Let’s be honest - events can sometimes feel like a bit of a box-ticking exercise. But The Cleaning Show last week? It was different. Genuinely useful. We spent three days on our stand talking to over 200 people from cleaning companies up and down the country.
Some were from big national firms, others from tight-knit family businesses - but nearly every single one said the same thing: “Our tech setup is doing our heads in.”
No one came over looking for a sales pitch. They just wanted to chat - ops managers, team leads and MDs who are close enough to the day-to-day to know what’s working (and what definitely isn’t).
We had proper conversations about what’s winding them up, what’s getting in the way and what they wish their systems could actually do. Some were brutally honest (which we loved), and the same few issues kept cropping up again and again.
Same challenges. Same headaches. Same “we’ve tried everything and it’s still a faff.”
We’re not claiming to have all the answers—and this blog isn’t about quick fixes. But over the next few weeks, we’ll be digging into each of these challenges properly in a five-part series, with some practical ideas and straight-talking advice.
For now, here’s what we’re hearing loud and clear from the people keeping the cleaning industry running.
One for scheduling. One for wages. One for reporting. And a lot of copy and paste in between.
We heard this again and again: “We’ve got spreadsheets flying about, WhatsApp groups for cover, timesheets stuck in someone’s inbox, and no single place to see what’s going on.”
It’s messy, time-consuming, and it means the office ends up chasing stuff all week instead of actually managing the teams. Things get missed, info goes stale and everyone’s firefighting. You’re stuck stitching together five clunky systems and just hoping for the best.
You get a shiny new bit of software, and you’re lucky if 20% of the team actually use it properly. Not because they don’t care - but because it’s confusing, training wasn’t clear, or they’ve already been through five different apps in the last two years and just can’t be bothered anymore.
And let’s be real: your cleaners are on the move, not sat at desks. Many speak different languages. So, unless the tech works with them, not against them, it just doesn’t stick. Then you’re right back where you started - doing it all manually from the office.
A no-show. A missed audit. A site that’s out of stock. You usually hear about it the next day - if you hear about it at all.
One ops lead told us, “I just want a ping if someone hasn’t clocked in, or if a site’s overdue a check.” Totally fair. But right now? Most teams are flying blind. There’s no heads-up, no early warning - just a problem to clean up once it’s already caused grief.
You spend a fortune on some fancy apps that promises the world - but half your team can’t even log in (forget about working offline). The others are stuck trying to find what they need. And before long, people just stop bothering.
One team told us they were still using pen-and-paper checklists alongside their current app because it was quicker. If your team won’t use the tools, it doesn’t matter how clever they are. It all falls apart - and your data, audits, and feedback go with it.
Need to tweak a report? Want a dashboard cleaned up? That’s another dev ticket, another support queue… or worse, another quote.
By the time the change is made, the moment’s passed - or it’s blown your budget. We kept hearing the same thing: “It’s just not worth the hassle anymore.” So, teams stop asking for changes and just muddle through with systems that don’t suit how they actually work.
That’s where we are.
No magic answers today. Just a proper conversation about where the cleaning industry’s at when it comes to tech—and what’s winding people up.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll take each of these and dig into them one by one. No jargon, no fluff. Just real talk about what’s not working—and what might actually help.
If any of this sounds familiar, keep an eye out. And if you’ve got a gripe of your own, send it our way. We’re all ears.