Budget between $270 and $700 for a professional end of lease clean, depending on property size, with a national average sitting around $490. A studio or one-bedder starts near the bottom of that range; a four-bedroom house with multiple bathrooms and a filthy oven pushes toward the top.
The one thing that actually protects your bond: skip hourly quotes and get a written, GST-inclusive flat price that lists every add-on before the cleaner sets foot inside.
- Studio/1-bed: roughly in the range typical for studios and one-bedrooms
- 2-bed: roughly in the range typical for two-bedrooms
- 3-bed: roughly in the range typical for three-bedrooms
- 4+ bed: roughly in the range typical for four or more bedrooms
- Ask for a fixed price with a bond-back guarantee attached, not a per-hour estimate
Key Takeaways
Fixed-price, GST-inclusive quotes with a bond-back guarantee are the safest way to budget for an end of lease clean and avoid unexpected bond deductions.
| Point | Details |
|---|---|
| National average sits near $490 | Base prices run from around $270 for a studio to $700+ for a 4+ bed house. |
| Bathrooms cost more than bedrooms | Cleaners price bathrooms heavily due to grout, tile, and shower labour time. |
| Fixed price beats hourly | Only 17% of quotes are flat fee, yet they shift scope-overrun risk off the tenant. |
| Guarantee window matters | A 72 hour to 7 day bond-back guarantee usually costs less than a re-clean. |
| Grime Scene Services offers guaranteed packages | Its Deep Decontamination and Bond or Vacate cleans use flat pricing, GST invoices, and eco-friendly agents. |
Table of Contents
- How much does an end of lease clean cost by property size?
- What does a standard end of lease clean actually include?
- What pushes an end of lease cleaning quote higher?
- Flat fee or hourly: which pricing model protects your bond?
- What should you ask for when requesting a cleaning quote?
- Why a professional eco-friendly clean often beats the alternative
- How to book Grime Scene Services for your end of lease clean
- Sources
How much does an end of lease clean cost by property size?
Property size is the single biggest lever on price, and the numbers back that up clearly. hipages lists sample package benchmarks for studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom, and four-bedroom properties. Those are base clean prices before any add-ons get tacked on.
Where you live shifts those numbers too. CleaningSearch's city-by-city data shows Sydney and Canberra sitting at the higher end of every band, driven by labour costs and rent levels that push up what cleaners need to charge.
The catch is that base price rarely reflects what you'll actually pay. ServiceSeeking's 2026 dataset puts the average total job cost at $490, once add-ons are folded in, with an average hourly rate of $88 for the jobs still quoted that way. Carpet steam cleaning and a proper oven detail are the two extras that most reliably tip a quote from the low end of its band to the high end, sometimes adding $100 or more to the final invoice.
What does a standard end of lease clean actually include?
A base-price quote should cover a defined scope, not a vague promise to "clean everything." Here's what's typically bundled into the standard job, drawn from the checklist hipages uses to benchmark its own packages:
- Kitchen benchtops, cupboards inside and out, splashback, and sink degreasing
- Bathroom scrub, including tiles, grout, shower screen, and toilet
- Full vacuum and mop of all hard floors and carpeted areas
- Skirting boards and door frames wiped down throughout
- Internal window tracks and sills cleaned (not the glass itself, in most quotes)
- Light fittings, switches, and power points wiped free of dust and grime
What usually costs extra: external window washing, gutter clearing, full wall washing, and heavy mould remediation. Oven and rangehood deep cleans are often listed separately too, even though tenants assume they're included.
Property managers tend to focus their final inspection on three spots tenants forget: inside the oven, behind the fridge, and the bathroom exhaust fan. It's worth running through a bathroom staging and cleanliness checklist before your cleaner even arrives, so nothing gets flagged on the day.
What pushes an end of lease cleaning quote higher?
Bedrooms get the headlines, but bathrooms do more damage to your wallet. Industry pricing practice treats bathroom count as a stronger multiplier than bedroom count, because tile grout, shower recesses, and toilets are simply more labour-intensive per square metre than an empty bedroom.
The other big swing factor is condition. A property that's been lived in hard, with years of grime buildup in corners and behind appliances, often gets a revised quote once the cleaner sees it in person. This is the scope creep tenants complain about most, and it's exactly why photos matter before you book.
Other line items that move the price:
- Carpet steam cleaning, priced per bedroom in most quotes, plus flea treatment if pets lived on-site
- Oven and rangehood deep clean, commonly charged separately from the base package
- Mould treatment in bathrooms or window frames, especially in humid coastal suburbs
- Short-notice bookings, tight parking, or building access restrictions (lifts, security check-ins)
- Regional location, with rural and outer-metro jobs sometimes carrying a travel surcharge
Pro Tip: Take dated photos of your oven, carpets, and bathroom before requesting quotes. Cleaners price more accurately from photos than from a phone description, and it stops any surprise "extra work" fee on the day.
Flat fee or hourly: which pricing model protects your bond?
Fixed-price quotes are the safer bet for almost every end of lease job, and the reasoning is straightforward: a flat price puts the risk of unexpected extra work on the cleaner, not on you. If the property turns out grimier than expected, that's their problem to absorb, not an invoice line you argue over afterwards.
Hourly pricing still shows up often. ServiceSeeking's data shows 74% of quotes in Australia are hourly rather than fixed, against only 17% offered as a flat job price, with the average hourly rate sitting at $88. If you can't avoid an hourly arrangement, insist on a capped maximum and a written scope of exactly what's covered within that cap.
Two things to confirm before you book:
- The quote is GST-inclusive and comes with a proper tax invoice, so you're comparing total costs apples to apples
- The cleaner offers a bond-back guarantee, typically valid for 72 hours to 7 days after the job, covering a free re-clean if the property manager flags an issue
What should you ask for when requesting a cleaning quote?
Getting an accurate quote comes down to giving the cleaner enough detail upfront and asking the right questions back. Here's the practical order to work through:
- Supply an accurate bedroom and bathroom count, plus whether carpets, pets, or a garage are involved
- Send photos of the kitchen, bathrooms, and any carpeted rooms so the quote reflects real condition
- Ask exactly what's included in the base price and what counts as an add-on
- Confirm the bond-back guarantee terms, including how many days it's valid and what triggers a free re-clean
- Check cancellation and rescheduling terms, particularly if your move-out date shifts
- Confirm the price is GST-inclusive and that you'll receive a tax invoice
For heavily soiled or unusual properties, request an on-site estimate rather than relying purely on photos. Whatever you agree to, get the scope and price in writing. If a cleaner asks for payment before giving you a detailed written scope, ask for one anyway. A short document you can hand a property manager at final inspection settles disputes fast.
Why a professional eco-friendly clean often beats the alternative
A failed inspection costs more than most tenants expect, both in time and money, and re-cleans arranged by a property manager typically land at a worse rate than one you book yourself. That's the real comparison worth making, not "clean it yourself for free" versus "pay a cleaner."
Grime Scene Services built its Scene Reset protocol around exactly this problem: a documented, guaranteed clean using non-toxic, bleach-free agents that neutralise buildup rather than mask it, which matters for short-term rentals and family homes alike.
A guaranteed clean removes the guesswork from bond return. You know the scope, you know the price, and you know it's covered if the property manager disagrees.
The eco-friendly angle isn't just a nice-to-have either. It means no chemical residue left behind for the next tenant or, in short-term rental turnovers, for the next guest walking in an hour later.
A quick note before you book
Fixed-price plus a genuine bond-back guarantee is the combination that actually protects your money, not the cheapest hourly rate you can find. A re-clean or bond deduction almost always costs more than the guarantee surcharge did in the first place. If you want to skip the quote-comparison hassle entirely, the booking details are below.
— Lead
How to book Grime Scene Services for your end of lease clean
Grime Scene Services runs two packages that cover most end of lease scenarios. The Deep Decontamination Full Sweep suits properties with heavier grime buildup, pet residue, or a kitchen and bathrooms that haven't seen a proper deep clean in a while. For a standard turnover, the Bond or Vacate Clean package is built specifically for move-out inspections.
Every quote comes as a flat price, not an hourly guess, with GST included and a proper tax invoice on completion. That's paired with a bond-back guarantee window so if your property manager flags something at inspection, it gets sorted without you paying for a second cleaner. All jobs use non-toxic, bleach-free agents, which matters if you've got pets, kids, or you simply don't want chemical residue lingering in your old bathroom.
Booking is straightforward: request a written quote with your bedroom and bathroom count and any known problem areas, confirm which add-ons (carpets, oven, mould treatment) you need included, then lock in an inspection date that gives the guarantee window time to run before keys are handed back. Landlords weighing up the retention value of a properly documented clean can see the broader case in this guide to deep cleaning and lease renewals.
Sources
- End of Lease Cleaning Cost in Australia 2026 — ServiceSeeking
- Bond cleaning calculator and price list (CleaningSearch)