Car Park Cleaning in Canberra: How Often, Costs and ACT Rules

Most car parks need a professional pressure clean somewhere between every three months and once a year, with busy shopping and food outlets at the frequent end and quieter office and apartment car parks at the other. In Canberra, the way the job is done matters as much as how often it happens, because contaminated wash water must not enter the stormwater system and the ACT's water conservation rules limit the equipment you can use on paved areas.

At Aussie Duo Cleaning Service, car park cleaning is part of our high pressure cleaning service across Canberra and Queanbeyan. This guide explains how often to book a clean, what a thorough clean involves, which local regulations apply and what it typically costs.

There's no single rule, because every car park experiences a different combination of vehicles, pedestrians, leaves and weather. Use the following guide as a starting point, then adjust the schedule after the first clean, once you can see how quickly the marks return.

• Shops, cafes and fast food sites: every three to six months, because spilt food and drinks combine with heavy foot traffic, so entrances and bin areas may need attention more frequently.
• Offices and business parks: every six to twelve months, because traffic is steady but lighter, and most of the marks are tyre marks and general dust.
• Apartment and strata car parks: once or twice a year, and late autumn, once the leaves have finished dropping, is a sensible time to book.
• Warehouses and loading areas: every three to six months, because delivery trucks and forklifts leave behind considerably more oil and grit.

Book an additional clean immediately after an oil or fuel spill, or after construction work nearby, because fresh oil is much easier to lift than oil that has been sitting in the concrete for months.

A professional car park clean is carefully planned before any equipment is switched on. The main steps are listed below, although the order may change slightly to suit the layout of your particular site.

Oil is the most difficult mark to remove in most car parks, because concrete absorbs it like a sponge, so the sooner it's treated, the better the result. For a fresh spill, absorb as much as you can with an absorbent material, such as a spill kit or kitty litter, then sweep it up and place it in the bin rather than washing it down the drain.

When we clean a car park, we apply a degreaser to oil stains to break them down before pressure cleaning, which in most cases lifts the stain or fades it considerably. Old oil that has soaked deep into the concrete can leave a faint shadow, so we'll explain what to expect when we inspect the site rather than promise a perfect result, and tyre marks are treated using the same method.

1. Dirty water must stay out of the stormwater drain. In Canberra, stormwater drains are designed for rainwater only, and the ACT Government notes that there is no treatment plant for the stormwater system, so whatever enters a drain flows on to our creeks and lakes. Wash water from a car park often carries oil, rubber dust and cleaning chemicals.

Access Canberra's environment protection guidance for mobile cleaners explains that, under the Environment Protection Act 1997, it's an offence to allow contaminated water to enter the stormwater system, with penalties ranging from $100 on-the-spot fines up to court fines of $50,000.

Before we start, we assess where the water will run, and depending on the surface, the products and the site conditions, we contain the runoff and collect the wastewater for disposal. This keeps dirty water, chemicals and debris out of the drains.

2. The ACT's water rules limit how paved areas are cleaned. Under the ACT's Water Conservation Measures, a bucket and mop or a high-pressure, low-volume cleaner may be used to clean paved areas at any time. Other cleaning with water is only permitted after an accident, fire, health hazard or other emergency, and Icon Water's summary of the measures for Canberra and Queanbeyan confirms the same requirement. In practice, this means you shouldn't simply hose down a car park with an ordinary garden hose.

A car park that is partly wet and still open to the public creates a slip risk, and Safe Work Australia identifies wet or greasy floors as a common cause of slips. It explains that a business must eliminate the risk of slips, trips and falls so far as is reasonably practicable, or minimise it if it can't be eliminated. For a car park clean, that usually means:

• cleaning after hours, at night or on weekends, when the site is quiet
• closing bays in sections, with cones and signs
• keeping a dry route to lifts, stairs and exits
• allowing the surface to dry before the area reopens

Degreasers and other cleaning products should come with a safety data sheet, and Safe Work Australia explains how to use safety data sheets to identify, understand and manage the risks of hazardous chemicals at work. It's worth asking your cleaner which products they'll use, especially near gardens or children's play areas, and we can work after hours or on weekends to minimise disruption to your tenants and customers.

Our high pressure cleaning costs $4.40 per square metre including GST ($4 + GST). The minimum job is $187 including GST ($170 + GST), and the final price for a car park depends on:

• the size of the area and how many sections need to be closed
• how much oil, rubber and grime has accumulated
• the surface, such as concrete, asphalt or pavers
• access, timing and how the wash water needs to be managed

Larger car parks are quoted after we inspect the site, quotes are free, and we confirm the price before we start.

Small jobs, such as sweeping up leaves and soaking up a fresh oil spill, are worth doing immediately. A full car park clean is different, because it requires equipment that meets the ACT's water rules, a plan for the wash water, safe traffic management and the appropriate products for each surface, and getting any of these wrong can damage the surface, create a slip hazard or result in a fine.

If you manage an apartment building, pressure cleaning of ground-floor paths and driveways can be added to a regular strata cleaning plan. If you manage an office, our office cleaning checklist covers the jobs inside the building.

Aussie Duo is a family-owned Canberra business that has been cleaning since 2013. We pressure clean car parks, paths and entrances across Canberra and Queanbeyan, including after hours and on weekends, and we plan for the wash water before we start. See our high pressure cleaning service for prices and details, or request a free quote or call 02 5501 3316, and we'll usually reply within 30 minutes during business hours, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm.