What a builders clean covers, from dust to paint spots
Building dust is finer than household dust and it gets everywhere. The clean goes over every surface, inside cupboards and drawers, window frames and tracks, light fittings and the floors, and takes paint or plaster spots off hard surfaces.
New kitchen: inside the new cabinets and drawers, the benchtop, the splashback and the rangehood. New bathroom: fittings, tiles, the shower glass and the vanity. The rest: sills, skirting boards, door tops and switches, then the floors last, once the dust from above has come down.
Builders cleaning dust that should never be swept
Cutting concrete, brick, tile or stone makes fine silica dust, which can cause serious lung disease including silicosis and lung cancer. WorkSafe New Zealand says to use an H-class vacuum for it, never a household one, and not to dry sweep it or blow it about with compressed air. In New Zealand, buildings built before 1 January 2000 are likely to contain asbestos, and WorkSafe says brooms and domestic vacuum cleaners must not be used on it. Anything that may contain asbestos isn't part of a cleaning job here.
After-builders cleaning in older homes: asbestos and lead paint
If your home was built before 2000 and the work cut into walls, ceilings, floors or old cladding, ask the builder whether those materials were tested for asbestos before you book the clean. If they weren't sure, or you find broken sheet material or crumbly debris, stop and get an asbestos specialist, not a cleaner.
Paint is the other one. Health New Zealand advises presuming that a building from the 1980s or earlier has lead-based paint. After sanding, it says to wet wipe surfaces, use a commercial vacuum with a high efficiency dust filter, and keep children and pets away from the area.
Book the builders clean after the trades finish
A builders clean is the last job, not one of the middle ones. If the painter, electrician or tiler is still coming back, the dust comes back with them. Book it once the snag list is done and the builder has cleared the skip, the offcuts and the packaging.
Rubbish removal isn't part of the clean. That belongs to the builder, so check your building contract says who takes it away.
Questions to ask about a builders clean
- Do you use an H-class vacuum for building dust?
- How do you take paint and plaster spots off new benchtops and glass without scratching them?
- Will you wipe inside the new cupboards and drawers, and the tops of the door frames?
- What will you stop and tell me about, rather than clean?
- What's your NZBN, and do you hold a current public liability certificate?
- Is this a written quote, and what's not included?
Your jobs and the cleaner's on a builders clean
Worth doing yourself
- Ask the builder to take every bit of rubbish, offcut and packaging away.
- Keep doors to finished rooms shut while the last trades work.
- Change or clean the heat pump and rangehood filters once the dust settles.
- Run a damp cloth over things you'll touch daily, a few days after the clean, as the last dust lands.
Where a cleaning business earns its keep
- Fine dust inside every cupboard, drawer and light fitting.
- Window tracks and sills full of grit.
- Paint and plaster spots on hard floors, tiles and glass.
- The right vacuum for building dust, so it isn't just pushed around.
Stop the builders clean if you see this
- Anyone offering to sweep or vacuum up suspected asbestos as part of the clean.
- Dry sweeping building dust, or blowing it out with compressed air.
- A household vacuum used on silica dust from cut tile, concrete or stone.
- Old furniture, offcuts or the skip bundled into the cleaning quote.
What we'd do before booking after-builders cleaning
Wait until the very last trade has gone, then book the clean. In a home built before 1 January 2000, ask the builder what was tested for asbestos before you book. Ask the business how it handles silica dust, and put any paint spots and stubborn marks in the note so they're quoted for.