14 August 2026

A self-employed cleaner or a cleaning company?

Two routes to the same clean home, with a different price tag and a different responsibility. The trade-off in three questions.

Anyone looking for help around the house can go two ways: you arrange something directly with a self-employed cleaner, or you hire a cleaning company that sends someone round. The work inside the home looks similar; the agreement underneath differs fundamentally. The hourly rate of € 17 to € 25 covers both routes, with the self-employed route usually at the lower end and a company at the upper end — a company also charges VAT and overhead.

If you arrange things directly with a private individual, that often falls under the Dutch Regeling dienstverlening aan huis (domestic services at home). Rijksoverheid.nl, the Dutch government portal, gives as a condition that you hire a private individual for less than 4 days per week. Obligations come with that situation for you as the customer. On pay, the same page states that you pay your cleaner at least the statutory minimum wage plus 8% holiday allowance. And on absence: you continue to pay your cleaner during illness, for a maximum of 6 weeks. We are not a party to that agreement and give no advice on it — for the conditions that apply to your situation, see rijksoverheid.nl (in Dutch).

With a cleaning company that responsibility sits with the employer: the company arranges the staff, carries the insurance and can send cover during illness or holidays. In practice that last point is the biggest difference between the two routes. In return you give up some continuity: with a self-employed cleaner the same familiar face returns, with a company that may change from period to period. So ask before you start how cover is arranged, and whether you then get someone who already knows your home.

Three questions to decide it. One: how much does a missed visit hurt — with a busy family cover counts for a lot, with a flexible schedule far less. Two: do you want to make and keep track of the arrangements yourself, or would you rather have one invoice and one point of contact? Three: is this about support for an older person? Then the same face on the same day often outweighs the certainty of cover. What each route costs sits side by side in the price index.