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

Created on: 28 Sep 2020 17:39
K
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
Mycraft29 Sep 2020 11:26
Not necessarily. Reviews are also moderated. But yes, that is part of the nature of the matter. Hotel booking sites, for example, even remind users to leave reviews, yet only a small fraction actually do.

Additionally, people tend to remember and express negative experiences more than positive ones. Therefore, it is possible that an excellent craftsman is never reviewed because everyone is simply grateful and remains silent.
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Snowy36
29 Sep 2020 11:29
The negative comments are more than enough for me... but even here, nothing: I know at least three people who had the same problems with the contractor as we did—no response at all...

How do you handle this? Have you left reviews for contractors, both positive and negative?
For every negative review I wrote, I also posted a positive one...

I was extremely satisfied with one and not at all with the other: I reviewed both so it’s not always just complaints.
G
guckuck2
29 Sep 2020 11:56
I am not interested in rating people or companies myself, especially not on data-hungry platforms like Google.

Those who want reviews usually encourage their customers to leave them. Tradespeople have not yet understood this.
Pinky030129 Sep 2020 12:12
I have even experienced a notary requesting a Google review in their letter after the purchase contract was completed. That really put them in a bad light with me; I found it quite inappropriate. Personally, I’m too lazy to leave reviews—I only write one if I’m very upset about something.
Y
ypg
29 Sep 2020 13:03
Our craftsmen during the house construction often had no online presence, no website or anything similar. They worked diligently and simply didn’t have time for the internet. The good ones can be hired, and as long as there are no gaps in their schedule, a listing in the phone book is enough.

Yesterday, I picked up sushi again from our sushi guy: the first 20 reviews on Google were all negative – but some of the “arguments” were questionable. This is really damaging to reputation... I now only focus on hotels, restaurants, or very positive reviews; I ignore negative ones because it could just have been a bad day, but negative reviews can backfire badly. Direct conversations are more honest. Through third-party platforms, like review sites, you can really get hit...
Mycraft29 Sep 2020 13:07
Same here, I generally do not rate tradespeople. Hotels, yes, restaurants occasionally.