How Much Does Commercial Cleaning Cost?

 

Most businesses hire commercial cleaning services to clean their offices and other places of business. What services do they provide? How much does commercial cleaning cost?

 What Services Do Commercial Cleaners Provide? 

1. Industrial Commercial Cleaners
2. Cleaning Health and Medical Facilities
3. Commercial Cleaning Quality Control
4. How Much Does Commercial Cleaning Cost?

What services do commercial cleaners provide?

Depending on the service you choose, a commercial cleaner might provide basic services. Some of these services can include:

• Vacuuming: they will vacuum floors, curtains, upholstery and other surfaces as needed
• Cleaning, dusting and polishing furniture as required
• Floor mopping
• Rubbish removal, including bins, recyclables and other rubbish
• Cleaning and disinfecting bathrooms and laundry facilities
• Replacing toilet paper and towels in bathrooms
• When needed, a commercial cleaner will strip wax and re-wax floors

Commercial cleaners also work in factories. In addition to the jobs listed above, they will clean factory floors, machines and other work areas using an industrial vacuum cleaner. They will thoroughly dust the factory, including exposed pipes and other fixtures. They will also clean dust, oil and other debris from equipment. In some cases, commercial cleaners may employ people who know how to clean dirt, sludge and debris from machinery, boilers and tanks.

Not all commercial cleaners will work in offices and factories. Some commercial cleaners specialise in office maintenance. Others may specialise in factory cleaning and maintenance. Still others may specialise in cleaning restaurants, shops and other small businesses. Still another commercial cleaner might specialise in cleaning health facilities, schools and other public places. Larger commercial cleaners may have technicians who can work in any environment. These may include:

• Schools and universities
• Clubs
• Theatres
• Retirement villages
• Apartment complexes
• Gyms
• Hotels

You can find a commercial cleaner for every type of business or organisation.

Many commercial cleaners charge a set rate for normal services like vacuuming, dusting and polishing. They may also have specialised services they can provide at extra cost. Some of these services may include:

• Emergency cleaning
• Graffiti removal
• Green cleaning using non-toxic cleaners
• Pressure cleaning of exteriors
• Steam cleaning
• Tile and grout cleaning
• Window cleaning (internal and external)

Needless to say, a retail outlet or restaurant doesn't want cleaners working when shoppers or diners are on the premises. Commercial cleaners know this and have staff who will work after hours to clean the premises. This may come at a higher rate because of regulations regarding pay rates outside of normal working hours.

Industrial commercial cleaners

Industrial cleaners arguably have more work to do than office or retail cleaners. Factories can become dusty and dirty quickly. This can include walls, garages, exposed pipes and other surfaces. In addition to dust, oil, sludge and other greasy substances can get on work surfaces or floors. Aside from standard cleaning services such as vacuuming and dusting, an industrial area may need more heavy duty cleaning. An industrial cleaning service will also:

• Sweep and scrub surfaces when required
• Do interior and exterior pressure cleaning
• Do groundskeeping to maintain a neat external appearance
• Clean carparks
• Clean roofs
• Clean all windows, both internal and external

    They may do routine jobs as arranged with the client, but are on hand to do other jobs as required. Some of the jobs may be at an added cost. For example, pressure cleaning may be needed only occasionally and may cost extra.

Cleaning health and medical facilities

Health and medical facilities require a clean and hygienic environment. Commercial cleaners who service health and medical facilities use a variety of techniques to ensure these facilities are spotless and germ-free. In most cases, they train their employees to clean hospitals, clinics, aged care facilities and other health and medical facilities. The employees are specialists in the field and can be relied upon to give extra attention to the facilities.

Commercial Cleaning Quality Control

Every commercial cleaner employs people to do the work for them. Quality control is an important administrative task. The cleaning company wants repeat business and they know their cleaners must work hard and leave premises spotless. Smaller companies may be self-run, but larger commercial cleaners must constantly monitor their employee performance.

They do this by hiring people who have worked in the field before, but it doesn't stop there. A good commercial cleaner will often send an inspector to the work site to check the quality of the work. They will regularly give ongoing training to their employees and will contact their clients to find out if they are satisfied with the work. If a client isn't satisfied, they will rectify any oversights. In many cases, they will even offer worker incentives to ensure their staff are doing the best possible job.

How Much Does Commercial Cleaning Cost?

The cost of commercial cleaning is determined by the size of the job; the number or workers needed; and the services required. Costs differ in different states depending on the pay rate:

• Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria have the lowest hourly rates at $30 per hour
• In New South Wales, the rate is $35 per hour
• The ACT has one of the highest rates at $37.50 per hour

These rates are higher than commercial cleaners actually make. According to the Australian government Fair Work Ombudsman, the actual rate cleaners get is:

• Level 1: $24.41
• Level 2: $25.26
• Level 3: $26.61

They receive more when they work on public holidays, for overtime work or on Sundays. The difference between what a service charges and actual pay rates covers administrative duties and other overheads.

The pay rates don't reflect the cost of a commercial cleaning service. In many cases, they will charge less for repeat business. If you schedule a cleaning service to come in weekly, fortnightly or monthly, the rate can be lower.

Window cleaning generally costs about the same as commercial cleaning, but for harder to reach windows, it costs up to $45 per hour. For higher windows when a lift may be required or workers have to abseil from ropes, the rate may be higher. Window washers will also charge more for dirty windows that require extra work.

 

In most cases, commercial cleaners will inspect the premises before offering a quote. If you want to compare quotes, be as detailed as possible when you use our Get Quotes service. State the:

Be as specific as you can and cleaning services can give you more accurate initial quotes. They will still want to inspect the premises, but if you have provided them with enough details, they won't give a final quote too much higher than their initial quote.

Keep in mind that you will save money if you find a service you like and schedule their service. The best way to find a good service is to ask them if they:

Also remember that all commercial cleaners do not provide all the services you need. Look for a service that can provide you with all the services you require. They may cost less than if you have to arrange for one service to clean your office and another service to clean the windows or provide other services.

In some cases, a commercial cleaning service will want you to sign a contract for a stated period of time. This can be negotiable. You don't want to be locked into a long contract with a service that does not provide you with the level of service you require. It may be best to try them for a month or two before signing a longer contract.