Record site times where they arise
Cleaners work spread out, often early, often late, often at several sites in a day. MetronHR collects the times there and works out the pay group along with them.
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- Clock in at the site instead of filling a timesheet in the car
- Pay group per activity, not per person
- Journeys between sites counted correctly as working time
In shortSince 1 January 2026, building cleaning has an industry minimum wage of 15.00 euros in wage group 1 and 18.40 euros in wage group 6. Start, end and duration have to be recorded for every employee within seven days (section 17 MiLoG). MetronHR records the time at the site, assigns it to the task and thus to the wage group, and books travel between sites as working time.
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What applies in building cleaning
Two things make this industry special: a minimum wage binding on everyone that is higher than the statutory one, and a recording duty covering every employee.
- Pay group 1 from 1 January 2026
- 15.00 euros an hour
- Pay group 6 from 1 January 2026
- 18.40 euros an hour
- Deadline for recording
- 7 calendar days
- Retention
- 2 years
Industry minimum wage instead of the statutory minimum wage
From 1 January 2026, 15.00 euros an hour applies in pay group 1 (interior and maintenance cleaning) and 18.40 euros in pay group 6 (glass and facade cleaning), uniformly nationwide.
The rates come from the framework collective agreement of the building cleaning trade and are binding on all businesses in the industry through a statutory order under section 7 AEntG, including those not bound by collective agreement. They are above the statutory minimum wage, which is therefore irrelevant for the industry. Figures per the federal guild association's announcement of 29 December 2025.
The pay group depends on the activity
Anyone cleaning offices in the morning and facades in the afternoon works in two pay groups on one day and must be paid differently for each portion of time.
This is the point at which time tracking that only knows a start and an end is not enough. What is needed is an assignment of time to the activity, otherwise the result is either underpayment or a flat rate that pays too much.
Recording under section 17 MiLoG for everyone
The start, end and duration of daily working time must be documented no later than seven calendar days after the working day and kept for two years.
The basis is section 2a (1) no. 6 SchwarzArbG, which names the building cleaning trade explicitly. A breach can be punished with up to 30,000 euros under section 21 MiLoG. With scattered sites the seven-day deadline is the real bottleneck, not the retention.
Journeys between sites are working time
The journey from home to the first site is not working time. The journey from the first to the second site during the working day is.
This follows from section 2 (1) ArbZG. For employees with no fixed place of work, the European Court of Justice judgment of 10 September 2015 (C-266/14, Tyco) even counts the journey from home to the first job site. With three sites a day the intermediate journeys quickly add up to an hour that is neither recorded nor paid.
The key duties and how they are met day to day
| Duty | Source | With paper or Excel | With MetronHR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record within 7 days | Section 17(1) MiLoG | time sheets collected once a month | clock in at the site, on the same day |
| Wage group by task | Section 7 AEntG, framework collective agreement of the building cleaning trade | wage group estimated | task on the entry, wage group follows from it |
| Journeys between sites are working time | Section 2(1) ArbZG | appear on no time sheet | a time type of its own, counts towards maximum working time |
Record within 7 days
- Source
- Section 17(1) MiLoG
- With paper or Excel
- time sheets collected once a month
- With MetronHR
- clock in at the site, on the same day
Wage group by task
- Source
- Section 7 AEntG, framework collective agreement of the building cleaning trade
- With paper or Excel
- wage group estimated
- With MetronHR
- task on the entry, wage group follows from it
Journeys between sites are working time
- Source
- Section 2(1) ArbZG
- With paper or Excel
- appear on no time sheet
- With MetronHR
- a time type of its own, counts towards maximum working time
Further reading: Section 7 AEntG, framework collective agreement of the building cleaning trade · Federal guild association of the building cleaning trade, announcement of 29 December 2025 · Section 2a (1) no. 6 SchwarzArbG, section 17 (1) MiLoG, section 21 MiLoG · Section 2 (1) ArbZG, ECJ of 10 September 2015, C-266/14 (Tyco)
In detail, with examples: Working hours in building cleaning: early and late shifts, travel, pay groups
As at: November 2026. This is not legal advice; for a specific case in your business it is better to ask someone with a licence to practise.
The timesheet is in the car
In building cleaning, working time arises at other people's addresses, often outside office hours. Getting from there to an inspection-proof record is the real effort.
- Problem
Times reach the office too late
If slips are collected monthly, the seven-day deadline in section 17 MiLoG has long since expired.
- Problem
Site time and pay group do not match
Without assigning the hours to the activity, the correct pay group can only be guessed, and guessing costs money in both directions.
- Problem
Travel time disappears entirely
The journey between two sites appears on no timesheet, yet it is working time and counts towards maximum working time.
Site, activity and time in one entry
Clocking happens in the app at the site, the activity is selected at the same time, and the pay group follows from it. Journeys between sites are recorded as their own time type.
Recorded the same dayThe deadline in section 17 MiLoG is met before anyone drives to the office.
Features for building services providers
Built for distributed teams, changing sites and varied job scopes.
- Time
Clock in at the site
Time is recorded where the work happens
Via the app with a site reference or through a terminal on the premises, with no slips and no catching up.
- Pay
Pay group per activity
Two groups in one day is not a special case
The entry carries the activity, and the rate follows from it. Maintenance cleaning and glass cleaning on the same day are settled separately.
- Projects
Site budget and actual hours
The margin per site visible while the month is still running
Every site has its calculated hour budget on file. Consumption runs along instead of only showing up in the post-calculation.
- Employee protection
Travel time as its own time type
Journeys count correctly towards maximum working time
Intermediate journeys are booked separately, count as working time and are identifiable as such in reports.
- Overview
Inspection-proof records for two years
Export per person and period in seconds
Start, end and duration per working day, corrections logged, in the form the customs financial control unit expects.
For site managers and cleaners
Two roles that rarely meet in the same room.
- Site and area management
Costing and reality side by side
- The site is costed at 30 hours a month. Whether it stays that way only shows up in the invoice.
- Target and actual per site run along, and deviations show up in the second week, not next quarter.
- Cleaners
Start and end in two seconds
- Fill in a slip, keep it, hand it in. And at the end of the month one is missing.
- Clock in via the app, site and activity are preset, and your own hours account is visible at any time.
Frequently asked questions from building cleaning
What building services providers ask about the minimum wage, records and travel time.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Send us a messageWhich minimum wage applies in building cleaning in 2026?
From 1 January 2026, 15.00 euros an hour in pay group 1 and 18.40 euros in pay group 6, uniformly nationwide. The rates are binding on all businesses in the industry through a statutory order under section 7 AEntG, even without collective agreement coverage.
Does the statutory minimum wage apply alongside?
It applies as a floor, but has no practical relevance here because the industry minimum wage is above it in both pay groups named.
Do we have to keep records for all employees?
Yes. The building cleaning trade is named in section 2a (1) no. 6 SchwarzArbG, so section 17 (1) MiLoG applies to every employee: start, end and duration within seven calendar days, kept for two years.
Is the journey between two sites working time?
Yes. Journeys between job sites during the working day are working time within the meaning of section 2 (1) ArbZG. The journey from home to the first site is in principle not, but for employees with no fixed place of work it is, per ECJ C-266/14.
What happens if someone works in two pay groups in one day?
Then both portions of time must be recorded separately and paid at the respective rate. MetronHR assigns the entry to the activity, and the pay group follows from it automatically.
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Site times, pay groups and records in one go
Clock in at the site, assign to the activity, inspection-proof records within seven days. Try it free for 14 days.
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