Why Childcare Centres Should Avoid Cleaning Companies That Subcontract

Here is how a lot of commercial cleaning is sold. A company with a good website and a sales team wins the contract. It then hands the site to a smaller company, or to an individual, for a lower price. Sometimes that business passes it on again. The centre signs with the first company and is cleaned by the last.

In an office, the cost of that arrangement is usually a dusty skirting board. In a childcare centre it is more serious. This post explains why, and how to find out whether a quote in front of you works this way.

Four reasons it goes wrong in childcare

1. You lose track of who is in the building

Your child safe policy depends on knowing who has a key. When a site is subcontracted, the company you vetted is not the one choosing the cleaner. Relief cleaners, sick-day cover and new starters are picked by a business you have never met. Its screening may be careful or careless, and you have no way of knowing which.

The child safety rules for cleaners assume you can name everyone who attends. A chain of subcontracts makes that hard to do honestly.

2. The hours shrink

Every layer takes a margin, and the money comes from the same place: the hours on site. If a centre pays for three hours a night and the subcontractor is paid for two, the clean will take about two hours. Nobody tells the centre. The sleep-room floor and the underside of the nappy-change bench just stop getting done.

This is the most common reason a cleaning contract that started well slides after a few months.

3. Nobody owns the problem

When the bathrooms are missed, you email your account manager. They email the subcontractor. The subcontractor messages the cleaner. The answer comes back the same way, and two days later the toilets are still not right. When an outbreak clean is needed at 4 pm, a chain is slow at exactly the moment you need speed.

A provider whose own people clean the site can act on the same evening, because the person who answers your call is the person who decides.

4. You may be breaking the law without knowing it

A Victorian centre using a cleaning company is a host under the labour hire scheme and must use licensed providers. From 1 October 2026 that clearly includes every business in the supply chain. If your cleaner's subcontractor is unlicensed, you carry the risk. See your centre as a labour hire host.

The underpayment the scheme was created to stop is also most common at the bottom of long chains. A cleaner who is being underpaid is unlikely to stay, so you get a new face every few months.

How to tell from the quote

Subcontracting is rarely stated. These are the signs:

• The price is well below the others with the same scope. A gap of 25% or more usually means fewer hours, a subcontract margin, or both.
• The cleaner's name is "to be confirmed". A provider that cleans with its own people can usually tell you who will attend before you sign.
• No supervisor is named, or the supervisor covers "the region".
• The contract allows assignment or subcontracting without your consent. Read the boilerplate.
• The proposal is about the company, its awards and its other clients, and says little about your rooms.

Questions that bring it out

Ask these in writing, and ask for written answers:

1. Who will clean our centre, and who pays them?
2. Will any part of our cleaning, including relief cover, be done by another business?
3. If so, which business, and what is its labour hire licence number?
4. Will you agree to a clause that bars subcontracting without our written approval?
5. Who do we call at 4 pm on a Tuesday if we need an outbreak clean tonight?

A provider that cleans with its own people will answer in a couple of lines. If the answers come back vague, or after a long pause, treat that as a no.

Is all subcontracting bad?

No. Specialist work, such as carpet extraction, high-level windows or pest control, is often done better by a specialist. The issue is the regular nightly clean being handed on without you knowing. The fix is simple: subcontracting only with your written approval, and only to licensed businesses you can check.

Where we stand

We do not subcontract our Victorian sites to other cleaning companies. The people who clean your centre are engaged directly by us, signed in and out on our app at your building every visit, and checked by our own supervisor on a regular inspection cycle. You can see who they are, and their Working with Children Check details, in our client portal. We will put this in writing in the contract.

If you are comparing providers, read how to compare childcare cleaning quotes next, or ask for a walkthrough.