Office and commercial cleaning • UK guide
Office and commercial cleaning: schedules, costs and local quotes
Keep your workplace clean, welcoming and ready for the day. Plan a schedule around your premises and request free local quotes through MyJobQuote for office or commercial cleaning.
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Prepare a useful site brief
- Floor area, layout and occupancy
- Desks, kitchens, toilets and meeting rooms
- Required days and service hours
- Consumables, equipment and waste arrangements
- Keys, alarms, parking and security rules
- Periodic and specialist requirements
UK planning range
About £18–£25 per hour
Best basis for a contract
Written site specification
Confirm separately
Consumables and periodic work
Understand the service
What does commercial cleaning cover?
Commercial cleaning is work delivered to a business or organisation under an agreed specification. It can range from several weekly visits to a small office through to daily teams working across larger buildings, communal areas or customer-facing premises.
A useful contract defines tasks, areas, frequency, service windows, responsibilities and evidence of completion. “Clean the office” is too vague to price fairly or measure consistently.
Medical, care, food-production, laboratory, industrial and other controlled environments can require sector-specific procedures, training, products and documentation. These should be matched with a suitably experienced provider rather than treated as ordinary office cleaning.
Common premises
- Offices and shared workspaces
- Shops and customer areas
- Studios, salons and treatment rooms
- Communal areas and managed buildings
- Schools, nurseries and community spaces
- Warehouses and light-industrial offices
Service models
Regular, periodic and specialist cleaning
Regular contract
Repeated daily or weekly tasks such as desks, floors, toilets, kitchens, bins and touchpoints. The schedule should reflect occupancy and actual use, not only floor area.
Best for: maintaining an agreed routine and predictable monthly budget.
Periodic work
Less frequent work such as carpet extraction, high-level dusting, internal glass, upholstery, machine floor cleaning and kitchen deep cleaning.
Best for: tasks that do not belong in every routine visit but should be planned.
Specialist site
Controlled or higher-risk environments may need documented procedures, specialist machinery, trained operatives, supervision and site-specific risk controls.
Best for: regulated or technically demanding premises assessed by a qualified provider.
Common routine scope
- Vacuuming and mopping accessible floors
- Wiping agreed desks and touchpoints
- Cleaning toilets and washroom fixtures
- Kitchen and tea-point surface cleaning
- Emptying agreed internal waste bins
- Meeting rooms, reception and shared areas
Often separate or excluded
- External windows and high-level access
- Carpet extraction and hard-floor restoration
- Washroom paper, soap and other consumables
- Hazardous, clinical or confidential waste
- IT equipment interiors and specialist machinery
- Post-construction and emergency-response work
Desk policy: decide whether cleaners move papers and personal items or clean only clear surfaces. A clear-desk rule protects confidentiality and avoids disputes about moved belongings.
Budget guide
How much does office cleaning cost in the UK?
Current UK guidance suggests a broad planning range of about £18–£25 per hour for office cleaning. Other published examples place regular cleaning around £15–£30 per hour and deeper work around £30–£45 per hour.
Small fixed office visits are sometimes shown around £50–£90 and medium visits around £100–£180. These figures are only starting points: established contracts are commonly priced after a site survey and detailed workload calculation.
Price note: Indicative September 2026 planning figures from MyBuilder’s UK office-cleaning cost guide. Confirm VAT, minimum attendance, supervision, equipment, consumables, travel, contract length and periodic services in the actual proposal.
What changes the price?
- Floor area, layout and occupancy
- Toilets, kitchens and high-use zones
- Visit frequency and service window
- Labour, supervision and relief cover
- Machinery, products and consumables
- Security, parking and specialist controls
Build the specification
Match frequency to the area
Every service day
High-use toilets, kitchens, entrances, bins, visible floors and agreed touchpoints may need attention on every scheduled visit.
Weekly rotation
Low-level ledges, skirting, detailed chair cleaning, partition marks and less-used rooms can be assigned to a documented weekly rotation.
Periodic programme
Carpets, floors, high levels, upholstery, blinds and internal glazing can be planned monthly, quarterly or at another suitable interval.
Count workload, not only square metres
Two offices of equal size can require very different labour. Occupancy, desk density, toilets, kitchens, public traffic, waste volume and access windows often matter more than floor area alone.
Practical MV Cleaning insight
Walk the site with the same checklist used for pricing
A reliable proposal starts with the actual premises. Record room types, quantities, floor finishes, sanitary facilities, waste points, restricted areas and the condition at handover.
Attach frequencies and measurable expectations to each area. This creates a common reference for the customer, provider, supervisor and cleaner.
When something changes—occupancy increases, another floor opens or consumables are added—the specification and price can be reviewed transparently instead of relying on memory.
How to compare commercial-cleaning providers
- Request a site survey and itemised specification.
- Check insurance, training and site-relevant experience.
- Ask about supervision, audits and complaint escalation.
- Confirm cleaner absence and holiday-cover arrangements.
- Review keyholding, alarms and information-security rules.
- Compare total contract cost, not only the headline rate.
A clear proposal should state
- Areas, tasks and frequencies
- Service days, hours and staffing basis
- Equipment, products and consumables
- Monthly price, VAT and extra-work rates
- Review, cancellation and escalation terms
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Office and commercial cleaning FAQs
Is office cleaning priced by the hour or by contract?
Either is possible. Small or one-off jobs may use hourly or fixed-visit pricing. Recurring commercial work is often presented as a monthly contract based on the agreed labour and specification.
Are cleaning products and equipment included?
They may be included, supplied by the customer or charged separately. The proposal should identify responsibility for chemicals, machines, storage and replenishment.
Are washroom consumables included?
Not automatically. Toilet tissue, hand towels, soap, bin liners and dispensers are commonly handled as a separate managed supply or customer responsibility.
Can cleaners work outside business hours?
Often yes, subject to staffing, access and security. Agree keys, alarms, lone-working arrangements, locking procedures and an emergency contact before service begins.
How is cleaning quality checked?
Good contracts define inspections, service records, issue reporting, response times and review meetings. The expected standard should be measurable against the written specification.
How do I find a local commercial cleaning professional?
Use our MyJobQuote partner button to describe your job and enter your postcode. Compare up to 3 free quotes from local professionals, read their reviews and choose who to book. There is no obligation to accept a quote.