A cleaning price increase for January 2027 should not begin with one percentage copied across every client. October gives you time to examine each recurring job, calculate what it really earns, and give clients proper notice before December turns everyone’s diary into a mess. Some prices may stay where they are. Others will need a larger correction because travel, preparation or extra tasks have quietly become unpaid work.
First, find out which jobs are actually losing money
Do not start with “How much should I add?” Pick one job and review the last three visits. Record the cleaning time, the trip in both directions, parking, loading supplies, washing cloths and the messages needed to arrange the visit. Add products, gloves, vacuum bags and parking fees. A small company should also count invoicing, route planning and time spent moving appointments.
A useful cleaning cost calculation is:
real hourly return = (job price - direct costs) / all time connected with the job
Take a recurring two-bedroom flat in Prague’s Vinohrady district. You charge CZK 1,200 per visit. Cleaning takes three hours, travel takes 50 minutes, and preparation plus admin takes another 20. Supplies and parking cost CZK 130. That leaves CZK 1,070 for four hours and ten minutes of work, or roughly CZK 257 per real hour. The advertised figure of CZK 400 per “cleaning hour” told a much nicer story.
Use several visits, not one awful Wednesday. A crash on the magistrála or an oven that needs an unexpected scrub does not make a steady client unprofitable. Repeated delays do. If parking is always difficult, laundry keeps appearing and every clean runs 30 minutes over, the scope or the price is wrong.
If you are rebuilding the rate from scratch, the guide on how to price cleaning services in the Czech Republic adds context on minimum jobs and the first rate calculation. It also helps you raise cleaning prices from a defensible baseline rather than a guess.
One percentage for every client is rarely fair
Adding ten percent to every account is easy, but it ignores how the work has changed. Group clients by frequency, visit length, travel and difficulty. Flag rates that have not moved for two or three years. Then look for work that crept in without a price discussion: a second bathroom, regular oven cleaning, bed linen, more ironing or the hair left by a new dog.
One client may only need a move from CZK 1,500 to CZK 1,600. Another job priced at CZK 1,300 may need to reach CZK 1,650 before it covers time and direct costs. Do not hide that gap inside a vague “operating surcharge”. A client should be able to see the amount and the service attached to it.
I would sort the list into three working groups:
- price and scope still match, so no January change is needed;
- a modest adjustment covers materials, travel or admin;
- the account is badly underpriced and needs a new fee, reduced scope or a clean ending.
This is more honest than an automatic rise in cleaning rates 2027. It also prevents the familiar loyalty trap. A long-standing client is valuable, but that relationship cannot require you to subsidise every visit.
Set the new price, minimum job and effective date
Now choose the return you need after direct costs and unpaid time. Build in a sensible allowance for delays, heavier product use and replacement equipment. That allowance is not a mysterious bonus. It stops a broken vacuum or a week of terrible Prague traffic from wiping out the month.
Return to the Vinohrady example. For a real hourly return of CZK 340, four hours and ten minutes of work need to produce about CZK 1,417, plus CZK 130 in direct expenses. CZK 1,547 is awkward to explain and invoice. CZK 1,550 is clear. If the job regularly needs another ten minutes, CZK 1,600 with a precise scope may be the more realistic figure.
Set a minimum job at the same time. A one-hour clean in Dejvice can block two hours once travel and setup are included. The minimum is not a penalty for owning a small flat. It pays for a slot that you cannot sell to someone else that day.
For the wider price-list decision, compare this approach with cleaning rates by the hour, fixed fee or square metre before changing every client at once.
Use one effective date, such as 1 January 2027. Avoid “from the New Year or your next visit”. A four-weekly client may reasonably wonder which fee applies. If a large correction needs two steps, state both dates and both prices in the first notice.
Keep the notice short, specific and early
October is comfortable timing for a January change. Clients get more than two months to decide, while you still have room to rebuild the January schedule. For regular households, I would treat the end of November as the practical latest date. A message squeezed between Christmas plans and rescheduled cleans feels abrupt even when the new price is justified.
A cleaning service price increase letter only needs four facts: the current service, the new amount, the effective date and the requested reply date. A short reason is enough. Your client does not need a diary of fuel prices, every glove purchase or a breakdown of your tax payments.
> Hello Jana, from 1 January 2027 the price of your regular clean will be CZK 1,600 per visit, up from CZK 1,400. The scope remains the same: bathroom and toilet, kitchen surfaces, dusting, vacuuming and mopping; the oven and windows remain separately agreed extras. I am adjusting the price after reviewing the time, travel and materials required for the job. Please confirm by 15 November whether you would like to continue on these terms. Thank you.
Send the notice through the channel you normally use, but keep a written record. If the conversation happens by phone, follow it with a short email or text. Silence is not a useful agreement when you have asked for confirmation. One polite reminder is enough.
What to offer when a client rejects the new price
A rejection is not an instruction to restore the old rate. First work out whether the client disputes the value or simply cannot afford the same service. In the second case, offer a visit every three weeks instead of fortnightly cleaning, remove lower-priority tasks, or alternate them. You might spend more time on the bathroom one visit and concentrate on the kitchen next time.
Do not promise the same clean for less. A discount with no change in service takes you straight back to the original problem. A plain response works:
> I understand. At CZK 1,400 I can offer a smaller scope without ironing and changing bed linen, or we can move to one visit every three weeks. If neither option suits you, we can finish the regular service on 31 December. Please tell me which option you prefer.
Sometimes ending the arrangement is the correct result. Releasing an unprofitable Tuesday morning slot may be better than carrying it through another year. Confirm any new agreement in writing, including price, frequency, scope and the first date on which it applies.
After the first month, check the result, not just reactions
At the end of January, do not measure success by the number of complaints. Compare the real hourly return with your October calculation. Check diary occupancy, lost accounts and unpaid admin time. If invoices look healthier but every evening still disappears into messages and schedule changes, the new price is not covering the whole job.
A small review sheet only needs five entries per client: visit price, direct costs, total time, real hourly return and variance from plan. Four weeks of data will show whether your decision was close. Do not send another general increase because one job went wrong. Fix the scope, route or that account’s price.
Put the next review in the calendar now, perhaps for October 2027. An annual review does not mean an automatic rise every year. It means looking at the numbers before a few weak jobs have quietly drained another season.
If you are reading from the client side and need regular cleaning in Prague with a clear scope and price, you can send a no-obligation enquiry through Čistýkout. A sound cleaning agreement leaves both sides knowing what will be done, what a visit costs and when the terms may change.
Clients comparing offers can also use the overview of house cleaning prices in 2026, while checking which tasks and conditions each quote includes.
