commercial
High level and rope access cleaning
High level cleaning costs £400 to £1,200 a day including access equipment, with rope access teams at £600 to £1,400 a day. The cleaning itself is ordinary; almost all of the price is how somebody gets to it safely, and that is why this is quoted as a day rate rather than by area.
What this covers
What it costs. High level cleaning costs £400 to £1,200 a day including access equipment. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Atrium and stairwell glazing reached from a platform
- Ceiling voids, ductwork exteriors and pipe runs in warehouses
- Light fittings, signage and high-level steelwork
- Rope access where a platform cannot reach
- Method statement and risk assessment for each job
What is involved
Reach decides the method and the method decides the cost. A tower is cheapest and tops out at low level. A mobile platform covers most warehouse and atrium work and needs a floor that will take it, a route in, and an operator holding the right card. Rope access is what is left when a platform cannot get there, and it needs a two-person team because nobody works on rope alone.
The paperwork is not administrative overhead here. Working at height is governed by its own regulations, a site will ask for a method statement and a risk assessment before anybody unloads, and the operator cards, IPAF for platforms and PASMA for towers, are checked at the gate. A contractor who cannot produce them on the day loses the day.
What is being cleaned is often dust rather than dirt, and in a warehouse that dust is the point. Accumulation on steelwork, sprinkler heads and light fittings is a fire loading and an insurance question, which is why this work tends to be bought on a schedule rather than when somebody notices it looks grey.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask what access method they are quoting and what it depends on. A price assuming a platform is not a price if the floor or the route will not take one.
Ask for the method statement and the risk assessment before the day. Every site of any size will ask you for them anyway.
Ask whether the access equipment hire is inside the figure. It is the largest single line and the commonest thing to find sitting outside a quote.
Common questions
Why is it quoted by the day?
Because the access equipment is hired by the day and moving it is most of the work. Once a platform is on site and positioned, the cleaning is quick, so the units that matter are days and positions rather than square metres.
Does the building have to close?
The area underneath does. Platforms and rope work need an exclusion zone below, which is why so much of this happens at weekends or overnight in occupied buildings.