What a nightly pub clean should include, in order, and how long it takes
What should a nightly pub clean include and how long does it take? Task order, minutes per 100 m², the 6 to 10 am window and the food-safety touchpoints.
A nightly pub clean, done in the 6 to 10 am window after close, should run in this order: set-up and hazard check, bar and back bar, dining and lounge, gaming room surrounds (machines never touched), toilets, entries and beer garden, then all floors last, finishing with bins and a photographed close-out. For a typical Adelaide pub with 400 to 600 m² of public area, that is 6 to 8 cleaner hours, usually two people for 3 to 4 hours. The rule of thumb is 30 to 45 minutes per 100 m² of public floor, with toilets and the bar taking far more than their share.
Updated 21 October 2026. Written by Jordan Sinclair, JC Commercial, Adelaide. Figures are market ranges checked against the sources linked in the text.
Nightly pub clean: tasks, order and minutes per 100 m²
The order is not cosmetic. Bar and back bar come first because they are the greasiest and the dirty water from them must not cross a floor you have already mopped. Toilets come before entries because the entry is the last thing the first customer sees and the first thing the delivery driver walks across. Floors are last everywhere because every other task drops something on them.
| Order | Area | Tasks each visit | Typical minutes per 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Set-up and walk-through | Lights on, hazards noted (broken glass, spills, vomit), bins and consumables collected, photos of anything found | 5 minutes flat |
| 2 | Bar and back bar | Bar mats lifted and washed, counters and ice wells wiped, taps, spouts and drip trays cleaned, glass racks and under-bar shelves wiped, fridge fronts and handles, sink and drainer, floor behind bar degreased and mopped | 35 to 45 |
| 3 | Dining and lounge | Tables and chairs wiped including legs and rails, booths, high-touch points (menu stands, condiment caddies removed and wiped, door plates), ledges and skirting weekly, cobwebs fortnightly | 20 to 30 |
| 4 | Gaming room surrounds | Tables, stools, bins, service counter, floors; the machines and their screens are excluded from scope and never touched | 15 to 25 |
| 5 | Toilets | Pans, urinals, seats, cisterns, basins, taps, mirrors, partitions, dispensers refilled, bins emptied and relined, floor scrubbed and drains checked, deodorise | 20 to 30 minutes per block |
| 6 | Entries, foyer and beer garden | Glass doors both sides to ladder height, door furniture, ash receptacles emptied, outdoor furniture wiped, sweep or blow, cigarette butts collected | 15 to 25 |
| 7 | All floors, last | Sweep or vacuum, then mop; degreaser in bar and service zones, neutral detergent elsewhere; carpet vacuumed and spot-treated | 10 to 15 |
| 8 | Bins and close-out | Waste consolidated to the bin store, recycling separated, spill kit checked, time-stamped photos of each area, alarm set | 10 minutes flat |
Add the per-100-m² figures for your own areas and you have an honest hours estimate. A 500 m² pub with two toilet blocks, a 60 m² bar and a beer garden usually lands at 6 to 7 hours. If a quote says 3 hours for that site, the scope has been thinned or the hour is not an hour.
Why the 6 to 10 am window
Most Adelaide pubs close between midnight and 3 am, and the kitchen team closes down their own area under the food safety program before they leave. Cleaning from 6 am means the venue has been empty long enough for floors to be clear of staff, the beer garden has had its last cigarette, and the clean finishes before the 10 or 11 am open with time to spare for deliveries. Cleaning at 3 am instead costs more: under the Cleaning Services Award 2020, early morning and night shifts carry a 15% loading and a permanent night shift 30%, and Sunday work is paid at double time. A 6 am Monday to Saturday start keeps the loadings to a minimum while still finishing before open.
The trade-off is Sunday. A venue that trades Saturday night needs a Sunday morning clean, and that visit costs more per hour than the other six. Price it that way in the scope rather than averaging it into a flat rate you later resent.
What is in a nightly clean and what is not
The nightly clean covers the public and service areas listed above. It does not cover the commercial kitchen, which is the kitchen team's responsibility each shift under the venue's food safety program, nor the periodical kitchen deep clean, canopy and filter degrease, which is a scheduled job in its own right. See commercial kitchen cleaning for how that is scoped. It also does not include glass above safe ladder height, which is specialist work outside JC Commercial's scope. Periodical items that belong in the written scope at a set frequency include carpet extraction in the lounge (quarterly for most venues, see commercial carpet cleaning), hard-floor scrub and re-seal, high dusting of light fittings and air-conditioning vents, and a full degrease of the bar floor and drains.
Food-safety and liquor-licence touchpoints
A pub is a food business. Under the Food Standards Code, Standard 3.2.2, the premises, fixtures, fittings and equipment must be kept clean, with no build-up of food waste, dirt or grease (clause 19), and food-contact surfaces and utensils must be both clean and sanitised (clause 20). Food Standards Australia New Zealand defines cleaning as removing dirt, grease and food waste, and sanitising as destroying microorganisms, and states that an item must be cleaned before it can be sanitised. In South Australia those clauses are enforced under the Food Act 2001 by council environmental health officers, who inspect without notice.
For the nightly contractor that means three things. Bar surfaces, drip trays and ice wells are food-contact surfaces, so they are cleaned with detergent and then sanitised, not just wiped. The sanitiser is used at the labelled strength and contact time (for diluted bleach, 100 ppm chlorine in cold water, discarded after 24 hours). And the floors, drains and bin store are kept free of the grease and residue that clause 19 is written about, because that is what the inspector photographs.
The liquor licence adds a second layer. The General Code of Practice made under the Liquor Licensing Act 1997 puts the condition of the premises and the safety of patrons on the licensee. Wet floors, broken glass left overnight and blocked toilets are the incidents that end up in licensee complaints and public liability claims. A photographed close-out each morning is the licensee's evidence that the venue was handed over safe.
What a good pub cleaning scope looks like
- Every area and task in the table above, numbered by clause, with the frequency against each line.
- The visit window (for example 6 to 9:30 am, Monday to Sunday) and the hours per visit.
- Exclusions written plainly: kitchen interior, gaming machines, glass above ladder height.
- Periodical work with dates: carpet extraction, floor scrub and seal, high dusting.
- Who supplies consumables and chemicals, and where the safety data sheets are kept.
- The response term for missed work: acknowledged within 2 hours, resolved within 24.
- Proof of visit: time-stamped start and finish, tasks ticked, photographs of each area.
- The notice period, applying both ways, with no lock-in.
JC Commercial scopes pubs and hotels and restaurants and cafes across Adelaide this way, after a 15-minute walk-through, with the scope issued in writing before the first visit. The company was founded in Adelaide in 2023, is certified to ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001, and holds a 4.9 rating from 59 Google reviews.
FAQs
How long does a nightly pub clean take?
For 400 to 600 m² of public area with two toilet blocks and a bar, 6 to 8 cleaner hours, usually two people for 3 to 4 hours. Work it out at 30 to 45 minutes per 100 m² of floor, plus 20 to 30 minutes per toilet block and 35 to 45 minutes per 100 m² of bar.
What order should a pub be cleaned in?
Set-up and hazard check, bar and back bar, dining and lounge, gaming room surrounds, toilets, entries and beer garden, then every floor last, then bins and a photographed close-out. Greasy and dirty areas first, floors last, so nothing is walked back over.
Does the nightly clean include the kitchen?
No. The kitchen is closed down by the kitchen team each shift under the food safety program. The periodical kitchen deep clean, including the canopy and filters, is a separate scheduled job.
Should the cleaner touch the gaming machines?
No. Machines and their screens are excluded from the cleaning scope. The cleaner does the tables, stools, bins, counter and floor around them.
What does Standard 3.2.2 require of a pub's cleaning?
Clause 19 requires the premises, fixtures, fittings and equipment to be kept clean with no build-up of food waste, dirt or grease. Clause 20 requires food-contact surfaces, including bar tops and drip trays, to be cleaned and then sanitised. Councils enforce both under the SA Food Act 2001.
Why does a 6 am clean cost more than a 7 pm office clean?
Early morning hours carry a shift loading under the Cleaning Services Award, Sunday work is paid at double time, and pubs have far more toilets, grease and glass per square metre than an office. Across Adelaide, pub cleaning typically runs $50 to $90 per cleaner hour.