How to price a post-construction cleaning job

A builder or a homeowner finishing a remodel calls and asks what you'd charge to "clean up after the job." It sounds like a big deep clean. It isn't. Construction dust gets into places a normal home never collects dirt, the work happens on a schedule somebody else controls, and the person paying often has a very different picture of "clean" than you do.

That makes post-construction cleaning good work for a small cleaning company, and easy work to lose money on. Here is how to scope it, price it and put it on a quote that holds up.

Find out which clean they actually want

"Post-construction clean" can mean three different jobs. Ask which ones the customer wants before you give any number.

• Rough clean. Done while the trades are still finishing. Hauling out loose debris, sweeping and vacuuming, wiping down so the next crew can work. It is fast and it will get dirty again.
• Final clean. Done when the construction work is finished. This is the detailed one: dust off every surface, inside cabinets and drawers, windows and tracks, fixtures, vents, baseboards, floors. Stickers and labels off new fixtures and windows.
• Touch-up clean. Done right before the owner moves in or the space opens. A light pass to pick up the dust that settled after the final clean and anything the last trades left behind.

Some customers want all three. Some only want the final. A homeowner after a kitchen remodel may only want one visit. Quote each phase separately so the customer can see what they are getting and you aren't stuck doing three visits for the price of one.

Walk it before you price it

This is the one job where a guess from the square footage is risky. Two jobs with the same footprint can take very different time depending on what was built and how messy the trades were.

When you walk the job, look at:

• How much dust and where. Drywall sanding leaves fine dust on every flat surface and inside every cabinet. A bathroom remodel is not the same as a whole-house gut.
• Windows. How many, how big, and whether they have paint, stickers or tape on them. Windows and tracks can take a big share of the time on a final clean.
• Cabinets and built-ins. Inside and out, every shelf and drawer. New kitchens have a lot of them.
• Floors. What the flooring is, whether it has paint or adhesive spots, and whether it needs more than a sweep and mop.
• Fixtures and vents. Light fixtures, ceiling fans, outlet covers, vent covers. All of them hold dust.
• Debris. Is there still trash and leftover material on site? Hauling debris away is a different job from cleaning. Decide if you do it, and if you do, price it separately.
• Utilities and access. Is the water on? Is the power on? Is there a working bathroom for your crew? Can you park close? If you have to bring water or work around other trades, it takes longer.

If you can't walk it, ask for photos and video of every room, and say in writing that the price depends on the job matching what you saw. We wrote more about this in quoting a property by walking it.

Pick a pricing model

The same three options from any cleaning job apply here, but they lean differently.

Hourly with a written minimum. This protects you most when you can't tell how bad it will be. Give the customer an estimated range of hours, a minimum charge, and say you bill actual time. It is a good choice for remodels and for your first few post-construction jobs, while you learn how long they really take you.

Per square foot. Common for new builds and commercial spaces, where builders compare bids by the square foot. It only works if your rate reflects the phase and the condition. A rough clean and a final clean on the same building should not have the same rate.

Flat price per phase. Once you have walked the job and you know your own times, a flat price for each phase is the easiest thing for a customer to say yes to. Put clear limits on it: what is included, what condition you are pricing, and what happens if it is worse.

If you are not sure which to use, our post on hourly or flat rate pricing goes through the trade-offs.

Whatever model you choose, the price has to cover your real cost: wages and payroll costs for the crew, travel, supplies, any equipment you rent, and your overhead and profit. Post-construction work goes through more supplies than a normal clean. Vacuum filters and bags clog with fine dust, and you will use more cloths, pads and scrapers. Count that in.

Price the things that go wrong

Post-construction jobs come with problems you rarely see on a house you clean every two weeks. Decide how you handle each one and put it on the quote.

• The trades aren't done. You show up for the final clean and the painter is still there. Set a trip charge and say when it applies, and say the final clean is scheduled after the construction work is finished.
• Dust after the clean. If a trade comes back and sands something after your final clean, that is a new touch-up, not a free redo. Say so.
• Things you won't clean. Paint overspray, adhesive, concrete on windows, or anything that needs a special product or tool may be outside a normal clean. Either price it as an add-on or list it as excluded. If there are materials you are not trained or equipped to handle safely, leave them out of the quote and tell the customer.
• Extra work at the door. The builder walks through and asks you to do the garage too. Great, but give it a price and get a yes before you do it.
• Deadlines. If the owner moves in Friday and the trades finish Thursday night, that is a rush. Charge for it or don't take it.

Put it all on the quote

A post-construction quote that holds up should say:

• Which phases you are doing, and the price for each
• What is included in each phase, room by room or by task
• How you charge: hourly with a minimum, per square foot, or flat per phase
• What is excluded, and what add-ons cost
• That the work is scheduled after the trades are finished, and your trip charge if they aren't
• How you handle dust that comes back after other trades return
• How long the price is good for

If the builder signs that, every argument you might have had later is already settled. Our post on what every cleaning quote should include has the rest of the basics.

Keep track of what you learn

Every post-construction job you do tells you something about your own speed: how long windows take your crew, how many vacuum filters a drywall job eats, how long a kitchen's worth of cabinets takes. Write it down after every job. After a handful, your quotes will be based on your numbers instead of a guess.

Where BlastoClean fits

We built BlastoClean to help small cleaning companies quote, schedule and get paid. On a post-construction job, the part that usually leaks money is the extra work somebody asks for on site. In BlastoClean you can add that extra work to the visit with its own price, record that the customer already agreed or send them a one-page link to approve it, and it shows up on the visit's invoice and the crew's checklist.

If you want to try it on your next job, you can start free here, and we're happy to walk you through setup on a free 30-minute call.

Call or text (585) 200-6753.