Search for office cleaning on the Gold Coast and you will see hourly rates from around $35 to $60. It is tempting to line those numbers up and pick the smallest one.
The problem is that an hourly rate tells you the price of an hour. It does not tell you how many hours you will pay for, what gets done in them, or what turns up on the invoice as an extra. This guide explains what the rate leaves out, and the questions that turn it into a number you can actually compare.
An hourly rate is only half the sum
Your cleaning bill is the rate multiplied by the hours. Most quotes make the rate easy to see and the hours easy to miss.
Take two providers quoting for the same office. One charges $40 an hour and estimates four hours a visit. The other charges $60 an hour and estimates two and a half hours. The first visit costs $160. The second costs $150. The lower rate produced the higher bill. These figures are examples only, but the pattern is common.
The hours change from team to team because of training, equipment and how the work is organised. A team that knows the site and works to a set sequence finishes the same scope in less time than a team working it out as they go.
Who decides how long the clean takes?
On an hourly arrangement, the people doing the work also control the hours. Unless someone from your business is on site after hours, it is hard to check how long the team actually stayed.
If a visit runs over, you pay for it. If the team rushes, you may pay the same amount for less work. Neither outcome is visible on an invoice that only shows hours.
Before you accept an hourly quote, ask:
- How many hours per visit is the quote based on?
- How many people will be on site?
- What happens if the work takes longer than estimated?
- How are hours recorded, and can I see that record?
What the rate may not include
A low headline rate can grow once the extras are added. Ask each provider to confirm in writing whether the rate includes:
- Cleaning products and equipment
- Consumables such as paper towels, toilet paper, hand soap and bin liners
- Periodic tasks such as carpet cleaning, internal glass and high dusting
- Minimum charges per visit or call-out fees
- Travel time between sites
- Supervision and quality checks
- Weekend or public holiday rates
None of these is unusual to charge for. The point is to know before you sign, so you compare the full cost rather than the first number on the page.
A rate that looks too low deserves a second question
Commercial cleaning is mostly labour. Wages under the Cleaning Services Award, superannuation, workers’ compensation, public liability insurance, products and supervision all have to come out of that hourly figure.
When a rate sits well below the rest of the market, it is fair to ask how the provider covers those costs. Ask whether the cleaners are employees or contractors, who holds the insurance, and whether the team is police-checked. You want those answers before someone has keys to your building.
Turn the rate into a fixed figure
The simplest way to compare providers is to ask each one for the same set of answers:
- A written scope listing the areas and tasks to be cleaned
- How often each task is done
- The estimated hours and the number of people on site
- The total price per visit or per week, including GST
- Anything that would be charged as an extra
Once you have those, compare the totals, not the rates. Many providers will quote a fixed price per service once they have seen your site. That moves the risk of a slow clean onto the cleaner rather than onto you. Our guide to comparing commercial cleaning quotes has a full checklist you can use with each quote.
How Gold Keys quotes
We quote a fixed price per service, in writing, after a free site visit. The scope, the frequency and the price are agreed before we start, so the cost is the same every visit and the job is measured by what gets done, not by the clock.
Every clean is logged through Connecteam with a checklist, a timestamp and photos, so you can see the full scope was completed without counting hours. If you want to see what moves the price for your type of space, read our office cleaning cost guide.
Book a free site visit or contact Gold Keys to get a fixed price for your premises.
