ᐅ Unsatisfied with the final cleaning after construction – am I being too particular?

Created on: 28 Sep 2020 17:39
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kati1337
Hello everyone!
We just got back after our cleaning company finished the final construction cleaning.
We had a fixed price booked through MyHammer. Final cleaning including windows – ready for move-in. The company has 7 reviews there, all five stars, so I thought nothing could go wrong.

First, they arrived half an hour late – not a big deal, we were home anyway. Then they came with two people instead of three. One worker had called in sick.
That wasn’t a major issue either since we had a fixed price. Later, it turned out that the young man who was on site with the supervisor was completely new to the company. You could tell by the results. :/

It started in the kitchen. I had already mentioned that our cabinets have matte lacquered fronts and that the kitchen builders specifically told us not to use microfiber cloths for cleaning. I passed this information on and reminded the cleaning company when they arrived. When they got to the living/dining area, the young man immediately used a Swiffer on all the fronts. When I asked if those weren’t microfiber cloths, they said, “Swiffer won’t do any damage.” I hope they were right about that.
At that time, they were already done upstairs. I went upstairs on socks to have a look and wanted to take some pictures of the bathroom. The floor and wall tiles in the bathroom had been wiped but still had numerous stains everywhere. Not small ones, but paint drops, some up to 10cm (4 inches) long streaks of white paint, drops of tile adhesive or grout – I’m not exactly sure what it was, but I definitely didn’t want to see any of that in a finished, cleaned bathroom.
I asked if the upstairs cleaning was finished, and when they said yes, I requested they go over the floor again because there were still many paint stains. The young man went back up, touched it up, apologized, and said, “That really wasn’t thorough enough.”
So far, so good.

When everything was supposed to be finally done, I went upstairs for a quick walk-through with the supervisor – mostly spent in the bathroom – and together we scraped off more paint spots, tile adhesive/grout residue, and God knows what else from the tiles.
But I’m also not happy with what the supervisor delivered. Yes, the windows look noticeably better than before. BUT none of the windows are truly clean. Not in any room. I can still run a scraper over each window to check if the marks are dirt or actual scratches. So far, everything has come off with my fingernail, so it’s just cleaning errors up to now.
Am I being too picky? I mean, this is exactly why I hired a final construction cleaning: so I could judge afterward whether the windows are okay or not.

Other things I’m not happy about:
  • Cleaning/wiping inside all kitchen cabinets was explicitly part of the offer since it was supposed to be ready for move-in. In the kitchen, the young man only went through the drawers with a Swiffer once. I opened two display cabinets, and at the bottom, there was still wood dust from cutting/drilling. The drawers in the island area have water spots/splashes on the front. Those were NOT there before the cleaning company came. You could say the kitchen actually looks worse afterward. :/ During the final inspection, I pointed out that the toe kick (baseboard near the floor) was still covered in sawdust, which should be fixed. But when they left, the dust was still there.
  • The vinyl floors were mopped but also look worse than before cleaning. I don’t know how, but when you come up the stairs now, everything is streaky/smeared somehow.
  • Despite damp mopping, there were still small piles of crumbs/dust/dirt upstairs.
  • Still paint splashes on the stair railing
  • Front door – a black mark on the white door frame, I don’t understand how that was missed
  • In the hallway, my shoes and the supervisor’s shoes were there because we walked upstairs in socks during the inspection – the young man just mopped around them. Seriously?!
  • All strap winders still covered in paint/plaster
  • Many window frames still have plaster/paint on the edges

I could go on like this forever.
Overall, you can say: it’s just not really clean.

Am I expecting too much? Is a final construction cleaning only meant for the big stuff, even when the offer says “ready for move-in”?
I’m attaching some pictures, but they are just examples. This is what it looked like when they had already left, so “finished.”

Beiges, vertikales Textilband an einer Tür-/Fensterleiste vor einer hellen Wand.


Nahaufnahme eines weißen Türrahmens mit Spalt, Blick nach draußen.


Weißes Türscharnier an der Türkante, Nahaufnahme.


Blick auf weiße Wand über braunem Holzboden; beschädigte Sockelleiste mit Spalt.


Weiße Fensterbank oder Tischplatte mit diagonalem Schatten eines Fensters über einer glatten Fläche.


Graue Schranktüren mit horizontaler Glasleiste oben, dunkler Korpus und Spuren von Fingerabdrücken


Weiße Wandsteckdose in Kunststoffrahmen an grauer texturierter Wand, seitlich fotografiert


Heller Holzoptik-Fliesenboden mit grauen Randfliesen im Raum.


Nahaufnahme eines weißen Türrahmens mit braunen Flecken an der Kante neben einer blauen Wand.


Nahaufnahme eines Edelstahl-Türgriffs an einer weißen Tür mit Fenster
kati133728 Sep 2020 21:38
Tarnari schrieb:

At the beginning, I mentioned that our architect recommended the final construction cleaning. However, she also said we should look for a company that specifically advertises this service. Apparently, it is a specialized field.
We haven't requested quotes yet but have already looked for relevant companies. I expect the cost to be at least €1000 (about $1100), probably more.
Regarding reviews, 5 stars from 7(!) reviews is, in my opinion, not very meaningful. Maybe 100 reviews. Or even more. Such numbers are naturally not found locally.
Even our kitchen studio, which has a very good reputation, has only about 20 reviews in 30 years. From my experience, reviews can be a tricky matter.
This is not intended as any criticism of your approach. Rather, from my side, it means either accept it as is or have a professional do it properly again.

Yes, I will take that to heart and check reviews more carefully in the future. Normally, I am more thorough with this; maybe I was a bit blinded here by the combination of price and review profile.
Getting a cost estimate from a specialist company is definitely worthwhile. Based on how we handled it regionally, I realize you can easily make a poor choice.
Zaba12 schrieb:

If price is not a concern, I can say that €20 per hour (about $22 per hour) for basic cleaning of a whole single-family house is acceptable. You just have to do the rest yourself more thoroughly. How do you plan to get the paint off the strap reels? Did you paint yourselves?

But that doesn’t really matter; you should have clarified your expectations in detail beforehand with the cleaning duo, because “final construction cleaning, ready for occupancy” is definitely not a clearly defined service.

A construction specification stating that windows will be installed in anthracite is equally precisely detailed.

Well, I already posted the clearly defined offer earlier. They listed exactly what was included in their proposal (we also spoke on the phone beforehand).
Everything stated in the offer was carried out. Only afterwards, the corresponding areas were not clean.
The painting was done by ourselves, ordered through the painter, so that’s our responsibility. The paint can be removed from the strap reels with warm water and possibly some soap, since it’s all water-based. If there is plaster on them that won’t come off (they really made a mess), the general contractor has already assured me they will replace the tape.
shenja schrieb:

According to the contract, the kitchen was only to be cleaned inside, not outside. Paint and silicone on tiled walls and around the roller blind were not part of the contract, only the floor was specified—or at least it says so in the contract. It’s a matter of interpretation.
I simply believe the contract wasn’t clearly defined enough. I’ve been caught like that myself. I had a window cleaner for a while until I realized the frames and window sills were very dirty. When I confronted him, he told me that cleaning windows was contractually agreed, but the rest was not. For me, that was part of it; for him, it wasn’t in the contract.
Since then, I have become very thorough and make sure my wishes are clearly confirmed in writing.


Yes, maybe I should have had it written down more precisely. I naïvely assumed that an offer text that includes both “final construction cleaning” and “bathrooms: clean tiles up to the ceiling, clean and polish fixtures, as well as clean bathtub/shower, toilet, and washbasin including cabinets if necessary” would inherently mean that cleaning tiles would involve removing dirt, and that paint residues, silicone, or cement slurry would be considered dirt.
Especially since we talked about it on the phone beforehand, and paint residues and cement slurry were explicitly mentioned.
When I first pointed out that the floors were still full of it, the young man improved the cleaning, and his supervisor was involved after the second attempt still did not remove everything. So there really was no discussion about the scope of work; in my opinion, they simply did not work carefully. That also includes mopping around objects. Parts of the living room were simply not mopped at all.
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shenja
28 Sep 2020 21:51
Yes, the work was definitely sloppy, but the price was clearly not reasonable for a final cleaning service. It is frustrating, to say the least. Was it even a legitimate company?
kati133728 Sep 2020 21:58
shenja schrieb:

Yes, it was definitely sloppy, but the price was also not really appropriate for a final construction cleaning. It’s frustrating, to say the least. Was it even a proper company?

They definitely had a business card and a website, but that doesn’t mean much.
Y
ypg
29 Sep 2020 00:19
The offer refers to a complete cleaning, not to a final construction cleaning.
Also, there is no mention of any adhesive residue on all surfaces. Considering how much adhesive residue from the protective film was on our window frames, glass, etc... the offer here only covers the floors.
In my opinion, a cleaning like simple wiping is something different, unless it concerns fine dust.

I think a (small) company simply overestimated its capabilities without knowing what is included in a building completion cleaning. And this is what the accepted offer looks like.
Accordingly, the evaluation should reflect that, because what a company considers small or takes on beyond its capacity just doesn’t work.
A crime scene is cleaned by a specialist cleaner, not a cleaning lady trying to fill a spare hour in her schedule.

But I believe Kati has blocked me – so she will never read this... unless someone copies it to her again.
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guckuck2
29 Sep 2020 06:43
I feel somewhat addressed here, as the recommendation to use MyHammer for this job actually came from me. However, I also remember the saying that you get what you pay for. For €420 (approx. $450), understandably, you can only expect a basic cleaning. A proper final construction cleaning usually costs between €1200-1500 (approx. $1300-1600). Removing cement residue, for example, is quite labor-intensive, and the appropriate cleaning products are not cheap. Heavy dirt on windows cannot be cleaned with just one wipe, and there is a high risk of damage, meaning careful work equals higher costs.
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pagoni2020
29 Sep 2020 07:24
guckuck2 schrieb:

I feel somewhat addressed here, since the recommendation to use myhammer for this project actually came from me.
I believe you gave a good tip there.
Myhammer is not the contractor but rather a platform or bulletin board, where companies and individuals gather, much like a marketplace in real life.
We and people in our network have had very positive experiences with it, as well as with another online marketplace where I have rarely had any bad experiences with important purchases or services.
However, you do need to put in some effort and possibly have some experience to separate the good from the bad. A bit of luck is also helpful, which is true even when calling a company directly.