The minimum commercial cleaning contract is not really set by floor area. It is set by what it costs to open the premises, deliver the agreed standard, and lock up again. A small office may need only an hour of visible cleaning, yet paid labour, travel, supplies and admin can turn that visit into two hours of cost. That is how a CZK 3,500 monthly account can look useful on the invoice and still contribute almost nothing to profit.
A small invoice can hide a loss-making contract
Four visits at CZK 900 appear to create CZK 3,600 in dependable monthly revenue. That revenue must still cover labour, travel, products, insurance, equipment wear, client messages and the occasional return visit. The same trap appears when a job is won on price alone; it pays to know how to win cleaning clients without discount pricing.
I once reviewed a quote for a compact office in Prague 7. Vacuuming, mopping, a kitchenette and two toilets were supposed to take 70 minutes. The sheet omitted the keys, alarm, journey from the previous job, unloading and final check. Then came messages about paper towels. The "one-hour clean" regularly occupied almost two hours of the working day.
Measure the whole visit, from leaving the previous useful location until the worker is ready for the next paid task. A standalone evening job may need travel from home or the storeroom. An office between two existing clients may need only the extra journey. The same premises can be viable on one route and a poor deal on another.
A month is not four weeks. Weekly service normally means 52 visits a year, or 4.33 a month. State what happens on Czech public holidays, during client shutdowns and when a substitute is needed.
Find the shortest visit that still makes economic sense
Set a minimum paid block first: perhaps 90 minutes for a solo cleaner and two hours for a company sending an employee across Prague. This is not permission to stretch the work. A short stop breaks up a shift, and an employee cannot be paid only for the 47 minutes spent holding a mop.
Put these items on one line of the costing sheet:
- cleaning time and the final quality check;
- travel, parking and the walk from public transport;
- unloading and repacking equipment;
- keys, alarm, visitor log and locking up;
- a share of scheduling, client communication and invoicing.
Take an 85 m² office in Holešovice. Cleaning needs 75 minutes, but the company pays a 90-minute minimum block. Travel and handling add 35 minutes, so the model uses 125 paid minutes. At a productive labour cost of CZK 330 an hour, that is roughly CZK 688. This is an example, not a market rate; insert your own pay, employer costs and paid downtime.
Owner-operators often include fuel and products but value their own time at zero. The account looks positive because the owner donates labour. Include your target pay per productive hour or you are tracking cash movement, not commercial cleaning profitability.
Supplies and quality control belong in the retainer
Count bin liners, gloves, overshoes, cloths, mop laundry and the cost of moving supplies. We will allow CZK 90 per visit. If the client wants soap, toilet paper or paper towels replenished, charge those consumables from actual use.
A solo cleaner may complete quality control during the final minutes. A small firm might send a supervisor once a month. A CZK 240 monthly review adds about CZK 55 to each of 4.33 visits.
Add CZK 55 per visit for liability insurance and equipment renewal, plus CZK 30 for admin. Finally, hold a complaint reserve, perhaps 8% of direct cost. It pays for a return journey or half an hour lost while access is sorted out.
The sample visit now looks like this:
| Cost item | Amount | |---|---:| | Paid labour and travel | CZK 688 | | Cleaning and protective supplies | CZK 90 | | Quality control | CZK 55 | | Administration | CZK 30 | | Insurance and equipment renewal | CZK 55 | | Subtotal | CZK 918 | | 8% complaint reserve | CZK 73 | | Rounded minimum visit price | CZK 1,050 |
Rounding above CZK 991 contributes to overhead and profit. If your Czech business is VAT registered, apply VAT under your own tax position and label the quote clearly.
Turn the minimum visit price into a monthly offer
Do not multiply a weekly visit by four. CZK 1,050 across 52 visits is CZK 54,600 a year, or CZK 4,550 a month. I would quote CZK 4,600 before VAT. This commercial cleaning monthly price keeps the invoice level in February and in a month with five service dates.
The formula is plain:
(visit price × annual number of visits) ÷ 12 = monthly retainer
Describe the recurring scope: floors, bins, reachable surfaces, kitchenette and two toilets, for example. Quote windows, deep cleaning, carpet extraction and consumables separately. Our practical guide explains what belongs in recurring cleaning and what should cost extra. This keeps a minimum janitorial contract tied to promised work.
Show two versions. Weekly service could be CZK 4,600 a month; fortnightly service might be CZK 2,700 because each visit is longer and not every cost halves. The client can see what changes in frequency, scope and expected condition.
Change the model before turning the work down
If the client will not accept the minimum cleaning job size, look at the route. Two Karlín offices five minutes apart can share some travel and supervision time. Split that saving fairly; do not price against a second address that does not yet exist. Before cutting the rate, check whether the negotiation already shows the signs of a problematic cleaning client.
A longer, less frequent visit is another option if footfall and hygiene needs allow it. You could also add glass partitions or stock replenishment, so a larger invoice pays for more real work.
Sometimes the answer is still no. If safe, reliable delivery costs at least CZK 1,050 and the client insists on CZK 700, clever wording cannot recover the missing CZK 350. A polite refusal is better than a year of late shifts and free corrective visits.
Replace estimates with real numbers after three months
The opening calculation is a hypothesis. For three months, record arrival, departure, paid travel, supplies and extra requests. Log invisible delays too: waiting for security, a missing key or a long client message.
Compare the plan with reality. If a 125-minute visit repeatedly takes 150, adjust the retainer or narrow the scope. One corrective visit may be bad luck; three returns for the same issue point to the process, training or original price.
My rule is simple: a loss-making job does not repair itself by running for a long time. It merely becomes familiar. Put a three-month review point in the proposal and tell the client from the start that you will verify the scope and time once genuine operating data exists.
If you need recurring cleaning for a small Prague office or shop, send a no-obligation request through ČistýKout. It gives you room to compare offers and agree on a frequency that works for both the premises and the provider.
