Buy, lease, or pay monthly for a cleaning robot: which one fits a BSC
Three ways to pay for a CC1 or Scrubber robot — own it, finance it, or rent the outcome. Here is which one fits a building service contractor vs. a single-site operator.
A cleaning robot isn't one price — it's three different financial decisions wearing the same machine. Buy it and own the asset. Lease it and finance the asset over a term. Or pay monthly as a service (RaaS) and rent the outcome, with us carrying the machine, the service, and the risk.
This isn't just a payment-schedule choice. It decides who's on the hook when a scrubber's brush motor dies at 2am on a warehouse floor.
The three paths, cleaning-specific
| | Buy | Lease | Pay monthly (RaaS) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What you pay | Full price up front | Financed payments over a term | One monthly fee | | Who owns the CC1 / Scrubber | You | You, after the term | Nobody — you rent the clean floor | | On the books | Capex | Financed asset | Opex | | Who eats a broken brush motor or pump | You | Usually you | Us | | Best fit | Single site, long horizon, capital available | Growing BSC adding fleet, wants the asset eventually | BSC bidding a new contract, doesn't want the capital risk on an unproven site |
Why BSCs lean toward monthly
A building service contractor's business is winning and losing contracts, not owning capital equipment. If you buy a Scrubber 75 Pro for a warehouse contract and lose that contract in 14 months, you're holding a robot with nowhere to run it. Pay-monthly means the commitment matches the contract, not a five-year asset schedule.
Single-site operators — a hospital or hotel running the robot on their own floor indefinitely — often do better with lease or buy, since they know the machine has a home for years.
The number that decides it
For most cleaning robot deployments on a 50,000+ sq ft floor, the industry-estimate payback (not a Cleaning Robot Co. case study) runs 9–18 months comparing a ~$1,000–$2,000/month all-in robot cost against a ~$3,500–$4,500/month cleaner. If your contract runs shorter than that payback window, pay-monthly protects you. If it runs longer, buy or lease captures more value over time.
We structure the path that fits your contract — we're the integrator, never the bank. We surface financing at the start of the site assessment, not after you've already picked a machine.
FAQ
Can I switch from monthly to buy later? Yes — talk to us before your term renews and we'll restructure it.
Does financing change which robot I get? No — the CC1, Scrubber 50 Pro, Scrubber 75 Pro, and SH1 are each available buy, lease, or monthly. See the robots.
What's included in the monthly fee? The robot, install, training, and nationwide service. See how it works.
Tell us your contract length and floor size. We'll tell you which financing path actually fits.