How much does commercial cleaning cost in Melbourne?
Office cleaning is the anchor of the Melbourne commercial cleaning market: most quotes start with the hourly rate - $35-$70 in Melbourne - or a per-clean rate of $2.10-$4.20 per square metre, then settle into a monthly contract price once frequency and scope are agreed.
In Melbourne, a deep pool of contractors across office towers and strata stock keeps Melbourne competitive, with laneway access and building-manager inductions the usual frictions. A small office cleaned two or three times a week runs $260-$600 a month, while a medium office on a daily schedule lands between $850 and $2,600.
One-off work - end-of-lease cleans at $6.20-$10/m², strip and seal at $8.30-$15/m², carpet steam cleaning at $3.10-$6.20/m² - is priced by area, and specialised medical or clinical cleaning carries a premium hourly rate of $45-$85.
Detailed Commercial Pricing - Melbourne 2026
| Service | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office cleaning (contract) | $35per hour | $50 | $70 |
| Regular contract rate | $2.10per m² per clean | $3.10 | $4.20 |
| Small office <100m², 2-3x/wk | $260per month | $420 | $600 |
| Medium office 100-500m², daily | $850per month | $1,700 | $2,600 |
| End-of-lease / deep clean | $6.20per m² | $9.40 | $10 |
| Strip & seal vinyl | $8.30per m² | $10 | $15 |
| Commercial carpet steam clean | $3.10per m² | $4.70 | $6.20 |
| Medical / specialised clean | $45per hour | $60 | $85 |
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Get Melbourne quotes →Prices include GST. Melbourne metro, July 2026.
Worked pricing scenarios - Melbourne
Three illustrative examples built from the Melbourne bands in the table above - the arithmetic is shown so you can rebuild it for your own site. Access, height and after-hours factors position a job within its band; they are not separate line items here.
- 120m² office, three evening visits a week. 3 visits x 1.5 hours at the typical contract rate of $50/hr = $225 a week, or about $970 a month - which is why it reconciles inside the small-office contract band of $260-$600 rather than being quoted hourly forever. After-hours access positions it toward the top of that band, not outside it.
- 400m² end-of-lease clean with carpets. 400m² at the typical deep-clean rate of $9.40/m² = $3,760, plus 180m² of carpet steam cleaning at $4.70/m² = $846 - about $4,606 all-in for a documented make-good standard.
- Medical suite, two 2-hour cleans a week. 4 hours a week at the specialised rate of $60/hr comes to roughly $1,040 a month with infection-control documentation included - the premium over the standard office rate is the protocol, not the polish.
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Get Melbourne quotes →Prices include GST. Melbourne metro, July 2026.
Commercial Cleaning Costs by Sector in Melbourne
Scope and standard vary sharply by sector, and the rate follows. In Melbourne, a deep pool of contractors across office towers and strata stock keeps Melbourne competitive, with laneway access and building-manager inductions the usual frictions.
- Offices and professional suites - the benchmark market: $35-$70/hr or $2.10-$4.20/m² per clean, with waste, consumables and periodic details layered onto the base contract.
- Medical, dental and allied health - infection-control cleaning to documented protocols, colour-coded equipment and clinical waste handling at $45-$85/hr.
- Gyms, venues and hospitality - high-traffic amenities and overnight windows; pricing tracks the office hourly band with loadings for late finishes.
- Retail and showrooms - short daily cleans before trade, often quoted as a flat per-visit rate derived from the hourly band.
- Industrial and warehouse - amenities blocks and office pods within larger sites; access inductions add time before the first clean starts.
What Melbourne Commercial Cleaning Jobs Actually Cost
The table above is Melbourne’s version of the national bands - about 4% above the national baseline - but in cleaning the multiplier matters less than the access story: a deep pool of contractors across office towers and strata stock keeps Melbourne competitive, with laneway access and building-manager inductions the usual frictions.
Read the bands as a compliance spectrum: the low end is daytime, easy-access space on a measured scope; the high end is after-hours, high-compliance cleaning with award loadings priced in. A quote under the low band has usually left out consumables, insurances or the loadings themselves.
What Affects Commercial Cleaning Costs in Melbourne
In Melbourne, the depth of the contractor market keeps baseline pricing competitive, but strata approvals, laneway access and older building fabric decide where in the band a job lands. Six things move a commercial cleaning quote more than anything else in Melbourne:
- Frequency - daily service lowers the per-visit price but raises the monthly total; the $260-$600/month small-office band assumes 2-3 visits a week.
- After-hours and weekend windows - cleaning outside business hours attracts penalty loadings under the Cleaning Services Award, and most tenanted offices require it.
- Fit-out density - workstations, meeting rooms and kitchens clean slower than open floor; density is why two same-size offices quote differently.
- Consumables and waste - paper, liners and sanitary services are either itemised or loaded into the contract rate; check which before comparing quotes.
- Compliance tier - police-checked staff, site inductions and documented infection control (medical sites) all add cost per hour.
- Contract term - 12-month agreements price below month-to-month; exit clauses are the trade-off.
How to Control Commercial Cleaning Costs in Melbourne
In Melbourne, lock in owners-corporation approvals and access arrangements before tendering - approval lag, not labour, is the usual cost creep on strata and older-stock buildings. To keep a commercial cleaning contract honest:
- Tender on a measured scope - square metres, fixture counts and frequency - not a walkthrough guess.
- Split project work (end-of-lease at $6.20-$10/m², strip and seal at $8.30-$15/m²) from the recurring contract so each is comparable.
- Ask how award penalty rates are handled for after-hours cleans - a quote that ignores them is underpriced and won't survive.
- Review scope quarterly; offices routinely pay for frequencies they no longer need.
What a compliant commercial cleaning quote includes
Use this as the tender filter: a quote missing two or more of these is not cheaper - it is incomplete. Ask for the missing items in writing and watch the price converge with the compliant quotes. One basis note before comparing: commercial quotes are typically presented ex-GST while the bands on this page include GST - normalise the basis first or every comparison that follows is off by ten percent.
- A measured scope: floor areas, fixture counts and frequency per zone - not a walkthrough guess
- How consumables, liners and sanitary services are treated (itemised or loaded)
- How Cleaning Services Award penalty loadings apply to after-hours and weekend cleans
- Periodic work (windows, high dusting, hard floors) listed with its own cadence
- Insurance certificates, police checks and induction compliance attached
- Contract term, exit clause and the rate-change trigger if frequency changes
There is no statutory cleaning-frequency regime - cadence is contractual. The practical rule: review scope quarterly against actual use, and re-tender or re-scope annually; offices routinely keep paying for frequencies the floor no longer needs.