Daycare Cleaning Contracts Guide
A daycare cleaning contract is the document you will reach for when something goes wrong: a missed night, a price rise, a cleaner you did not expect, a log that is not there when an officer asks. This guide is for directors and approved providers about to sign one, or renew one. It walks through the clauses that matter, what good wording looks like, the red flags to watch for, and the questions to ask before you commit. It sits with our other guides for childcare directors.
What should a daycare cleaning contract include?
A room-by-room scope with frequencies, the method and products, the records you will receive, checks and insurance for every cleaner, who exactly will do the work, the price and how it can change, extra work such as outbreaks, and the way out for both parties. Leave any of those vague and it tends to turn into a dispute later.
| Clause | What good looks like | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Every room and outdoor area named, tasks split into each visit, weekly and termly | "General cleaning of premises" |
| Method and products | Matches your cleaning policy; product register and safety data sheets supplied | Products "at contractor's discretion" |
| Records | Signed log each visit, kept on site, copies held by the cleaner | Logs kept only by the cleaner |
| People | Working with Children and police checks for every cleaner, a named regular team | "Staff as available" |
| Insurance | Public liability certificate supplied and renewed; workers' cover confirmed | Certificate "available on request" but never sent |
| Subcontracting | Not without your written approval | Silent on subcontracting |
| Price | Per visit, GST shown, notice before any increase | Increases "from time to time" |
| Ending it | A reasonable notice period, no exit fee | Long fixed term with penalties for leaving |
None of this is exotic. It is simply writing down what both sides already expect, so that nobody has to rely on memory when the person who agreed it has moved on. A good cleaner will be glad to have it in writing, because it protects them from being blamed for work they were never asked to do.
How do you review a cleaning contract before signing?
Start with your own cleaning policy, then check the contract against it line by line, confirm the people and paperwork, test the price against the hours involved, and read the exit clause before anything else is agreed. It takes an hour and saves a year of arguments.
- Start from your policy
Your cleaning policy sets the method and frequencies. The contract should match it, not replace it. Where they differ, decide which one changes before you sign.
- Check the scope room by room
Walk the building with the contract in hand. Every room, bathroom, change area, kitchen and outdoor space should appear, with its tasks and how often.
- Confirm people and paperwork
Ask for each cleaner's Working with Children Check details, confirmation of police checks, the public liability certificate and the product register before the first night.
- Test the price
Divide the price by the hours the work honestly needs. If the result is below what the award pays a cleaner, something will give.
- Read the exit clause
Know how much notice you must give, whether there are any fees, and what happens to keys and records at the end.
If your service has a committee or a board, share the draft with them before signing. A second reader catches different things, and it saves an awkward conversation if the contract later turns out to say something nobody expected.
How can you tell if the contract price is realistic?
Work backwards from wages. Most of a cleaning price is labour, and the Cleaning Services Award sets minimum pay, with higher rates for evening and weekend shifts. A price that cannot cover the award rate for the hours the building needs is a price that will not last, or a job that will not be done properly.
The award is published in full by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Since almost all childcare cleaning happens after close, the evening shift loading applies to nearly every hour worked, which puts a real floor under any honest quote. Weekend visits cost more again.
Very low quotes are worth questioning, gently, and in writing. Sometimes a cleaner has simply underestimated the building and will come back asking for more, or quietly cut tasks. Occasionally a low price depends on paying people less than they are owed. Neither is something you want your service's name attached to.
- How many hours a night have you allowed for our building?
- Are your cleaners employees or contractors?
- What happens to the price if we add a room?
- How much notice will you give before a price rise?
Which clauses do directors most often forget?
Outbreak cleaning, closed days, consumables, keys and alarm codes, and what happens when a night is missed. They rarely come up in the first conversation, and every one of them eventually matters.
- Outbreak cleaning
How fast they come, how it is priced, and that the price is agreed before anyone arrives.
- Closed days
Public holidays and closure days not charged when you give notice.
- Consumables
Who supplies paper towel, soap and bin liners, and how it is charged if the cleaner does.
- Keys and codes
Who holds them, how they are recorded, and how they come back at the end.
- Missed or poor work
How you report it, and a re-clean at no cost within a set time.
- Term break work
Deep cleans quoted separately, so the regular price stays clear.
A useful test for any clause you are unsure about: imagine the worst week of the year, with gastro in two rooms, a relief director and a cleaner off sick. If the contract tells everyone what happens that week, it is doing its job. If it is silent, add the missing sentence before you sign rather than after the week arrives.
What contract mistakes cost services the most?
Signing a long fixed term to get a lower price, accepting a scope that says "general cleaning", letting the cleaner keep the only copy of the logs, and never asking who will actually turn up. Each one hands away your ability to fix a problem quickly.
The fixed-term trap is the most common. A two or three year term with an exit fee looks like a good deal until the standard slips in month four and the only way out is to pay. A shorter notice period with no penalty keeps both sides honest, because the cleaner knows the work has to stay good.
The people trap is quieter. A contract that promises "trained staff" without naming a regular team means a different stranger in your building every few weeks, each learning the rooms from scratch. Ask who will come, and write in that changes to the regular team are notified to you in advance.
The records trap is the one that surfaces at assessment time. If the logs leave the building every night, you cannot show them to an officer who arrives on a Tuesday. Write into the contract that the signed original stays in your folder and the cleaner keeps a copy.
When should you get professional advice or a new quote?
Get legal advice for anything with a long term, an exit fee or unusual liability terms. Get fresh quotes when your current contract is up for renewal, when the standard has slipped, or when the price has risen without the scope changing. Comparing like with like needs the same scope in every quote.
This guide is general information, not legal advice, and contract law questions belong with a lawyer. For a short, plain agreement with a notice period and a clear scope, most directors are comfortable signing without a lawyer; for anything more complex, a brief review is money well spent.
Our childcare cleaning prices explain which factors raise or lower a quote, and what every price already includes.
Which contract questions do directors ask us?
Two that come up before almost every signature.
01How often should the contract say cleaning happens?
02Should the contract name the products used?
- Fair Work Ombudsman: Cleaning Services Award 2020 (MA000022), rates from 1 July 2026
- Staying Healthy (6th edition, NHMRC 2024), Table 3.1 cleaning frequencies
A contract you can actually read.
Named rooms, a fixed price, a notice period, no exit fee.