Post-Construction Cleaning in Fall River, MA

The three phases of a post-construction clean

Post-construction cleaning is not one job, it's up to three, and they happen at different points in the build. Knowing which phase you need is the difference between a quote that holds and one that doubles halfway through.

The rough clean happens during construction, before finishes go in. It's debris removal: offcuts, packaging, empty containers, sweeping up, and getting the site walkable. No point detailing anything yet because the trades are still working.

The light clean, sometimes called the second clean, comes after the noisier trades are done but before the final touch-ups. Outlets and switches are still masked, so the work targets surfaces, floors and larger dust. The final clean is last: after paint, after the floors are finished, after the hardware is on. Every surface gets touched, every sticker comes off, and the space has to be handed over in a state the client can walk into.

Why the dust keeps coming back

Drywall dust is finer than ordinary household dust and it settles differently. It goes airborne when disturbed and takes hours to drop, so a clean that starts at the front of the house and works backward to the door is the only order that works. If the crew cleans the last room first and then walks back through, the whole house has a fresh coat by the time they leave.

It also hides in places that don't get cleaned in a normal job: on top of door frames, inside light fixtures, inside cabinets and drawers, on the top edge of every door, inside the returns of the HVAC system. If the HVAC returns are full of drywall dust, running the system moves it through the whole house for weeks after everyone has left — which is why clearing the vents belongs in the final clean, not in a follow-up visit.

A wet wipe on horizontal surfaces and a HEPA vacuum on everything vertical is the honest method. Dry sweeping just relocates the problem.

Working with builders and contractors

Most of our post-construction work is for contractors, builders and homeowners finishing a renovation, and the schedule drives everything. We plan around your inspection dates and your handover date, and we'll tell you honestly if the timeline doesn't allow for a proper final clean — a final clean rushed into four hours on a 3,000 square foot house will not pass a client walkthrough.

We work around the trades rather than the other way around. If plumbers or electricians still need access, the rough or light clean is the right phase and the final clean waits. Starting the final clean while a trade is still working is the most common way to waste money on a job that has to be redone.

For property managers and landlords turning a unit after a renovation, we can do the final clean and the move-in ready staging in one visit, and report back on anything the contractor left unfinished so it gets fixed before the tenant sees it.

What post-construction cleaning costs

Pricing is driven by square footage and phase, because the amount of work in a rough clean and a final clean of the same space are completely different. Rough cleans run at the lower end per square foot; final cleans run at the higher end because every surface is detailed.

The other variables are how many windows, how much tile and grout, whether there's fresh paint to protect, and whether the floors were finished (a floor that's still curing can't be wet-mopped). Paint splatter on glass and grout haze are slow, careful work, and a job with a lot of them costs more than a clean build of the same size.

We quote after a walkthrough or after a set of photos sent by text. Square footage alone isn't enough to price a post-construction clean honestly.

Where we offer this service

• Fall River, MA
• Somerset, MA
• Swansea, MA
• Dartmouth, MA
• New Bedford, MA
• Westport, MA
• Fairhaven, MA
• Tiverton, RI
• Taunton, MA

Frequently Asked Questions