Post-construction cleaning prices
/ 8 min read
Builders' cleans lose money when they are quoted as one visit. They are three visits with three different scopes, and the third one — the touch-up — is the one that gets given away.
Before you quote
- Confirm the site is safe and services are on
- Agree who removes construction waste
- Ask what the protective film is on
- Check the site's PPE rules
Before you leave
- Walk the site with the contractor
- Photograph finished surfaces before the trades return
- Book the touch-up before you leave
Three phases, three prices
Rough clean clears debris and dust so the trades can keep working. Final clean brings every surface to handover standard. Touch-up removes what the trades put back in the two days since the final clean. Our post-construction checklist totals about 695 task minutes across the three, and the split is instructive.
| Phase | Task minutes | Typical share of the fee |
|---|---|---|
| Rough clean | 230 | 30% |
| Final clean | 360 | 50% |
| Touch-up | 105 | 20% |
Quote them as three lines with three dates. Contractors read programmes for a living; a cleaner who presents one looks like a trade rather than a supplier.
Dust is the variable that breaks flat rates
Construction dust keeps settling for days after the last cut, and it is abrasive, so it cannot simply be wiped. A site that has had drywall sanded in the last week is a different job from one that has not, on identical square footage.
Never put a domestic vacuum on a construction site. Fine silica and plaster dust wreck the motor and, far more seriously, a machine without proper filtration puts respirable dust back into the air. Use a filtered site vacuum and follow the site's dust rules.
How the trade prices it
Two bases are common: per square foot, which suits repeatable residential new-build, and hourly with a stated crew size, which suits commercial fit-outs where the dust load is unpredictable.
Whichever you use, put an exclusion list in the quote: waste removal, exterior glass above ground floor, anything requiring a licence, and any surface still covered by the contractor's protective film.
The risks that cost more than the job
Scratched glass and damaged finishes are the two claims that actually happen. Blades on glass need lubricant and the right angle; new-build glass sometimes carries a coating that must not be bladed at all. Ask, and if nobody knows, do not blade it.
Get the walkthrough signed. On a construction site the person who signs is rarely the person who complains, and the signature is what closes the gap.