People searching for a cleaning business licence often want a neat list of jobs they may or may not sell. Czech practice is less tidy. A sole trader can start with ordinary home or small-office cleaning, but a trade registration is not proof that the cleaner can handle work at height, pest infestations, asbestos dust or biological contamination. Your first service menu should be narrower than your ambition and honest about what you can do safely.
What the client means by cleaning and what the Czech authority means
A client usually means vacuuming, mopping, dusting, cleaning the bathroom and wiping the kitchen. The Czech licensing system uses defined fields under the unqualified trade called "Manufacture, trade and services not specified in Annexes 1 to 3 of the Trade Licensing Act". Field 79, services for families and households, explicitly covers household cleaning, laundry and ironing. Field 58, purchase, sale, management and maintenance of real estate, covers cleaning homes and commercial premises, interiors, exteriors, windows and pavements.
The current scope and exclusions are set out in the official BusinessInfo overview and Government Regulation No. 278/2008. When registering, describe the work you genuinely plan to sell. "Cleaning" alone may hide a meaningful difference between household help, property maintenance and care for household textiles.
If you are still working through registration, contributions and first clients, use the broader guide to starting a cleaning company step by step. This article stays with the narrower question: the boundary of each service.
This is where many new providers get caught out. A cleaning business licence gives you the legal basis for ordinary work within its stated scope. It does not certify your competence in every chemical process or fall-protection method. Registration answers one question: may you run this type of business? Training, equipment and the condition on site answer another: should you accept this particular job?
The official wording for field 58 expressly excludes chemical cleaning of carpets and textiles. Elsewhere, the regulation separates non-chemical maintenance of household textiles from chemical-technological cleaning. If you want to offer machine cleaning of sofas, carpets or protective treatments, do not guess from the machine's marketing name. Explain the actual process to the trade licensing office and confirm the correct field or qualified trade first.
Services you can sensibly offer at the start
A small repeatable core works well. Regular cleaning may include vacuuming, mopping, dusting reachable surfaces, cleaning the bathroom and toilet, wiping the outside of kitchen units, mirrors and taking out ordinary household waste. For a small office, add agreed desk surfaces, the kitchenette and shared areas. Do not move electronics, paperwork or personal belongings without permission.
A one-off deep clean can include skirting boards, doors, switches, empty cupboard interiors, the oven or fridge. It is not simply a regular visit performed with more enthusiasm. It needs more time and an honest description of the starting condition. Window cleaning needs boundaries too. Reachable windows, cleaned from a stable floor position or with suitable low-level access equipment used as instructed, are a reasonable starting service. Exterior glazing high above a courtyard, roof windows over stairs and glass façades are not casual add-ons.
I have seen the problem in a Prague 2+kk flat. On arrival, the client pointed to two tall double windows and asked the cleaner to "do the outside while you're here". She had brought a small domestic step stool. The right response was not to invent a surcharge. It was to decline the exterior panes and arrange another method. Five awkward minutes are cheaper than a fall.
For every service, write down what is included, what is excluded and the conditions for accepting it. CistýKout's guide to what regular home cleaning includes and what should cost extra gives a useful starting structure. A defined cleaning service scope does not look limited. It looks dependable.
Jobs that look like cleaning but carry different risks
Trouble often arrives disguised as "just make it presentable". Ask for photographs and the source of the dirt before quoting. Dust from drilling into plaster is not the same as unidentified grey dust around an old insulation board.
Work with a fall risk requires its own assessment, equipment and method. Czech rules generally require fall-protection measures for workplaces above 1.5 metres and set conditions for ladders and training. A solo contractor is organised differently from an employer with staff, but gravity makes no such distinction. If a job requires a platform, harness or access method you have not trained for, pass it to a height-work specialist. The framework is in Government Regulation No. 362/2005.
I would also decline or refer the following:
- blood, bodily fluids, used needles, sharps and cleaning after a death;
- extensive mould, persistently wet structures or any promise to remove a health cause;
- a significant infestation of bedbugs, cockroaches or rodents;
- rubble or dust suspected to contain asbestos, unidentified hazardous chemicals or industrial contamination;
- steam blasting, sand blasting or other specialist façade treatment.
Czech public-health law distinguishes routine protective disinfection carried out during cleaning from specialist disinfection, insect control and rodent control. Specialist treatment requires training, practical competence and a valid certificate. The requirements are set out in Sections 55 to 61 of Act No. 258/2000. Wiping a normally used bathroom with an approved disinfectant according to its label is not the same service as promising to eradicate bedbugs from an infested flat.
Asbestos is not a case for a stronger vacuum. Joint Czech government guidance published in 2026 describes containment, sealed and labelled packaging, and transfer to an authorised waste facility. Stop as soon as asbestos is suspected. The guidance from the environment, health and regional-development ministries is useful evidence when a client thinks this is merely dusty renovation debris.
Chemicals, equipment and insurance must match the promise
An all-purpose product is not safe for every surface. Acidic limescale remover can etch natural stone; a strong alkaline cleaner can damage an oven finish and your skin. Mixing a chlorine product with an acid can release dangerous gas. Read the label, follow dilution instructions and keep the safety data sheet for professional products. Czech labour-safety guidance recommends checking the substance, ventilation, protective equipment and emergency procedure before work. The government guide to safe handling of chemical mixtures is worth saving offline.
Liability insurance cannot make risky work safe, but it can cover an ordinary mistake: a scratched hob, a damaged tap or water leaking into the flat below. Read the exclusions, excess and limits. Confirm that the policy names the activities you actually perform. Keep a simple key handover record, and never label a keyring with the full address. Record who received each key and when it was returned.
Buy an extractor or single-disc machine after you have a tested process and paying demand. At the beginning, a reliable vacuum, colour-coded cloths, gloves, safe low-level access and a closed chemical box matter more. A machine costing tens of thousands of Czech crowns that you cannot price, transport or maintain is not a new service. It is an expensive object in the cupboard.
How to describe service boundaries in your profile and quote
"I clean everything" is an invitation to argue. Use concrete verbs and conditions instead:
> Regular cleaning includes vacuuming, mopping, dusting reachable surfaces, the bathroom, toilet and exterior kitchen surfaces. Windows, the oven, fridge and cupboard interiors are quoted separately. I do not provide work at height, biohazard cleaning, pest eradication or hazardous-waste removal.
State your minimum charge or visit length, travel area and any fee for bringing equipment. Require a viewing or photographs for post-renovation work, long-neglected spaces, large amounts of waste and stains of unclear origin. If a client will not show the condition, a fixed price is a guess.
Do not promise "every stain removed", "100% disinfection" or an "allergen-free home". You do not know which chemicals were previously used on an old carpet, what lies behind a stained grout line or why mould keeps returning. Promise a process instead: a test in a hidden area, products used as directed, and a stop if continuing may cause damage.
Once the scope is clear, put a sustainable number on it. The CistýKout article on hourly rates, fixed fees and square-metre pricing explains the trade-offs. Boundaries need no apology. They tell the client exactly what they are buying.
Checklist before adding a new service
Before adding upholstery cleaning, post-renovation work or office care to your profile, answer these questions:
- Does the exact process fall within my registered trade scope?
- What health, chemical, electrical and fall risks does it create?
- Do I have instructions for the product, machine and surface?
- Can I perform it without experimenting on the client's property?
- How long do preparation, travel, drying and equipment care take?
- Where can I lawfully take the resulting waste or contaminated material?
- Does my insurance cover the work, and can I explain the exclusions?
Test the process away from a paying client's property. Measure product use, working time and drying, then count travel and cleaning the machine afterwards. Only then set the price and publish the service. If the scope remains unclear, ask the trade licensing office, the technology supplier or an experienced specialist. Turning down one unsafe job is not lost business. It is competent business.
If you need regular or deep cleaning in Prague and want to agree the scope without commitment, send a free cleaning request through CistýKout.
