Compare commercial cleaning quotes in Dublin
Dublin cleaning contracts carry obligations that are closely aligned with UK practice - Irish TUPE regulations, Garda vetting, and employers' liability requirements all work in ways that will be familiar if you have procured cleaning in the UK. The differences matter too: the WRC handles employment disputes rather than UK Employment Tribunals, FSAI governs food safety standards, and insurance minimums are denominated in euro. RFXapp collects quotes from local cleaning companies and standardises them so you can compare what you are actually buying.
If you are looking for the best cleaning companies in Dublin, the most reliable shortlist is one built around your own requirements and tested with a structured brief - not a generic ranked list. RFXapp helps you find and collect quotes from the right suppliers, and analyse them so you can compare what they actually offer, not just the headline price.
What to consider before you go to market
Getting comparable quotes starts with a well-scoped brief. These are the things most businesses overlook until they're already in the process.
Frequency vs scope per visit
Five-days-a-week cleaning sounds comprehensive until you read the task list. Many cleaning contracts specify daily tasks (bins, surfaces, toilets) and weekly tasks (vacuuming, kitchen deep clean) separately, with monthly or quarterly deep cleans as optional extras. Before comparing prices, define exactly which tasks you expect on each visit. Two quotes at the same weekly price often cover very different scopes once you get into the detail. With hybrid working now standard across most Dublin city centre offices, a four-day schedule often matches actual occupancy better than five days.
Irish TUPE when switching suppliers
If you currently have a cleaning supplier with staff working specifically on your site, switching companies triggers the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 - the Irish TUPE equivalent, derived from the same EU Directive as the UK rules. The incoming contractor is legally required to take on those employees on their existing terms and conditions. This is not optional - failing to handle the transfer properly creates exposure under WRC (Workplace Relations Commission) proceedings. Before switching, confirm with your current supplier how many staff are dedicated to your site and flag this to any incoming supplier at the quoting stage.
Consumables: included or invoiced separately
Paper towels, toilet rolls, hand soap, bin liners, and cleaning chemicals can add €3,000-€8,000 per year to a mid-size Dublin office cleaning contract. Some cleaning companies include these in their weekly rate. Others supply them as a separately invoiced line, often at a significant markup over trade cost. Ask each company to specify clearly whether consumables are included, what the specific products are, and at what point additional supplies are charged.
Access arrangements and key holding
Most Dublin office cleaners work early morning or evening to avoid disrupting the working day. IFSC, Docklands, and Ballsbridge buildings often have overnight security desks with formal contractor access registration requirements. Before going to market, confirm with your building management what access method is available - fob, key card, or physical key - and document key-holding responsibility explicitly in the contract, including what happens if a key is lost or a fob is not returned.
Garda vetting and staff background checks
Cleaning staff entering commercial premises in Dublin should be vetted through the National Vetting Bureau (Garda vetting) - the Irish equivalent of a DBS check. For roles in environments involving children or vulnerable adults, Garda vetting is a legal requirement. For standard commercial office cleaning, it is best practice and increasingly expected by corporate clients, particularly those in regulated sectors such as financial services. Ask each company to confirm that all site staff are Garda-vetted and whether checks are renewed on a defined cycle.
Insurance levels: public liability and employers' liability
Commercial cleaning companies operating in Dublin should carry public liability insurance of at least €6.5 million - this is the industry standard minimum and what most Dublin building managers require. Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement in Ireland and is typically embedded in the same policy. Ask for the certificate of insurance before signing and verify that both covers are active. PIAB (the Personal Injuries Assessment Board) handles injury claims in Ireland, but this does not affect your obligation to confirm coverage before engaging a contractor.
Hidden costs that inflate your cleaning contract
These are the items that make two quotes look comparable on paper but thousands of euro apart once you are 12 months into the contract.
Consumables priced separately at a significant markup
A cleaning company quoting €700/month for five-day-a-week cleaning can easily add €500-700/month in separately invoiced consumables once the contract starts. This is a standard margin layer in the industry, not an oversight. The only ways to prevent it are to either include consumables in the quoted scope with a clearly defined product list before you sign, or to purchase your own supplies through a trade distributor and specify that the cleaning company brings labour and equipment only. In a mid-size Dublin office, the difference between a markup-heavy consumables arrangement and self-supply can run to €6,000 or more per year.
No absence cover for sick days or annual leave
A cleaning contract that relies on one or two specific individuals is a problem the moment those individuals are sick or on annual leave. Irish employment law provides statutory sick pay and annual leave entitlements, meaning absence is a predictable, regular occurrence - not an exception. Many smaller Dublin cleaning companies have no formal absence cover system. When someone is out, your office does not get cleaned. Before signing, ask specifically how absence is covered and whether there is a guaranteed response time for arranging a replacement.
TUPE liability from switching suppliers without proper advice
Clients who switch cleaning suppliers without identifying dedicated site staff can face WRC proceedings even though they are not the direct employer. The incoming supplier may decline to take on staff whose entitlements they were not told about, leaving transferred employees without a job and potential liability reverting to the client. If you have any reason to believe current cleaning staff work exclusively or predominantly on your site, take brief employment law advice before going to market - a short opinion from a Dublin employment solicitor costs far less than a WRC claim.
Questions that separate good cleaning companies from great ones
Asking is only half the job. Below each question is what a good answer sounds like, and what should give you pause. Questions marked * are mainly relevant if you are switching from an existing cleaning supplier with staff already on-site.
Good answer: A named cover system: a pool of trained staff who know the site, a guaranteed response window (e.g. a replacement within two hours of the scheduled start time), and a service credit if cover cannot be arranged.
Red flag: "We will do our best to find cover" or any answer that does not describe a specific process. That means your office does not get cleaned when someone is out.
Good answer: A written schedule broken down by daily, weekly, and periodic tasks. Specific enough to answer whether kitchen appliances are cleaned internally, whether skirting boards are included in the weekly clean, and what "general tidying" means in practice.
Red flag: A verbal description of "full office cleaning" with no written breakdown. Without a task list in the contract, "full" means whatever they decide it means.
Good answer: A clear yes or no, a list of specific products included, and a written explanation of how additional usage is handled. If consumables are excluded, an indication of what you would spend procuring them yourself.
Red flag: "Consumables are included" with no further detail. That phrase has been used to cover everything from full supplies to a single roll of bin liners per week.
Good answer: A specific supervision frequency (e.g. fortnightly site visits), a defined checklist the supervisor uses, and a process for logging and following up on issues. A digital cleaning log is a good sign.
Red flag: "Our cleaners are all very experienced" or a supervision process that amounts to "we're available if you have problems." That is reactive, not managed.
Good answer: Confident familiarity with the European Communities (TUPE) Regulations 2003: they will request a staff schedule from your current supplier, contact any affected employees directly, and confirm transfer terms before the contract starts. They can describe how they have handled this on previous transitions.
Red flag: Uncertainty about what TUPE means in an Irish context, or a suggestion that TUPE is "your problem to sort out with the previous supplier." It is legally a shared responsibility and practically one the incoming company should lead.
Good answer: A specific credit - typically a pro-rata deduction for a missed clean and a defined process for raising and resolving quality issues within a set timeframe. The credit does not need to be large; the existence of a mechanism is what matters.
Red flag: No credit mechanism at all, or a vague promise to "make it right." If it is not in the contract, it is not a commitment.
Where you have more negotiating room than you think
Cleaning companies have more flexibility on pricing and contract terms than their initial quotes suggest. These are the levers that actually work once you have competing quotes in front of you.
Frequency adjustment
Many Dublin city centre offices are at significantly reduced capacity on Fridays, and hybrid working across the IFSC, Docklands, and Grand Canal Dock financial and technology sectors means average daily headcounts are lower than they were pre-2020. Asking each company to quote for both five-day and four-day cleaning - and comparing the difference - is often the fastest route to a meaningful price reduction. A company that refuses to quote alternatives is telling you something about their flexibility.
Longer contract in exchange for a lower rate
Cleaning companies price short-term contracts at a higher rate to cover onboarding, equipment investment, and staff allocation costs. Committing to 24 months in exchange for a lower monthly rate is a legitimate trade - provided the contract includes clear service credit mechanisms and a break clause for persistent service failures. Offer the longer term after agreeing all other terms, not as an opening position.
Self-supply consumables
Purchasing paper towels, soap, and other consumables through a trade distributor and removing them from the cleaning contract eliminates a meaningful markup. The logistics are simple - you order, they arrive, the cleaning team uses them. For any Dublin office with 25 or more staff, the annual saving is worth the minor administrative overhead. Ask each company to quote a labour-only rate alongside their all-in rate so you can compare both options.
Reference and portfolio rights
A well-run cleaning contract at a recognisable Dublin address is a reference site a cleaning company can use when pitching other clients. Offering a named reference, willing to take calls from prospective clients, is genuinely valuable in a competitive market. Agree a written reduction in exchange for the reference before signing - not a vague promise of goodwill.
Written task list in the contract
Negotiating a detailed task schedule into the contract - daily, weekly, monthly - protects you from scope creep in both directions. Without it, the cleaning company can legitimately argue that a task you expected is not included. With it, you have a clear basis for raising service credits. This costs nothing to negotiate, takes 30 minutes to agree, and removes the most common source of disputes in cleaning contracts.
Dedicated contact with a response time SLA
Cleaning companies that handle complaints through a general inbox or a rota manager can take days to respond to a quality issue. Negotiate a named contact for your account and a committed response time for quality concerns (e.g. acknowledged within 4 hours, resolved or action plan within 24 hours). This is almost always available if you ask for it and is rarely included in a standard proposal.
From "we need to find a cleaning company" to contract signed
Describe what you need
Write your requirements in your own words - scope, location, timeline, any constraints. RFXapp turns it into a structured brief and prompts you for anything that will help cleaning companies quote accurately.
Invite your cleaning companies
Add the cleaning companies you've already shortlisted, or let RFXapp find local options. They reply by normal email - no portal, no registration.
Compare quotes side by side
RFXapp reads every response and standardises the quotes into a side-by-side view - inclusions, exclusions, assumptions and all.
Negotiate and appoint
RFXapp drafts targeted negotiation emails based on the gaps between quotes. You review and send. Then award the contract from your dashboard.
Other things Dublin businesses source on RFXapp
Most of our users run 5-10 separate buying projects a year. This is often how they find us, but it's rarely the last thing they use us for.