Travel costs in cleaning pricing are not limited to fuel or a tram ticket. The expensive part is the time when you are already working but nobody is paying for it. A three-hour clean in Vinohrady followed by another in Dejvice may look like a solid day in the calendar. Between the two front doors, though, an hour can disappear into walking, transfers, parking, finding the entrance and waiting for keys. Both jobs can be priced correctly on their own and still make a poor route.
Cleaning revenue is not the same as earnings for the day
Most cleaners naturally look at what each client pays. For operational decisions, the more useful number covers the whole work block: leaving for the first address, every transfer and delay, and the end of the last job. Paid cleaning time is only one part of that block.
Take two three-hour jobs billed at CZK 450 per hour. Revenue is CZK 2,700. Add 70 minutes of travel and 25 minutes spent parking or waiting for access, and the day has taken seven hours and 35 minutes rather than six. Gross revenue per hour of real time drops from CZK 450 to about CZK 356. Fuel, fares and overhead have not been deducted yet.
I would track two rates:
- the client rate: revenue divided by paid cleaning hours;
- the workday rate: revenue minus direct costs, divided by every hour the day actually consumed.
The second number is usually less flattering. It is also the one that explains why a packed week can still feel strangely unprofitable.
Two good jobs can create a bad day. A three-hour clean in Smíchov may be profitable. The same is true of a flat in Kobylisy. Put them back to back and the arithmetic changes. Your calendar sees two appointments. Prague sees a river crossing, a transfer and afternoon traffic.
A simple cost calculation for each address
You do not need complicated accounting software. Once a month, record four items for every recurring address: travel time to and from the job, transport cost, parking, and waiting time. If you drive, use a realistic cost per kilometre rather than fuel alone. Tyres, servicing and insurance still exist when you are not at a petrol station.
Use this formula:
address cost = unpaid time × target hourly earnings + fare/vehicle cost + parking + allocated overhead
Suppose you want to earn CZK 400 for every hour your workday occupies. Reaching a flat and continuing to the next client takes 50 minutes. That time is worth CZK 333. A monthly public transport pass may mean no extra fare, but it does not make those 50 minutes free. Add CZK 35 for a share of phone, insurance, booking tools and administration. The address has consumed roughly CZK 368 before you touch a mop.
Driving can expose the gap even faster. A job on Prague's edge adds 18 kilometres, your vehicle cost is CZK 6 per kilometre, and parking is CZK 80. Direct transport cost is CZK 188. If the round trip also takes an hour, the distant visit needs to contribute about CZK 588 more than a nearby one to produce the same result.
Public pricing tools use the same basic logic. Cleenly includes round-trip travel and overhead, while the Clean Start calculator separates travel and parking. Their currencies and markets differ from Prague, but the principle travels well: a price must cover delivery of the service, not just the minutes spent cleaning.
A Prague workday on paper and in real life
Lenka has a regular client in Nusle from 8:00 to 11:00 and another in Břevnov from 13:00 to 16:00. The two cleans bring in CZK 2,700. There is a two-hour gap, but 55 minutes goes to travel and the remaining time is too awkward for another paid visit. With the first commute and the trip home, the day takes eight hours and 20 minutes. Gross revenue per hour of her day is CZK 324.
The following week, she moves the Břevnov client to the day when she already cleans near Petřiny. She fills the second half of her Nusle day with a client in Pankrác. Revenue stays the same. Travel falls by 65 minutes and the dead gap is gone. That is cleaner route planning in practical terms. It is less about squeezing a client into every blank space and more about building days that make geographic sense.
Divide your market into service zones
Start with a map of your actual clients, not the whole city. Mark each address, then create three working zones around the clusters.
- Core zone: addresses you can reach from home or another client in about 20 minutes. Regular and shorter jobs can work here.
- Extended zone: travel usually takes 20 to 40 minutes. A visit needs a higher minimum, a longer booking, or a day when you are already nearby.
- Exception zone: anything beyond your normal range. Accept it when the scope is large, it connects with other work, or the client agrees to a travel charge.
The borders do not have to follow Prague districts. From Vršovice, parts of Žižkov may be easier than the far end of Prague 10. Measure routes at the times you actually work. A map estimate on Sunday evening says little about a Tuesday at 3:30 pm.
Next, give areas their own days. Monday might be Vinohrady and Žižkov, Tuesday Dejvice and Bubeneč, Thursday Smíchov and Košíře. You do not need a full neighbourhood day immediately. The point is to place each new enquiry beside similar addresses instead of dropping it into the first white square on the calendar.
Allow a buffer based on experience. If a trip normally takes 25 minutes, reserve 40. A lift breaks, a client is late with the keys, or a tram leaves while you are walking to the stop. A schedule with no slack does not create efficiency. It creates late arrivals.
Travel fee, minimum charge, or a longer job
There are three fair ways to handle a cleaning service travel fee. Each fits a different situation.
Use a travel surcharge for addresses outside your normal zone, especially where parking is expensive or connections are unreliable. The client sees the rule before booking. You might charge a fixed CZK 150 in the extended zone and quote exception-zone travel individually.
A minimum cleaning charge works better for short visits. A two-hour clean 20 minutes from the previous address may be fine. The same clean with 90 minutes of travel is not. A CZK 1,200 or CZK 1,500 minimum protects the calendar block without turning the quote into a long list of small fees.
Offer a longer booking where the client has useful extra work: rotating window cleaning, the oven, the fridge, or one detailed task on each visit. Do not stretch a routine clean just to run the clock. The aim is to make the trip support more valuable work.
Explain the rule before confirming the time. For example: "For this part of Prague, I accept bookings from three hours. The journey is longer, so my minimum visit is CZK 1,500. We can include the oven or windows in the rotation if that helps." Clear wording gives the client a real choice.
Do not quietly subsidise a distant two-hour job with profit from nearby clients. That leaves the close clients supporting your travel while you carry the stress of a full calendar and keep less money.
Move existing clients without creating chaos
Do not announce a complete schedule overhaul to ten clients at once. Start with the two bookings that break your route most often. Keep the agreed frequency and offer two concrete alternatives: "I can come on Tuesday at 9:00 or Thursday at 13:30, still every other week." Two options are easier to answer than a vague request to find another day.
Use natural changes. A client returns from holiday, changes working hours, or a slot opens when another arrangement ends. Each event is a chance to move the calendar closer to your zone plan. After three months, the week may look very different without one risky mass reshuffle.
Some clients will say no. Then ask the plain business question: after travel, does this address earn enough to justify an exception? A long relationship matters. It still does not pay for parking.
Four numbers to check every month
You do not need a colourful dashboard. Four lines in a spreadsheet are enough.
- Travel as a share of the working day. Add the time between jobs and divide it by the total day. If it is repeatedly above 15 to 20 percent, treat that as a warning rather than a personal failure.
- Revenue and estimated profit by area. A district can show strong sales while hiding expensive parking and empty gaps. Look at both.
- Unusable calendar gaps. Count gaps longer than your normal buffer that could not hold paid work. Three 90-minute gaps are almost half a shift.
- Jobs declined or repriced because of the route. Declining a booking is not automatically lost revenue. If it would weaken the rest of the day, saying no may improve cleaning job profitability.
After the first month, do not chase a perfect percentage. Find the most expensive transfer, one recurring gap and one address that needs a new rule. Fix those, then measure again.
A full calendar is not always a healthy calendar. Once travel receives the same attention as time in the client's home, the profitable jobs become easier to spot. So do the ones that merely look good in a diary.
If you are looking for a Prague-based cleaning option rather than building the schedule yourself, send ČistýKout a no-obligation enquiry.
