Productivity Maths: Scrubber Coverage Rates for Quotes

The productivity figure on a scrubber's product page is the one number that should never go straight into a quote. It is not wrong. It is simply the answer to a different question: how much floor the machine could cover if it drove in a straight line at full speed, with no turns, no refills and nothing in the way.

Contractors who quote off that figure tend to win the tender and then lose money on every clean. This guide shows where listed coverage rates come from, how to turn them into a rate you can defend, and how to build a quote worksheet with the assumptions written down.

Floor scrubber coverage rate quoting: the short answer

For floor scrubber coverage rate quoting, start from the listed width multiplied by speed, then apply a written efficiency factor for turns, obstacles and soil. Add fixed time for set-up, refills and emptying, then a risk buffer. Quote labour hours from that adjusted figure, never from the theoretical rate on the spec sheet.

The sections below work through each step with figures taken from Freshway's own product listings.

Why a quote locks in your coverage rate

A quote is not a rough guess. business.gov.au's guide to preparing quotes states that if a customer accepts your quote, it becomes a legally binding contract. It also says a written quote should include a clear description of the work and any variations and revisions discussed.

For a cleaning contract, that means the square metres per hour behind your price become a promise. If the rate is too optimistic, the shortfall comes out of your margin, not the client's budget. Writing the coverage assumptions into the scope gives you something to point to when the site changes, for example when racking is added or a café expands its seating.

Quoted vs real rates: where the listed figure comes from

Most listed productivity figures are simply cleaning width multiplied by speed. You can check this yourself on Freshway's listings:

Machine	Listed width	Listed speed	Width × speed	Listed theoretical rate	At 70%	At 50%
Nilfisk SC4000 860D rider	860 mm	7 km/h transport	0.86 m × 7,000 m/h = 6,020 m²/h	6,020 m²/h	4,214 m²/h	3,010 m²/h
Nilfisk SC800 walk-behind	710 mm	Up to 5.8 km/h traction drive	0.71 m × 5,800 m/h = 4,118 m²/h	4,120 m²/h	2,884 m²/h	2,060 m²/h
Nilfisk SC2000 53B micro rider	53 cm	6 km/h maximum	0.53 m × 6,000 m/h = 3,180 m²/h	3,180 m²/h	2,226 m²/h	1,590 m²/h
Nilfisk SC6500 1100C rider	1000 mm	Not listed (implied 9 km/h)	9,000 ÷ 1.0 m = 9,000 m/h implied	9,000 m²/h	6,300 m²/h (listed as actual)	4,500 m²/h

Two things stand out. First, the SC4000's theoretical rate matches its listed transport speed, which is a driving speed, not a scrubbing speed. Second, the SC6500 1100C is listed with both a theoretical rate of 9,000 m²/h and an actual rate of 6,300 m²/h. That is 6,300 ÷ 9,000 = 70%. The SC6500 1300D listing shows the same ratio: 8,190 ÷ 11,700 = 70%.

This guide uses 70% as an upper planning factor for open floors and 50% for congested areas. Both are assumptions for quoting, not Freshway or brand figures for any particular site. Replace them with your own trial timings as soon as you can.

Adjusters: furniture, soil and edges

The efficiency factor is where site knowledge earns its keep. Walk the site before you price it and note:

• Furniture and fixtures. Desks, shelving, display stands and pallet racking force short runs and extra turns.
• Soil level. Heavy soil may need a slower pass or a second pass, which halves the effective rate on that zone.
• Edges and corners. Areas the deck cannot reach need a manual method, timed separately.
• Floor type. SafeWork NSW's slips, trips and falls guidance notes that vinyl is slippery when wet, especially if polished. Floors like that need wet-floor signs placed and collected, which belongs in the time.
• People on site. Daytime cleaning around staff or shoppers slows every pass. WorkSafe Victoria's cleaning injury hotspots page also advises warning nearby workers before noisy work and buying the quietest machinery available, with scrubbers given as an example.

Split the floor into zones and give each zone its own factor. One blended figure for a whole site hides the slow areas.

Format factors: walk-behind, micro rider or full rider

The format changes more than width. A rider keeps a steady speed for longer, while a walk-behind depends on the operator's pace across a shift. SafeWork NSW lists repetitive movement and sustained or awkward posture among the risk factors for hazardous manual tasks, so long walk-behind runs need breaks or rotation built into the hours.

Format also sets refill frequency. The SC4000 860D lists 125-litre solution and recovery tanks, the SC800 lists 95 litres and the SC2000 53B lists 70 litres. Freshway's guide to recovery tank capacity sizing covers how to match tanks to a shift, and the walk-behind vs ride-on comparison helps when the format itself is still undecided.

Sample worksheet: a 5,000 m² warehouse

Here is a worked example for a hypothetical warehouse with 4,000 m² of open aisles and 1,000 m² of congested dock and pick-face areas, scrubbed with the SC4000 860D. Every factor marked "assumed" is a planning assumption to be checked on a trial clean.

1. Open aisles: 6,020 × 0.70 (assumed) = 4,214 m²/h. 4,000 ÷ 4,214 = 0.949 hours, or about 57 minutes.
2. Congested areas: 6,020 × 0.50 (assumed) = 3,010 m²/h. 1,000 ÷ 3,010 = 0.332 hours, or about 20 minutes.
3. Set-up and pack-down: 20 minutes (assumed).
4. Refill and emptying: 20 minutes (assumed), confirmed by timing a full tank on site.
5. Subtotal: 57 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 117 minutes.
6. Risk buffer of 10% (assumed): 117 × 1.10 = 128.7 minutes, or about 2.15 labour hours per clean.

For comparison, the SC800 walk-behind on the same zones: 4,000 ÷ 2,884 = 83 minutes, plus 1,000 ÷ 2,060 = 29 minutes, for 112 minutes of scrubbing against 77 minutes on the rider, before set-up, refills and buffer.

Turn hours into a price using your full hourly cost. business.gov.au's pricing strategy guide says an hourly rate should take in wages, superannuation, leave entitlements and taxes.

Risk buffers and variations

A buffer covers the things a walk-through cannot see: a blocked dump point, a spill from the night before, a battery that did not fully charge. Keep it visible in the worksheet rather than hiding it inside the efficiency factor, so the client can see what it covers.

Recovery water also adds travel time. The NSW EPA's "the drain is just for rain" guidance says washing runoff, including from work floors, must not enter stormwater drains. If the only sewer dump point is at the far end of the building, every emptying cycle takes longer. Note it in the scope.

Finally, list what triggers a variation: more floor area, new racking, a change of floor finish or a change in cleaning frequency.

Spec-sheet fields to check on a floor scrubber

• Cleaning or scrub path width, in millimetres.
• Speed, and whether it is a scrubbing, traction or transport figure.
• Theoretical and, where listed, actual productivity.
• Solution and recovery tank size, for refill frequency.
• Runtime per charge. The SC2000 53B is listed at up to 2.5 hours.
• Noise level, if you quote daytime work. The SC4000 860D is listed at 64 dB(A).

Compare these across the floor scrubbers collection before you commit a machine to a tender.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Pasting the theoretical rate into the quote unchanged.
• Using one efficiency factor for the whole site.
• Leaving out set-up, refills, emptying and edge work.
• Pricing a walk-behind as if the operator holds full pace all shift.
• Not writing assumptions into the scope, so there is no basis for a variation.

Summary: what to take away

Check the listed rate against width × speed. Apply a written, zone-by-zone efficiency factor. Add fixed time and a visible buffer. Then price the hours. A quote built this way is easier to defend and easier to adjust when the site changes.

Frequently asked questions

Next steps with Freshway

Pick two or three candidate machines, run the worksheet for your next tender, and check each product page for current pricing. Larger fleets and trade buyers can see the trade and B2B page, and the wider commercial cleaning machines range covers the rest of the kit a contract needs.