Cleaning SLAs for Property Management Companies
If you manage multiple properties and rely on a cleaning company for turnovers, having a documented service-level agreement protects both parties. This guide covers what a cleaning SLA should include and how to structure it for operational clarity.
Response Time Commitments
Define response times for standard bookings (e.g. confirmed within 1 hour), same-day bookings (e.g. team on-site within 4 hours) and emergency bookings (e.g. team on-site within 2 hours). Specify what counts as business hours and what happens outside those hours. Include what happens if the provider cannot meet the response time — notification requirements and alternative arrangements.
Quality Standards and Checklists
Attach the specific checklist to the SLA. This removes ambiguity about what is included in a standard clean. Define how quality is measured — completion report review, random audits, client feedback scoring. Set a minimum acceptable quality score (e.g. 95% checklist compliance) and define what happens if performance drops below that threshold.
Reporting and Communication
Define what reports the cleaning company provides (per-clean completion reports, monthly summaries), how they are delivered (email, portal, API) and within what timeframe (e.g. completion report within 30 minutes). Specify the primary communication channel and expected response times for account queries.
Escalation and Issue Resolution
Define the escalation path: who to contact for a quality issue, who to contact for a scheduling failure, who handles commercial disputes. Include timelines for each stage — e.g. quality issue raised within 48 hours, re-clean arranged within 24 hours, account dispute escalated to operations director within 5 business days.
Review and Renewal
Schedule quarterly reviews to assess SLA performance against targets. Use the monthly reporting data as the basis for the review. Define the contract period, notice period for termination and the process for adjusting SLA terms. A good SLA evolves over time as the relationship matures and operational patterns become clearer.
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