OC · StrataCommon property cleaning for Melbourne owners corporations and body corporates
OC · StrataCommon property cleaning for Melbourne owners corporations and body corporates
G02Guide · Costs
How much does strata cleaning cost? For most schemes it comes down to the hours the building needs, how often someone visits and which yearly jobs are added. This guide shows committees how to budget from those three things and how to tell a fair quote from one that will cost more later.
Reviewed 27 September 2026For committees and treasurersAbout 7 minutes to read
This guide is for treasurers, committee members and managers putting together an owners corporation budget, or weighing up quotes before an AGM. It does not publish a price list, because a price without a building attached is not much use. Instead it explains the method, walks through a year for a 20-unit block and shows the questions that separate honest quotes from cheap ones. It belongs to our set of strata cleaning guides.
01The logic
A contractor estimates the hours a visit takes, multiplies by visits per year and applies an hourly rate covering wages, super, insurance, supervision, travel and equipment. Periodic jobs are added at their own prices. Everything else on a quote is detail around those numbers.
Of those parts, the committee controls two: how often the building is visited and which periodic jobs are included. The hours per visit are set by the building itself, and the hourly rate is set by the market and by the legal minimum wage in the Cleaning Services Award. Understanding that split is the quickest way to have a useful budget conversation, because it shows where savings are real and where they are an illusion.
Minimum wages for cleaners: Cleaning Services Award 2020, Fair Work Commission.
02Ranges
Because the same number of lots can mean very different buildings. Lot count predicts traffic, but hours depend on stairwells, lifts, corridors, amenities and basements. A range quoted by lots alone is only a starting point, and any real budget needs the building walked.
That is also why this guide does not print dollar ranges. Figures published online vary widely, are rarely dated and usually hide what they include. A number that looks reassuring for a 30-lot building may assume a single weekly hour of cleaning, which no 30-lot building with a lift can live on.
A better use of your time than hunting for a published range is to look at your own history. Last year's cleaning invoices, divided by the number of visits, tell you what the building has actually been paying per visit. Put that next to the hours the contractor said they would spend and you will quickly see whether you were getting good value.
What is safe to say is how the bands behave. Small townhouse groups are dominated by outdoor jobs and cost little per year. Walk-ups are dominated by stairs. Buildings with lifts add daily wear and more visits. Towers are closer to a full-time presence than a weekly visit. Your scheme sits somewhere on that line, and the walk-through finds the exact spot.
03Worked budget
Take an ordinary three-level walk-up of 20 units. Its year adds up to roughly 125 to 135 hours of routine cleaning plus about 20 to 25 hours of periodic work. Multiply those hours by the quoted rate, add consumables and GST, and you have the budget line.
| Item | How often | Hours a year |
|---|---|---|
| Routine clean, about 2.5 hours a visit | Weekly, 52 visits | about 130 |
| Gutters, two people | Twice a year | 12 to 14 |
| External glass by water-fed pole | Twice a year | 6 |
| Path and driveway wash | Once a year | 4 |
| Total labour | Across the year | about 152 to 154 |
To think about it per unit, divide the annual total by 20. The share each owner actually pays depends on lot liability, so a larger apartment may carry a bigger share, but the average per unit is a useful sense check when owners ask why their levies moved.
Spreading the periodic jobs evenly across twelve months makes the monthly figure smooth, which is easier for owners to follow on a levy notice. Paying them in the month they happen matches the work more closely. Both give the same annual total, so choose whichever your treasurer finds easier to track.
This example is deliberately plain. Add a lift and the weekly visit grows by around an hour. Add carpeted corridors and a yearly extraction joins the list. Take away the second stairwell and the visit shrinks. The method stays the same whatever the building. Our pricing page, strata cleaning cost Melbourne, breaks the same building down visit by visit.
04At the AGM
Line the quotes up against one agreed scope and look first at the hours, not only the totals. Then check what each includes, what it leaves out, and whether the documents a committee needs came with it. A simple table does most of the work.
| Question | Quote A | Quote B | Quote C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours per routine visit stated? | |||
| Same scope, area by area? | |||
| Periodic jobs priced, with months? | |||
| Certificate of currency attached? | |||
| Visit reports with photos? | |||
| Notice period and term? |
Two numbers deserve a closer look on any quote: the implied hourly rate and the hours. Divide the routine price by the hours and the visits. If the result is well below what an award-paying, insured business could charge, something is missing, usually insurance, supervision or the hours themselves.
If a quote cannot be filled in against this sheet, ask the contractor to complete it before the meeting rather than guessing. A committee that compares like with like makes a decision owners can accept. For the wider checklist, including references and red flags, see how to choose (or switch) a strata cleaning company.
05The trap
Scope shrinkage is the slow disappearance of tasks after a contract starts, because the price only paid for fewer hours than the building needs. It rarely happens on day one. It shows up in the second or third month, in the places residents check least.
The new crew works hard to make a good impression.
Upper flights are skipped because nobody uses them much.
Lift tracks, skirting and bin room washes quietly stop.
Owners notice, and the committee is back to quotes.
Shrinkage is not always deliberate. A contractor who underestimated the building at the quote stage faces a choice between losing money and cutting time, and time usually loses. That is why a quote built from a proper walk-through protects both sides.
The cure is simple: a written scope, hours per visit stated on the quote and dated photo reports after each visit. With those three, shrinkage is visible in weeks rather than months, and it is much harder for it to happen at all.
06Our rates
Our pricing page explains how we build a quote, with hours by scheme size and a worked example, and every quote we send shows the hours, visits, periodic jobs and totals line by line. Because buildings differ so much, the actual figure follows a free walk-through.
If you are preparing a budget and need a number soon, tell us the meeting date. The site visit is then scheduled so our figure lands with the committee before the budget goes out with the AGM notice. You can get a quote for your own building, free and without obligation.
07Budget questions
Three questions from committees working on next year's budget.
