"The stairwell is filthy": managing cleaning quality without drama

It is the perennial complaint of every building — and it is usually handled terribly: vague discontent, snide remarks at the cleaner, and nothing changes.

The problem is almost never the person

It is the vague contract: "cleaning twice a week" without defining what each visit includes. Without a standard, quality is an opinion — and opinions clash.

The solution: a written standard

With the company (or the individual), define the routine: what happens every visit (sweeping and mopping the entrance and stairs, the lift, the entrance glass), what is weekly, what is monthly (handrails properly done, light fittings, cobwebs), what is seasonal. One page. Signed.

Light-touch verification

No humiliating inspections: an informal monthly check against the list, and specific issues ("Wednesday: third-floor landing not mopped") reported to the company through the agreed channel, with a photo where relevant. Specifics get corrected; "this place is always dirty" festers.

When the problem really is the service

Three documented issues of the same kind without correction equals a formal conversation about continuing. With the record in front of you the conversation is easy (and replacing them, if it comes to that, is indisputable at the meeting).

And the uncomfortable part

Sometimes the stairwell is dirty because the RESIDENTS make it dirty (private building work, pets, moves, cigarette ends). The standard protects the service too: it distinguishes poor cleaning from freshly created mess — and redirects the conversation to whoever it belongs with.