Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 10th September 2026 Issue no. 1225
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All-in-one cleaning equipment's real advantage is labour productivity, not a lower price tag, analysis finds
Nassco, a Wisconsin-based packaging and janitorial solutions provider, has released an analysis of how all-in-one cleaning equipment offers more value in terms of labour rather than a lower cost price.
In line with public data, which indicates that labour contributes to up to 65% of total cleaning costs, the analysis posits that all-in-one cleaning equipment drastically reduces labour hours. With cleaning costs reaching as high as $40 to $55 per hour, (£30 to £41) these pieces of equipment perform multiple tasks in a single pass while enabling fewer workers to cover larger areas with minimal fatigue.
In the US, 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, labour 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 labour productivity, not just for its lower price tag.
Labour 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. One major factor that contributed to labour shortages prior to 2020 was the 100% to 400% annual employee turnover rate, according to data from the Building Service Contractors Association International (BSCAI) compiled by CleanLink. Labour shortages are exacerbated by steady growth in the cleaning industry, especially since 2024.
The global cleaning industry market was valued at $451.63 billion in 2025, growing by 1.7% year-on-year. This growth accelerated in 2026, with the market reaching $481.75 billion - a 6.7% increase from the previous year. Looking ahead, the market is forecast to reach $856.20 billion by 2034, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% over the forecast period. (Source: Fortune Business Insights, 2026.)
Labour shortages in the cleaning industry are one subject; another is why they are happening. Many workers left the industry for other sectors during the pandemic to areas they considered more stable, and have not returned.
Cleaning is also viewed as a low-paying, low-skilled job, which makes it less attractive. While the industry is growing, young people are not entering this sector.
When it comes to commercial cleaning, labour 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 labour is a major expense in its own right. Besides coming with lower initial price tags, all-in-one cleaning equipment also consolidates tasks, reducing labour hours as a result.
The purchase prices do not always tell the full story, because all-in-one systems allow a single operator to sweep, scrub, and dry in one pass. This reduces the time it takes to clean floors by up to 50% compared to the traditional method of cleaning and mopping with separate machines. This means that if a technician earns $40 per hour, saving two hours equals $80 in savings. Over a year, that machine can save up to $20,000 in labour.
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.
The use of all-in-one cleaning equipment instead of separate dedicated machines increases labour 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 labour, 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 washrooms, more quickly. For example, some all-in-one floor vacuums can cover up to 20,000sq.ft/ hr. Traditional mopping can often spread 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 & Markets, companies and individuals are increasingly turning to these devices.
In addition to health, safety and compliance, labour 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 labour time.
Saving even a fraction of daily labour 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 high and reducing injuries.
With improvements in automation, wholesale trade labour productivity increased by 4.4% and unit labour costs fell by 0.4% in 2025, reports the US Bureau of Labour Statistics. All-in-one machines automate tasks such as chemical dilution and dispensing, eliminating time-consuming guesswork and setup. Unlike manual cleaning, which can come with inconsistencies, streaks and missed spots, high-performance all-in-one machines deliver uniform, reliable results.
All-in-one cleaning equipment takes the focus away from upfront acquisition costs to labour optimisation. Since labour 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 5,000sq.ft 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 5,000sq.ft/hr, meaning a 5,000sq.ft area takes 60 to 100 minutes to clean. Walk-behind automatic scrubbers dramatically improve efficiency, cleaning 10,000 to 20,000sq.ft per hour and reducing the time needed for the same 5,000sq.ft area to just 15 to 30 minutes. Ride-on automatic scrubbers offer the greatest productivity gains, covering 20,000 to 40,000sq.ft/hr and cleaning a 5,000sq.ft area in only eight to 15 minutes. (Source: ISSA Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS), ISSA Production Rate Studies, 2018.)
For contractors and facility operators, all-in-one cleaning equipment improves labour productivity by transforming cleaning into an efficiency-driven operation. Since multi-functional machines reduce on-site hours, they yield larger profit margins, allowing cleaning crews to handle larger spaces with less physical effort.
For contractors, all-in-one cleaning equipment means they can bid for spaces using efficiency metrics rather than compete for low-bid, heavy-labour contracts. With multitasking equipment, smaller crews can handle the workload of a larger team, thereby alleviating operational bottlenecks caused by high turnover and scarce labour and improving profitability.
Regarding facility operators, the analysis recommends standardising 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 labour costs in the US fell by 0.4% in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.
This applies in other related sectors as well. For instance, in a US Army contract bundling case in 2019, bundling 10 separate contracts into one produced a projected cost savings of $145.78 million, or 14.71%, compared to maintaining separate contracts, as the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported. In cleaning operations specifically, these efficiencies translate most directly into labour savings, which remain the sector's dominant cost driver.
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