You spend a fortune on a shiny new app that promises to sort everything – scheduling, checklists, timesheets, client reporting. But a few weeks in, half the team can’t even log in. The rest are stuck clicking around trying to find a simple checklist. And the clever features you were sold on? Still gathering dust.
We hear it all the time. One cleaning company told us they were still using pen-and-paper checklists alongside their new app because it was quicker. That says it all.
If your team won’t use the tools, nothing else matters.
It all starts to fall apart.
Why it happens
Clunky, complicated software might tick a few boxes in the boardroom, but it rarely lands on the ground. Most issues boil down to four things:
1. Too complex – If your team needs a tutorial to tick off a toilet check, you’ve already lost them
2. Too many clicks – Six layers deep just to upload a photo? No thanks
3. Poor offline access – Signal is patchy on site. If an app freezes every time you’re in a basement or stairwell, it’s game over
4. Not built for cleaners – Most systems are built by people who barely know, and certainly don't understand the cleaning business. So, they miss the basics that matter
And when your team gives up using the tech, you don’t just lose the software. You lose visibility, accountability and a lot of the efficiency you were trying to build in.
What you can do about it
Before you rip it all out and start again, here are a few ways to tackle this:
1. Ask your team what’s not working
Before assuming it’s a training issue, find out what’s actually frustrating them. Is it login problems? Too many steps? Features that make no sense on site? You’ll be surprised how much you can learn in ten minutes with a site supervisor. A great way to do this is by setting up a mailbox or even just a WhatsApp group to get the conversations started.
2. Do a click test
Pick a few everyday tasks – completing a checklist, logging a missed bin, uploading a photo – and see how long they take. If it takes too many clicks or you need a manual to do it, the problem isn’t your team. It’s the system.
3. Review offline access
Find out what actually works in real conditions. Does the app allow users to work offline and sync later? Or does everything crash as soon as the signal drops? If your software doesn’t work on site, it’s not fit for purpose. You can use airplane mode on your phone to test this functionality before it hits the field.
4. Start with one fix
Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Listen to the team’s feedback and fix the issue they complain about the most. Use the WhatsApp group to tell them it's all fixed and add a video user guide so they can see how to test it. Pick one small, high-friction process – like shift handover or contract amendments – and find a simpler way to do it. Build from there. You’ll win your team back faster by proving that change makes their day easier, not harder.
5. Be ruthless about usability
Fancy features are nice to demo, but day-to-day? You need clear layouts, fast navigation, and screens that make sense to someone with gloves on. If your app isn’t being used, strip it back and make it easier.
Oh, and one more thing…
If you’re reading this and thinking “It’s not just one bad app – it’s the whole tech stack that’s not gelling,” you’re not alone. Plenty of cleaning businesses end up with five different tools that don’t talk to each other and a team that avoids them all.
That’s why, at Facility Apps, we don’t believe in one app to rule them all. What we offer is a well-thought-out system that holds your essential tools together – so your jobs, teams, checklists and reports work in sync, not in silos. Just putting it out there.
Up next:
“Changing anything costs time and money we don’t have”
In our next blog, we’re digging into the pain of slow, expensive change requests. If tweaking a dashboard or adjusting a report means raising a dev ticket or waiting weeks in a support queue, you’ve probably heard this phrase more than once: “It’s just not worth the hassle.” We’ll explore why teams stop asking for changes – and how to break that cycle without blowing the budget.