Business
Scope the Office Cleaning Contract Before You Sign
Stop shopping for office cleaners by price per visit. The price is the last thing worth comparing, because the scope is what you are buying, and most disputes with a cleaner start in a scope nobody wrote down.
A quote that says “weekly office clean” tells you almost nothing. Does it include the kitchen? The bins? The inside of the microwave? Who locks up, and what happens when the alarm goes off at 9pm? If you can’t answer those questions from the paperwork, you are not comparing quotes. You are comparing hopes.
The test: could a stranger follow it?
Here is the test to apply to any cleaning agreement before you sign it. Hand the scope page to someone who has never seen your office and ask them to describe what happens on a Tuesday night. If they can’t, the scope is too vague to hold anyone to.
A good scope names tasks, areas and how often. That is half a page for a small office and a few pages for a large one. It isn’t legal drafting. It is a list you and the cleaner can both point at when something is missed.
What belongs in the scope
Use this as a working checklist when you request quotes. Ask every supplier to price the same list so the quotes are comparable.
| Item | What to put in writing | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Which days, and which tasks happen on which day | A “weekly clean” and a “daily light clean plus weekly deep clean” are different products |
| Areas | Reception, desks, meeting rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, floors, entry glass | Anything unnamed tends to be treated as excluded |
| Inclusions | Bins emptied, surfaces wiped, floors vacuumed or mopped, bathrooms cleaned | Gives you something to check against |
| Exclusions | Inside windows, carpet shampooing, high dusting, post-event cleans | Stops a surprise extra charge later |
| Periodic tasks | Carpet cleaning, window washing, deep cleans, with a set frequency | These are the jobs that get skipped without a date |
| Consumables | Who buys soap, paper towel and toilet paper, and how it is charged | Often the hidden cost in a low base price |
| Access | Keys, codes, alarm arming, lock-up routine, key return | Where the real risk to your premises sits |
| Inspection | How you report a missed task and how quickly it is fixed | Turns a complaint into a routine |
| Terms | Minimum term, notice to end, price reviews, auto-renewal | The part most people read last |
The table is the information the top results leave out. Most guides to commercial cleaning tell you why a clean office matters. Few tell you what to write on the page.
Insurance and who is on your premises
Ask any cleaner to show a certificate of currency for public liability insurance, and ask what happens if something is damaged or goes missing. Ask also whether the people on site are the cleaner’s employees or subcontractors, and how their workers compensation is covered. The answers vary by state and by business structure, so treat these as questions, not a checklist of right answers.
Under work health and safety laws, a business has duties to people who work at its premises, and that can include contractors. Safe Work Australia publishes guidance on how those duties apply, and it’s worth a read if your cleaners work in a shared building. Ask, too, whether cleaning chemicals come with safety data sheets and where they are kept.
If your premises hold sensitive paperwork or client data, ask how staff are screened and whether a police check is part of the engagement. A reasonable supplier will have an answer ready.
Access after hours
After hours means someone has the keys to your business while you are not there. Get the access arrangements in writing: who holds keys or codes, how a code is changed when a cleaner leaves the job, who is responsible if an alarm is triggered, and what happens if a key is lost. A short key register costs nothing and answers most of those questions.
Quality checks that don’t need an argument
You will not be there to watch the clean, so build in a way to check it. A simple inspection sheet works: a list of areas with a tick for each visit, left by the cleaner and reviewed by you. Agree on how a missed task is reported, such as an email to a named contact, and how quickly the cleaner will return to fix it.
Keep it practical. The aim is to turn “the kitchen was dirty again” into “the kitchen task on the sheet was ticked and wasn’t done”, which is a conversation both sides can have without heat.
Reading the terms
Cleaning agreements are often supplied on the supplier’s standard form, and in an office cleaning contract the terms can matter more than the rate. Read the minimum term, the notice period to end the contract, any automatic renewal, and how price increases are handled. Under the Australian Consumer Law, unfair contract term protections can apply to standard form contracts with small businesses, and the ACCC has guidance on how they work. If a clause looks one-sided, ask for it to be changed, and for anything that matters seek advice from your own lawyer.
Cleaning is generally a deductible running cost for a business, but how it applies to your situation is a question for your accountant. Our overview of why tax planning matters is a fair place to start before you talk to them.
The fair case for a simple arrangement
There’s a fair objection to all of this. For a tiny office with one kitchen and one bathroom, a half-page schedule and a handshake may be all you need. A formal scope can feel heavy next to a cheap weekly visit, and a good local cleaner who has looked after the same space for years may not need a table to do it well. If you have that, you’re ahead.
Even so, the half-page is worth having. It takes ten minutes, it protects the cleaner as well as you, and it makes a handover easy if that person moves on. A long relationship is a reason to write the scope down, not a reason to skip it.
The health side of regular cleaning, including shared kitchens and high-touch surfaces, is covered in our look at cleaning and wellbeing. It’s useful background when deciding which areas and tasks to prioritise.
What to do this week
Write your own one-page scope before you request a single quote. List the areas, the tasks, the frequency and the access arrangements, then send the same page to each supplier and ask them to price it. Put the certificate of currency and the termination terms on the same checklist. When the quotes come back, you’ll be comparing like with like, and the cheapest price will finally mean something.
Sources: Safe Work Australia, guidance on work health and safety duties for persons conducting a business or undertaking (https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/law-and-regulation/duties-under-whs-laws); Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, unfair contract terms for small business (https://www.accc.gov.au/business/selling-products-and-services/contracts); Australian Taxation Office, business deductions (https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/income-deductions-and-concessions/income-and-deductions-for-business/deductions)
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