Commercial Cleaner

A commercial cleaner maintains the cleanliness and hygiene of office buildings, retail spaces, hospitality venues, and other commercial facilities across multiple locations or shifts. They use industrial cleaning equipment, chemical solutions, and manual techniques to remove dirt, debris, and contaminants from floors, surfaces, fixtures, and waste areas while adhering to health and safety standards.

Operate floor cleaning machines including buffers, polishers, and vacuum cleaners to clean and maintain hard and carpeted surfaces. Mix, dilute, and apply commercial cleaning chemicals and disinfectants according to manufacturer instructions and safe handling protocols. Sweep, mop, and sanitise floors, corridors, and common areas in commercial premises. Empty and replace bin liners, segregate waste for recycling, and dispose of waste in accordance with local council regulations. Clean and sanitise bathrooms and toilet facilities, including toilets, basins, mirrors, and fixtures using appropriate disinfectants. Dust and wipe down desks, office furniture, shelving, and fittings in work areas. Clean windows, glass partitions, and glass doors using squeegees and window cleaning solutions. Report maintenance issues, hazards, and damage to facilities management or supervisors.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate I or compulsory secondary education (ABS skill level 5). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

The pay is low and won't climb much. The work is repetitive, physical, and often happens outside normal hours (early mornings, nights, weekends), which messes with your social life. Chemical exposure is a real concern if you don't follow safety rules strictly.

These jobs are concentrated in Australian capital cities and large regional centres where office buildings, shopping centres, and hospitality venues cluster. Practically speaking, commercial cleaning follows office space. Remote work doesn't apply. Regional areas have fewer positions unless there's a hospital or large retail precinct nearby.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 8112, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Clean toilet facilitiescore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Multitaskingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Active Listening
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
• Clean glass surfaces
• Cleaning industry health and safety measures
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
• Inventory Tracking
• Problem Solving
• Process Improvement Identification

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Commercial Cleaner workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026