Germany’s 2025/2026 collective wage agreement (Lohntarifvertrag) for commercial cleaning — sections, tables & monthly wages.
The official collective wage agreement between the employers’ association BIV (Bundesinnungsverband des Gebäudereiniger-Handwerks) and the IG BAU trade union sets wages for more than 700,000 workers. When the second stage took effect on January 1, 2026, the generally binding (allgemeinverbindlich) industry minimum wage rose to €15.00 per hour. Below you’ll find every section (§§ 1–6), the official hourly rates, the monthly wage formula for minijobs (Minijob, a German marginal-employment job), and what the Posted Workers Act (AEntG) means for clients who hire a cleaning company.
The original national wage agreement
On November 15, 2024, the bargaining parties in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main agreed on the current collective wage agreement for hourly workers (gewerbliche Beschäftigte) in commercial cleaning across the Federal Republic of Germany.
The signatories are the employers’ association BIV (Bundesinnungsverband des Gebäudereiniger-Handwerks), Kronenstraße 55–58, 10117 Berlin (represented by Thomas Dietrich, Christian Kloevekorn, and Wolfgang Molitor), and the trade union IG BAU (Industriegewerkschaft Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt), Olof-Palme-Straße 19, 60439 Frankfurt am Main (represented by Robert Feiger and Ulrike Laux).
The agreement took effect on January 1, 2025, and runs until at least December 31, 2026. The two entry-level wages — wage group 1 (Lohngruppe 1) for janitorial cleaning and wage group 6 for glass and facade cleaning — were also set as the industry’s collectively agreed minimum wages and are generally binding nationwide under the Posted Workers Act (Arbeitnehmer-Entsendegesetz, AEntG).
Notice period: 4 months, effective at the end of a month. If neither side gives notice, the agreement simply continues.
Which workers and activities the agreement covers
Section 1 of the wage agreement defines, in binding terms, which businesses, activities, and people it covers. Its provisions fall into three parts:
I. Geographic scope & III. Personal scope
Geographic scope: The entire territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. Now that wages in eastern and western Germany have been fully aligned, there are no longer any lower regional rates.
Personal scope: All hourly workers whose employment is subject to statutory pension insurance under the German Social Code, Book VI (SGB VI) — expressly including:
Minijobbers (geringfügig Beschäftigte): Workers in marginal employment as defined in § 8 SGB IV are fully covered by the agreement.
Apprentices (Auszubildende): Expressly included in the personal scope (pay under § 5).
Posted workers: Employees of foreign companies who clean in Germany must also be paid at least the minimum wages (AEntG).
II. Business scope (7 activities)
The agreement covers all businesses and independent business units that mainly perform the following activities:
1. Exterior building components: Cleaning, care, and protective treatment of exterior components on all kinds of structures.
2. Interior components & furniture: Cleaning and care of rooms, building systems, technical equipment, furniture, floor coverings, and glazing.
3. Machinery: Cleaning and care of machinery, including the removal of production residues.
4. Vehicles & transport facilities: Buses, trains, aircraft, ships (excluding cars at car washes and dealerships), and lighting systems.
5. Outdoor areas & snow removal: Cleaning of roadways and walkways, unless the task has been assigned under public law.
6. & 7. Hygiene & decontamination: Decontamination measures, disinfection, and room hygiene work.
Whole-business clause (Ganzheitsklausel, § 1 item II, paragraph 2): If a business mainly provides building-cleaning services, the business as a whole falls under this agreement. A group of employees at a business from another sector also counts as an independent business unit if it performs building-cleaning work for outside parties.
The official hourly wages for 2025 and 2026
Which wage group applies depends on the job criteria in the national framework collective agreement (Rahmentarifvertrag, RTV). The table below shows the exact collectively agreed hourly wages (Tariflöhne) under § 3 of the wage agreement of November 15, 2024, for both stages of the increase:
| Wage group | Type of work / classification | From January 1, 2025 | From January 1, 2026 | Status / coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wage group 1 * | Interior and janitorial cleaning, office cleaning, restrooms, furnishings | €14.25 | €15.00 | Generally binding (minimum wage 1) |
| Wage group 2 | Interior cleaning with scrubber-dryers, single-disc machines, and vacuum sweepers | €14.71 | €15.46 | Binding on parties to the agreement |
| Wage group 3 | Exterior cleaning, walkways and roadways, outdoor areas, snow removal, transport and lighting facilities | €15.20 | €15.95 | Binding on parties to the agreement |
| Wage group 4 | Disinfection, room hygiene work, decontamination, pest control | €15.91 | €16.66 | Binding on parties to the agreement |
| Wage group 5 | Discontinued since 2011 (numbering jumps straight from wage group 4 to wage group 6) | |||
| Wage group 6 * | Glass and exterior facade cleaning, window and frame cleaning, aerial work platforms | €17.65 | €18.40 | Generally binding (minimum wage 2) |
| Wage group 7 | Glass and facade cleaning with special qualifications (e.g., rope-access work at height, personal fall protection equipment, known in German as PSAgA) | €18.64 | €19.39 | Binding on parties to the agreement |
| Wage group 8 | Journeymen (Gesellen) with completed vocational training / forepersons responsible for a crew | €19.67 | €20.42 | Binding on parties to the agreement |
| Wage group 9 | Certified site managers, certified trade supervisors (Fachwirte), crew leaders with staff responsibility | €20.89 | €21.64 | Binding on parties to the agreement |
* These rates are also the hourly minimum wages under the collective agreement on minimum wages for hourly workers in commercial cleaning in the Federal Republic of Germany (TV Mindestlohn) of November 15, 2024. Source: original wage agreement, BIV / IG BAU.
The fixed monthly wage (verstetigter Monatslohn) for minijobs in wage group 1
In commercial cleaning, the number of working days in a month ranges from 20 to 23, depending on the calendar. To make sure minijobbers receive the same pay every month and don’t accidentally exceed the minijob earnings limit (€556 in 2025, €603 in 2026), § 4 of the wage agreement prescribes a mandatory calculation method.
The formula in the agreement (§ 4 item 1)
The monthly wage is calculated using the official formula:
Hourly wage × weekly hours ÷ 5 × 261 ÷ 12
Why a factor of 261? With a 5-day week, a calendar year averages exactly 261 working days (52 weeks × 5 days + 1 day). Dividing by 5 days and then by 12 months gives an average of 4.35 weeks per month.
Key obligations for employers under § 4:
Payslip disclosure (§ 4 item 3): The fixed weekly working hours must be listed separately on the payslip every month — as must any hours worked beyond them in exceptional cases.
Pay premiums separately (§ 4 item 2): Night, Sunday, and holiday premiums, additional collectively agreed vacation pay, and hardship allowances must not be built into the fixed monthly wage. They must always be paid and shown separately.
Fixed monthly wage in wage group 1 by contractual weekly hours:
| Hours per week | From January 1, 2025 (€14.25) | From January 1, 2026 (€15.00) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 hour/week | €61.99 | €65.25 |
| 2 hours/week | €123.98 | €130.50 |
| 3 hours/week | €185.96 | €195.75 |
| 4 hours/week | €247.95 | €261.00 |
| 5 hours/week | €309.94 | €326.25 |
| 6 hours/week | €371.93 | €391.50 |
| 7 hours/week | €433.91 | €456.75 |
| 8 hours/week | €495.90 | €522.00 |
For weekly hours in between, the formula in item 1 gives the exact amount.
Apprentice pay in the building-cleaning trade
To counter the skilled-labor shortage in the trades and bring up well-trained journeymen, the parties raised apprentice pay (Ausbildungsvergütung) noticeably on January 1, 2025. The gross monthly amounts are:
Why quotes under €33 an hour are a red flag
Under § 6 of the agreement and the 10th Building Cleaning Working Conditions Ordinance (Gebäudereinigungsarbeitsbedingungenverordnung; BGBl. 2025 I No. 22), the minimum wages of wage groups 1 and 6 are mandatory and generally binding under §§ 3, 5, and 7 of the Posted Workers Act (AEntG). Here’s what that means for business clients (law firms, companies, notary offices) in Hamburg:
General contractor liability (Generalunternehmerhaftung, § 14 AEntG): A company that passes its own contractual obligation on to subcontractors is liable for the net minimum wages they owe their workers — like a guarantor who has waived the right to insist that the subcontractor be pursued first (Einrede der Vorausklage). That liability falls on the cleaning company that passes contracts on — not on the office client that simply has its own premises cleaned (Federal Labor Court, BAG, judgment of October 16, 2019, 5 AZR 241/18). What does affect you is what happens on site: constantly changing staff and inspections on your premises by the customs unit that polices undeclared work (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit).
The phantom wage trap (Phantomlohn): If a cleaner is paid at wage group 1 (€15.00) on paper but can be shown to work with single-disc machines (wage group 2 = €15.46) or on windows (wage group 6 = €18.40), Germany’s statutory pension insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) bills the employer for back social security contributions on the higher wage — retroactively for up to 4 years (up to 30 years in cases of intent).
Sound pricing starts at €33 net per hour: At a collectively agreed wage of €15.00, statutory payroll costs (approx. 21%), paid vacation (30 days under the framework collective agreement), public holidays, continued pay during sick leave, contributions to BG BAU (the statutory accident insurance institution for the construction and cleaning trades), professional-grade supplies, and workwear push the actual cost to at least €26–28 per hour worked. Offers of €20 or €25 net an hour therefore come in below cost. Anyone pricing that low has to cut corners on one of these items.
Wage compliance you can count on at Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg: We rely 100% on our own permanent staff and never pass work on to subcontractors or intermediaries. We pay our teams above the collectively agreed wage, starting at €16.00 per hour, provide dedicated site managers, and offer month-to-month contracts with no minimum term. Every employee is bound to confidentiality by an in-house NDA and has submitted a police clearance certificate (Führungszeugnis). See our transparent pricing →
Frequently asked questions about the wage agreement
The key legal and practical answers for employers, clients, and employees.
As the owner of a Hamburg trade business (Handwerksbetrieb) with more than 20 permanent employees, Jonathan Ruiz advocates for fair pay, strict adherence to collective agreements, and transparent B2B pricing. More about our team →
Official sources: collective wage agreement for hourly workers in commercial cleaning of November 15, 2024 (BIV & IG BAU) · 10th Building Cleaning Working Conditions Ordinance (GebäudeArbbV, BGBl. 2025 I No. 22) · Posted Workers Act (AEntG). Reviewed by the editorial team at Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg.
When did the current wage agreement take effect, and how long does it run?
The agreement took effect on January 1, 2025. The second stage, with higher wages (e.g., €15.00 in wage group 1), has applied since January 1, 2026. The agreement can first be terminated effective December 31, 2026, with 4 months’ notice (§ 6 item 1).
Which wage groups are generally binding?
Under the Posted Workers Act (AEntG) and the 10th Building Cleaning Working Conditions Ordinance (GebäudeArbbV), the minimum wages of wage group 1 (€15.00 from 2026) and wage group 6 (€18.40 from 2026) are mandatory and generally binding on all businesses in the industry throughout Germany — whether or not they are members of the BIV employers’ association.
How exactly is the fixed monthly wage for minijobs calculated?
Under § 4 item 1, the formula is: hourly wage × weekly working hours, divided by 5, multiplied by 261, divided by 12. For 8 hours a week in wage group 1, the 2026 result is exactly: €15.00 × 8 ÷ 5 × 261 ÷ 12 = €522.00 per month.
Can Sunday and holiday premiums be included in the monthly wage?
No. Under § 4 item 2 of the wage agreement, premiums for night, Sunday, and holiday work, additional collectively agreed vacation pay, and hardship allowances must always be paid separately and shown on the payslip.
Why is there no wage group 5 in the wage agreement?
Wage group 5 disappeared back in the 2011 bargaining round, with no replacement. The parties kept the numbering so that the familiar assignments — from wage group 6 (glass cleaning) to wage group 9 (site management) — would stay the same.
How can clients avoid the risks of subcontractor chains?
By hiring only cleaning companies that work with their own permanent staff and use no subcontractors. Ask for certificates of good standing (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigungen) from BG BAU and the statutory health insurance funds (Krankenkassen), and avoid offers below €33 net per hour: they sit too close to cost to leave much room for wages that comply with the agreement.
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