Commercial Cleaning Services in Perth

How Commercial Cleaning Is Priced in Perth

There are three pricing models in common use and they are not interchangeable, so the first thing to establish about any quote is which one you are holding.

• Per clean or per visit. A fixed price for a defined scope on a defined frequency. The clearest to compare, and the most common for offices and strata common areas.
• Hourly. A rate per cleaner hour. Flexible, but the buyer carries the risk, because two contractors quoting the same hourly rate can allocate very different hours to the same building.
• Per square metre. Used on larger floorplates. Useful for benchmarking, misleading on its own, because it says nothing about frequency or specification.

The single most common reason two cleaning quotes differ is not the rate. It is the frequency table behind it. One contractor has priced glass monthly and the other has priced it quarterly, and nothing on the front page tells you that. There is a fuller walkthrough in our guide on how to compare cleaning quotes properly.

The Specification Is the Contract

A cleaning contract without a written specification is an argument waiting to happen. The specification should set out every area, every task within that area, and the frequency of each task. Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual all need to appear. So do the periodic items that are easy to leave out and expensive to catch up on, such as carpet cleaning, hard floor treatment, high level dusting, internal and external glass, bin chutes and bin rooms, and car park sweeping.

Where a building has been serviced without a specification for years, the first thing we do is write one, because until it exists nobody can say whether the building is getting what it pays for.

Quality Auditing, Not Complaint Handling

Most cleaning contracts are managed by complaint, which means the only measure of quality is how annoyed somebody was last week. That is a poor measure, because the areas people complain about are not the areas that carry the risk. Washrooms, kitchens and bin rooms generate the real exposure and are rarely the subject of the complaint.

We audit against the specification on a cycle, record the result area by area, and report it. A score that moves is visible before it becomes a complaint, and a contractor who knows an audit is coming performs differently to one who does not.

The Cleaners Themselves

Cleaning is a labour business and the labour is where corners get cut. When comparing quotes, ask directly whether staff are employed or subcontracted, which award and classification applies, whether the rate accounts for the penalty rates attaching to the hours actually being worked, who covers leave and absence, what induction and training staff receive, and whether police clearances are held where the building requires them. A rate that cannot support lawful wages for the hours quoted is not a saving. It is a liability that eventually becomes yours.

Consumables and Waste

Consumables are a separate cost line and should be quoted separately. Hand towel, toilet paper, soap, sanitiser, bin liners and washroom hygiene products consume at rates driven by the building's population rather than its floor area, so a fixed allowance in a growing building will run short. We quote consumables at cost plus an agreed margin with usage reported, so the line stays visible rather than absorbed.

Different Buildings, Different Problems

• Offices. Presentation and touchpoints matter most, and the clean has to work around occupancy without disrupting it. See office cleaning.
• Strata common areas. Lobbies, lifts, corridors, bin rooms and car parks, with residents present at all hours and a committee watching. See strata common area cleaning.
• Industrial and warehouse. Safety driven, with plant, forklifts and traffic management shaping when and how the work can be done. See industrial cleaning.
• Healthcare. Infection control protocols, colour coded systems and documented procedures, not a general clean with more chemical. See healthcare facility cleaning.
• Remote camps. Room turnaround against a roster, which is a different discipline again. See mining camp cleaning.

Washroom Hygiene Is Its Own Service

Washrooms are where a building is judged and where the health risk sits, and they are usually the first thing to slip when a cleaning contract is under pressure. Sanitary disposal, air care, surface sanitising, consumable replenishment and periodic deep cleaning all run on their own cycles and are worth specifying separately from the general clean. See washroom hygiene services.

What to Ask Before You Sign

• Can I see the full specification with frequencies, not just the summary?
• How many cleaner hours are allocated to this building each week?
• Are your staff employed or subcontracted, and under which award?
• Who covers leave and absence, and at whose cost?
• How do you audit quality, how often, and will I see the results?
• Are consumables inside the price or charged separately, and how is usage reported?
• What periodic work is included, and what is quoted separately when it falls due?
• What notice period applies to each of us?