Starting prices and what moves them
Commercial Cleaning Prices in Melbourne
Commercial cleaning cost in Melbourne depends on the size of the premises, how often it is cleaned, what kind of business it is and when the work happens. Golden Star's starting prices are $120 a visit for small offices, $220 a visit for medium offices and medical premises, and $95 a session for retail stores, with every price confirmed in writing after a free site assessment. This page is for business owners, office managers and property managers who want to budget before calling anyone, compare quotes on equal terms and understand why two cleaners can quote very different amounts for what looks like the same job. It covers our starting prices, the costs that sit underneath any honest quote, per-visit and hourly pricing, and where to find prices for end-of-lease and pressure washing work. For how the service itself works, start with our overview of commercial cleaning in Melbourne.
Starting prices
What does commercial cleaning cost with Golden Star?
Our commercial cleaning cost starts at $95 a session for retail stores, $120 a visit for offices under 100 square metres, and $220 a visit for offices of 100 to 300 square metres and for medical premises. Larger sites, warehouses and multi-site programs are priced after a site visit.
- RetailShops and showroomsfrom $95per sessionFloors, counters, glass doors, fitting rooms and staff areas before or after trade.
- Small officeUnder 100 m²from $120per visitWorkstations, kitchen, bathrooms, bins and floors, after hours.
- Medium office100 to 300 m²from $220per visitThe same scope across more floor, meeting rooms and shared amenities.
- MedicalClinics and practicesfrom $220per visitClinical-room method, zoned equipment and cleaning records.
"From" means what it says: these are the lowest prices for a straightforward site of that type, not an average. A small office with a light scope, easy access and a regular after-hours visit is likely to sit close to the starting figure. An office with three kitchens, glass meeting rooms and carpet that needs spot treatment every visit will sit higher. After the walk-through you get one agreed figure in writing, and it stays put unless you ask for more or less work.
Warehouses, factories, large retail centres and buildings with many tenants are not listed with a starting price because the range is too wide to be useful. A 2,000 square metre distribution centre cleaned weekly and a 500 square metre showroom cleaned daily have almost nothing in common. Those sites get a quote after a walk-through, usually within 24 hours of the visit.
Starting prices exclude GST. Quotes set out the ex-GST figure, the tax and the invoice total on separate lines.
Offices
What should an office budget for cleaning in Melbourne?
Office cleaning in Melbourne starts at $120 per visit when the floor is under 100 square metres, and at $220 per visit between 100 and 300 square metres. The weekly bill depends mostly on how many visits you need, which for most offices is somewhere between two and five a week.
Frequency is the biggest lever. A small professional office with a handful of staff may be well served by two or three visits a week, with bins and kitchen done each time and a full vacuum twice. A busy open-plan office with fifty people, a shared kitchen and constant visitors usually needs a nightly clean. The per-visit price can also come down slightly as visits increase, because each clean has less build-up to deal with.
Layout matters nearly as much as size. Floor area sets the vacuuming time, but kitchens, bathrooms and meeting rooms are where most of the minutes go. Two offices of the same size can take very different times if one has a single kitchenette and the other has a staff kitchen, a boardroom, a breakout area and four bathrooms.
Offices in the CBD and inner city bring their own cost factors: building access procedures, loading dock bookings for equipment, security sign-in and sometimes parking. Suburban offices with their own entry and car park are simpler to service. We price those differences openly rather than hiding them in a single rate.
Shared tenancies are worth a mention. If your office shares a floor with other businesses, the landlord's cleaner may already look after the lift lobby, corridors and bathrooms. In that case the price only needs to cover the space inside your lease, and we check the lease and the building's cleaning schedule before quoting so you are not paying twice for the same areas.
Periodic work, such as carpet extraction, window cleaning or a deep clean of the kitchen, is priced separately and scheduled into the year. That keeps the regular visit price stable and lets you choose when to spend on bigger jobs. For more on what an office scope includes, see our page on office cleaning in Melbourne.
Retail and hospitality
What do retail and hospitality cleaning cost?
Retail cleaning starts from $95 a session for a standard shop, rising with floor size, fitting rooms, glass and the hours available before or after trade. Hospitality cleaning is quoted per site, because kitchen size, cooking style and the number of services each day change the work far more than floor area does.
Retail
Priced per sessionA session covers the floor, counters, glass doors and display areas, fitting rooms, bathrooms and staff room, done before opening or after close.
- Pale hard floors and glass fronts take the most time
- Early-morning windows before trade can add cost
- Stores in centres follow centre access rules
Hospitality
Quoted per siteKitchen, dining room, bar and bathrooms each get their own list, worked through once the final sitting has gone home.
- Fryers, grills and woks mean more degreasing
- Late closing times push work into penalty hours
- Exhaust canopies are a separate periodic job
Retail stores are judged in the first few seconds, so the entry, glass and floor get most of the time. A small boutique with carpet might be done quickly; a supermarket-style store with a long run of vinyl, freezer cases and a stockroom takes much longer. Trading hours set the cleaning window. If the only time available is between 6 and 8 in the morning, the crew size goes up so the job finishes on time.
Shopping centre tenancies bring their own rules. Centres set the hours contractors may work, where equipment can be stored and how rubbish must be handled, and some require a centre induction before the first shift. Those rules affect the crew's time, so we read the centre's contractor requirements before pricing a store inside one.
Kitchens are where hospitality prices diverge. A cafe making coffee and toasties produces far less grease than a restaurant running a charcoal grill and two fryers. We look at the equipment, the menu and how many services run each day before pricing, and we list the kitchen work separately so you can see where the money goes.
What changes the price
What sits underneath a commercial cleaning services rate?
Underneath any honest commercial cleaning services rate is the cleaner's award wage, plus superannuation, workers compensation, insurance, supervision, travel, equipment, products and the provider's overheads. The wage alone is only part of it, which is why rates far below the market usually mean something is being skipped.
The wage figures come straight from the Fair Work Ombudsman's Cleaning Services Award summary and pay guide. From 1 July 2026, a Level 1 cleaning services employee earns at least $27.08 an hour full-time and $33.85 for casual work, rising to $37.91 for a casual shift that starts before 6 am or finishes after 6 pm. Saturday, Sunday and public holiday rates are higher again. Those are minimums; experienced staff and supervisors are paid more.
That is why we are wary of very cheap quotes. If a provider is charging close to the award wage per hour, there is nothing left for superannuation, insurance, supervision or products, let alone a profit. The usual explanations are fewer hours on site than quoted, cash wages below the award, or a long chain of subcontractors. None of those end well for the client, who can be exposed if workers are underpaid on their premises.
When you compare quotes, ask how many hours per visit the price allows and how the cleaners are employed. An honest provider will answer both without fuss. Our written quotes show the hours each visit is based on, which makes the price easy to check against any other offer.
Cost drivers
Which factors move a contract cleaning price up or down?
Contract cleaning prices move with six things: the time the scope takes, how often visits happen, when the work can be done, how hard the site is to access, the type of premises and any specialist tasks. Floor area on its own is a poor guide, because rooms with plumbing take far longer than open floor.
- Scope and layoutKitchens, bathrooms and meeting rooms take more minutes than open floor. The checklist sets the hours.
- FrequencyMore visits cost more each week, but each one is quicker because less builds up between them.
- TimingEvening work carries a shift loading; weekends and public holidays carry higher award rates.
- AccessLoading dock bookings, security sign-in, lifts and parking add time on CBD and managed sites.
- SectorMedical, food and aged care sites need extra method, products and records.
- Specialist tasksCarpet, floors, windows and exhaust work are priced as separate periodic jobs.
Two of those levers are in your hands. Frequency is a trade-off between budget and presentation, and the right answer turns on headcount and on whether clients ever see the space. Timing is often more flexible than people assume: moving a clean from Saturday to Friday evening, or from 11 pm to 7 pm, can reduce the award loading significantly.
Consumables are another line to check when comparing. Some quotes include toilet paper, hand towels, soap and bin liners; others do not. Neither is wrong, but a quote that leaves them out will look cheaper than one that includes them. We state clearly whether consumables are supplied and, if so, how they are charged.
Contract length can matter too, though less than people expect. We work month to month, so there is no discount for signing a long contract and no penalty for leaving. What does help is a stable scope: a site whose needs do not change week to week is easier to staff and plan, and that efficiency shows in the price over time.
A final factor is the state the site is in at the start. A building that has been neglected will swallow extra hours in the first week or two. We usually quote a one-off initial deep clean to reset the site, so the regular price reflects the steady state rather than the catch-up.
Per visit or per hour
Should you pay per visit or by cleaning prices per hour?
For regular commercial cleaning, a fixed price per visit is usually better for the client, because the provider carries the risk if the job runs long and you know your costs in advance. Hourly pricing suits one-off jobs where the scope is uncertain, or ad hoc help where you direct the work yourself.
With cleaning prices per hour, you pay for time, not results. If the crew is slow, you pay more; if they rush, you may pay less but get less. It also makes monthly budgets harder to predict. Per-visit pricing flips that: the provider has to estimate the time properly and stand behind it, and you get the same invoice every month.
Regular work is costed visit by visit: we time the agreed checklist, then factor in visit frequency and the hours of the day involved. The quote shows the hours we have allowed, so you can see how the price was built and compare it fairly with a provider quoting by the hour.
If you want to understand hourly rates in more depth, including what a cleaner is paid compared with what a business charges, our guide to what cleaners charge per hour in Melbourne walks through the numbers.
End of lease
How are end of lease cleaning prices worked out?
End of lease cleaning is priced per job, based on the size and condition of the property, whether carpets need steam cleaning, and whether extras such as walls, windows or outdoor areas are included. For houses and flats, bedroom and bathroom count is the usual yardstick; for shops and offices, it is floor area plus whatever the lease demands.
The condition report and the lease drive the scope. A rental home that was lived in carefully needs a thorough clean to the standard in the entry condition report. One with a pet, a smoker or years of built-up grease in the oven needs more time, and the price reflects that. For commercial premises, the make-good clause in the lease sets what has to be done, from a basic clean to carpets professionally cleaned and every fixing removed.
Timing affects end-of-lease prices more than people expect. The last week of the month is the busiest for move-outs, and a clean booked for the day before the final inspection leaves no room for a re-clean if something is missed. Booking a few days ahead, with the property empty and the power and water still on, keeps the job efficient and the price down.
Typical price bands for homes and commercial premises, and what is and is not included, are on our page about end of lease cleaning costs.
Pressure washing
How is pressure washing priced?
Pressure washing is priced per job after an inspection, based mainly on the area to be cleaned, the surface, how heavily it is stained and how much wash water must be collected. Large open areas cost less per square metre than small, broken-up spaces with steps, columns and edges.
Oil-stained loading docks, bin areas and car parks near drains need more preparation and water recovery than a dusty footpath, and that shows in the price. Night or weekend work to avoid disrupting trade can add cost too. On the other hand, surfaces washed regularly are faster to clean each time, so a planned cycle often costs less over a year than an occasional heavy clean.
Guide prices and worked examples for driveways, car parks and commercial paving are on our page covering pressure washing costs in Melbourne.
Quote
What happens when you ask for a quote?
Book a free site assessment through the contact form. We walk the premises with you, agree the checklist and frequency, then email a written proposal listing the hours allowed for each visit, the per-visit price with and without GST, and any periodic jobs as their own lines. Most quotes arrive within a day of the visit.
There is no obligation, and the price holds as long as the scope stays the same. If your needs change later, such as extra staff, a new kitchen or longer opening hours, we review the scope with you before anything changes on the invoice.
Questions
What do people ask about cleaning prices?
Three pricing questions come up in almost every conversation: whether to pay hourly or per visit, why quotes for the same site vary so much, and whether GST is included. Short answers are below.