A practical guide to post-construction cleaning

Construction dust is fine enough to stay airborne for hours and settles repeatedly. Cleaning a site once, while dust is still suspended, guarantees a grey film the next morning.

The professional approach uses two passes. A rough clean removes debris, packaging and the bulk of the dust once trades are finished. A detail clean follows days later, once everything remaining has settled.

Cement, grout haze, paint flecks and silicone smears need mechanical or chemical removal, not wiping. Glass in particular takes scraping with the correct blade angle to avoid scratching.

Air-conditioning filters and extractor vents must be cleaned or the system redistributes dust for months after handover.

Only then do floors get their final treatment, sealed or polished according to the material specification.