Value of Cleaning Equipment Lies in Labor Savings

NEW BERLIN, WI -- All-in-one cleaning equipment offers more value in terms of labor rather than a lower cost price, according to an analysis of public data by Nassco, Inc., a packaging and janitorial solutions provider.

The data indicates that, since labor costs represent 50% to 65% of total cleaning expenses in commercial cleaning operations (ISSA, 2023), all-in-one cleaning equipment offers greater advantages for improving labor productivity, rather than just lower procurement costs.

With cleaning costs reaching as high as $40 to $55 per hour, these pieces of equipment perform multiple tasks in a single pass, while enabling fewer workers to cover larger areas with minimal fatigue.

In the United States, the Cleaning Services Market was worth $97.43 billion by the end of 2025, with residential representing the largest share, according to Deep Market Insights (DMI) Analysis Company Publications.

However, commercial cleaning also contributed, particularly with the steady demand for outsourced janitorial services in healthcare, corporate, and educational facilities.

With all this demand, labor shortages, and rising wage pressures, all-in-one cleaning equipment is becoming more popular. The analysis concludes that this type of cleaning equipment is advantageous in terms of labor productivity, not just for its lower price tag.

Labor Shortages Are Becoming the Industry's Biggest Challenge
Labor shortages have surpassed even technological integration as one of the most pressing challenges in the cleaning industry. The demand for cleaning services continues to rise by the day. However, 73% of property managers say staffing and revenue pressures are the biggest barriers to their business goals, according to a Key Data release.

Recently, the shrinking pool of workers forced businesses to do more with fewer hands. Labor shortages are exacerbated by steady growth in the cleaning industry, especially since 2024.

Equipment Purchase Prices Only Tell Part of the Story
When it comes to commercial cleaning, labor costs consume a larger portion of the operating budget, taking even more than material purchases. Given that cleaning accounts for 20% to 35% of a facility's total maintenance and operations budget (ISSA, 2018), cleaning labor is a major expense in its own right.

Besides coming with lower initial price tags, all-in-one cleaning equipment also consolidates tasks, reducing labor hours as a result.

Given the high employee turnover rate in the cleaning sector, training also becomes more manageable. Training staff on one multi-purpose piece of equipment takes less time than training them on several tools. Across the market, the difference accumulates.

How All-in-One Cleaning Equipment Changes Labor Productivity
The use of all-in-one cleaning equipment instead of separate dedicated machines increases labor productivity, as it consolidates multiple steps into a single step. Different processes, including chemical application, scrubbing, rinsing, and extraction, occur in a single trip rather than multiple trips. The process no longer involves tedious manual labor, as one cleaner can cover large areas, such as lobbies, in a fraction of the time.

For cleaning services, the operational workflow changes entirely. Workers can clean complex areas, such as cafeterias and restrooms, more quickly. For example, some all-in-one floor vacuums can cover up to 20,000 square feet per hour. Traditional mopping often spreads soil and bacteria rather than removing them entirely.

All-in-one machines flush debris from grout lines and crevices, removing contaminants in one pass and reducing the need to re-clean the area. This contributes to the growing popularity of options like vacuum-mop devices. With the global robot vacuum-mop combo market reaching $4.83 billion in 2024 and projected to grow to $8.32 billion by 2030, according to Research and Markets, companies and individuals are increasingly turning to these devices.

Why Labor Savings Often Exceed Equipment Savings
In addition to health, safety, and compliance, labor is a dominant factor in the cleaning sector. Labor costs often eat into the total budget in both commercial and residential cleaning. Since benefits and wages are the largest recurring expenses, all-in-one equipment delivers returns by cutting labor time.

Saving even a fraction of daily labor hours means saving thousands of dollars in wages, which can quickly add up and exceed the machine's initial purchase price. The financial advantage of all-in-one cleaning equipment stems from combining multiple tasks, thereby reducing operator fatigue. These pieces of equipment allow operators to work longer without getting tired, keeping productivity, and reducing injuries.

With improvements in automation, wholesale trade labor productivity increased by 4.4% and unit labor costs fell by 0.4% in 2025, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. All-in-one machines automate tasks such as chemical dilution and dispensing, eliminating time-consuming guesswork and setup. Unlike manual cleaning, which comes with inconsistencies, streaks, and missed spots, high-performance all-in-one machines deliver uniform, reliable results.

The Productivity Math
All-in-one cleaning equipment takes the focus away from upfront acquisition costs to labor optimization. Since labor eats up to 65% of cleaning budgets, these pieces of equipment reduce manual steps and lower operating expenses.

This arithmetic makes the return on investment larger in the long term. The real leverage of this kind of equipment lies in reducing the time it takes to complete repetitive tasks. For instance, someone with a walk-behind automatic scrubber can clean 5,000 square feet in 15 to 30 minutes (ISSA, 2018).

Cleaning productivity varies significantly depending on the method used. Manual mopping with a bucket covers only 3,000 to 5,000 square feet per hour, meaning a 5,000-square-foot area takes 60 to 100 minutes to clean.

Walk-behind automatic scrubbers dramatically improve efficiency, cleaning 10,000 to 20,000 square feet per hour and reducing the time needed for the same 5,000-square-foot area to just 15 to 30 minutes.

Ride-on automatic scrubbers offer the greatest productivity gains, covering 20,000 to 40,000 square feet per hour and cleaning a 5,000-square-foot area in only eight to 15 minutes. (Source: ISSA Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS), ISSA Production Rate Studies, 2018.)

For contractors, all-in-one cleaning equipment means they can bid for spaces using efficiency metrics rather than compete for low-bid, heavy-labor contracts. With multitasking equipment, smaller crews can handle the workload of a larger team, thereby alleviating operational bottlenecks caused by high turnover and scarce labor and improving profitability.

Regarding facility operators, the analysis recommends standardizing all-in-one systems to reduce human error and ensure uniform cleaning across large spaces. Maintaining fewer machines simplifies inventory management and reduces parts replacement and operator training time. Bundling partly accounts for why unit labor costs in the U.S. fell by 0.4% in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Methodology
Nassco, Inc. synthesized findings from ISSA (Cleaning Industry Management Standard production-rate studies and facility cleaning cost benchmarks), the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Publicly available data also came from Fortune Business Insights (global cleaning industry market forecasts), Research and Markets (vacuum-mop and cleaning equipment market data), FieldCamp (cleaning industry staffing trends), and other cited industry publications.

Nassco, Inc., is a New Berlin-based supplier of janitorial solutions and floor care equipment, founded in 1955, provides automatic floor scrubbers and cleaning technologies, as well as consultation, equipment training, and service support.

For more, go to nasscoinc.com.