--- title: Why are cleaning managers still spending so much time firefighting? description: Why are cleaning managers still firefighting? How can we move from reactive cleaning operations to making a real impact for clients. image: https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hubfs/FA%2020_10_26.png --- [Skip to content](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/blog/why-are-cleaning-managers-still-spending-so-much-time-firefighting#main-content) ![Facility Apps Logo](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/FA%20logo%20.png?width=200&height=75&name=FA%20logo%20.png)Homepage - [Home](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk) - Solutions - [Features](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/features) - [Hardware](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hardware) - [Buttons For Cleaners](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/buttons) - [Trusted By](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/trusted-by) - [Pricing](https://www.facilityapps.com/calculator/) - [Blog](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/blog) [Contact Us](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/contact-us) - [Home](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk) - Solutions - [Features](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/features) - [Hardware](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hardware) - [Buttons For Cleaners](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/buttons) - [Trusted By](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/trusted-by) - [Pricing](https://www.facilityapps.com/calculator/) - [Blog](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/blog) [Contact Us](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/contact-us) ![](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/FA%2020_10_26.png?width=1916&height=1080&name=FA%2020_10_26.png) # Why are cleaning managers still spending so much time firefighting? ![Dan Teare](https://7528315.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/7528315/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mV0_d-cms-elevate-theme_hubspot/elevate/images/avatar-placeholder.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=avatar-placeholder.jpg) Dan Teare 11 November 2026 Your client rings. “Where’s my cleaner?” You don’t know, so you say you’ll find out. Now you’re trying to remember who works at that site, find their number and get them to answer. Then you need to work out what happened and ring the client back. That’s your morning going sideways. And you haven’t actually solved a cleaning problem yet. You’re still finding out whether you’ve got one. For me, that’s where a lot of firefighting starts. The manager hasn’t got sight of what’s happening, so the client becomes the person who tells them. We’ve almost built jobs around it. Someone spends their day answering calls, chasing cleaners and explaining things to clients, and we say, “Well, that’s what a cleaning manager does.” But how much of that chasing should they need to do? ## “Let me find out” takes longer than you think You get hold of the cleaner. Of course they were there this morning. Did they empty the bins? Of course they did. Apparently they arrived early, did everything they were supposed to do twice and went home ten minutes late. You’ve had a conversation, but you’re still not much further forward. Perhaps there’s a site book. Great. It’s on site. You’re not. Are you going to ask the client to go and read it for you? Drive over there yourself? Ring somebody else? One straightforward question has turned into a small investigation because the answer isn’t available when you need it. And if the client doesn’t get a decent answer, they go up the tree. They’ll ring the most senior person whose number they’ve got. Now your Ops Director is finding out why a bin hasn’t been emptied. The bin needs dealing with, but it shouldn’t take that much management time to establish what happened. ## First, were they there? Then, what did they do? You need to be able to answer whether the cleaner turned up. That’s fairly basic. Clocking in and out gets you through that first gate: you know someone was there. The next question is whether they did the job. That’s where you need a bit more detail. But I don’t think the answer is to take a cleaning specification and turn every single line into a box somebody has to tick. You can end up making the recording of the clean unnecessarily complicated. Take a washroom. The task is to clean the washroom, and the specification behind it tells the cleaner what that means and what standard is expected. A photograph before and after gives you some evidence of the condition they found and the condition they left it in. It won’t tell you absolutely everything, but it gives you something to look at when the client asks a question. “Was that bin emptied?” You can check. Perhaps it was emptied at 9am and it’s full again now. Perhaps the cleaner has missed it. Either way, you can have a useful conversation about what happens next without disappearing for half an hour to establish the basics. ## The problems won’t all disappear I don’t think anyone sensible expects a cleaning operation to run without problems. People won’t turn up, things will get missed and a site will be busier than expected. The aim is to deal with those problems properly. There’s a big difference between your client ringing to ask where their cleaner is and you ringing them first: “We’ve noticed your cleaner hasn’t clocked in. We’re sorting out a replacement. They won’t be there first thing, but we expect them before lunchtime.” You’ve still got an absence to deal with and you still need to find someone. But the client knows you’re on it. Even when something has gone wrong, they can come away thinking, “My cleaning company knows what’s happening and they’re dealing with it.” If they’re constantly ringing you, and every answer you have to give is “Leave that with me, I’ll find out”, what are they supposed to think? Eventually, that can cost you the contract. Someone else comes along, shows them how quickly they can get answers, and suddenly changing contractor looks quite attractive. ## Don’t give managers another thing to chase Having the information is a start. But if a manager has to spend an hour scrolling through it to work out what needs attention, you’re still burning their time. I get asked for dashboards all the time. Usually, what people actually want is an answer: which site needs me, and why? A cleaner hasn’t arrived or a team is falling behind. Those are things a manager can act on. They shouldn’t have to trawl through every completed task to find them. And firing notifications at them all day won’t help either. You’ve just turned the tap on the shoulder into an alert on their phone. The information needs to help them decide where to step in and give them the detail to deal with it. That’s what I’d want a cleaning company to get clear about before buying software. Which problems are managers repeatedly chasing? What do they need to know sooner? Who’s going to act when something goes wrong? Technology can help you see that a cleaner hasn’t arrived. Someone still needs to organise cover and speak to the client. There will always be fires to put out. But your managers shouldn’t be spending half the morning finding out where the smoke is coming from.   ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facilityapps.co.uk%2Fblog%2Fwhy-are-cleaning-managers-still-spending-so-much-time-firefighting](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facilityapps.co.uk%2Fblog%2Fwhy-are-cleaning-managers-still-spending-so-much-time-firefighting) ## Keep reading ### [![](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/FA%20Blog%2015.png?width=2240&height=1260&name=FA%20Blog%2015.png) What the Employment Rights Act actually means for cleaning contractors](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/blog/what-the-employment-rights-act-actually-means-for-cleaning-contractors) ### [![](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/FA%20Blog%2013.png?width=2240&height=1260&name=FA%20Blog%2013.png) The Real Cost of Bringing On a New Cleaner (And Why It's Not the Wage)](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/blog/the-real-cost-of-bringing-on-a-new-cleaner-and-why-its-not-the-wage) ![FA logo empower employees wit](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/FA%20logo%20empower%20employees%20wit.png?width=2000&height=1125&name=FA%20logo%20empower%20employees%20wit.png "FA logo empower employees wit") - [Home](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk) - Solutions - [Trusted By](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/trusted-by) - [Pricing](https://www.facilityapps.com/calculator/) - [Blog](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/blog) --- [Privacy Policy](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hubfs/Privacy%20Policy.pdf)· [Cookie Policy](https://www.facilityapps.co.uk/hubfs/Cookie%20Policy.pdf) · © 2025. 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