What It Costs to Run a 1,000 m² Office in Tel Aviv

A 1,000 m² office in Tel Aviv runs on services that come back every month: cleaning, sometimes an office host, the kitchenette and coffee, preventive maintenance and air conditioning, pest control, fire safety, plants and periodic deep cleaning. Some of them have public market prices you can check a quote against. Others depend almost entirely on your company and your building.

Below is each line: what the market quotes, where there is a public source, what pushes it up or down, and what to check before you sign. The prices come from the price lists and articles linked at the end. They are reference points, not quotes, and they change over time.

None of this includes rent, the building's service charges or arnona: it is the cost of running the space, not of renting it.

Cleaning: usually the biggest line

What the market quotes: an article on the site of the cleaning company Clean Premium Office says that offices over 200 m² usually pay ₪0.8 to ₪1.5 per m² for daily cleaning, depending on the type of cleaning required. For 1,000 m², that is ₪800 to ₪1,500 a cleaning. The article does not say whether the figures include VAT.

A full-time cleaner, for comparison: the cleaning company O.C. publishes a full-time position, five days a week and nine hours a day, at ₪16,720 to ₪17,530 a month before VAT, at ₪42 to ₪45 an hour. According to the company, the price includes social benefits, travel, clothing, cleaning materials, management and profit, and about three of every four shekels go to the worker.

What moves it:

• How often: every evening, a few times a week, or a cleaner in the office through the day.
• What is cleaned: kitchenettes, restrooms, meeting rooms, glass and floors each add time.
• The hours: evening, daytime or weekend, and how many workers each shift needs.
• Materials and consumables: toilet paper, soap and bin bags are sometimes in the price and sometimes not.

What to check in the quote: whether the price is per cleaning, per hour or per month; how many workers and hours it covers; whether materials and consumables are included; and whether it is before or including VAT. A cleaning quote far below the ranges above should raise a question: if the price doesn't cover the worker's wages and rights, someone is paying the difference.

An office host

Someone in the office who receives visitors and deliveries, keeps the shared spaces in order and restocks the kitchenette. It is optional: many offices manage without one, others need someone for a few hours a day, and some for the whole day. None of the public sources at the end of this article prices the role, so the cost comes down mainly to the hours and to who employs the person.

What moves it: the hours a day, the scope (reception, deliveries, kitchenette, meeting rooms), and whether the company employs the host directly or through a service provider.

What to check: who covers holidays and sick days, and what exactly is in the job.

Kitchenette and coffee

The kitchenette depends almost entirely on the company's culture: what is on the shelves, how often it is restocked, and what the team is used to. The number of people in the office moves it more than the floor area does.

Coffee by the cup: an article in Calcalist's Corporate section quotes estimates by Yizmako, a company that supplies coffee machines to businesses, that an employer pays on average ₪1 to ₪1.5 per cup, when an average employee drinks 1.5 cups a day. It is an estimate by a supplier, not an independent survey.

Renting the machine: the Dun & Bradstreet Gold Pages (d.co.il) price list for coffee machines puts renting one at ₪400 to ₪1,000 a month. The site notes that its price lists are recommended prices and do not bind the businesses listed.

What to check: whether servicing, cleaning and descaling are in the rental, what the consumables cost, and whether the contract commits you to a minimum quantity of coffee.

Preventive maintenance and air conditioning

This depends on the systems in your space and on what the building's management company already looks after. In a tower, some systems are the management company's job and are paid through the service charge, so the line is drawn in the lease. Read it before you pay twice.

What moves it: the type and age of the air-conditioning system, how many units are in the space, and how often the filters are cleaned.

What to check: how many visits a year the contract includes, how fast a fault is answered, and whether parts are included or billed separately.

Pest control

Midrag puts a pest-control treatment for a large office of 200 to 500 m² at ₪500 to ₪750 including VAT. Its bands stop at 500 m², so expect more for a 1,000 m² office. The price also depends on whether the technician has to come back after the treatment.

What moves it: the floor area, whether there is a kitchenette or a kitchen, and how often the office is treated.

What to check: whether the price is for one treatment or for a yearly plan, and whether a return visit is included.

Fire safety

Midrag puts an annual fire-safety inspection for a 1,000 m² office, covering all its fire systems, at ₪2,800 including VAT and the certificate. Repairs found in the inspection cost extra. Spread over the year, the inspection alone is about ₪233 a month. Midrag also notes that the law requires an annual inspection of fire equipment.

What to check: which systems the inspection covers, and how the repairs it finds are priced.

Plants and deep cleaning

These are things that don't happen every month: plant care and periodic deep cleaning, such as carpets, upholstery and windows. Spreading them over the year keeps the monthly budget steady.

What moves it: how many plants there are and how big, how often they are tended, and how often the office is deep cleaned.

What to check in every supplier quote

• The scope in writing: what is done, how often and for how many hours.
• VAT: whether the price is before or including it.
• What is included: materials, consumables, return visits and parts.
• Term and exit: how long the contract runs, how you leave it, and when the price can change.
• Response time: how fast a fault is answered.
• The invoice: that every invoice can be checked against the agreement.

The line that doesn't appear in the budget

In most companies, the office runs on someone's time: the office manager, a COO or an executive assistant who deals with suppliers, repairs and invoices alongside the job they were hired for. That cost doesn't appear in any line above, but it is real. Our office load calculator estimates how many hours a month the building takes from the person running the office.

How we do it at Bauhouse

Bauhouse Workplace runs offices in Tel Aviv day to day: cleaning, maintenance, air-conditioning and pest-control suppliers, repairs, supplier invoices checked against the agreement, the building's management company and fire safety. The price of the service is a quote tailored to the size of the office and the scope of the work, after a short walk-through of the office. More on office management, or see how much time the building takes in the calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to run a 1,000 m² office in Tel Aviv?

It depends mostly on cleaning, the kitchenette and whether you have an office host, and on what the building already covers. For reference, Clean Premium Office puts daily cleaning for offices over 200 m² at ₪0.8 to ₪1.5 per m², and Midrag puts an annual fire-safety inspection for a 1,000 m² office at ₪2,800 including VAT.

Does this include rent, service charges or arnona?

No. It covers the services that keep the office running, not the cost of renting the space.

What is usually the biggest line?

Cleaning. Its frequency and hours move the total more than any other line.

What does Bauhouse charge to manage the office?

A quote tailored to the size of the office and the scope of the work, after a short walk-through.

Sources

• Clean Premium Office, How much does office cleaning in Tel Aviv really cost? (Hebrew)
• O.C., office cleaning in Tel Aviv and the centre: prices for a full-time cleaner (Hebrew)
• Midrag, pest control for offices (Hebrew)
• Midrag, fire-safety inspection (Hebrew)
• Dun & Bradstreet Gold Pages, coffee machine price list (Hebrew)
• Calcalist, coffee stations at work and what they cost employers, 24 November 2024 (Hebrew)