Rates checked against the Cleaning Services Award 2020 as consolidated to 1 July 2026. Last reviewed November 2026.
From the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, the Cleaning Services Award 2020 sets a minimum adult rate of $27.08 an hour for a full-time Level 1 cleaner, with higher rates for casuals, part-timers, and early, late, weekend and public holiday shifts. Those wages are the floor under every honest cleaning quote.
This guide is for the people who buy commercial cleaning: facility, office, strata and practice managers, and procurement teams. It explains what the award requires contractors to pay, why after-hours and weekend cleaning costs more, and how to check whether a quote can cover it. If one quote comes in well under the rest, the gap usually comes from fewer hours on site, less supervision, or wages below what the law requires. Only the first of those is your choice.
The Cleaning Services Award 2020 is the modern award that sets minimum pay and conditions for employees of businesses in the contract cleaning services industry throughout Australia. Under clause 4, that industry includes cleaning (including event cleaning), hygiene and pollution control, trolley collection (with some exceptions) and incidental minor property maintenance.
So if you hire a cleaning company, the people it sends to your site are usually covered by this award. If the contractor says a different instrument applies, such as an enterprise agreement, ask which one.
The award sets:
The Fair Work Commission’s 2026 Annual Wage Review increased modern award minimum wages from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. The increase was 4.75%, as reported in a Clayton Utz summary of the decision. That matches the award itself: the Level 1 hourly rate rose from $25.85 to $27.08.
These are the minimum adult rates in clause 15.1 of the award, as consolidated to 1 July 2026:
| Classification | Minimum weekly rate (full-time, 38 hours) | Minimum hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| Cleaning Services Employee Level 1 | $1,028.90 | $27.08 |
| Cleaning Services Employee Level 2 | $1,062.90 | $27.97 |
| Cleaning Services Employee Level 3 | $1,119.10 | $29.45 |
Source: Cleaning Services Award 2020, clause 15.1, Fair Work Commission, effective first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. These rates will change again from July 2027.
Schedule A of the award describes each level. In short:
For a buyer, the point is simple: if your scope includes carpet extraction, machine scrubbing or a supervisor on site, those hours should be priced at Level 2 or 3, not Level 1.
Two rules surprise many buyers:
Calculated from the Level 1 rate, that’s about $33.85 an hour for a casual and $31.14 for a part-timer, before any penalty rates.
Most commercial cleaning happens outside business hours, which is when the award’s penalty rates apply. Clause 20.2 sets them as a percentage of the minimum hourly rate:
| When the work is done | Full-time | Part-time | Casual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday–Friday shift starting before 6.00 am or finishing after 6.00 pm | 115% | 130% | 140% |
| Non-rotating shift finishing after midnight and no later than 8.00 am | 130% | 130% | 155% |
| Saturday (midnight Friday to midnight Saturday) | 150% | 165% | 175% |
| Sunday (midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday) | 200% | 215% | 225% |
| Public holidays | 250% | 265% | 275% |
Source: Cleaning Services Award 2020, clause 20.2, Table 7, consolidated to 1 July 2026.
We’ve applied the award percentages to the 1 July 2026 Level 1 rate of $27.08. These are our calculations. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s pay guide is the official reference.
| Shift | Casual Level 1 hourly rate (calculated) |
|---|---|
| Weekday evening (finishing after 6.00 pm) | $37.91 |
| Saturday | $47.39 |
| Sunday | $60.93 |
| Public holiday | $74.47 |
A Sunday clean costs a contractor about 60% more in wages per hour than a weekday evening clean. That’s why moving a weekly deep clean from Sunday to a weeknight, or some tasks to daytime, can change a quote, and why a quote that charges the same for every day of the week deserves a question.
Overtime is separate from penalty rates. Under clause 19, overtime from Monday to Saturday is paid at 150% for the first two hours and 200% after that (175% and 225% for casuals). Sunday overtime is 200% (225% for casuals) and public holiday overtime is 250% (275% for casuals).
Part-time and casual cleaners must be rostered for a minimum period, and paid for it even if they finish early (clause 13.5). The minimum depends on the size of the area being cleaned. It ranges from 1 hour for a small stand-alone location of 300 square metres or less, through 2 and 3 hours, to 4 hours for areas of 5,000 square metres or more.
This matters for small sites. If your office needs 45 minutes of cleaning, the contractor may still have to pay a part-time or casual cleaner for the minimum shift. Ask how your contractor rosters small sites, rather than assuming the price can shrink in line with the minutes.
From 1 July 2026, the award’s allowances include (clause 17):
There are also allowances for first aid, meals, refuse collection, vehicle use and uniforms. Check the award or pay guide for the full list and current amounts.
The award sets the minimum wage. A cleaning company’s cost to deliver your service also includes:
We don’t publish a typical “on-cost” percentage, because it varies widely by business and site. The practical point for a buyer is that the wage rate in the award is the floor, not the price.
Take a site cleaned by one casual Level 1 cleaner for 3 hours on five weeknights, finishing after 6.00 pm. That’s 15 hours a week.
If a quote for that scope is close to, or below, the bare wage figure, it’s very hard to see how award wages are being paid. The contractor may plan fewer hours than you think, or something else is giving. Either way, ask.
This is an illustration using the 1 July 2026 minimums, not a price. For what else drives the cost of a clean, see what office cleaning costs and why and our guide to commercial cleaning costs in Australia.
Cleaning has a long record of underpayment, particularly where work is subcontracted down several levels. A Fair Work Ombudsman inquiry into cleaners in Tasmanian supermarkets found that multiple levels of subcontracting “can create conditions which allow non-compliance to occur”.
In a compliance activity on Victorian government school cleaning, the FWO found that all 11 cleaning companies investigated were non-compliant in some way. School staff were unaware of their responsibility to make sure cleaners were paid correctly, and had a limited understanding of accessorial liability. The report points to the Cleaning Accountability Framework’s principle that all participants, including tenants, facility managers, property managers and owners, have a role to play in lifting standards.
Beyond the legal risk, an underpaid workforce tends to mean high turnover, rushed work and a different cleaner every few weeks, which is exactly what you’re paying to avoid.
When you compare quotes, ask each contractor for:
You can also check whether a contractor holds prequalification with the Cleaning Accountability Framework, an industry program focused on fair labour practices. It isn’t mandatory, so treat it as one piece of evidence, not a requirement.
For a full method for comparing contractors, see our guide on how to choose a commercial cleaning company.
It depends on whether you mean the cleaner’s wage or a cleaning company’s charge-out rate. The award minimum from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026 is $27.08 an hour for a full-time Level 1 cleaner, or about $33.85 for a casual, before any penalty rates. A contractor’s hourly charge has to be higher, because it also covers super, leave, insurance, supervision, equipment and margin.
Cleaners employed by a cleaning company to clean a school are generally covered by the Cleaning Services Award 2020, so the same minimum rates and penalties apply. Cleaners employed directly by a school or education department may be covered by a different award or agreement, so check with the employer.
The Fair Work Commission reviews award minimum wages each financial year in the Annual Wage Review. Increases usually take effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July, and some allowances change at the same time.
Yes, when the employer requires it. Under clause 17.12 of the award, an employee who has to travel from one workplace to another is paid for the travel time as if they were working, and the employer pays the fares. On multi-site contracts, that travel is a real cost the contractor has to build into the price.
If you’re checking whether quotes allow for award wages, start from a scope everyone prices the same way. We offer a free site walk-through, then agree the scope, frequency, timing and responsibilities in writing before service starts (how we work). Our teams complete WHS induction, safe chemical handling training and site-specific risk assessments, and scheduled quality checks are part of the service.
We work across Sydney, Wollongong and Nowra. Request a free quote or call 1300 136 954, or read more about our commercial cleaning in Sydney.
This article is general information, not legal, payroll or tax advice. Award rates, allowances and the super guarantee change; check the current Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide and the ATO, or get advice, before relying on any figure.