In-House vs Outsourced Cleaning: Which is Cheaper for Irish Businesses?

The Real Question: What Does In-House Cleaning Actually Cost?

Most Irish businesses considering in-house cleaning look at the hourly wage and stop there. A cleaner at €13.50–€14.50 per hour seems cheaper than an outsourced cleaning company quoting €14–€18 per hour. But this comparison is fundamentally flawed because the hourly wage is only the starting point for in-house costs. The true cost includes a raft of mandatory employer obligations, equipment, consumables, insurance, supervision, and contingency cover that most businesses fail to account for until it is too late.

This guide breaks down every cost element for both models so you can make an informed, like-for-like comparison. All figures are based on Irish employment law, Revenue obligations, and current market rates as of 2026.

In-House Cleaning: The Full Cost Breakdown

1. Base Salary

The national minimum wage in Ireland from 1 January 2026 is €13.50 per hour. In Dublin and other urban centres, you will need to pay €14.00–€14.50 to attract and retain cleaning staff. For this analysis, we will use €14.00 per hour as a realistic baseline.

For a cleaner working 20 hours per week (a common arrangement for a medium office), the annual base salary is:

• €14.00 × 20 hours × 52 weeks = €14,560 per year

2. Employer PRSI

As an employer, you must pay employer PRSI (Pay Related Social Insurance) on all employee earnings. The employer PRSI rate is 11.05% of gross pay for employees earning above €441 per week. For our cleaner:

• €14,560 × 11.05% = €1,609 per year

This is a mandatory cost that does not exist when you outsource cleaning. The outsourced provider pays PRSI on their employees, and it is built into their quote.

3. Annual Leave

Under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, employees are entitled to a minimum of 20 days paid annual leave per year (for those working at least 1,365 hours), or 8% of hours worked if less. For our 20-hour-per-week cleaner:

• 20 days × 4 hours per day = 80 hours of paid leave
• 80 hours × €14.00 = €1,120 per year

During annual leave, you either have no cleaning or you pay for temporary cover — adding further cost.

4. Public Holidays

Ireland has 10 public holidays per year. Employees who normally work on a public holiday are entitled to either a paid day off, an additional day of annual leave, an additional day’s pay, or a paid day off within a month. For a part-time cleaner, the entitlement is calculated pro-rata:

• 10 days × 4 hours × €14.00 = €560 per year

5. Statutory Sick Leave

Under the Sick Leave Act 2022, employees in Ireland are entitled to paid sick leave. From 2026, this is up to 10 days per year at 70% of gross pay (capped at €110 per day). Cleaning roles have above-average absence rates due to the physical nature of the work. Industry data suggests cleaning staff average 6–10 sick days per year. Using 8 days:

• 8 days × 4 hours × €14.00 × 70% = €314 per year (statutory sick pay)
• Replacement cover for those 8 days (agency or overtime) at €16–€20/hr: €512–€640 per year

Total sick leave cost: approximately €826–€954 per year.

6. Equipment Costs

In-house cleaning requires you to purchase, maintain, and replace equipment. Typical annual costs for a single-site operation:

• Vacuum cleaner (commercial grade): €400–€800, replaced every 2–3 years
• Floor scrubber/polisher: €1,500–€4,000 (if applicable), replaced every 5–7 years
• Mop systems, buckets, trolleys: €300–€600, replaced annually
• Maintenance and repairs: €200–€400 per year

Amortised annual equipment cost: €800–€2,000 per year, depending on premises size and type.

7. Chemicals and Consumables

Cleaning chemicals, bin liners, hand soap, paper towels, toilet rolls, and other consumables are a significant ongoing cost. For a medium office (500–1,500 sqm):

• Cleaning chemicals: €100–€250 per month
• Consumables (paper products, bin liners, hand soap): €150–€350 per month

Annual cost: €3,000–€7,200 per year. Some outsourced providers include chemicals in their rate; others charge separately. Always clarify what is included in outsourced quotes.

8. Insurance

Employing cleaners directly requires:

• Employer liability insurance: mandatory in Ireland, typically €13M cover. The additional premium for cleaning staff: €400–€1,200 per year depending on your insurer and claims history.
• Public liability insurance: your existing policy must cover cleaning activities (slips, falls, chemical damage). If cleaning is not listed as a covered activity, you may need an endorsement: €200–€500 per year.

Annual insurance uplift: €600–€1,700 per year.

9. Management and Supervision Time

Someone in your organisation must manage the cleaner: setting standards, checking work, handling complaints, ordering supplies, managing leave requests, conducting performance reviews, and dealing with HR issues. For a facilities manager or office manager earning €45,000–€55,000 per year, even 2–3 hours per week of cleaning management represents:

• 2.5 hours × 52 weeks × €25/hr (loaded cost) = €3,250 per year

This is an opportunity cost — time your manager could spend on higher-value activities.

10. Recruitment and Training

Staff turnover in the cleaning industry is high — typically 30–50% per year for in-house roles. Each time a cleaner leaves, you incur:

• Job advertising: €200–€500
• Interview time (manager): 3–5 hours at €25/hr = €75–€125
• Garda vetting: €0 (free through the National Vetting Bureau) but 2–4 weeks processing time
• Induction and training: 8–16 hours at €14/hr = €112–€224, plus supervisor time
• Reduced productivity during training period: 2–4 weeks

Assuming one replacement per year: €500–€1,000 per year in direct costs, plus the quality dip during the vacancy and training period.

11. Absenteeism and Cover

Beyond statutory sick leave, there are days when your cleaner simply cannot attend — family emergencies, transport issues, appointments. Unlike an outsourced provider that has a pool of trained relief staff, when your in-house cleaner is absent, you either go without cleaning or scramble for agency cover at premium rates (€18–€25/hr). Over a year, expect 3–5 additional absence days beyond sick leave:

• 4 days × 4 hours × €20 (agency rate) = €320 per year

Total In-House Cost Summary

For a single cleaner working 20 hours per week in a medium Irish office, the fully loaded annual cost is:

That €14.00 per hour cleaner actually costs your business €26–€33 per hour when all costs are included. This is the figure you should compare against outsourced cleaning quotes.

Outsourced Cleaning: What You Actually Pay

Professional cleaning companies in Ireland typically charge €12–€18 per hour for regular commercial cleaning. This rate is all-inclusive and covers:

• Staff wages and employer PRSI
• Annual leave and public holiday cover (seamless — you always have a cleaner)
• Sick leave and absence cover (relief staff deployed automatically)
• Cleaning equipment (provided and maintained by the cleaning company)
• Cleaning chemicals (typically included; confirm with provider)
• Public liability and employer liability insurance
• Garda vetting for all staff
• Supervision, quality audits, and account management
• Recruitment, training, and staff replacement

For the same 20 hours per week, outsourced cleaning costs:

• Low end: 20 hours × €14 × 52 weeks = €14,560 per year
• Mid-range: 20 hours × €16 × 52 weeks = €16,640 per year
• Premium: 20 hours × €18 × 52 weeks = €18,720 per year

Even at premium outsourced rates, you are paying €8,400–€19,700 less per year than the true cost of in-house cleaning.

Break-Even Analysis: When Does In-House Make Sense?

In-house cleaning can become cost-competitive when you have a high volume of cleaning hours concentrated at a single site, because the fixed costs (equipment, management, insurance) are spread across more productive hours. Here is the break-even analysis by weekly hours:

• Under 20 hours per week: Outsourcing wins decisively. Fixed costs per productive hour are too high for in-house.
• 20–40 hours per week: Outsourcing still wins in almost all cases. You typically need 1–2 part-time cleaners, creating coverage gaps and holiday/sickness complications.
• 40–60 hours per week: Getting closer to break-even. One full-time cleaner plus a part-time colleague. Management overhead and cover arrangements remain challenging.
• 60–80 hours per week: Potential break-even point, but only with excellent HR processes, low turnover, and dedicated supervision.
• 80+ hours per week: In-house can be competitive, but you now need a cleaning team (3+ staff), a supervisor, a relief roster, and a small warehouse for equipment and chemicals. You are effectively running a cleaning company within your business.

By floor area, the indicative break-even is approximately 3,000–5,000 sqm for standard office cleaning. Below 3,000 sqm, outsourcing is almost always cheaper. Above 5,000 sqm, in-house becomes viable but introduces significant operational complexity.

The Hidden Costs of In-House That Nobody Talks About

Absenteeism Risk

When your sole in-house cleaner calls in sick on Monday morning, who cleans the office? You have three options, all bad: nobody cleans (unacceptable for client-facing businesses), a manager does it (expensive and demoralising), or you call an agency at €18–€25 per hour with no guarantee of quality. An outsourced provider has a pool of trained, vetted relief staff who know commercial cleaning and can be deployed the same day.

Holiday Cover

Your cleaner is entitled to 20 days annual leave. That is four weeks with no cleaning, or four weeks of expensive agency cover. Many businesses simply go without cleaning during cleaner holidays — the first week is tolerable, but by week two, standards have visibly deteriorated. Outsourced providers seamlessly cover all holidays with trained relief staff at no additional cost.

Performance Management

What happens when your in-house cleaner is not performing? Most office managers and HR teams have no expertise in cleaning standards, making it difficult to set clear expectations, conduct meaningful inspections, or manage underperformance. The result is often a slow decline in standards with nobody feeling empowered to address it. Professional cleaning companies have dedicated supervisors and quality auditors who know exactly what “clean” looks like and can manage performance objectively.

Employment Law Exposure

As a direct employer, you take on all the obligations and risks of the employment relationship: unfair dismissal claims (up to 2 years’ salary), Workplace Relations Commission complaints, personal injury claims, and the administrative burden of payroll, tax returns, and HR compliance. With outsourced cleaning, the cleaning company is the employer and carries all these risks.

TUPE: Transfer of Undertakings Implications

If you currently have in-house cleaners and decide to outsource, or if you are switching from one outsourced provider to another, TUPE (European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003, S.I. No. 131/2003) is likely to apply. This means:

• Existing cleaning staff transfer to the incoming provider on their current terms and conditions.
• Staff cannot be dismissed solely because of the transfer.
• Both outgoing and incoming parties must consult with affected employees.
• Employee liability information must be provided to the incoming provider at least 2 weeks before transfer.

TUPE does not prevent you from outsourcing — it simply protects the affected employees during the transition. An experienced outsourced cleaning provider will manage the TUPE process as part of their mobilisation. For more detail, see our TUPE and cleaning contracts guide.

When In-House Cleaning Makes Sense

Despite the cost analysis favouring outsourcing in most scenarios, there are legitimate reasons to keep cleaning in-house:

• Security-sensitive environments — Government departments, data centres, or pharmaceutical facilities where controlling who enters the building is paramount. However, outsourced providers with security clearance processes can address this.
• Very large single-site operations — Factories, hospitals, or campuses with 80+ cleaning hours per week where you can justify a dedicated cleaning supervisor and build a self-sustaining team.
• Integrated FM roles — Where the “cleaner” also performs caretaking, post room, meeting room setup, and other facilities tasks that would be difficult to define in a cleaning contract.
• Cultural integration — Some organisations value having cleaning staff who are fully part of the team, attend company events, and feel a sense of belonging that outsourced arrangements may not provide.

Making the Decision: A Practical Framework

Ask yourself these five questions:

1. How many cleaning hours per week do I need? Under 60 hours: outsource. Over 80 hours: consider both options carefully.
2. Do I have someone to manage the cleaner? If your facilities manager or office manager is already stretched, adding cleaning supervision will degrade both roles.
3. Can I provide reliable cover? If you cannot seamlessly cover holidays, sickness, and absence, your cleaning will be inconsistent. Outsourced providers solve this automatically.
4. Do I want to own the employment relationship? Direct employment brings obligations, risks, and administrative burden. Outsourcing transfers all of this to the cleaning company.
5. What is my true cost? Use the table above to calculate your fully loaded in-house cost, then compare it honestly against outsourced quotes.

For further guidance on evaluating cleaning providers, see our cleaning specification guide and our guide to switching cleaning provider.