Cost guide
How much does commercial cleaning cost?
Commercial cleaning is quoted per visit from the floor area, and the rate moves with the premises rather than the hours: roughly £0.02 to £0.05 a square foot a visit for an office, more for a surgery or a food business and less for a warehouse. A small shop runs £60 to £150 a week and an industrial unit £150 to £400.
Typical prices
Ranges, not quotes. A quote depends on the premises and how often they are cleaned.
| Work | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| Small shop or salon, per week | £60 to £150 |
| Dental or medical practice, per week | £120 to £300 |
| Gym or leisure unit, per week | £150 to £400 |
| Pub or restaurant, per week | £150 to £450 |
| Industrial unit or warehouse, per week | £150 to £400 |
| Office, per square foot per visit | £0.02 to £0.05 |
Ask whether TUPE applies before you go out to tender. Where an incumbent contractor's cleaners are assigned to your premises, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 normally move them to the new contractor on their existing terms, so their wages are already fixed. A tender run without telling bidders that is a tender that produces prices nobody can honour, and it is the commonest reason a new cleaning contract goes wrong in month two.
What moves the price
- The type of premises, which changes the rate before the size does. A dental surgery and a warehouse of the same area are not the same contract.
- Regulated requirements. Food premises, clinical settings and childcare carry method statements, colour-coded equipment and records that a general office does not.
- Contract length. Twelve months usually prices below a rolling monthly arrangement, and a three-year term below that again.
- Hours and access. Work outside opening hours is standard here; work at four in the morning, or on a site with a goods lift booking, is not.
- TUPE, where an existing contractor's staff transfer with the contract. It fixes the wage bill before anybody has quoted.
- Periodic work, which is quoted separately from the recurring specification and is where most contracts overspend.
Who quotes for it
34 of the 204 cleaning companies listed on this site take on commercial cleaning.
Spread across: Birmingham (7), Bristol (5), Leeds (4), Manchester (4), Glasgow (3).
Questions about commercial cleaning
Do we need to provide anything?
Usually storage, water and power, and sometimes consumables. It should be stated either way.
Can a domestic cleaner do our office?
For a small office of five or six people, often yes and often better. What they still need is public liability cover, and employer's liability if anybody is employed.