The recurring house cleaning cost is impossible to compare from one headline number. A cleaner hourly rate of CZK 350 may end up above a CZK 1,200 flat quote once travel, supplies and a three-hour minimum are added. In another flat, hourly billing is the fairer choice because nobody knows yet how much work the first visit will uncover. The useful number is the price of one completed visit for an agreed scope.
What are you actually comparing in a cleaning quote?
Start with the work, not the rate. "Regular cleaning" might mean vacuuming, mopping, dusting, cleaning the bathroom and wiping the outside of the kitchen units. Another client may assume it includes fresh bed linen, the oven and a basket of ironing. Those assumptions are where a cheap quote becomes an awkward conversation.
A sensible recurring visit usually covers floors, reachable surfaces, bathroom fittings, the toilet, mirrors, kitchen worktops and cabinet fronts, plus ordinary household waste. Windows, the inside of the fridge or oven, cupboards, ironing and post-renovation dust are separate jobs. They are not rare; they are simply capable of adding one or several hours.
Ask about the less visible charges too:
- travel and paid parking, especially in Prague permit zones;
- cleaning products, cloths and vacuum bags;
- a minimum visit length or minimum call-out charge;
- evening, weekend, pet or heavy-soiling supplements;
- VAT, if the advertised figure is not the final consumer price.
Here is a mistake I see often. One quote says CZK 330 per hour and another says CZK 390, so the first looks cheaper. Yet the first cleaner estimates four hours and charges CZK 250 for travel. The second expects to finish in three hours with supplies included. That is CZK 1,570 versus CZK 1,170. An hourly figure on its own is not an apartment cleaning cost.
Get the arithmetic in writing: rate × expected hours + every mandatory fee. If a provider will not estimate the time at all, you do not have a comparable quote. You have one item from a price list.
When an hourly rate makes sense
Hourly billing works well for the first visit to a home that is hard to describe on the phone. Perhaps the bathroom has months of limescale, the last few weeks have been chaotic, or cleaning needs to happen around piles of belongings. A flat price would need a generous allowance for those unknowns. With hourly billing, you pay for the work that is actually done.
It also suits clients who want to control priorities. A clear brief could be: "We have a three-hour budget. Please do the bathroom, kitchen and floors first. Dust the study if time remains." Nobody needs to watch the clock over the cleaner's shoulder, but both sides know where the work can stop.
Slow work is the obvious worry. Deal with it before the visit. Agree an estimate, an order of tasks and a point at which the cleaner must call you. For example: expected time 2.5 to 3 hours, with no work beyond 3.5 hours without approval. After the first visit, compare the estimate with the result and record what was completed.
Check whether the rate is per person. "CZK 400 an hour" may mean one person's hour, or it may become CZK 800 for a two-person team. Two cleaners may finish sooner, which is perfectly reasonable. The multiplication still needs to be explicit.
Hourly billing should not mean an unlimited bill. I would walk away if a provider refuses to give even a range, will not accept a spending cap and cannot explain how part-hours are rounded.
When a flat rate is the better deal
Flat rate house cleaning is a good fit once the same home and scope repeat. The cleaner visits every week, handles the same bathroom, kitchen, floors and dust, and knows where everything is. After two or three visits, the uncertainty has mostly disappeared. The client no longer tracks minutes, and an efficient cleaner is not penalised for finishing promptly.
The budget is easier to plan. Multiply the visit price by the number of appointments and you have the likely monthly spend. Just remember that weekly cleaning does not mean exactly four visits every month. Some calendar months contain five occurrences of the same weekday. Ask whether you pay per visit or a genuine monthly retainer.
A fixed figure needs a fixed brief. The confirmation should say:
- which rooms and tasks are included;
- how often the visit happens and how long the quote remains valid;
- who brings products and equipment;
- what happens after heavier-than-usual soiling or an added task;
- which extras have their own price and how you approve them.
Without that list, "complete cleaning for CZK 1,100" may turn into floors and a bathroom when the cleaner arrives. Windows cost extra, the oven costs extra and ironing is outside the visit. None of those exclusions is automatically unfair. Finding out at the front door is the unfair part.
For a new recurring arrangement, I like a mixed approach: bill the first visit by the hour, then agree a flat price once both sides have seen the real workload. It removes much of the guesswork without making every future appointment a timed exercise.
Worked quotes for a studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom flat
These are worked examples, not a Czech market price list. Their purpose is to show how time, frequency and extras change the answer. Your actual quote should reflect the number of bathrooms, pets, lift access, kitchen condition and the amount of tidying needed before surfaces can be cleaned.
Studio, 32 m², every two weeks
Quote A is CZK 350 per hour, two hours expected, plus CZK 180 travel; products are included. The visit costs CZK 880. Quote B is a CZK 950 flat rate including travel. The gap is only CZK 70. If the hourly job runs 30 minutes over, Quote A becomes CZK 1,055 and the flat rate wins.
Minimum call-outs matter in small flats. A cleaner can advertise CZK 320 per hour but require three paid hours. A two-hour job therefore costs CZK 960 before travel. The lower number in the advert has stopped being the cheaper offer.
One-bedroom flat, 55 m², weekly
A couple without pets wants the bathroom, separate toilet, kitchen, floors and dusting done. The hourly quote allows three hours at CZK 380, or CZK 1,140. The fixed quote is CZK 1,190 a visit. I would not decide on the CZK 50 difference alone. If the fixed price includes supplies, a replacement appointment and the same scope when the job takes 20 minutes longer, the small premium buys useful certainty.
A weekly cleaning price may be lower than a monthly visit because grease and limescale have less time to build up. That is not an automatic discount. A provider might reduce the price for a reliable slot, or keep the rate and promise the same cleaner. Ask what frequency changes in this particular offer.
Two-bedroom flat, 78 m², two bathrooms and a dog
The hourly option allows 4.5 hours at CZK 390, plus CZK 150 travel and CZK 100 for equipment. Total: CZK 2,005. The flat quote is CZK 1,850, but it excludes dog hair on the upholstered sofa. Adding that task costs CZK 300, so the comparable fixed quote is CZK 2,150. Hourly billing is cheaper for the same work.
The two bathrooms and upholstery changed the calculation, not the room label. Two flats with the same floor area can take very different amounts of time. One has clear floors and a wiped hob. The other has toys underfoot, cooked-on grease and a dog shedding its winter coat. A few honest photos or a short video usually improve the first estimate more than square metres alone.
Five questions to ask before booking
- What exactly is included in one visit? Ask for the routine tasks and the exclusions. "Standard" is not a scope.
- How is the final total calculated? For hourly work, ask for the rate, expected time, minimum and cap. For a fixed price, ask what can trigger a change.
- Who provides products and equipment? Confirm the vacuum, mop, cloths and specialist products. "We bring supplies" does not always mean a vacuum cleaner.
- What do common extras cost? Ask about windows, oven, fridge, ironing, pet hair and parking. You do not need to order them. You need to know the rules.
- What happens after a cancellation, change or complaint? Check the free-cancellation deadline, how accidental damage is handled and where to send photographs if the agreed result is missing.
My rule of thumb is simple. Use hourly billing with a cap for an uncertain first visit. A stable recurring scope can move to a fixed price. Either way, compare the price per visit for the same tasks. Only then does "How much does cleaning cost?" have an answer you can use.
If you are arranging regular cleaning in Prague, ČistýKout is one local option. Send a no-obligation request through the ČistýKout contact form with the flat size, frequency, number of bathrooms and requested extras. That gives you a basis for agreeing the whole visit, not just an isolated hourly figure.
