Periodic and project work
Make Good and Exit Cleaning Contractors in Sydney
Exit and make-good cleaning for Sydney tenancies, worked against the list the person doing the inspection is actually holding. Commercial exits cleaned after strip-out, with a plain answer about where the cleaning obligation ends and the construction obligation begins; residential vacates against the agent's condition report.
- Worked item by item against your agent's or landlord's list
- Commercial make-good: we say which parts are a builder's job
- Scheduled after the strip-out, never around it
- Free rectification of any in-scope item raised at inspection
Engagement summary
- Roster window
- Booked to your handover
- Insurance
- $20m public liability, certificate on file
- Turnaround
- Written submission inside 24 hours
- Agreement
- Rolling, 30 days notice either way
What does a make good cleaning contractor do, and where does the obligation end?
A make good cleaning contractor cleans a premises being vacated so that it can be handed back in the condition the lease requires. In a residential tenancy that work is performed against the exit condition report and is a condition of the bond being released in full.
A commercial make-good is a broader lease obligation and cleaning is only one part of it. A make-good clause commonly also requires removal of fit-out, patching and painting, reinstatement of ceiling tiles and floor coverings, and capping of services — work performed by builders and licensed trades, not by cleaners. The cleaning component is performed after the strip-out is complete, because a tenancy cleaned around a fit-out will not pass a handover inspection.
Clean Best works against the exit checklist or the make-good clause you supply, states in writing which items fall outside a cleaning scope, and quotes a fixed figure within 24 hours on 1300 494 983.
- Contract cleaning since 2015Holding scopes across Sydney since 2015
- Police-checked cleanersInducted for offices, warehouses, strata, clinics and campuses
- $20m public liabilityCertificate of currency supplied before the first shift
- Written submission inside 24 hoursScope, roster and fixed price, all in writing
The detail
A make good cleaning contractor whose handovers actually pass
The single most expensive mistake tenants and tenancy managers make when engaging a make good cleaning contractor in Sydneyis assuming the cleaner’s list and the inspector’s list are the same list. They almost never are. Every agent has their own checklist, every landlord has their own make-good clause, and the only document that matters at handover is the one being held by the person walking the premises. So that is the one we work from.
Send us the actual checklist
Not a description of it. The document. We work through it item by item, in the order it is written, so that at handover the inspector is ticking rather than finding. And where the list contains something we do not perform — pest control, carpet repair, gardening, a builder’s patching job — we tell you in writing before you engage us, so you can appoint that trade separately instead of discovering the gap at the worst possible moment.
The make-good line, and why it matters financially
Commercial make-good clauses are usually written by lawyers and read by nobody until the last month of the lease. They routinely require removing the fit-out, patching and painting, reinstating ceiling tiles and floor coverings, and capping services — none of which is cleaning, all of which some contractors will happily quote for. We read the clause, tell you plainly where the cleaning obligation ends and the construction obligation begins, and quote only our side of the line. Paying a cleaning contractor to do a builder’s job is a mistake you only get to make once per lease.
We clean after the strip-out, not around it
A tenancy cleaned while the fit-out is still in it has been cleaned around the fit-out, and no inspection anywhere will pass it. Strip-outs slip — that is simply what strip-outs do — and when yours does, tell us and we will move the booking. What we will not do is turn up on the original date, clean around a pile of workstations, invoice you for it and leave you needing a second clean. That is a trick, not a service.
Rectification, and the honest limits of it
If the final inspection raises something that was inside the scope we were engaged for, we come back and put it right at no charge. That is what a competent contractor offers and you should be sceptical of one who does not. What we will not do is absorb an item we told you in writing was outside the scope. If the agent’s list included a task we flagged as ours-not-to-do, and you chose not to appoint anybody to it, that outcome sits with you — and we will have said so before you paid us a cent.
Carpet, and the difference between dirty and worn
Where the lease requires professional carpet cleaning, we perform hot- water extraction rather than a token pass, and it appears as its own line on the quote because some leases require a receipt for it specifically. What extraction cannot do is repair carpet. Abraded pile, permanent dye damage and delamination are condition issues, not cleanliness issues, and they belong in a make-good negotiation with the landlord rather than on a cleaning invoice. We will tell you which one you have when we look at it.
What it costs to find out
An inspection of the actual condition — because a neglected tenancy and a well-kept one are entirely different jobs at the same floor area. Your checklist worked item by item, anything outside scope flagged in writing, and a fixed figure back within 24 hours. Call 1300 494 983 and send us the list.
Commercial exits
The handover file, and the argument you get to skip
Commercial handovers go wrong in the gap between what was agreed and what anyone can prove. The landlord's representative walks the tenancy, forms a view, and the negotiation that follows is decided by whoever has a document. If your only evidence is an invoice that says 'cleaning', you are going to lose it.
So we produce a written record of what was performed, item by item against the list, and hand it to you for the handover file. It costs us an hour and it has settled more make-good disputes than any amount of arguing. Where a builder's item was outside our scope, that is in the record too — which is exactly as useful to you when the conversation turns to who was responsible for what.
- Written record of every item performed, for the handover file
- Out-of-scope items documented before the work, not after
- Coordinated around the builder's programme on a make-good
- Free rectification of in-scope items raised at inspection
Scope of works
What sits in an end of lease cleaning scope
The shape a typical exit clean takes. Yours is written from your agent's checklist or your make-good clause — this is the baseline, not the list.
- Work the agent's or landlord's exit checklist item by item, in the order it is written
- Kitchen: oven interior, racks and trays, range hood and filter, cooktop, splashback, cupboards inside and out
- Kitchen: benchtops, sink, taps, dishwasher interior and seals, fridge cavity, skirting behind appliances
- Bathrooms and wet areas: shower screens descaled, grout, tiles, tapware, basins, vanity inside and out, exhaust fan cover
- Toilets: pan, seat, cistern, base and the floor around them, which is where inspections always look
- Walls: spot-clean marks and scuffs where cleaning will lift them; patching and painting flagged as a trade item
- Windows internally, sills, tracks and flyscreens where accessible from the ground
- Doors, door frames, architraves, skirting boards and light switches
- Wardrobes, cupboards and built-ins cleaned inside, shelving wiped, tracks cleared
- Floors: hard floors mopped, carpet vacuumed and extracted where the lease requires it, as a separate visible line
- Commercial tenancies: kitchen, amenities, end-of-trip facilities, entry glass and floors after the strip-out
- Provide a written record of what was performed, item by item, for the handover file
Outside our scope and flagged before you engage us: pest control, carpet repair or replacement, patching and painting, wall and ceiling reinstatement, gardening, rubbish removal beyond the cleaning, and any licensed trade required by a make-good clause.
Commercial terms
How an end of lease clean gets priced
Three shapes of job. Condition drives the figure far more than floor area does — a neglected tenancy and a well-kept one are different jobs at identical size.
Residential vacate
An apartment or house being handed back to an agent, worked against the exit condition report.
- Every item on the agent's checklist, worked in order
- Oven, range hood, cupboards inside and out, wet areas
- Carpet extraction as a separate, visible line where required
- Return and rectify at no charge if the inspection raises a scope item
Fixed figure, issued in writing before mobilisation.
Commercial tenancy exit
An office, suite or retail tenancy being vacated, cleaned after the strip-out and before the handover inspection.
- Scheduled after the fit-out is removed, not around it
- Floors taken back to the substrate condition where required
- Kitchen, amenities and end-of-trip facilities detailed
- Written record of what was done, for the handover file
Fixed figure, issued in writing before mobilisation.
Industrial or large make-good
A warehouse, showroom or multi-floor tenancy where the cleaning is one component of a broader make-good obligation.
- Cleaning component scoped clearly against the lease obligation
- Machine floor work, racking removal residue, dock and yard
- Coordinated around the builder's programme, not against it
- Plain advice on which items are a builder's job, not ours
Fixed figure, issued in writing before mobilisation.
Free site walk, then a written scope and fixed price inside 24 hours.
Mobilisation
How an exit clean gets booked
Four stages, and the first thing we want is the list somebody will be holding at the inspection.
- Stage 1
Send the checklist and the handover date
Call 1300 494 983 with the agent's exit list or the make-good clause, the real handover date, and the actual state of the site.
- Stage 2
We look at the condition, not the floor area
A neglected tenancy and a well-kept one are different jobs at the same size. We quote what is in front of us, and we say what is out of scope.
- Stage 3
Fixed figure against the list
Within 24 hours: the checklist worked item by item, anything we do not perform flagged in writing, and a fixed price.
- Stage 4
Clean after the strip-out, then hand over
We attend once the site is genuinely vacated. If the inspection raises a scope item, we return and rectify at no charge.
FAQ
Make good and exit cleaning: what tenants and property teams ask
The questions worth asking before you book an exit clean you are relying on.
What is the difference between a bond clean and a commercial make-good?
A bond clean is worked against the residential condition report and aims to return the premises to the state recorded at entry, fair wear and tear excepted. A commercial make-good is a lease obligation that can extend far beyond cleaning — removing fit-out, patching and painting, reinstating ceiling tiles and floor coverings, capping services. We do the cleaning component of a make-good to a very high standard, and we tell you plainly which parts of your obligation are a builder's job rather than ours.
Do you work from the agent's exit checklist or your own?
Theirs. Every agent and every landlord has a slightly different list, and the only list that matters is the one the person doing the final inspection is holding. Send it with the brief. We work against it item by item, and if it contains something we do not do — pest control, carpet repair, gardening — we will say so up front so you can appoint it separately rather than finding the gap at handover.
What happens if the final inspection raises something?
We come back and rectify it at no charge, provided it falls inside the scope we were engaged for and you tell us within a reasonable window of the inspection. That is a genuinely normal thing for a competent contractor to offer, and you should be wary of anybody who will not. What we will not do is absorb an item that was never in the scope — if the agent lists a task we told you in writing we do not perform, that remains yours.
Can you clean a tenancy that still has fit-out or furniture in it?
We can, but the result will be a clean around the fit-out, not a clean of the premises, and no inspection will pass it. So we schedule after the site is vacated and stripped. If the strip-out is running late — as strip-outs do — tell us and we will move the booking rather than turning up, cleaning around a pile of workstations, and invoicing you for something that has not achieved anything.
Do you clean carpets as part of an end of lease clean?
Where the lease or the checklist requires professional carpet cleaning, yes, and we perform it as hot-water extraction rather than a token pass. It is priced as a separate line so you can see it, because it is real work — and because some leases require a receipt for it specifically. What we cannot do is repair worn or damaged carpet: if the pile is abraded or a section is stained beyond recovery, that is a make-good negotiation, not a cleaning one.
How much notice do you need for a handover date?
A week is comfortable, and two is better if the site is large or the strip-out is complex. We can move faster when a handover date is fixed and non-negotiable — we do it regularly, because commercial handovers slip and then suddenly do not. Tell us the real date and the real state of the site and we will tell you honestly whether we can hit it. What we will not do is take the booking and hope.
How does a make good cleaning contractor price a Sydney handover?
There is no figure on this page, because the state of the premises drives it far more than the size does. A tenancy handed back in good order and one that has been neglected for five years are different jobs at identical floor areas. We attend, look at the actual condition, work through the checklist you send us, and give you a fixed figure in writing within 24 hours.
Related scopes
Scopes commonly booked alongside an exit clean
One contractor, one invoice, and a written record of all of it.
Appoint a make good cleaning contractor whose handovers have nothing to find
Send us the checklist and the real handover date. Fixed figure in writing within 24 hours, and we come back if an in-scope item is raised. Call 1300 494 983.