How Much to Charge for Commercial Cleaning in 2026
Commercial cleaning gets quoted like a bigger version of a domestic cleaning job more often than it should be. It isn't. An office or commercial contract is a business-to-business service agreement — keyholding, shift patterns, COSHH paperwork, multiple cleaners, monthly invoicing against a purchase order — and in 2026 it comes with two things a one-off domestic quote never has to think about: a wage floor that's about to move, and the possibility that the staff already cleaning the site have employment rights that follow them straight into your contract.
This guide covers what a commercial cleaning quote needs to include, current 2026 UK pricing, the two rules that change your numbers this year, and a worked example.
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What a commercial cleaning quote needs to include
A facilities manager comparing bids reads a quote very differently from a homeowner booking a one-off clean. Cover these eleven things and the quote reads as a proper contract proposal, not a trade quote stretched to fit:
- 1Your business details and, if VAT-registered, your VAT number.
- 2The site address, approximate floor area (m² or sq ft), number of floors, and the areas covered — offices, washrooms, kitchens or breakout areas, reception and communal spaces, and any warehouse or back-of-house space.
- 3Cleaning frequency and shift pattern — daily, alternate days or weekly, and whether it's before opening, during the day, or out of hours. Out-of-hours work usually carries a rate uplift worth stating separately.
- 4A written specification covering what each visit actually does, area by area — not just "office cleaned" but washrooms restocked and sanitised, bins emptied, floors treated, kitchens wiped down.
- 5Staffing — how many cleaners attend each visit, whether a working supervisor or team leader is included, and how holiday or sickness cover is handled so a missed visit isn't a surprise.
- 6Who supplies consumables and equipment — cleaning chemicals, vacuum cleaners and washroom consumables like soap, paper towels and bin liners — since these are often billed as a separate recharge.
- 7A COSHH assessment for the chemicals and equipment used on site, plus a general risk assessment — standard practice, and increasingly requested before a contract is even signed.
- 8Keyholding and alarm-code arrangements, and what happens if a cleaner turns up and can't get access.
- 9Public liability insurance cover, named on the quote. Commercial clients typically expect £5 million or more — higher than most domestic jobs.
- 10Contract length and notice period, and, if you're taking over a site from another provider, whether TUPE applies to the existing cleaning staff (see below).
- 11Payment terms and invoicing frequency — monthly invoicing against a purchase order is the norm for commercial clients, unlike the pay-on-completion pattern common in domestic cleaning.
2026 UK pricing
Prices vary by region, site size and how often a site is cleaned, but these are a fair starting point for 2026:
- Regular contract cleaning: £18–£25 per cleaner per hour (£15–£30 across the wider market), rising to £20–£35 in London and the South East.
- One-off cleans: £22–£35 per hour. Deep cleans: £30–£45 per hour, reflecting tasks a routine visit skips.
- Per visit, small office (up to 150m²): £35–£75. Medium office (150–500m²): £45–£125. Large office (500–1,000m²+): £90–£225 or more.
- As a monthly contract: small office, a few visits a week, £115–£650; medium office, daily or near-daily, £470–£1,625; large office, five days a week, £1,560–£6,500+.
- Per square metre, regular contract cleaning: £0.10–£0.50 per visit, depending on frequency. A one-off or periodic deep clean runs £1.00–£3.50 per m².
- Out-of-hours (before opening, evenings, weekends) typically adds £5–£10 per cleaner hour on top of the standard rate.
- Deep clean by size: 100m² £200–£350, 250m² £400–£750, 500m² £700–£1,400, 1,000m² £1,200–£2,500.
The two 2026 rules that change your numbers
Labour is typically 70–80% of what it costs to deliver a cleaning contract, which makes contract cleaning unusually exposed to two things happening this year — one a cost change, one a staffing obligation.
The wage floor is moving on 1 April 2026. The National Living Wage for workers 21 and over rises from £12.21 to £12.71 an hour, with the 18–20 rate rising to £10.85 and the 16–17/apprentice rate to £8.00. For most contract cleaners this is the single biggest input-cost change of the year. If you're quoting now for a contract that starts before 1 April and runs past it, price the new rate in from day one rather than planning to "catch up" later — a client will accept a rate that's correct from the outset far more readily than a mid-contract increase. Any contract running longer than a year should carry an explicit annual rate-review clause tied to the Low Pay Commission's announcement, so neither side is renegotiating from scratch every time the wage floor moves.
TUPE can follow the contract, not just the client. The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations can apply whenever a cleaning contract changes provider — a client switching suppliers, or a contract going out to retender. Where it applies, the cleaners already working that site may transfer to you automatically, keeping their existing pay, terms and continuity of service — you don't get to start them on minimum wage just because you've won the tender. It isn't automatic in every case, so before pricing a site currently cleaned by someone else, ask for Employee Liability Information from the outgoing contractor (normally due at least 28 days before transfer), and price the contract around the workforce you're actually inheriting, not a notional headcount. Getting this wrong doesn't just cost margin — it can leave you liable for redundancy pay, notice pay and accrued holiday you never budgeted for.
A worked example
A 250m² open-plan office, cleaned three times a week for two hours by one cleaner, with washroom consumables recharged monthly and a quarterly deep clean of the communal carpet tiles, priced as a monthly contract:
| Item | Detail | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Regular clean (3x/week, 2 hrs/visit) | 250m² open-plan office, one cleaner, client's own vacuum used | £490/mo |
| Washroom consumables | Soap, paper towels, bin liners — restocked each visit | £40/mo |
| Quarterly carpet deep clean | Hot water extraction, communal carpet tiles, cost prorated monthly | £60/mo |
| Total per month | £590 | |
£590 a month, invoiced monthly against a purchase order, with washroom consumables and the quarterly carpet deep clean kept as their own priced lines rather than folded into the headline rate — and the regular-clean rate already built around the post-1-April 2026 wage floor, not the rate it's replacing.
Five details that get commercial cleaning quotes accepted faster
- Price per visit, not a vague monthly figure. A facilities manager comparing quotes wants to see cost per visit and visits per week set out separately — a single "£500 a month" line reads as a guess next to a quote that shows the working.
- Name the consumables recharge up front. "Washroom consumables restocked and recharged monthly" heads off the most common commercial-cleaning dispute: a client assuming soap and paper towels were already included in the headline rate.
- State your public liability cover without being asked. £5 million-plus is close to a baseline expectation for commercial sites. Putting it on the quote saves a round of emails before anyone signs.
- Flag TUPE before you're asked about it. If you know or suspect the site is currently cleaned by someone else, saying so — and that you've accounted for it in the price — reads as someone who understands contract cleaning, not someone who'll renegotiate after signature.
- Build in an annual wage-linked rate review. A multi-year contract with no review clause either locks you into a loss after the next Low Pay Commission announcement or forces an awkward mid-contract renegotiation. Stating the review mechanism on the quote avoids both.
The fastest way to do all of this
A single-visit domestic quote is easy enough to knock together on the spot. A commercial contract — visit frequency, staffing, consumables recharge, a quarterly add-on and a wage-linked review clause, all invoiced monthly against a purchase order — is a different document entirely, and exactly the kind of thing that's easy to get wrong when it's built from scratch in a word processor every time.
This is what QuoteRocket is for. Describe the job in plain English — "250m² office, 3 visits a week, 2 hours each, washroom consumables recharged monthly, quarterly carpet deep clean" — and it turns that into a branded, itemised PDF quote in under a minute, with the regular clean, consumables and the add-on kept as their own clearly labelled lines. Your client accepts it with one tap on their phone, and an accepted quote becomes an invoice in one click — useful on a contract you're invoicing every month, not just once.
Whichever way you produce the quote, the principle holds: price the labour at the rate that will actually apply once the contract's running, check whether TUPE applies before you price a site someone else currently cleans, and keep consumables and add-ons as their own lines rather than folded into one number nobody can unpick later.
Skip the word-processor contract quote — price commercial cleaning properly with QuoteRocket.
Regular cleans, consumables and add-ons priced and labelled every time. Free trial, no card needed.
Frequently asked questions
How much does commercial or office cleaning cost in the UK in 2026?
Regular contract cleaning typically runs £18–£25 per cleaner per hour (£15–£30 across the wider market), rising to £20–£35 in London and the South East. Priced per visit by floor area, a small office (up to 150m²) usually costs £35–£75 a visit, a medium office (150–500m²) £45–£125, and a large office (500–1,000m²+) £90–£225 or more. As a monthly contract, that works out at roughly £115–£650 for a small office cleaned a few times a week, £470–£1,625 for a medium office on a daily or near-daily schedule, and £1,560–£6,500+ for a large office cleaned five days a week. A one-off or periodic deep clean costs more per hour — typically £30–£45 — because it covers tasks a routine visit doesn't, such as carpets, high-level dusting or a full washroom strip-down.
Does the National Living Wage increase affect commercial cleaning contract pricing?
Yes, directly. The National Living Wage for workers 21 and over rises to £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026 (from £12.21), with the 18–20 rate rising to £10.85 and the 16–17/apprentice rate to £8.00. Labour is typically 70–80% of the cost of delivering a cleaning contract, so this is the single biggest input-cost change most contract cleaners see all year. Any quote for work that starts before 1 April and continues after it needs the new rate priced in from day one, not phased in later — and any contract running more than a year should have an annual rate-review clause tied to the Low Pay Commission's announcement, rather than leaving a margin-eroding gap until the next renewal.
What is TUPE and does it apply when I win a new cleaning contract?
TUPE (the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations) can apply whenever a cleaning contract changes hands between providers, whether through a client switching contractors or a retender. Where it applies, the outgoing contractor's cleaners on that site may transfer to you automatically, keeping their existing pay, terms and continuity of employment — you don't get to restart them on minimum wage. It isn't automatic in every case and depends on the specific circumstances, so before pricing a contract currently serviced by someone else, request Employee Liability Information from the outgoing provider (they must normally supply it at least 28 days before transfer), price in the existing workforce's actual terms rather than a notional headcount, and check current ACAS guidance or get professional advice if you're unsure whether it applies.