaned two to three times a week, and $1,500–$5,000+ for large complexes with 50-plus units, lifts, pools and gyms. It's almost always a fixed monthly fee so the owners corporation has a predictable budget line. The price scales with the number of common areas — lifts, car parks and amenities all add labour. Get the scope of work in writing and review it at each contract renewal.

Q: Is GST included in commercial cleaning quotes?

A: Usually no — commercial cleaning quotes are typically shown exclusive of GST, so you add 10% on top of the figure you're given. A $1,000/month contract becomes $1,100 inc. GST. If your business is registered for GST you can generally claim that back, but always check whether the number in front of you is inclusive or exclusive before you compare quotes, because a 10% difference can flip which cleaner looks cheapest.

Q: What's the difference between commercial and domestic cleaning rates?

A: Commercial cleaning rates are structured around scope, frequency and square metres, often as an ongoing contract, whereas domestic cleaning is usually a flat rate per visit or per hour for a house. Commercial work also carries stricter insurance, award-rate and sometimes compliance requirements (medical, food, childcare), which lifts the price. If you're actually after a home clean, the numbers are different — see our house cleaning cost guide for domestic rates.

Q: How often should an office be professionally cleaned?

A: Most offices are cleaned two to three times a week, with daily service for high-traffic sites and weekly for small or low-use spaces. Bathrooms and kitchens are the deciding factor — the more people using them, the more often they need attention. A day porter can bridge the gap on busy sites by keeping amenities presentable during business hours. Match frequency to real foot traffic rather than a default schedule, because over-cleaning a quiet office is one of the easiest ways to overpay.

Q: Are cleaning consumables included in the price?

A: Sometimes — it varies by contract, so always ask. Consumables (toilet paper, hand towel, soap, bin liners) are included in some commercial cleaning agreements and billed separately in others, typically adding $50–$200 a month depending on foot traffic. Periodical deep-clean tasks like carpet steam-cleaning and hard-floor stripping are also often extra rather than part of the recurring fee. Get the quote itemised into the recurring clean, periodicals and consumables so nothing surprises you on the first invoice.

Final tips before you sign

Get commercial cleaning cost right by controlling three things: nail your scope of work, convert every quote to the same per-square-metre or per-month basis, and check the cleaner is properly insured before you look at price. Do that and you'll rarely overpay.

Don't default to daily cleaning if a few visits a week will do, always confirm whether GST and consumables are included, and price big periodical tasks — carpets, glass, pressure-washing — separately so they don't hide inside a vague monthly figure.

Want cleaners to quote your actual site instead of a generic rate? Send your commercial cleaning details in 30 seconds and get quotes matched to your real space — results are an indication only, and the cleaner confirms the final price after assessing the site.

Run a cleaning business yourself? Add a free quote calculator to your website with Leadkit and capture leads automatically — embed it in 60 seconds, no credit card needed.