How much does strata cleaning cost in Coogee?

Lot count is the figure every committee quotes, and it is one of the weaker predictors of cost. What actually sets the price is the amount of common area a cleaner has to physically walk, the number of wet areas, and how much external surface is exposed to the weather. A twenty-lot block laid out as two stairwells with no lift is cheaper to service than a fourteen-lot block with a lift, a basement car park and a pool surround.

In Coogee specifically, the exposure component is unusually heavy. Blocks between Arden Street and Dolphin Street carry salt load on their glass and metalwork, and their lobbies take sand and wet feet from the beach all summer. That is real labour, and a quote that ignores it is a quote that will be renegotiated in six months.

A small walk-up of eight to twelve lots with one stairwell, no lift and street-level bins usually lands around $300 to $450 a month for two visits a week. The scope is lobby, stairs, letterbox area, bin store and a fortnightly glass wipe.

A mid-size block of eighteen to twenty-four lots with a lift and a basement car park sits closer to $700 to $1,100 a month at the same frequency, because the lift car, the basement sweep and the larger bin room add real hours. Blocks in this bracket with beach-facing glass often add a monthly external glass visit on top.

A larger complex of forty-plus lots with multiple entries, a pool and visitor parking generally moves to a five-day program and a dedicated cleaner rather than a roving crew, and prices are quoted as a fixed monthly figure rather than by the hour. That is usually better value per lot, but only if the scope is written properly.

The most common failure in strata quoting is not price, it is scope silence. A quote that says common areas cleaned twice weekly has told the committee nothing. It does not say whether the lift tracks are included, whether the bin room is hosed or just swept, whether external glass is in scope, or what happens to the car park.

The second failure is consumables. Some quotes include bin liners, hand soap and chemical, some do not, and the difference across a year on a large block is not trivial. Ask for it in writing.

The third is the escalation clause. Cleaning is a labour cost and the Cleaning Services Award moves every July. A contract with no stated escalation mechanism is a contract that will be reopened at short notice, usually at a worse time for the committee than a scheduled review would be.

Ask for a room-by-room scope with frequencies against each line, a certificate of currency for public liability and workers compensation, confirmation that cleaners hold current police checks, and a sample of the sign-off sheet left after each visit. Ask what the notice period is — month-to-month with thirty days is fair to both sides and removes the argument for a long lock-in.

Finally, ask how the provider handles a complaint from a lot owner. In strata the complaint path matters more than in any other type of site, because the person who notices the problem is rarely the person who signs the invoice.