Strata Cleaning Cost Calculator

Understanding strata cleaning costs in Australia

What strata cleaning costs in 2026

Strata cleaning is priced off the floor area and complexity of the common property, not the number of lots, so two buildings with the same unit count can sit a long way apart on price. As a 2026 benchmark in the eastern capitals, a small block of ten units or fewer on a weekly common-area visit runs roughly $90–$140 per visit; a mid-size building of 10–30 units lands around $350–$800 per visit depending on how many levels, lifts and amenities it carries; and a large 70-unit complex on a regular contract is closer to $2,500–$3,000 a month all up. Translated to the unit the industry actually quotes on, Sydney and Melbourne strata work is commonly benchmarked at $2.50–$5.00 per square metre of common area per month, with CBD and inner-city towers at the top of that band and walk-up suburban blocks at the bottom.

How often common areas need cleaning

The biggest single driver after floor area is frequency. A busy ground-floor lobby in a high-traffic building can justify daily or several-times-weekly service, while a quiet walk-up is fine on a weekly or even fortnightly visit with periodic deep cleans layered on top. Every step up in frequency is close to a linear step up in cost, because the contractor's labour hours scale directly with visits — so the fastest way to move a strata budget is to right-size frequency to actual foot traffic rather than defaulting every building to the same schedule.

Amenities, lifts and car parks

Amenities and 'extras' are where quotes diverge most, and they're usually billed as separate lines rather than folded into the base rate. Lifts are typically $120–$200 a month per car for regular wipe-downs and track cleaning. A pool deck, gym, shared rooftop or resident lounge each add a recurring line. Car parks are one of the priciest common-area tasks because pressure-washing a basement is slow, wet, equipment-heavy work — expect it as a quarterly or biannual periodic, not a weekly item. Bin-room degreasing spikes before summer and after long weekends when odour complaints roll in, and gardens or grounds, if not handed to a separate landscaper, add another recurring charge.

What's left out of a 'per visit' price

The trap with any headline 'per visit' or flat monthly figure is that it almost never includes the periodic work that keeps a building presentable over a year: external window and façade cleaning, high-pressure washing of paths and the garage, carpet steam cleaning in corridors, and bin-bay degreasing all sit on a monthly, quarterly or annual cycle and appear as extra items. A quote that looks cheap on the monthly line but excludes all periodics will cost more once those jobs are added back. The only reliable way to compare two contractors is to get a written daily / weekly / periodic schedule of works from each and line them up task-for-task, so you're comparing the same scope rather than a stripped-back number against a complete one.

Why two similar buildings price differently

Location and access quietly move the price too. Inner-city buildings cost more on labour and parking, and a tower with no loading dock or a tight basement that won't fit a ride-on sweeper forces slower manual methods. Older buildings with porous tiles, unsealed concrete or dated bin rooms take longer to bring up to standard and hold odour and staining more, so they sit higher per square metre than a near-new building with sealed surfaces and good ventilation. Insurance and compliance also feed in: a reputable strata cleaner carries public liability (commonly $10–$20m) and trains staff for working around residents and any height or chemical work, and that overhead is priced into a professional quote — a number well below market usually means one of those layers is missing.

Getting value as a committee or manager

For the strata manager or committee buying the service, the cost question is really a value-and-accountability question. The cheapest contractor who skips periodics, lets bin presentation slip and turns over staff every few months generates owner complaints that cost the committee far more in time and goodwill than the few hundred dollars saved. A slightly dearer contractor with a documented scope, consistent crews and a simple sign-off sheet at each visit is usually the better buy. Build the contract around a clear base scope plus a scheduled periodic cycle, hold a small retention or review point, and re-quote every two to three years to keep the incumbent honest — that structure controls cost better than chasing the lowest monthly number.

Use the estimator above as a starting bracket, then refine it against your building's real common-area square metreage, lift count, amenities and the frequency residents actually need. Take that figure into a tender, ask each contractor to price the same written scope, and the spread between their quotes will tell you who has genuinely understood the building and who has guessed.