Published · 4 min read
When a tenant complains about cleaning, log it in one place, send it to one named vendor contact with the specifics, confirm the fix with the tenant, and review the log monthly for repeats. Most complaints are fixed in a night. The ones that hurt are the ones that come back because nobody connected them.
We take these calls on the vendor side, so we know what makes a complaint easy to fix and what makes it drag on for weeks. Here's the process we'd want every property manager to run.
What should you capture when the complaint comes in?
Vague complaints get vague fixes. "The cleaning has been bad lately" gives the crew nothing to act on. Before you pass it along, get the basics from the tenant:
- Suite number and the exact room or area
- What was missed or done wrong, in plain words
- When they noticed it, and whether it happened more than once
- A photo, if they can take one
- The name and best contact for the person reporting it
A photo saves a lot of back and forth. "Trash not emptied in the north conference room, Tuesday morning" with a picture is something a crew lead can fix that same night.
Who should the complaint go to?
One person on each side. On your side, that's the property manager or a named building contact. On the vendor side, it should be a named first contact, not a general inbox or a phone tree.
Tenants calling the vendor directly feels faster, but it usually isn't. The vendor gets instructions from several people, some of them outside the scope, and you lose the record of what happened. Keep the tenant talking to you and you talking to the vendor.
If you're still setting up a vendor relationship, the escalation path belongs in the contract. Our guide on how to choose a commercial cleaning company covers what that path should name.
How fast should the vendor respond?
That depends on what your contract says, which is why it should say something. A common split is same business day for quality issues and immediate response for safety issues, like a spill in a corridor or a restroom that's out of paper during the workday.
Response and resolution are different things. A same-day reply that says "we'll have the night crew redo the suite tonight" is a good response. The resolution is the suite actually being done, and you hearing back about it.
If your building has daytime traffic, a day porter can often clear a complaint within the hour instead of waiting for the night shift.
How do you confirm the fix actually happened?
Ask the vendor to tell you what was done, when, and by whom. A short written note or a photo is enough. "Handled" by itself isn't a confirmation.
Then close the loop with the tenant. A quick message saying the area was redone last night, and asking them to let you know if anything still looks off, does more for the relationship than the fix itself. Tenants mostly want to know someone heard them.
If you can, walk the area yourself the next morning. It takes five minutes and tells you whether the vendor's note matches what's on the floor.
What should the complaint log track?
A shared spreadsheet is enough. For each complaint, record the date, suite, area, issue, who reported it, when the vendor responded, what was done, and when the tenant was told.
Once a month, sort the log by area and by issue. Patterns show up fast. The same restroom running out of soap every Thursday, or the same suite reporting missed trash after a crew change, points at a cause instead of another one-off fix. It also gives you something concrete to bring to a monthly janitorial inspection.
When is a complaint really a scope problem?
Sometimes the crew did exactly what the contract says, and the tenant still isn't happy. Desk surfaces are a common example. Many scopes exclude cluttered desks, and a tenant who expects them wiped every night will keep complaining.
When a complaint repeats, pull the scope and check three things. Is the task actually in it? Is the frequency what the tenant expects? Do the hours in the contract leave time to do it? If the answer to any of those is no, the fix is a scope conversation, not a crew reprimand.
A tenant who moves in with different expectations, or one who adds staff or a second shift, changes the workload too. Most contracts allow for repricing when that happens.
Where Nexara fits
Our janitorial services give each building a named contact who answers complaints directly, and we put what we did in writing. If complaints keep landing on your desk, request a walkthrough and we'll go through the log and the scope with you.
Questions we get asked.
How fast should a cleaning vendor respond to a tenant complaint?
Most contracts set a same-business-day response for quality issues and an immediate response for safety issues like a spill or a restroom out of service. Whatever the window is, it should be written down before the first complaint arrives.
Should tenants contact the cleaning company directly?
Usually not. Complaints work best when they go through the property manager or one named building contact, so every issue is logged in one place and the vendor gets one consistent set of instructions.
What if the same tenant complaint keeps coming back?
Treat a repeat as a scope or staffing problem, not another one-off fix. Check whether the task is actually in the scope, whether the hours allow for it, and whether the crew on that area changed.
