How to compare commercial cleaning quotes in Adelaide (what the price does and does not tell you)
Three cleaning quotes, three different prices. How to put Adelaide commercial cleaning quotes on the same footing: hours, scope, consumables, response terms and what a low number is hiding.
Two commercial cleaning quotes for the same Adelaide office can be $200 a week apart and both be honest. The gap is almost never the hourly rate. It is the hours each contractor has allowed, what they have left out of the scope, whether consumables and periodical work are in or out, and what happens when something is missed. Put every quote on the same footing before you look at the total: hours per visit, visits per week, tasks per area, and the terms behind the price. A quote that cannot show its hours is a guess, and a quote under about $40 a cleaner hour cannot be paying the award.
Updated 2 November 2026. Written by Jordan Sinclair, JC Commercial, Adelaide. Figures are Adelaide market ranges, not JC Commercial’s rates.
Start with the hours, not the price
Every cleaning price is hours multiplied by a rate, plus a margin for chemicals, equipment, insurance, supervision and travel. Across Adelaide in 2026 the loaded rate sits between $45 and $75 per cleaner hour for routine work, and higher for medical rooms, pubs and early-morning windows. The rate moves a little between contractors. The hours move a lot.
So the first question for any quote is simple: how many cleaner hours per visit, and how many visits a week? If a 600 m² office gets two quotes, one at $310 a week and one at $420, and the first allows 1.5 hours a visit while the second allows 2.5, the first contractor is not cheaper. They are planning to do less, or they have not costed the job properly and will cut corners once the invoices start.
A contractor who will not tell you the hours is asking you to trust a number they have not shown their working for. Ask anyway. The ones who have costed the site from the floor plan will tell you without hesitation, because the hours are the quote.
Put the scopes side by side
The second gap is scope. Two quotes that both say "clean the office" can differ by a third in work. The things most often missing from the cheaper one:
- Kitchens: inside the microwave, the fridge front, the dishwasher run and empty, the splashback. Or just "wipe benches".
- Washrooms: descaling, the tops of partitions, the floor behind the pedestal, the sanitary bin service. Or just "clean toilets".
- Floors: vacuum every visit, or only the traffic lanes with a full vacuum weekly. Hard floors mopped every visit or twice a week.
- Desks and touch points: a wipe of every desk, or only the cleared ones. Door handles, light switches and lift buttons listed, or assumed.
- Bins: every bin every visit with a liner change, or emptied into one bag and the liner left in.
- Glass: internal partition glass and the entry doors in the routine, or quoted as an extra.
Ask for the scope as a list of areas, with the tasks and the frequency against each one. A written, clause-numbered scope is the only thing that lets you compare quotes line by line, and it is also the only thing that lets you hold the contractor to the work once they start. The office cleaning checklist is a good starting list to check a scope against.
What is in, what is out
The third gap is what sits outside the weekly figure. These items change the real cost by $100 to $400 a month on a mid-sized office and are routinely left out of the headline number:
| Item | Ask | Typical Adelaide cost if billed separately |
|---|---|---|
| Consumables (toilet paper, hand towel, soap, liners) | Included, at cost, or at cost plus a margin? | $150 to $300 a month for a 50-person office |
| Sanitary and nappy bins | In the price or a third-party contract? | $7 to $12 per bin per service |
| Periodical work (carpet extraction, floor strip and seal, high dusting, window glass) | Listed with a frequency and a price, or "on request"? | Carpets $3 to $6 per m²; strip and seal $4 to $8 per m² |
| Public holidays | Visit skipped, moved, or charged at penalty rates? | Up to 2.5 times the normal visit |
| Extra visits and call-outs | Hourly rate and minimum charge? | $60 to $100 an hour, 2-hour minimum |
| Equipment and chemicals | Contractor supplied, or do you provide? | Usually built in; check |
Once these are added back, the quote that looked $40 a week cheaper is often the dearer one over a year. The 2026 cost guide gives the per-visit and per-square-metre ranges to sanity-check the totals against.
The terms matter as much as the price
Price tells you what you will pay. Terms tell you what you will get when it goes wrong, and on a cleaning contract something always goes wrong eventually: a missed night, a toilet left, a bin not emptied before a client meeting. Compare the quotes on four terms.
Response. What happens when you report a problem? Look for a time to acknowledge and a time to fix, written into the agreement. A 2-hour acknowledgement and a 24-hour fix is a reasonable commercial standard. "We will attend to it promptly" is not a term.
Proof. How do you know the clean happened? Some contractors sign in and out, tick off each area against the scope and photograph the areas that matter, and send that record after every visit. Others leave a paper sheet in the cupboard. Without a record, every dispute is your word against theirs.
Notice. A fixed 12-month term with an automatic rollover is common in Adelaide and is the clause most clients regret. A no lock-in arrangement with a written notice period that applies both ways means the contractor expects to keep the work on merit. Read the rollover clause before you sign anything.
Insurance and people. Public liability of at least $10 million, workers compensation, and police checks for everyone on site. Ask for the certificate of currency, not a line in the quote saying they are insured.
What a low price is usually hiding
The award for a casual cleaner working evenings is above $40 an hour once superannuation and workers compensation are added, before a cent for chemicals, equipment, insurance, travel or supervision. A quote that works out under $40 a cleaner hour is doing one of four things: under-allowing the hours and planning to rush, paying people below the award, running the job through a subcontractor who is doing one of the first two, or pricing low to win the work and lifting the price after the first review. None of those end well for the client. The cheapest quote on the table is worth asking harder questions of, not fewer.
A simple comparison sheet
Put the quotes in a table with these rows and the differences show themselves: visits per week; cleaner hours per visit; hourly rate implied (weekly price divided by weekly hours); areas and tasks listed; items billed separately; response term; visit record; notice period and rollover; insurance shown. Then look at the weekly price. If the dearest quote has the most hours, the fullest scope and the only written response term, it is probably the one that will still be doing the work properly in a year.
If you want the hours for your own site before you talk to anyone, the commercial cleaning page lets you set a floor area and visit count and see a typical hours range. A 15-minute walk-through turns that into a written scope with the price.
FAQs
How many quotes should I get for commercial cleaning?
Three is enough. More than that and the comparison takes longer than the saving is worth. Make sure all three walk the site; a quote done from a floor plan alone will miss the fixtures that set the hours.
Should I give each contractor the same scope to quote on?
Yes, if you can. Write down the areas, tasks and frequencies you want and send the same list to each. The quotes then differ only on hours, rate and terms, which is exactly what you want to compare.
Is the cheapest commercial cleaning quote ever the right one?
Sometimes, when it also has the most hours and the fullest scope. It is the combination that matters. Cheapest with the fewest hours is a warning sign.
What is a fair hourly rate for commercial cleaning in Adelaide?
Routine work runs $45 to $75 per cleaner hour in 2026, with medical, hospitality and early-morning work above that. Under $40 cannot cover the award and on-costs.
Do I have to sign a 12-month contract?
No. Plenty of Adelaide contractors work on a written notice period with no fixed term. If a contractor insists on a fixed term with automatic rollover, ask why.