// AUSTRALIAN TRADIE RATES AND BENCHMARKS 2026
How much do cleaners charge per hour in Australia?
As of August 2026, self-employed professional cleaners in Australia charge $55 to $90 per hour, with a published national average of $55.37. A two-hour minimum booking is standard instead of a call-out fee, and end-of-lease cleans are usually fixed-price jobs, commonly $280 to $700.
Last updated: 7 August 2026. Sources: 5 industry datasets.
// THE DATA
Hourly rates in detail
For a self-employed professional cleaner the published band is $55 to $90 per hour (Airtasker, 3 Aug 2026), and Maid2Match's national average of $55.37 sits at the bottom of it. These figures describe insured, self-employed contractors, not the wages of employees inside cleaning companies.
You will also see $20 to $30 per hour advertised on marketplace listing pages. That is a lowest-bid headline which conflicts with the same marketplace's own dated 2026 pricing guides at $55 per hour and up, so this page treats it as a budget floor, not a going rate.
| Rate | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| National range | $55 to $90 per hour | Airtasker, 3 Aug 2026 (self-employed contractor rate) |
| National average* | $55.37 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 (single-sourced exact figure) |
| Sydney* | $62.40 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
| Melbourne* | $60.96 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
| Canberra* | $59.57 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
| Brisbane* | $58.02 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
| Perth* | $57.23 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
| Adelaide* | $54.64 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
| Hobart* | $49.61 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
| Darwin* | $47.48 per hour | Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026 |
Rows marked * are single-sourced; treat them as indicative rather than settled benchmarks.
Geographic rows show the average hourly rate by city (only per-city hourly table found; Darwin figure single-sourced) (Maid2Match, updated 29 Jun 2026).
Prices are what customers are quoted, including GST where the business is registered.
End-of-lease cleaning is its own market and mostly fixed-price: $280 to $700 fixed (Airtasker, 3 Aug 2026), with a $490 average job (ServiceSeeking, 4 Jun 2026). Where end-of-lease work is quoted hourly the average is about $88 per hour, and 74% of those quotes are hourly. The one-off clean table below is Airtasker's by-size pricing, single-sourced.
| Rate | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2 bedroom* | $120 to $240 | Airtasker, 03 Aug 2026 |
| 3 bedroom* | $150 to $280 | Airtasker, 03 Aug 2026 |
| 4 bedroom* | $160 to $320 | Airtasker, 03 Aug 2026 |
Rows marked * are single-sourced.
// MINIMUM CHARGES
Minimum charges
Cleaners do not charge call-out fees. The structural floor is a minimum booking instead, and a 2-hour minimum is standard (Maid2Match, single-sourced), so a 45-minute job is billed as two hours. The minimum exists because travel, parking and setup cost the cleaner the same whether the visit is short or long.
// THE COST FLOOR
Why rates are what they are: the cost floor
An employed cleaner's award minimum wage is $27.08 per hour (Fair Work, Cleaning Services Award 2020 (MA000022), 2026). The rate a cleaner business charges customers is $55 to $90 per hour. The difference pays for the ute, insurance, tools, super, unbillable hours and the business's risk.
The award minimum of $27.08 an hour becomes $30.33 with 12% super, and that is the cost before travel between jobs, supplies, insurance or unpaid admin. A cleaner charging $35 an hour keeps under $5 an hour to fund all of it, which is why professional rates sit at $55 and up.
The $30.33 employee-cost figure is a derivation, the award hourly rate multiplied by 1.12 for the Superannuation Guarantee, not a published statistic. Award classification: Cleaning services employee Level 1, full-time.
// FREE TOOL
Work out your own rate
At $55 to $90 an hour, the spread between a viable cleaning business and an underwater one is only a few dollars per hour. The calculator shows where your own floor sits once fuel, insurance, supplies and travel time between jobs are counted.
Charge-out rate and day rate calculator Opens with the cleaner preset loaded// COMMON QUESTIONS
Cleaner rate questions
Straight answers to the questions people actually search, from the same dataset as the tables above.
Get in touchHow much do cleaners charge per hour in Australia?
As of August 2026, self-employed professional cleaners charge $55 to $90 per hour, and the published national average is $55.37. City averages range from $62.40 in Sydney down to $47.48 in Darwin.
Why do some sites advertise cleaners at $20 to $30 an hour?
Those are lowest-bid marketplace headlines, not going rates. The same marketplace's dated 2026 pricing guides show effective rates of $55 per hour and up. Treat $20 to $30 as a budget floor that rarely reflects an insured, GST-registered cleaning business.
Do cleaners charge a call-out fee?
No. The standard structure is a minimum booking instead, most commonly two hours, so a one-hour job is billed as two. That floor covers travel and setup in the same way a call-out fee does for other trades.
How much does an end-of-lease clean cost?
Fixed prices commonly run $280 to $700, with the 2026 average job at about $490. Where end-of-lease cleans are quoted hourly, the average is about $88 per hour, and 74% of those quotes are hourly.
Do cleaners charge GST on top?
Quoted prices are generally GST-inclusive where the cleaning business is registered for GST, and this page shows prices as customers are quoted them. Some smaller sole traders are not registered, in which case no GST applies at all.
// METHODOLOGY & SOURCES
Sources and methodology
Ranges on this page combine 5 published Australian datasets and cost guides, cross-checked on 7 August 2026; award wage floors come from official Fair Work pay guides effective 1 July 2026. This page is part of the Australian Tradie Rates and Benchmarks dataset. This dataset is reviewed and republished every July following the Fair Work annual wage review.
- Airtasker, house cleaning cost guide
Page date: Updated 03 Aug 2026. Accessed 7 August 2026.
- Maid2Match, cost of house cleaning in Australia (vendor, tertiary)
Page date: Published 02 Jan 2026, updated 29 Jun 2026. Accessed 7 August 2026.
- ServiceSeeking, end-of-lease cleaning cost 2026
Page date: Published 04 Jun 2026. Accessed 7 August 2026.
- ServiceSeeking, house cleaning marketplace page (undated lowest-bid headline; excluded from headline figures)
Page date: Undated. Accessed 7 August 2026.
- Fair Work pay guide, MA000022 (effective 1 Jul 2026)
Page date: Pay guide dated 24 Jun 2026. Accessed 7 August 2026.
// KEEP EXPLORING