Commercial cleaning is the professional cleaning of workplaces such as offices, retail sites, warehouses, schools and healthcare facilities, delivered under a contracted scope and schedule. It differs from domestic cleaning in scale, compliance and equipment. Commercial cleaners work to a documented room-by-room scope, carry public liability insurance and health and safety prequalification, and use industrial equipment across sites that are often serviced nightly.

A standard commercial contract covers the maintenance of a building – workstations, bathrooms, kitchens, hard floors and carpet, waste and recycling streams, and consumable restocking – on a periodic basis (i.e. daily, nightly). Specialist work sits alongside that contract, but can be implemented on a scheduled cycle, including services like carpet extraction, water blasting and exterior care, HVAC hygiene, pest control and height access glass cleaning.

TPS has been cleaning New Zealand commercial property for 40 years and is 100% New Zealand owned and operated, with cleaning, maintenance and height access delivered under one contract and one account manager.

Most New Zealand offices are cleaned three to five nights a week. Bathrooms and kitchens need servicing every day staff are on site, high touch points need daily attention, and periodic work such as carpet extraction, interior and exterior glass and hard floor restoration runs on a quarterly to annual cycle. Frequency should follow headcount and days occupied, not floor area.

Under about 10 people on site two or three days a week, a twice weekly service with a bathroom top up usually holds a site well. Above 20 people, or anywhere with a client-facing reception, food service or shared kitchen, nightly is the norm.

Hybrid working has changed the pattern more than anything else. Many sites now weight their schedule to the days people actually come in, with a heavier service Tuesday to Thursday and a lighter one on quiet days. We believe it’s best practice to review the schedule with you rather than leave it fixed over years to make sure you’re getting the right service over time.

A standard office cleaning contract includes workstations, desks and shared surfaces, bathrooms and kitchens, vacuuming and mopping, waste and recycling removal, high touch point sanitising such as door handles, light switches and keyboards, internal glass and reception presentation, and restocking of consumables. Carpet extraction, exterior windows, water blasting, HVAC hygiene and pest control are usually scheduled as separate services.

The detail that matters is the scope document. A written, room-by-room scope tells you what is cleaned, how often, and to what standard, and this is the only reliable way to compare two quotes.

TPS builds each scope around the site rather than a template, and clients can log requests and track requests through to completion.

A regular clean maintains a site on a set schedule. A deep clean is a periodic reset that reaches what routine cleaning cannot: carpet extraction, hard floor strip and seal, high dusting, vents, ledges and skirtings, upholstery, and full descaling of kitchens and bathrooms. Most offices need one or two deep cleans a year. High traffic sites such as hospitality, healthcare and childcare usually need one each quarter.

Deep cleans are quoted per job after a site visit rather than at an hourly contract rate, because the work is equipment-heavy and time-bound. Related one-off jobs including builders cleans, end of tenancy cleans and pre-opening cleans are priced in the same way.

Timing a deep clean against a lease event, an audit, a shutdown period or the start of a new contract is the cheapest way to buy one, because the site is empty and the crew can work in a single pass.

Both. Most New Zealand office contracts run after hours, generally from around 5pm, so cleaning does not disturb staff and floors and bathrooms can be serviced properly. Day cleaning during business hours is increasingly common for high touch point work, bathroom and kitchen servicing and reception presentation, and it is often the only option on sites with security restrictions on out of hours access.

Many buildings now run a split model: a light day service to keep bathrooms, kitchens and entrances presentable while people are in, and a full clean after hours. Weekend service is used where a site cannot be entered on weekdays or where periodic work needs an empty floor.

Whichever pattern you choose, access is the practical issue to settle early: keys and access cards, alarm codes and monitoring contacts, after hours building rules, and site inductions for every person who will be in the building. TPS is highly flexible, operating day, night and weekend schedules and runs a 24-hour line on 0800 868 251.

Ask for five things: current public liability insurance, health and safety prequalification and documented systems, ISO 9001 quality and ISO 14001 environmental certification, evidence that staff are vetted, inducted and trained, and a named person accountable for your site. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 you and your cleaning contractor hold overlapping duties, so their health and safety system is part of your risk.

TPS holds ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 accreditation, is a certified member of IRAANZ, the Industrial Rope Access Association of New Zealand, for height access work, runs documented hazard, incident and emergency systems plus refreshes role and health and safety training periodically, and carries out random drug and alcohol testing.

A commercial cleaning quote starts with a site walk-through so the scope can be measured room by room, and a written scope and price normally follows within a few working days. Most sites can be mobilised two to four weeks after the scope is signed, which allows time for any staff transfer, site inductions, access and security setup, and equipment and consumables to be put in place.

Bring four things to the walk-through and the quote will be far more accurate: floor plans with areas, headcount and the days people are actually on site, your current scope and cost, and any access, security or compliance requirements. If you are switching provider, check your current notice period and allow for the Part 6A transfer process.

To arrange a site visit, call TPS on 0800 868 251, which is answered 24 hours, or use the enquiry form. TPS services sites nationwide from Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.