Australia · Trade press for cleaning contractors
The Australian journal of commercial cleaning
Cleaning ContractorsTenders, labour, chemicals, compliance and the contract book — written for people who run the job.
The briefing
Cleaning Contractors is a long-form journal for people who price square metres, roster night shifts, and sign service level agreements. We write in Australian English, for the trade, with the Fair Work award and the tender portal open on the desk.
Night sanitation crews work inside someone else's HACCP plan. Allergen changeovers, dry-clean rooms and export swabbing are the specification — USDA is not the Australian regulator.
6 August 2025Read the briefing
A contract book is not a van and a phone number. Due diligence is assignment clauses, transferring staff, WIP and the clients who will retender the week you settle.
23 July 2025
The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) bites at $100 million — and the questionnaire still lands on a three-van subcontractor because cleaning is how a reporting entity’s night shift is staffed.
16 July 2025
High-touch cleaning, a TGA-listed disinfectant used for the dwell on the label, and an outbreak clause you can actually staff — the rest of the pandemic theatre can leave the trolley.
2 July 2025
Master keys, swipe fobs and alarm codes are the job. Lost metal, shared PINs and an uncleared casual on a Sunday are how a cleaning contract becomes a break-in with your name on the log.
25 June 2025
Walking away is a commercial decision, not a tantrum. Red-flag specifications, unpaid variations, unsafe work and a price that cannot pay the Award are all reasons to stop — at bid stage, at renewal, or with proper notice mid-term.
18 June 2025
Strata managers write the tender; committees and residents write the complaints. Bins, foyers, gyms and after-hours access are the job, not a cheap add-on to an office rate.
12 June 2025
How Australian cleaning contractors read a specification, price a risk, and decide whether a tender is worth the paper.
Rosters, induction, subcontracting and the night shift — the work that happens after the contract is signed.
Machines, microfibre, SDS folders and the infection-control habits that survived the pandemic.
Heights, sharps, keys, workers compensation and the modern slavery statement that now sits next to the insurance certificate.
Square-metre rates, 30-day terms, retentions and the jump from two vans to a regional run.
Hospitals, schools, hotels, strata schemes and food plants each punish a contractor in a different way.