Choosing a commercial cleaning contractor looks straightforward until the quotes arrive. The prices can differ significantly, and the documents behind them describe the work in very different terms — or barely describe it at all.
If you manage a school, a medical practice, an office, a council facility or an industrial site anywhere across Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley, the questions below are the ones worth asking before you sign. Most of them are about evidence rather than promises.
Start with the site, not the price
A site inspection before pricing is strongly recommended for complex, high-traffic or specialised facilities, and for any ongoing contract. A contractor who has walked the building can identify what will shape the service: washroom traffic after school pick-up, consulting-room turnaround times, a loading dock that tracks dust through the office each morning.
For a clearly defined smaller service, a detailed remote briefing supported by floor plans, photographs and measurements may be sufficient. What matters is that the contractor has enough accurate information to price the work properly.
Expect questions about floor types, occupancy patterns, after-hours access, waste, consumables and any areas with specific hygiene requirements. The quality of those questions is a fair early indicator of the scope you'll receive.
Get the scope in writing, in detail
Many disputes in cleaning contracts are scope disputes. They start with a task someone assumed was included.
Inclusions and exclusions
Ask for a written scope that lists tasks by area and frequency, and — just as importantly — states what is not included. Examples worth confirming include internal glass above reach height, blinds, the inside of fridges and microwaves, spot-cleaning walls and removing bulky waste. An unclear scope can create different expectations during service delivery, which is easier to prevent at the quoting stage than to resolve later.
Periodical services
Carpet cleaning, hard-floor stripping and sealing, high dusting, window cleaning and pressure washing are commonly quoted as periodicals rather than daily tasks. Ask which are included in the contract price, which are quoted separately, and at what intervals.
The schedule itself
Service days, access windows, task frequencies and arrangements for public holidays or shutdown periods should be documented. A schedule agreed only in conversation is difficult for either party to rely on.
Ask who will actually be on your site
The person quoting is often not the person cleaning.
Ask whether the work is performed by the contractor's own employees or subcontracted, and if subcontracted, who holds responsibility for supervision, insurance and compliance. Ask how supervision works in practice — how often a supervisor attends, and whether that's documented.
When your regular cleaner is away
Illness and leave are routine, not exceptional. A contractor should be able to explain its replacement arrangements, how quickly a site is covered, and whether replacement staff are inducted to your site's requirements before they start. For sites with security, privacy or infection-control considerations, that induction matters as much as the cover itself.
Regional sites: distance and relief cover
Gippsland is a large region, and travel between the Latrobe Valley and sites in East or South Gippsland can take an hour or more. That affects how quickly a relief cleaner or supervisor can realistically attend. Ask where the contractor's supervisors and relief staff are based, how a site outside their usual area is supervised, and what happens if a regular cleaner is unavailable at short notice.
Ask how attendance and completed work are proven
A missed or partly completed clean can be noticed by the people using the building well before anyone reports it. Before you sign, ask how the contractor will show that cleaners attended and that the agreed work was done.
No single method proves quality on its own, and each has limits:
| Evidence | What it shows | What it doesn't show |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-in records or timesheets | That someone was on site, and for how long | What was cleaned, or how well |
| Completed task checklists | Which tasks were marked as done | Independent confirmation — checklists are usually self-reported |
| Time-stamped photographs | The condition of specific areas at a point in time | Areas that weren't photographed |
| Supervisor inspection reports | A documented check against set criteria | What happens between inspections |
| Joint walk-throughs with your staff | Whether the result meets your expectations | Day-to-day consistency |
If your site has its own sign-in system that contractors must use, say so in the scope.
At Brightest Property Services, site inspection and project completion reports can include time-stamped photographs.
Ask how quality is measured, not promised
Every contractor says their standard is high. The question is how anyone would know.
Ask what inspections are conducted, how often, against what criteria, and whether you receive the results. Ask what happens when something is missed — how it is reported, how quickly it is fixed, and how the fix is recorded. A contractor should be able to show you what its quality documentation looks like in practice.
Communication and escalation
Ask for a named contact rather than a general inbox, and agree response times for routine requests and urgent issues. Ask how site-specific instructions — a room locked on certain days, a new alarm procedure — reach the cleaner on shift.
Then agree an escalation path and write it into the contract: who handles a site-level issue first, who it goes to if it isn't resolved, and when a recurring problem triggers a formal review.
Verify insurance, licensing and checks — and ask for the documents
Ask for current certificates rather than assurances, and check the names and dates on them.
Public liability and WorkCover
Ask for a certificate of currency for public liability insurance. Check that the insured business matches the contractor, confirm the cover period and sum insured, and ask whether any policy exclusions are relevant to the work on your site.
Ask separately about WorkCover. Victorian employers generally must register for WorkCover insurance — for example, if they pay remuneration above the annual threshold or employ an apprentice. Ask for a current WorkSafe Victoria Certificate of Currency and check the business name and dates.
Victorian labour hire licensing
In Victoria, most businesses that supply cleaners to work in commercial premises need a labour hire licence, and host businesses must only use licensed providers. Commercial cleaning is brought within the scheme by the Labour Hire Licensing Regulations 2018.
According to Labour Hire Authority guidance, a licence is generally not needed where a sole trader or partnership does the cleaning themselves without supplying other workers, or where a company with no more than two directors supplies only those directors. The guidance also indicates that a service cleaning only domestic premises does not need a licence.
This matters to you as the host, not only to the contractor. Under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic), a host that enters an arrangement with an unlicensed provider can face significant civil penalties. The Labour Hire Authority publishes a public register, so check the provider's licence before you engage them and keep a record of that check. Schools that pay a company to supply cleaners should read the Authority's guidance for school hosts.
Brightest Property Services holds Victorian Labour Hire Licence VICLHL03732.
Working with Children Checks
If cleaning is performed at a school or another site where children are present, ask how the contractor manages Working with Children (WWC) Checks. A WWC Clearance is issued to an individual, not to a company, so there is no such thing as a company-wide check. Under Victoria's Worker Screening Act 2020, people doing child-related work need a Clearance unless an exemption applies. Organisations must only engage a person in child-related work if that person holds a Clearance, has an application being assessed, or is exempt. Paid workers need an Employee Clearance rather than a Volunteer Clearance.
Whether a cleaner's work counts as child-related work depends on the role — in particular, whether direct contact with children is a usual part of their duties rather than occasional and incidental. Many schools require a Clearance as a condition of site access regardless, so confirm your own requirements and include them in the scope.
Ask how the contractor records Clearances, monitors expiry dates and handles substitutions at your site.
At Brightest Property Services: Personnel assigned to Victorian school sites hold current Employee Working with Children Checks. BPS maintains WWCC details for assigned personnel and can provide relevant check information to schools where required.
Ask for the safety and chemical documentation
Engaging a contractor doesn't remove your own safety responsibilities. Under Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, an employer's duties extend to independent contractors it engages, and their employees, in relation to matters over which the employer has control. Share your site's hazards and induction requirements, and ask to see the contractor's site-specific safety documentation.
Under Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017, a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) must be prepared before high risk construction work begins. Routine commercial cleaning is not generally high risk construction work, so in most cleaning contracts a SWMS is not the applicable document. It applies only where a task meets the legal definition — for example, qualifying construction work with a risk of a person falling more than two metres.
For ordinary cleaning, ask for a risk assessment, JSEA or comparable site-specific safety document, and ask why it is the right document for your site.
Ask for Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for the chemicals to be used on your premises. Under the OHS Regulations, employers must obtain a current SDS for each hazardous substance supplied to the workplace, make SDSs readily accessible to workers who may be exposed, and keep a register of hazardous substances. WorkSafe Victoria also advises that contractors and emergency services personnel should be able to access SDSs. Ask where the SDSs and register will be kept on your site, and who keeps them current.
Ask for evidence behind environmental claims
Terms such as "green", "eco" and "environmentally friendly" are vague unless the contractor explains what the claim means. Under the Australian Consumer Law, businesses must not make false or misleading claims, including environmental claims, and ACCC guidance says those claims should be accurate and backed by clear evidence.
Ask which products are used, ask for any third-party product certifications, and ask how the contractor decides when a lower-impact product is suitable and when hygiene requirements take precedence. Our guide to sustainable commercial cleaning covers these questions in more detail.
Brightest Property Services uses environmentally responsible products and methods where suitable for the site, task and hygiene requirements.
Understand what certification does and doesn't mean
ISO certification is not a legal requirement for cleaning contractors in Australia. A contractor without it is not operating unlawfully, although some tenders and procurement policies ask for it.
What it offers is independent evidence that documented management systems have been audited — ISO 9001 for quality, ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety.
If a contractor claims certification, verify four things: the issuing certification body, the scope, the certificate number and the current expiry date. Scope matters — a certificate may cover only part of a business. In Australia and New Zealand, JASANZ accredits certification bodies, and its public register lets you check certificates issued by JASANZ-accredited bodies.
Brightest Property Services is ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certified.
Ask about security, access and incident handling
Ask how keys, swipe cards and alarm codes are issued, recorded and returned, whether a key register is maintained, and what happens if one is lost or a staff member leaves.
Ask how incidents are reported — property damage, security breaches, injuries, near misses — and how quickly you would be notified.
Read the commercial terms properly
Ask what the quoted fee includes and excludes, including consumables, periodical services, specialist equipment and separately chargeable work. A contractor does not necessarily need to disclose its internal labour costing unless the procurement process requires it.
Then check the contract term, notice period, renewal mechanism, and how price increases are handled — CPI-linked, fixed or negotiated.
Variations and additional work
Out-of-scope requests are normal: a spill, an event, an urgent clean before an inspection. Agree up front how additional work is requested, quoted and approved in writing before it starts, and agree rates for common extras so the invoice holds no surprises.
Compare quotes like for like
A significantly lower price may reflect differences in scope, frequency, included periodicals, supervision or service resources. None of those differences are automatically wrong, and a lower price is not automatically a lesser service. The difficulty arises when the differences are not visible at the point of comparison.
To compare commercial cleaning quotes on the same basis:
- Give every contractor the same scope, frequencies and site information.
- Ask each contractor to price regular cleaning, periodicals and consumables separately.
- List each quote's exclusions and assumptions.
- Line the quotes up against the points in the table below.
- Check documents and call references before you shortlist.
| Line up across every quote | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Tasks and frequencies by area | A major driver of price differences |
| Periodicals included or quoted separately | Can add significantly to the annual cost |
| Consumables included or charged separately | Easy to overlook in a monthly price |
| Supervision, inspections and relief cover | Shows how quality and continuity will be managed |
| Variation rates and approval process | Controls the cost of out-of-scope work |
| Term, notice period and price reviews | Affects whole-of-contract value and your exit options |
The cheapest quotation and the best whole-of-contract value are sometimes the same thing. It's worth knowing which one you're looking at.
Red flags before you sign
None of these automatically rules a contractor out, but each deserves a clear answer before you commit:
- A price given without seeing the site or receiving a detailed briefing
- A one-line scope, or no written scope at all
- No stated exclusions
- Insurance or licence details that can't be produced, or can't be verified
- Vague answers about who will do the work, or what happens when your cleaner is away
- No inspection process, or results that are never shared
- Pressure to sign a long term without a notice period or performance review
Ask for relevant references
References are only useful if they're comparable — a small retail tenancy tells you little about performance at a 40-classroom school or a busy medical centre. Ask for references from facilities similar to yours in type, size and operating hours, then call them. Ask about consistency over time, responsiveness when something goes wrong, and staff turnover on their site.
Changing contractors without disruption
If you are replacing a contractor, check your current contract's notice period and exit terms before you approach the market. Then plan the changeover:
- Choose a start date away from peak periods, such as the start of a school term or the end of the financial year
- Recover keys and swipe cards, update the key register, and change alarm codes where appropriate
- Give the new contractor your site information, hazards and induction requirements before the first shift
- Walk through the site together at the start, so the standard is measured from a known baseline
- Schedule a check-in after the first month to resolve early issues
School holidays and end-of-year shutdowns are often practical windows for a changeover or a start-of-contract periodical clean, particularly where a regional site needs a crew to travel. Confirm access, alarm and reopening arrangements in writing.
Your pre-contract checklist
The site and the scope
- Site inspection completed before pricing
- Written scope listing tasks by area and frequency
- Exclusions stated explicitly
- Periodical services listed, with intervals and pricing basis
- Documented service days, access windows and task frequencies, including public holidays and shutdown periods
The people and continuity
- Employees or subcontractors — confirmed in writing
- Supervision arrangements and attendance frequency documented
- Relief-cover arrangement, induction for relief staff and, for regional sites, where they are based
Attendance, quality and communication
- How attendance and completed work are recorded, and whether you can see the records
- Inspection frequency and criteria, with results provided to you
- Named contact, agreed response times and a written escalation path
Compliance documents — request copies
- Public liability certificate of currency, with insured name, cover period and sum insured checked
- WorkSafe Victoria WorkCover Certificate of Currency
- Labour hire licence number, verified on the Labour Hire Authority register and recorded
- WWC Clearance arrangements for workers doing child-related work, where required for the site
- Site-specific safety document for the proposed work — risk assessment or JSEA for ordinary cleaning; SWMS only where the task is high risk construction work
- SDS for all chemicals used on site, and the location of the hazardous substances register
- Any ISO certificates — issuing body, scope, number and expiry verified
Site operations
- Key, swipe card and alarm code procedures, and key register
- Incident reporting timeframes
Commercial
- Quoted fee, inclusions, exclusions, consumables and periodicals clearly documented
- Variation requests, rates and written approval process documented
- Term, notice period, renewal and price-increase mechanism
- References from comparable facilities — contacted
- Quotes compared on the same scope, frequencies and inclusions
Frequently asked questions
Is our school a labour hire host if we pay a company to supply cleaners?
Probably. Labour Hire Authority guidance says a school that pays a company to supply cleaners is likely to be a labour hire host under Victorian law. Hosts must only use licensed providers, so check the provider on the public register before engaging them.
Should we recheck a contractor's licence after we sign?
It's good practice. Check the register before you engage a provider and keep a record, then check again at contract renewal or when the arrangement changes. Certificates of currency are also issued for a set period, so ask for updated copies when they roll over.
How many quotes should we get?
Follow your organisation's procurement policy. Victorian councils must prepare and adopt one under the Local Government Act 2020, and many schools and businesses set their own quotation thresholds. Whatever the number, give every contractor the same scope.
Can a contractor use the same safety document for every site?
Not without tailoring. WorkSafe Victoria's guidance says a generic SWMS must be reviewed on site, include the relevant high risk construction work and risks, and have irrelevant content removed. For ordinary cleaning, ask for a risk assessment or JSEA that reflects your site's actual hazards.
Discuss your facility with us
Brightest Property Services is based in Morwell and provides commercial cleaning services across Gippsland, the Latrobe Valley, regional Victoria and selected Greater Melbourne locations.
If you're choosing a commercial cleaning contractor for the first time, preparing to go to market, or reviewing a contract that isn't performing, we can talk through your site and requirements and prepare a tailored proposal. Current insurance and licensing documentation can be provided on request.
Discuss your facility requirements and request a proposal
Sources
Legal and regulatory statements in this article are general information, not legal advice. They are drawn from the following sources, reviewed on 16 September 2026.
- Labour Hire Authority (Victoria) — Commercial cleaning industry
- Labour Hire Authority (Victoria) — Do commercial cleaners need a labour hire licence?
- Labour Hire Authority (Victoria) — Host
- Labour Hire Authority (Victoria) — School hosts
- WorkSafe Victoria — Do I need to register for WorkCover insurance?
- Victorian Government — Working with Children Check legislation
- Victorian Government — Organisations' legal obligations for the Working with Children Check
- Victorian Government — Do I need a Working with Children Check?
- WorkSafe Victoria — Summary of the OHS Act 2004: general duties
- WorkSafe Victoria — Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS)
- WorkSafe Victoria — Safety data sheets
- WorkSafe Victoria — Hazardous substances
- ACCC — Environmental and sustainability claims
- JASANZ — Certified organisations register