There are two entirely separate systems behind the phrase “household help” in Amsterdam, and mixing them up wastes months.
One is the private market, where you hire a cleaner and pay by the hour.
The other is Wmo help through the council, which costs a flat €21.80 a month but is only for people who cannot run their own household because of a physical or mental limitation.
This page covers both: what each actually costs, who qualifies, and how long the council route takes.
If you are still sorting out housing and registration, the private route is the one you want.
What It Costs On The Private Market
Private household help is charged by the hour, and the gap between hiring directly and hiring a company is wide enough to matter.
A cleaner you hire yourself is generally quoted somewhere between €15 and €20 an hour in Amsterdam.
A cleaning company usually lands nearer €25 to €35 once VAT, materials, travel time and cover for sickness are built into the rate.
What you buy with the difference is continuity: a company sends someone else when your regular cleaner is ill, and carries insurance if something is broken.
Rates move upward for deep cleans, end-of-tenancy work, and homes where the equipment has to be carried up a Dutch staircase.
Ask specifically whether products and machines are included, because a quote that assumes you supply them is not comparable to one that does not.
Say the size of the flat, the number of floors, whether there are pets, and whether you want ironing, before anyone quotes.
Companies Working In Amsterdam
Lotos Clean operates from Elementenstraat in Westpoort and holds a 4.8 average across more than 200 reviews, which is the deepest review record of any domestic cleaner in the city.
Easy Clean works out of Krammerstraat in Rivierenbuurt and has close to 500 reviews behind it.
Cleaning With Meaning on IJsselmeerstraat in Noord sits at 4.9, and Titan Cleaning Services covers the canal ring from Keizersgracht.
Several English-facing agencies also serve the city, including Clean4U, HomeWorks, Weschoon, Lady Greener and ISCleanGo.
Beep For Help is the platform option, better suited to one-off jobs and odd tasks than to a standing weekly slot.
Help Through The Council: The Wmo Route
Wmo household help is social support, not a cleaning service, and the conditions are specific.
You have to be registered as living in Amsterdam, be unable to run the household yourself because of a physical or mental limitation, have no partner or housemate able to take it on, and hold no Wet langdurige zorg indication.
The allocation is one per home rather than one per person, and the help works only inside your own dwelling.
In a room rental or a Fokus home, it covers your own room only.
The work itself is defined tightly: dusting and vacuuming the living room and bedroom, cleaning the bathroom, kitchen and toilet, mopping floors, doing the laundry and changing the bed.
It explicitly does not cover outside windows, the garden, pets and litter trays, small repairs such as changing a bulb, ironing bed linen and tea towels, shopping, cooking, or paperwork.
The cost is a fixed €21.80 a month whatever the volume of help, charged per household from the age of eighteen and billed by the CAK rather than the city.
You pay the same whether the cleaner comes weekly or came once.
How Long The Council Route Takes
This is the part worth knowing before you start.
Care in kind through the council puts you on a waiting list whose length varies by district, and in some stadsdelen it runs to more than a year.
Applying to several providers does not help, because the waiting time is the same at all of them.
There are two ways in: contact a provider from the council’s list of hulp bij het huishouden organisations, or go through a buurtteam, which is the better door if you may need other support as well.
You can also choose a persoonsgebonden budget and buy the care in yourself, which means signing a care agreement that the SVB and the council both have to approve first.
Urgent situations are assessed separately by the provider and can start immediately, and a professional usually makes that application on your behalf.
You may bring a family member to the assessment conversation, and an independent client supporter is available free of charge.
For more of the practical side of living here, the Essentially Amsterdam newsletter lands every morning.
The Dutch Words You Need
Searching in Dutch turns up far more than searching in English, and the terms are not interchangeable.
Huishoudelijk werk is the phrase for ordinary paid cleaning: vacuuming, mopping, bathroom, kitchen, laundry, bed changes and sometimes ironing.
Hulp in het huishouden is the phrase the council and care providers use, and it points at the Wmo system rather than the private market.
Use the first in neighbourhood groups and listings, and the second only if you are looking for the council route.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most of the confusion here comes from treating the private and council routes as one thing.
What Dutch terms should I search for to find household help?
Use huishoudelijk werk for private cleaning, which is what turns up cleaners and agencies in local groups and listings.
Hulp in het huishouden is the council’s term and will lead you to the Wmo application rather than to someone who can start next week.
How much does a private cleaner cost in Amsterdam?
A directly hired cleaner is generally quoted around €15 to €20 an hour, while a company works out closer to €25 to €35 once VAT, materials, travel and sickness cover are included.
Deep cleans, end-of-tenancy jobs and homes with several flights of stairs sit above those figures, so confirm what is included before booking.
Should I hire an independent cleaner, use a platform, or go with a company?
An independent cleaner is cheapest and most flexible, and a platform such as Beep For Help suits occasional or one-off jobs.
A company costs more but sends a replacement when your cleaner is ill and carries insurance, which is what you are actually paying the difference for.
Can I get household help through the municipality?
Only if a physical or mental limitation stops you running the household and nobody in the home can take it on, and you must be registered in Amsterdam with no Wlz indication.
It costs €21.80 a month regardless of hours, but the waiting list runs past a year in some districts.
What will a Wmo cleaner not do?
Outside windows, the garden, pets and litter trays, small repairs, ironing bed linen and tea towels, cooking and shopping are all outside the remit.
Anything covered by other legislation, such as childcare or care under the Wlz or the health insurance act, is excluded as well.
Do I need to worry about taxes or employment rules?
Occasional private help is a straightforward casual arrangement, but a fixed weekly slot at set hours starts to look like employment and brings obligations with it.
Agree pay, cancellation terms, keys and holidays in writing before the first visit, and take advice if you also file US taxes.
