Daycare Cleaning Services Explained: Regulations, Costs & Benefits

Ashley Smith

Written by: Ashley Smith

Ashley is an accomplished writer with a B.A. in journalism from the University of NH. She reports on major developments across business, technology, and the professional cleaning industry.

Karen Lawes

Reviewed by: Karen Lawes Maguire

Karen is the founder and CEO of CleanerMatch.com, a leading cleaning industry website. With 10+ years experience, she's an expert on new cleaning technologies, regulations, and best practices.

Summary: Daycare Cleaning Prices

A daycare cleaning company will charge anywhere from $400 to $1000 per month for the average-size facility, depending on how many playrooms or classrooms you have, their size and condition and the frequency of cleaning. Hourly rates average around $40 to $60 per hour, per cleaner. Generally speaking, a daycare may require more cleaning than your average office space and the price will reflect that.

Daycare Cleaning Prices

Table of Contents

  1. Additional Cost Factors
  2. Real Life Daycare Cleaning Cost Examples
  3. Daycare Cleaning Challenges
  4. Daycare Cleaning Regulations
  5. Benefits of Hiring a Daycare Cleaning Service
  6. Hiring Tips
  7. Free Commercial Cleaning Estimates

Cleanliness is of tantamount importance for a daycare center. These facilities have specific regulations surrounding a variety of cleaning issues. Diaper changing stations, food prep areas, bathrooms, even the toys and educational activities have cleanliness standards.

In addition to ensuring the center meets these standards, it must also do so safely. This means not using chemicals dangerous to children, especially given the fact that small children frequently put things in their mouths that do not logically belong there. An inexperienced cleaning crew may inadvertently harm your children as well as your staff.

Additional Cost Factors

  • Additional Services: Some added costs may include laundry service for linens, cleaning outdoor play areas, cleaning kitchen appliances, and cleaning windows.
  • Factors Affecting Price: The main factors are the size of the daycare in square footage, number of rooms/area needing cleaning, frequency of cleaning, and what tasks are included in the contract. Location also impacts labor rates.
  • Contracts: Most daycares sign an annual cleaning contract to lock in consistent pricing. Contracts range from daily to a few days per week. Monthly billing is typical.
  • Insurance: Reputable daycare cleaning services should have general liability insurance and workers compensation in case of damages or injuries.
  • Supplies: Most providers supply their own commercial-grade, environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies designed for daycares.

Real Life Daycare Cleaning Cost Examples

"For my daycare center in Ohio with 4 classrooms, we pay a cleaning service $960 per month total to come in 5 days a week after hours. They vacuum, sanitize toys, clean bathrooms, etc."

"My home daycare in California has a professional cleaning crew that comes once a week to deep clean everything top to bottom. We pay $200 for each weekly visit."

"Our Florida preschool facility with 8 classrooms gets nightly cleaning service and pays $840 per week. The cleaners work 4 hours each night dusting, sweeping, sanitizing, etc."

"For my daycare in New York City, we hire cleaners to come 3 days a week after hours and do intensive cleaning with commercial equipment. We pay them $1,900 monthly."

"The licensed home daycare I run in Virginia gets a deep clean once a month on Saturdays and we pay the cleaning service $300 for each monthly visit."

The Unique Challenges in Cleaning Daycare Centers

Babies and toddlers tend to put everything in their mouths. This is natural. When learning, children use all of their senses, including taste.

An additional challenge is the amount of time children spend on the floor of a daycare or preschool. Add this to their tendency to taste everything, and the weaker immune system of a child, and you see how quickly airborne illnesses can spread through a childcare center.

Keeping the environment sanitized presents a special challenge, since typical cleaning products are incompatible with this environment. This is one of the reasons many professional cleaning companies use "green" materials when cleaning childcare facilities.

Understanding Childcare Center Regulations

Unfortunately, regulations around childcare centers vary by state, meaning there are no set federal guidelines. Each state even has its own department name. For example, in California, the Department of Social Services regulates daycare facilities, while Arizonans turn to the Department of Health Services.

Luckily, there is a simple way to discover your own state's regulatory body. The Public Health Law Center offers its users an interactive map. Just click on your state to learn the laws in your area and find the links to your local government websites.

The CDC website also provides a great resource on when and how to clean and disinfect your daycare facility. Since Covid-19, daycare cleaning companies have updated their procedures to include more detailed disinfecting efforts. You should be sure that the cleaning company you consider hiring uses Covid-19 approved disinfectants or cleaners.

Benefits to Outsourcing Cleaning Services

Many daycares choose to outsource their cleaning. Compared to in-house cleaning, a commercial cleaner is often the cheaper alternative.

With a commercial cleaner, you do not have to supply the daily cleaning checklist, cleaning materials or the equipment. You do not need to worry about people calling in sick, or taking personal leave. A commercial crew has the proper training to ensure your daycare center meets state regulations, and the professional equipment to do so efficiently. When you use your in-house staff to complete cleaning, you have the inconvenience of cleaning occurring during business hours, or else paying overtime for the employees performing these tasks. You also must pay the salary and benefits of these employees, plus purchase the equipment and cleaning supplies.

Finding a Commercial Cleaner

If you would like to learn more about hiring a commercial cleaning service, request a free quote today. To receive an accurate estimate, first answer the following questions:

  • Do you have any specific cleaning requests?
  • How large (in square feet) is your facility?
  • How many days a week do you need them to clean?
  • How many employees and children, on average, does your facility house every day?
  • What is the age and condition of your facility?

Compare quotes from at least three companies. Then, compare those costs to the costs of continuing to maintain your facility with in-house staff. Finally, do not sign a contract without a cancellation clause; this protects you in the event you are unsatisfied with their services.

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