Have you ever thought about what is trapped deep inside your carpet fibres? Probably not. Honestly, you probably don’t want to know. There are things like soil and grime that,…
Complete Guide to Builder’s Cleaning
In a world where cleanliness is given so much recognition and accorded necessary attention, a common question building (residential or commercial) owners often ask is what is the meaning of a builders clean? And what are the things involved? Before going into the details, it should be noted that builders cleans are not a standard house clean.
Anyone who has recently renovated their house will know how huge the mess is afterwards. It is therefore unfortunate that numerous cleaning companies are misrepresenting their services. The responsibility of a builders clean transcends mere or regular domestic cleaning.
The importance of bringing every building construction project to a successful completion is often underrated. Therefore, operatives in this business are expected to have the necessary certifications.
Essentially, post building cleaning unfolds in a step-by-step approach. It is a simple and conventional method adopted by many building cleaners.
- Collection of left over building materials and rubble. Having gathered everything that is left over from building, it is the responsibility of the professional build cleaners to decide on what to keep, and the things the client should get rid of. Also, they differentiate the things you should toss, and the things that must be disposed of properly.
- To make things much easier, many providers make use of a skip bin to get rid of large trash.
- Get the debris into the bin.
- Smartly pack the bin.
Cleaning Spills and Small Debris
Cleaning up spills and gathering small debris, are part of the builders’ cleaning process and they include rubbing alcohol to remove dry latex paint spills on the tiles. After that, for wood materials, a citrus-based cleaner is adopted for cleaning. Paints are picked from the carpet, while a magnetic sweeper is used to remove the nails on the surface of the floor. In case there is any broken glass, this must be entirely removed too. Scrub thoroughly by adding a brush to a drill for tough marks.
Getting Rid of Dust
To get rid of dust, professional builder cleaners ensure they wear safety gear and immediately set up a fan to eliminate dust. In addition, a heavy duty vacuum is used. The walls are wiped down repeatedly to ensure an absolutely dust free, clean wall. At the same time, the fixtures and fans are cleaned for dust, the air vents wiped thoroughly, and all upholstery is vacuumed for any remnants of dust.
The exposed surfaces are equally wiped, and vacuumed as many times as possible. In case of hard floors, they must be mopped, and the air filter can be replaced too in any extraction units.
Why should you choose after-building construction or post-renovation cleaning?
Cleaning business’ put certain things in place for building owners, which must be noted to guide their hiring process. Builders’ cleaning comes in different variations like handover cleaning, final cleaning and touch-up cleaning and post-fit-out cleanup
Further more, since builders clean services are often completed to prepare for a ‘sparkle’ clean, keeping the site clean during the construction phase is paramount. Here, the following services are inclusive:
- Preventing trip hazards on site
- Generally improve hygiene
- Use of environmentally-friendly products
Additionally, in the process of builders cleaning, some risk assessment methods are carried out to ensure that all potential hazards are averted. When providers work with site operators, they can prevent on-site accidents and accommodate other site users.
Handover Clean
Handover cleaning is otherwise called sparkle clean. This involves a thorough final cleaning of a new or refurbished building.
The handover cleaner pays special attention to areas like walls, fixtures, fittings, furniture, and flooring. It is an essential aspect of cleaning which gives the end-users the wow factor before handing over. It can be distinguished from builders’ cleans by the requirement of continuous cleaning in the process of building construction or refurbishment.
Ideally, handover cleaning takes place in the last few days before the project completion date. While it is correct that many companies offer impeccable builders clean services to construction companies or homeowners, your interest in getting exciting results, in the long run, drives you to make a careful choice as the owner of the building.
Final Cleaning & Touch Up Cleaning
Builders cleans can also come as post-construction cleaning, final cleaning and touch up. Irrespective of the variation of the word, the underlying purpose is that debris, dirt, glue, cement, rubble, and dust are removed from floors, doors, woodwork, balconies, carpets, mirrors, bathroom tubs, shower, tile walls, vanity, sinks, toilets, sliding glass doors, frames and tracks and mirrors.
Obviously, this is a messy activity. Yet it is required at the end of the building process to give your home a perfect makeover. It also makes your extension or renovation presentable. Immediately all the messy tradesmen have completed their jobs, your construction supervisor’s responsibility is to ensure you get a thorough and professional builder’s clean.
Post-Fit-out Clean-Up
The post-fit-out clean up is another description of the builder’s clean. Here, complete solutions for large projects like relocation, fit-out works, and cogent refurbishment projects are carried out. If there is one thing you can take away from the joy of a newly renovated building or a newly constructed building, it is the dust and materials left behind.
So, to transition your home from a construction site to home, it is important that you engage an exclusive builder’s clean service to deliver high quality and consistent services. Environmental-friendliness of all cleaning products also must be carefully considered, with much priority given to professionalism and expertise.
Post-fit-out clean up begins with minimizing the amount of dust kicked into the air. Other than spreading dust around and adding to your cleanup efforts, there are other risks you want to avoid. Professional cleaners often put this into consideration. Meanwhile, as a homeowner, hiring professional cleaners will guarantee that they do not forget the ducts while cleaning, and that they are well-knowledgeable with cleaning the floors, depending on the type of the floor surface.
For instance, in the case of a hard-surfaced floor, vacuuming or sweeping is the very first step that must be carried out. Going straight to cleaning up the dust with a damp mop is a big cleaning risk. This will scratch the surface with the fine grains of dust that are being moved around.
Stages of a Builders Clean
Builders cleans involve several stages. They are:
Practical Completion Inspection (PCI)
At this stage, your construction supervisor displays the finished product after all finishing touches have been completed. He takes you through your home room by room discussing key features of the process, and then invites you for inspection. This is in a bid to ensure it functions are as agreed and appeals to the eyes- as it should. Similarly, there will be a discussion about small items for the supervisor to act on. All parties then sign off these items.
Site Clean
The site clean is another stage of the builder’s clean where the site cleaner goes back to the construction site or building to remove the construction materials or bin them. The bin is thereafter taken away to make the site presentable for the next stage- Practical Completion Inspection 2
Second Stage of Practical Completion Inspection (Or PCI2)
To make sure all items are satisfactorily delivered, the construction supervisor will meet with you and take you through the items on the PCI checklist to confirm all items have been rectified. Once the inspection is done at PCI2, sign off can happen.
Handover
After the final payment has been made, your Client Liaison will schedule a meeting to hand over the project and keys of the building. Also, here, they will explain the inherent warranties and maintenance period. It might be necessary that you arrange home insurance before the final payment is released by your bank because the builder’s insurance has become passive.
Expectations of a builder’s clean
The following are the expectations of a builder’s clean:
- Clean and complete clearing of building debris. In other words, ensuring that no building material is left lying around except as arranged and agreed with the owner. Every rubbish must be taken away and the debris raked up.
- Vacuum and mop floors, tiles in wet areas. You can also expect floor covers here at a later date.
- Carpets steam cleaned for all the dust and grime.
- Wipe over of shelves and surfaces including wiping cupboards, bathroom, and laundry cabinets.
- Wipe over of fans and light fittings. This shouldn’t require any more than this because they are new but because of the settlement of dust on these items, they must be cleaned after completion of construction
- Cleaning of windows and mirrors, plus vacuuming out of the window tracks.
- Cleaning fascias and gutters in case of a new building.
Typically, all builders must have an understanding of the translation of these guidelines. There is no shame in discussing builders clean with your builder if you are not satisfied with the quality of the cleaning before hand over. Essentially, the needs that the house must be presented as clean as possible is a basic requirement.
What are the problems with after-building cleaning?
You can choose from many builders clean to manage yours after building cleaning. This often requires strong and necessary expertise to thoroughly cater to these problems. At the end of any building and renovation process, cleaning is required to make the new property or refurbished property largely presentable. For an effective builder clean, the site is expected to be free from all building materials, and therefore, all rubbish and debris must be removed.
Moreover, the floors, including tiles in wet areas should be vacuumed and mopped where necessary. For dirty floors, they must be scrubbed clean and thereafter polished with a scrubber dryer. If dirty or stained, the carpets should be removed, treated and washed.
For shelves, surfaces, cupboards, and cabinets, they should be wiped inside and out while all kitchen, utility and bathroom ware, mirrors are wiped a well. Moreover, since dust lingers in the air for some time after building works, they will continue to re-settle after works must have been completed. Most often than not, recleans are therefore required for a final wipe over.
Likewise, all high-level fittings must be wiped over. These include light fittings, extractors, etc. These are unlikely to need a deeper clean other than wiping over but the re-settlement of dust is inevitable.
For windows and other glazing, they should be washed with the traditional cleaning approach where you can access them, and wiped clean to give a smear-free shine with a microfibre cloth. External gutters, soffits, and fascia’s of new buildings should be washed while the balconies and pathways are swept also.
Meanwhile, the problem with the builder’s clean is generalized by not enough time being authorized or additional cleaning is required, therefore, it becomes pertinent that you choose expertise and experience, plus professionalism above other things.
Before vs After building cleaning
There are two general levels of builders clean
Initial/Rough Clean
The initial/rough clean stage is the first of builders clean. It entails the removal of dust, rubbish, and debris from the surface of the building. Usually, it is done partway through the process of construction. A good example is cleaning up the gyprock dust before floors and tiles are installed. Many builders choose this service before giving the client a walk-through to detect any trade defect.
Final Detail Clean
The final detail clean is the final stage of the builder clean. At this stage, the REAL builders clean is differentiated from the regular house clean. Here, the trade defects like render splatter on windows, grout line straightening and removing grout haze on tiles are removed. Also, it includes detailing of tiles, paint mark from floorboards and many others. This is what gives your home the exact showroom quality finish you desire. In fact, the difference becomes so glaring because you can tell when a home now has a final detail clean.
Additionally, this stage takes the longest time as a result of the amount of detail required. It is unfortunate that numerous cleaning companies do not consider this part that much in their price-setting, and as such, they end up quoting cheaper because they lack the knowledge of what REAL builders clean entails. Even worse, there are other cases of cleaners who cause permanent damage to the home through unnecessary use of harsh chemicals, and inadequate experience.
How much does a builders clean cost?
You might then wonder how much it costs for building cleanups. Homeowners might want to know what affects the cost of these cleanups. Professional cleaners put in a lot of factors when giving a quote. Some of these can influence or impact the total cost of the cleaning job.
The cost and requirements of builders clean vary. This is dependent on several factors like:
Workmanship
Tradesman’s workmanship makes a significant difference until the final price. For instance, it will take about 10 minutes to clean a large window with frames if you have a good renderer who carefully tapes up the windows before they start their work. Conversely, if they do not bother about this seemingly little thing, they can spend triple the time
Building Materials Used
One other contributing factor is the materials used. A bathroom with glazed ceramic tiles will probably take two hours to detail but twice as much if the tiles are porous as a result of the building materials used.
The Tradesmen Clean Up
Professional tradesmen and builders do not waste time on their businesses. To them, time is money. However, they often run on a tight schedule. Therefore, builders with reputation will get their laborers to do some rough clean on the property before doing the finishing. If they do not, a higher cleaning bill is inevitable.
Size
The structure’s size plays a great role in determining the eventual price of the job. Cleaning costs for residential homes are partly dependent on the number of rooms. For commercial buildings, the number of floors is considered.
Complexity
The complexity here is in terms of the specific areas where cleaning is required. For instance, cleanups of buildings usually involve cleaning piles of leftover concrete, timber or other material used or not used in the construction. The costs can go up in case additional labor or equipment is required to dispose of materials like steel, which is a heavy material.
Further, cleaners can likely charge separate fees to clean interior and exterior spaces. They can equally offer a unique service package that caters to both areas. Therefore, you must clarify with the chosen business before the actual cleaning.
Additional Services
Some services might not cover areas like windows located on higher floors, pressure washing of pavement or driveways, cleaning fixtures like lights, and others. Be certain that you get the best possible value for your money. Ask prospective cleaners in case they have packages that include all required services.
Good cleaning does help reduce contamination, and bad cleaning increases contamination. As homeowners or business owners, you have the right to check for any signs that indicate a poor cleaning system. These are reflected in floors that are not fully dry and can be accessed, spills and contaminants that are left unattended to, a build-up of cleaning product residues, cleaning equipment and cords left across walkways, situations where cleaning is treated ad hoc, an unplanned and reactive, poor, inappropriate or dirty cleaning equipment used, incorrect cleaning products and procedures.
Why Engage a Professional For Builders Clean?
If you have a renovation duty or are faced with the task of engaging some professional builders for your newly built house, the work is not complete until you do builders clean up. Strikingly, whenever a construction takes place, there is a need for post-renovation cleaning/builders clean up. This is because, without it, you will not get the exact look you desire.
Because you will be living with your family in the property, or the case of commercial buildings, your employees, the house needs to be massively functional. It is paramount that everything is kept clean and neat. Hence, hiring a professional house cleaning service is the way to give your house the perfect clean up.
One reason is that they have the latest cleaning equipment to deploy to the purpose. That way, you can be sure no dirt, dust or grime is left clinging in your space after all. Also, in the case of furniture and some other appliances installation, clean and tidy space makes the installation process quite easy.
Professional cleaners bring tidiness and organization into the cleaning task. And no matter how much you try as a person, you can’t be as perfect as these professional cleaners. Their expertise is topnotch via their credible cleaning solutions. They know how and where to start a post-renovation cleaning project.
So, in summary, to get the perfect cleaning with the modern equipment and for effective cleaning supplies, hiring a professional cannot be overemphasized. Another reason you probably never thought of is that professional builders cleaning can extend the floor life. To be specific, floor stripping and waxing after construction are crucial to keep the floor shiny and to get the best results. Ultimately, this will also give the floor a brand new look and home-friendly.
