The £2B Cleaning Industry Nobody Talks About

Nobody writes about cleaning. It is not glamorous enough for the business pages, not disruptive enough for the technology press, and not controversial enough for the broadsheets. There are no cleaning unicorns, no cleaning IPOs generating breathless commentary, and no cleaning founders gracing the covers of entrepreneurship magazines. This is precisely what makes the sector so interesting — and so profitable. While attention-hungry industries burn through venture capital and chase valuations, commercial cleaning companies across Britain quietly sign contracts, collect monthly retainers, and build wealth with a consistency that most other sectors cannot match.

The UK commercial cleaning market is enormous. Industry estimates from the British Cleaning Council and other trade bodies consistently place the sector's value in the billions of pounds annually. The market encompasses everything from daily office cleaning and industrial facility maintenance to specialist services like decontamination, high-level window cleaning, carpet and upholstery care, and post-construction site cleaning. It is an industry with hundreds of thousands of workers, tens of thousands of operators, and a client base that spans every sector of the economy. And yet, if you asked most aspiring entrepreneurs to name a lucrative industry, cleaning would not make the list.

The Invisible Giant

The sheer breadth of commercial cleaning is difficult to appreciate until you start looking. Every office block in every city requires cleaning, typically five or six days per week. Every hospital, every school, every shopping centre, every hotel, every warehouse, every factory, every gym, every restaurant. The demand is not occasional. It is permanent, contractual, and non-negotiable.

Within this broad market sit distinct sub-sectors, each with its own dynamics. Office cleaning is the largest segment — the bread and butter of most commercial cleaning firms. Industrial cleaning covers factories, manufacturing plants, and warehouses, often requiring specialist equipment and trained operatives. Specialist decontamination handles biohazard, crime scene, and hazardous material clean-up, commanding premium rates. Window cleaning at commercial scale involves rope access, cradle systems, and water-fed pole technology. Carpet and upholstery cleaning serves both commercial premises and the domestic market. And beyond these, niche segments like IT suite cleaning, cleanroom maintenance, and food-production hygiene represent high-margin opportunities for operators with the right certifications.

What unites all of these segments is a simple economic truth: they are all driven by recurring need. Buildings do not stop getting dirty. Hygiene standards do not relax. Contracts do not expire and leave clients thinking they no longer need cleaning. The demand is structural, permanent, and largely immune to economic cycles.

Why It Is Recession-Proof

The cleaning industry demonstrated its resilience most visibly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. While entire sectors shut down, cleaning demand did not fall — it surged. Offices that remained open needed enhanced cleaning protocols. Offices that reopened needed deep cleans before staff could return. Hospitals, care homes, and public buildings required intensified disinfection regimes. And the heightened awareness of hygiene that the pandemic created has not gone away. It has become permanently embedded in workplace expectations.

But the recession-proof nature of cleaning predates the pandemic. During the 2008 financial crisis, commercial cleaning was one of the few service industries that maintained relatively stable revenues. The reason is contractual. Most commercial cleaning arrangements are not ad hoc bookings. They are ongoing service agreements — monthly or quarterly contracts with defined scope, frequency, and pricing. A business may reduce its marketing budget during a downturn. It may freeze hiring, delay capital expenditure, or renegotiate supplier terms. But it will not stop having its offices cleaned. The contractual nature of the relationship, combined with the basic operational necessity of maintaining a hygienic workplace, makes cleaning revenue remarkably sticky.

Post-COVID, this stickiness has only increased. Many corporate clients now include enhanced cleaning specifications in their contracts as standard — more frequent touchpoint sanitisation, documented cleaning schedules, verifiable chemical protocols. What was once a simple service has become a compliance requirement, and compliance requirements do not disappear during recessions.

The Business Model

What makes commercial cleaning particularly attractive as a business model is the combination of recurring revenue, low capital intensity, and labour-driven scalability. Unlike most service businesses, cleaning does not require significant equipment investment, proprietary technology, or specialist premises. The core assets are people, products, and processes.

Revenue is generated through monthly retainers. A small office contract — say, a professional services firm occupying a single floor — might be worth between £500 and £2,000 per month. A larger commercial client, such as a multi-floor corporate headquarters, a shopping centre, or a hospital, might pay between £5,000 and £20,000 or more per month. At the upper end, facilities management contracts incorporating cleaning alongside other services can run into six-figure monthly sums.

The economics are straightforward. Labour costs typically represent 65 to 75 per cent of contract revenue. Cleaning materials and consumables account for 5 to 10 per cent. Overheads — insurance, transport, management, administration — take another 10 to 15 per cent. What remains is net margin, typically ranging from 5 to 15 per cent depending on contract mix, operational efficiency, and scale. At first glance, those margins look modest. But applied to a base of recurring monthly contracts that renew year after year, the cumulative wealth-building effect is substantial.

Scaling is achieved by adding staff, not by buying expensive equipment. A single operative can service one or two contracts per shift. A supervisor can manage a team of eight to twelve. A branch manager can oversee multiple supervisors across a geographic area. The structure scales linearly, and each additional layer of management enables a multiplication of contract capacity.

Starting Costs vs Revenue Potential

The financial barrier to entry in commercial cleaning is remarkably low compared to most industries. A basic startup requires cleaning supplies and equipment (vacuum cleaners, mops, microfibre cloths, chemical dispensing systems), a commercial vehicle, public liability insurance, employer's liability insurance, and working capital to cover wages before the first invoice is paid. Total initial outlay can be as low as £5,000 to £15,000, depending on scale ambitions and whether the operator starts as a sole trader or immediately establishes a limited company with employees.

Compare this to almost any other industry. A restaurant requires £100,000 to £500,000 in fit-out costs before it serves a single meal. A care home requires millions. Even a modest retail business typically needs £30,000 to £80,000 in stock, premises, and setup costs. Cleaning is one of the few industries where you can start generating revenue within weeks of formation, with minimal upfront capital, and with no requirement for specialist premises.

But if the financial barrier is low, the documentation barrier is high. And this is where many aspiring cleaning business owners underestimate the sector. Winning commercial contracts — particularly from corporate clients, local authorities, and NHS trusts — requires a professional documentation suite that demonstrates competence, compliance, and quality management capability. Risk assessments, method statements, COSHH assessments, quality management documentation, training records, insurance certificates, health and safety policies, environmental policies, equal opportunities policies — the list is extensive. A cleaning company that turns up with a mop and a quote will not win a corporate tender. A cleaning company that turns up with a complete compliance package, backed by certifiable management systems, will.

The Corporate Client Playbook

Understanding how corporate cleaning contracts are won is essential for any operator looking to move beyond domestic and small-commercial work. The procurement process for mid-to-large commercial cleaning contracts follows a well-established pattern, and operators who understand it have a significant advantage.

The process typically begins with an invitation to tender (ITT) or request for proposal (RFP). The client — or their facilities manager — issues a specification document describing the premises, the cleaning requirements, the frequency, and the performance standards expected. Interested contractors respond with a tender submission that includes pricing, methodology, staffing proposals, evidence of insurance, and compliance documentation.

What separates winning tenders from losing ones is rarely price alone. Procurement teams evaluate against weighted criteria, and quality, compliance, and management capability typically carry as much weight as cost. Key differentiators include:

• ISO 9001 certification (quality management systems) — demonstrates that your operations follow documented, auditable processes
• ISO 14001 certification (environmental management) — increasingly important for clients with ESG commitments
• COSHH compliance documentation — proves you manage chemical hazards properly
• Method statements — site-specific documents describing how you will deliver the service safely and effectively
• Training records and competency frameworks — evidence that your staff are qualified for the work
• Supplier assessment questionnaire responses — pre-qualification documents that many clients require before you can even submit a tender

Without this documentation, you are invisible to corporate procurement. With it, you are competing on a level playing field where your operational capability — not just your price — determines whether you win the work.

Health and Safety Compliance

Health and safety in commercial cleaning is governed primarily by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and, more specifically for the sector, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). These are not optional guidelines. They are legal requirements, and failure to comply can result in enforcement action, fines, and criminal prosecution.

COSHH requires every cleaning company to assess the risks associated with every hazardous substance used in its operations. This means every cleaning chemical — from general-purpose detergents to specialist sanitisers, descalers, degreasers, and biocidal products — must have a COSHH assessment on file. Each assessment must identify the hazards (consulting the manufacturer's safety data sheet), evaluate the risks to operatives and building occupants, and specify the control measures required: appropriate PPE, ventilation requirements, storage conditions, first-aid procedures, and disposal methods.

Beyond COSHH, cleaning companies must maintain risk assessments for every site they operate on. A risk assessment identifies the hazards present at a specific location (wet floors, working at height, electrical equipment, lone working, manual handling) and describes the measures in place to control those risks. Method statements — sometimes called safe systems of work — then describe, step by step, how a particular cleaning task should be carried out safely.

Training records must demonstrate that every operative has been trained in the safe use of chemicals, the correct use of PPE, manual handling techniques, slip and trip prevention, and any site-specific hazards. For specialist work such as high-level cleaning, confined space entry, or biohazard decontamination, additional training and certification is required.

The documentation burden is real, and it is ongoing. New chemicals require new COSHH assessments. New sites require new risk assessments. New staff require induction training records. Annual refresher training must be documented. Incident and near-miss reports must be logged and reviewed. For operators who take compliance seriously — and for those who want to win corporate contracts, there is no alternative — the documentation quickly runs to dozens or hundreds of documents. This is one area where platforms like Zundara provide significant value, delivering pre-built COSHH frameworks, risk assessment templates, and training record systems that can be adapted to any cleaning operation.

Scaling the Business

The path from solo cleaning operative to multi-site managed cleaning company follows a well-established trajectory, and the stages are more predictable than in most other industries.

Stage one: the owner-operator. Most cleaning businesses start with the owner doing the work. One or two contracts, usually small offices or commercial units, serviced personally. Revenue is modest but costs are minimal. The owner learns the operational realities of the business — what clients expect, how long tasks actually take, which products work and which do not, and how to price accurately.

Stage two: first employees. The owner hires two or three operatives and begins to step back from direct cleaning. This is the hardest transition for many operators because it requires management systems — rotas, quality checks, supply ordering, payroll — that did not exist when the owner was doing everything personally. It also requires documentation: employment contracts, staff handbooks, training records, supervision schedules. Companies that fail to professionalise at this stage often stall.

Stage three: supervisor structure. With six to twelve operatives, a supervisor layer becomes necessary. The supervisor handles day-to-day site management, quality inspections, client liaison, and staff issues. The owner focuses on business development, pricing, and contract acquisition. At this stage, monthly contract revenue might range from £10,000 to £40,000, depending on client mix and geography.

Stage four: area contracts and multiple supervisors. The business now operates across multiple geographic areas, each with its own supervisor and team. Systems become critical — scheduling software, quality audit trails, financial reporting, HR compliance. Annual revenue at this stage typically sits between £250,000 and £1 million.

Stage five: managed growth. Beyond the £1 million threshold, the business takes on the characteristics of a professional services company. It employs operations managers, has dedicated sales staff, may hold ISO certifications, and competes for contracts worth tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds per year. Some operators at this level choose to franchise, licensing their brand, systems, and documentation to independent operators in new territories. Others pursue acquisition-led growth, buying smaller competitors to expand geographic coverage and contract base.

Why Cleaning Companies Quietly Build Wealth

The defining characteristic of the cleaning industry — and the reason it produces so many quietly wealthy operators — is contract stickiness. Commercial cleaning clients rarely switch providers. The switching cost is not financial (most cleaning contracts can be terminated with 30 to 90 days' notice) but operational. Changing cleaning contractor means new staff learning the building, new supervisors establishing relationships with facility managers, new systems integrating with existing access and security protocols, and a period of uncertainty during the transition. For busy operations directors and facilities managers, the hassle of switching almost always outweighs the potential savings.

The result is that a well-run cleaning company with 20 or 30 commercial contracts will retain the vast majority of them year after year. Client losses due to dissatisfaction are rare if the service is competent. Client losses due to the client ceasing to exist (business closure, office relocation) are the primary source of churn, and even these are typically offset by new contract wins. The net effect is a steadily growing base of monthly recurring revenue that compounds over time.

This predictability transforms the financial profile of the business. Banks are more willing to lend to businesses with demonstrable recurring revenue. Investors and acquirers value cleaning companies on multiples of recurring contract revenue, which can make even modest-sized operators attractive acquisition targets. And the steady cash flow means owners can draw consistent personal income without the feast-and-famine cycles that characterise so many other service industries.

There is another factor that is rarely discussed but profoundly important: the low glamour of cleaning actively benefits operators. Industries that attract attention — tech, food and beverage, fitness, fashion — also attract competition. Every would-be entrepreneur who watches a business podcast or reads an entrepreneurship blog is thinking about launching a coffee brand, an app, or a direct-to-consumer product. Almost none of them are thinking about commercial cleaning. This means the competitive landscape, while populated by thousands of operators, is not subject to the same irrational waves of new entrants that crash through more fashionable sectors.

The operators who do enter cleaning tend to be pragmatists rather than lifestyle entrepreneurs. They are building businesses, not personal brands. They measure success in contract value and staff retention, not Instagram followers. And because the industry lacks the glamour that attracts dilettantes, the operators who commit to it face less competition from under-capitalised, under-prepared entrants who would otherwise drive down margins and destabilise pricing.

The Bottom Line

The UK commercial cleaning industry is one of the largest, most resilient, and most consistently profitable sectors in the economy. Its business model — recurring contract revenue, low capital requirements, labour-driven scalability — is one that most industries would envy. Its recession resistance has been tested through multiple economic cycles, and its post-COVID trajectory suggests that demand and standards will only increase.

The reason it remains overlooked is the same reason it remains so profitable: nobody talks about it. There are no headlines, no hype cycles, no conference keynotes about the future of commercial cleaning. There is simply a vast, steady market that rewards competent operators with predictable income and long-term wealth accumulation.

The barriers to entry are financial on the low side and documentary on the high side. Starting a cleaning company costs relatively little. Running one professionally — with the COSHH assessments, risk assessments, method statements, quality management systems, and compliance frameworks that corporate clients demand — requires a documentation investment that many operators underestimate. Those who make that investment, whether through months of internal development or through ready-made venture packages, position themselves for contracts and revenue that casual operators will never access.

The cleaning industry does not need to be talked about more. Its operators are perfectly happy with the silence. But for anyone looking at the economics of service businesses and wondering where the smart money goes, the answer has been hiding in plain sight. It goes where the contracts renew every month, where the demand never stops, and where the competition is too busy chasing glamour to notice the opportunity.