Daycare cleaning is not office cleaning with a box of toys added to the room. A small childcare setting may use the same floor for play, lunch and nap time within a few hours. That can make it a solid recurring contract for an independent cleaner or a small team, but only when the operator sets the hygiene routine and both sides agree on the difference between routine cleaning, disinfection and an exceptional incident.
Build the scope around the daycare's daily routine
On a first visit, I would not begin with square metres. I would ask what happens in each room during a normal day. A 90 m�² centre can still have fifteen muddy pairs of shoes by the door, folding beds across the playroom after lunch and parents collecting children at four. Floor area gives you a starting number. The timetable explains the work.
Ask the operator to identify each zone, its frequency and the products approved for the surfaces in that setting. Czech rules place responsibility for the facility's operating and hygiene requirements on the provider, with the exact regime depending on the size and type of group. A contract should therefore follow the centre's own documentation, not a generic daycare cleaning checklist copied from abroad. Useful legal starting points are Decree No. 350/2021 for small children's groups and Decree No. 160/2024 for the settings covered by that regulation.
Your walk-through notes should cover:
- daily zones and the times when they are actually vacant,
- work after meals, naps and nappy changes,
- weekly or monthly tasks,
- approved products, dilution and contact time,
- the person authorised to change the brief.
Routine vacuuming, damp mopping and washroom cleaning are not the same as specialist disinfection after an infectious incident. If a client orders regular childcare cleaning services, do not promise to “fully disinfect the premises” in one vague line. That claim needs a specified product, method, protective equipment and allocation of responsibility.
Give toys, beds and textiles their own rules
Toys are where a standard commercial-cleaning quote usually falls apart. Washable plastic blocks, a wooden puzzle, a book and an electronic toy cannot all take the same treatment. Before offering toy cleaning and disinfection, agree which items you may handle, what method applies and who separates soiled toys during the day.
Electronics and books may only tolerate careful wiping in line with the manufacturer's instructions. Soft furnishings bring washing, drying and return-to-use time into the job. The same applies to cot covers, bedding, dress-up clothes and fabric storage baskets. “Textiles as required” is a poor item to hide in a fixed monthly fee. It might mean two covers one week and three full laundry loads the next.
At one small setting I visited in Prague 6, the most useful piece of equipment was a plain plastic tub marked “to wash”. Staff placed mouthed toys and items dropped on a dirty floor inside it during the day. The evening cleaner did not have to guess. A small hand-off rule like that saves time and removes a surprising amount of ambiguity.
Do not reach for one universal product. It might lift paint from wood, leak into a battery compartment or leave residue on an object that a toddler will put in their mouth. Check the material, label directions, rinsing requirements and contact time. If that information is missing, record the problem and leave the item aside.
Keep washrooms, changing areas and food zones separate
Work from the cleaner areas towards the washrooms. A cloth used on a changing mat must never move to a dining table, even if it still looks clean. Colour-coded equipment helps when everybody knows the legend and it stays consistent. Blue might cover the playroom, green the food area and red the toilets. The exact colours matter less than a system that does not change halfway through the week.
Write down who handles routine waste and any hygiene-related waste, who changes liners in lidded bins, and who replenishes soap, paper towels, gloves and toilet paper. The scope should also say where used cloths and mop heads go after the shift, and who receives reports about a leaking toilet or an empty chemical container.
Body-fluid incidents require a separate instruction. Vomit, blood or a significant nappy leak is not merely an extra patch of floor. The operator should nominate a contact, define the method and protective equipment, and confirm whether an external cleaner is expected to deal with it at all. If the agreement is silent, the cleaner should not invent a response on site.
Food areas need another boundary. Confirm what counts as cleaning tables and what becomes dish handling or kitchen work. A visibly clean snack table is not automatically a correctly treated food-contact surface. The centre's approved procedure and the product label decide the method.
When illness rises, change the brief rather than the chemistry
By November, a third of the children may be absent within days. That is the moment to use an agreed escalation contact, not to pour twice as much concentrate into a bucket. A stronger smell does not prove better hygiene. Too much chemical can damage finishes, irritate people and extend the time before a room is ready to use.
Before the contract begins, decide who activates an enhanced routine and how they will describe it. A short written message is enough: the start date, the selected surfaces, the new frequency, the approved product and the end condition. The operator may name door handles, taps, rails or selected washable toys. The cleaner should not widen that list on instinct.
The US CDC's guidance for early care and education settings usefully distinguishes cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting and points staff back to label directions. For a Czech contract, it is background reading rather than a substitute for Czech requirements and the operator's approved hygiene procedure.
Price any exceptional response outside the regular fee. Account for the changed scope, extra product, PPE, time and access restrictions. If the client cannot provide those details, do not sell the task as specialist disinfection.
A simple cleaning record prevents arguments
A small daycare does not need a complicated compliance app. One sheet per week or a basic shared table may be enough. Each visit should show the date, arrival and departure time, completed zones, any periodic task and a short note about defects. Initials help when several cleaners cover the site.
A useful note says: “Playroom incomplete, 18 Oct - parent meeting in progress; reported to Ms Nováková.” “Could not clean” tells nobody what happened. Report a locked room, missing approved product or damaged surface immediately, not when the monthly invoice is sent.
Never put children's photographs, names or individual health information in a cleaning log. If a defect needs a picture, frame only the detail and avoid people, name boards or artwork labelled with a full name. A short written note acknowledged by the contact person is often safer.
A short daycare cleaning checklist for each shift
- planned zones completed,
- separate equipment used and returned correctly,
- waste removed as agreed,
- consumables replenished or reported,
- access problems and defects recorded,
- time and initials added.
The record protects both sides. The operator sees what was done. The cleaner has evidence when somebody complains at 8 a.m. about a room that was locked during the previous shift.
Price frequency, zones and responsibility
An hourly rate is a useful check, not a finished quotation. A nursery cleaning service also spends time preparing equipment, changing cloths between zones, moving light beds, completing records and cleaning the utility area. Add periodic work such as laundering covers, wet-cleaning carpets, batch-washing toys or cleaning light fittings. Anything outside the recurring cycle belongs on a separate price list.
A sample calculation might start with three evening visits of 2.5 hours per week. Add 15 minutes per visit for set-up and records, plus two hours per month for scheduled periodic work. Apply your own rate only after you have counted that time, then add travel, supplies, laundry and cover for staff absence. Copying another Prague company's hourly price will not fix a bad scope. One centre has smooth floors and toys sorted into boxes; another has carpet, fifteen folding beds and washrooms on two levels.
Keep these items outside the recurring fee:
- body-fluid incidents,
- enhanced work during an illness period,
- exceptional laundry,
- deep cleaning after decoration or building work,
- visits requested outside the contracted hours.
I recommend treating the first month as a measured pilot. Record the actual minutes by zone and every extra request. Four weeks later, you can show that the washrooms consistently need twenty minutes more, or that cover laundry happens fortnightly rather than weekly. The operator can then confirm a realistic fee instead of negotiating around a guess.
A good contract rests on rather ordinary things: a precise scope, available products, a brief record and one person who can approve a change. Those details turn daycare cleaning into predictable recurring work instead of a run of evening surprises.
If your Prague daycare needs regular cleaning and you would like to define the scope before committing, send a no-obligation enquiry through the ČistýKout contact form.
