How owners corporations
budget for cleaning.
Strata cleaning is bought differently to a single tenancy clean — it is tendered against a defined scope of works and budgeted across every lot in the building.
How strata cleaning contracts are actually priced
Strata cleaning covers the common property of a residential or mixed-use building — lobbies, corridors, stairwells, lift interiors, car park common areas and sometimes a shared laundry or amenity space. It is bought by the owners corporation, usually via a strata or building manager, rather than by an individual resident.
Because the cost is shared across every lot, strata committees generally think in terms of an annual or quarterly common-property cleaning budget line, not a per-visit figure. A cleaning contractor's quote needs to translate into a number the committee can defend at an AGM, which is a different exercise to quoting a single tenancy.
The building's scope of works — the specific document listing what is and is not cleaned, how often — is the real driver of cost, more than the building's size alone.
A strata cleaning tender is only comparable across contractors when it is built around a defined scope of works rather than a vague description of common area cleaning.
What a strata cleaning tender should define.
Scope of Works
A proper scope lists every area covered — lobby, corridors, stairwells, car park, bin rooms — and the frequency for each, rather than a vague description of "common area cleaning".
Common Property Boundaries
The scope should be explicit about where common property ends and individual lots begin, since cleaning inside a private lot is outside a standard strata contract.
Frequency by Area
High-traffic areas like lobbies and lift interiors typically need daily or near-daily attention, while a rarely used stairwell or storage corridor can be serviced less often.
Periodic Tasks
Window cleaning, hard floor stripping and sealing, and carpet cleaning in common corridors are usually periodic line items, separate from the routine daily or weekly visit.
Building Height & Access
A high-rise with multiple lift lobbies and stairwells has more common property per floor to service than a low-rise walk-up, which is reflected in the quote.
Insurance & Compliance
Owners corporations typically require proof of public liability insurance and sometimes a safe work method statement before appointing a contractor.
How we work with strata committees.
Scope of Works Provided in Writing
We put together a clear written scope covering every common area and frequency, ready for committee review or an AGM.
Insurance Documentation Ready
We can supply public liability insurance certificates and other compliance documents strata managers typically request when appointing a contractor.
Periodic Work Scheduled, Not Forgotten
Window cleaning and floor care are scheduled on a defined cycle and tracked, rather than left to be remembered by the committee.
No Lock-In Required
We do not require a long lock-in term to offer a competitive strata cleaning rate — the standard of work is what retains the contract.
Per-lot thinking versus per-visit pricing
Owners corporations often want to understand cleaning cost as an annual figure per lot, since that is how it appears on the levy notice. A cleaning contractor, meanwhile, naturally prices around labour hours per visit. A good strata cleaning quote bridges both — an itemised scope with a visit-based cost, alongside the resulting annual per-lot figure the committee can present to owners.
Neither number replaces the other. The per-visit figure is what a contractor is actually accountable for delivering; the per-lot figure is what makes the expense meaningful to an individual owner reading their levy statement.
Building a proper scope of works
The single biggest lever on strata cleaning cost is the scope of works itself — the document listing every area, its frequency, and any exclusions. A building that tenders with a vague one-line description ("clean common areas weekly") will get wildly inconsistent quotes back, because every contractor is filling in the blanks differently.
A properly written scope lists the lobby, each corridor and stairwell, lift interiors, car park common areas, bin rooms and any shared amenity space, with a frequency against each. Tendering against a defined scope is the only way to compare quotes on genuinely equal terms.
Daily versus periodic tasks in a strata contract
Routine tasks — sweeping, mopping, bin area tidying, glass entry doors — are usually priced into the base recurring visit. Periodic tasks — window cleaning, carpet cleaning in common corridors, hard floor stripping and sealing, high-level dusting — are typically quoted separately on a longer cycle, since doing them at the same frequency as daily tasks would be wasteful.
Committees sometimes save money simply by reviewing whether a periodic task's frequency actually matches wear — a stairwell that sees light foot traffic may not need the same window-cleaning cycle as a heavily used lobby glass door.
What strata managers typically require before appointing a contractor
Most owners corporations, through their strata manager, require a contractor to hold current public liability insurance, and increasingly ask for a safe work method statement for higher-risk tasks like external window cleaning. These are genuine compliance steps, not paperwork for its own sake, and a serious contractor will have them ready.
We keep our insurance and compliance documentation current specifically so this step does not delay a committee's decision once a quote has been accepted.
Common property boundaries and what strata cleaning does not cover
A standard strata cleaning contract covers common property only — lobbies, corridors, stairwells and shared amenity areas. It does not extend inside an individual lot, which remains the owner or tenant's own responsibility. This boundary should be explicit in the scope of works to avoid disputes about what the contract does and does not include.
Strata Cleaning Cost — FAQs.
How much does strata cleaning cost in Sydney?
It depends on the building's scope of works — how many common areas there are, their frequency, and whether periodic tasks like window cleaning are included. We quote after reviewing or helping build a defined scope rather than a flat per-lot rate.
How should an owners corporation budget for cleaning?
Most committees think in terms of an annual figure per lot for the levy notice, built from an itemised visit-based quote. We can provide both figures so the cost is clear at both the contract level and the levy level.
What is a scope of works for strata cleaning?
It is a document listing every common area to be cleaned, the frequency for each, and any exclusions. It is the key document for getting comparable tenders from different contractors, since a vague scope produces wildly inconsistent quotes.
Does strata cleaning cover inside individual units?
No, standard strata cleaning covers common property only — lobbies, corridors, stairwells and shared amenity areas. Cleaning inside an individual lot is the owner or tenant's own responsibility.
Are window cleaning and floor stripping included in strata cleaning?
Usually not in the base recurring visit. They are typically periodic tasks quoted on a separate cycle, since servicing them at daily or weekly frequency would be unnecessary and costly.
What insurance does a strata cleaning contractor need?
Most owners corporations require current public liability insurance, and some ask for a safe work method statement for higher-risk tasks such as external window cleaning. We can supply this documentation on request.
How do we get a strata cleaning quote or tender response?
Call 02 9139 8401 or use our contact form with your building's scope of works, or ask us to help put one together, and we will provide a written, itemised quote.
Related pricing and service pages.
The full common-property cleaning service this pricing guide describes.
Building access and award conditions that apply to strata sites too.
What happens during our quoting and tender process.
Why a single metric rarely captures a strata building's true cost.
Get a strata cleaning quote.
Send us your scope of works, or ask us to help build one, and we will provide a written, itemised quote for your committee.