Post-construction cleaning: cement dust, paint marks and what to expect

Cement dust is not like ordinary dust. It is fine enough to pass through a closed window, it sits on every vertical surface as well as every horizontal one, and the moment you put a wet mop on it, it turns to a grey paste that smears and then sets. Paint splatter, putty dust, grout haze on new tiles, sticker glue on new fittings and sawdust from carpentry add to it. A post-construction clean is a different job from a home deep clean and is priced separately — ₹2,499 on our rate card.

Here is what it covers, the order it has to be done in, and what to settle with your contractor first.

Ask the contractor to finish properly first

A cleaning team removes dust and marks. It does not do the builder's last jobs. Before the clean is booked, make sure:

• All debris, broken tile, wood offcuts and bags of cement are out of the house.
• Protective film is off the windows and fittings, or the painter has finished and agreed you can remove it.
• The painter has done the touch-ups. Cleaning before touch-ups means cleaning twice.
• Electrical work is finished and the MCBs are labelled. The team will be washing walls and floors, and needs to know what to switch off.
• Water is connected and there is enough in the tank. A post-construction clean uses a lot.

What the clean covers, in order

1. Dry removal first. Everything is vacuumed before anything is wet: ceilings, walls, window grills, cornices, fan housings, the tops of door frames, inside cupboards, the window tracks. This is the step a normal cleaner skips, and the reason a normal clean leaves smears.

2. Fittings and fixed items. Paint splatter scraped off glass, tiles and switches with a blade held flat. Sticker glue removed from taps, basins and glass. Grout haze on new tiles treated with a remover and rinsed. Cement splashes on tiles tested and removed where possible.

3. Kitchen and bathrooms. New sinks, taps and commodes cleaned of putty, silicone smears and the chalky residue from the plumber's work. Cabinet insides wiped out — sawdust loves them.

4. Wet clean. Walls wiped where the paint allows (oil and washable emulsion, yes; distemper, no). Windows inside and out where reachable. Floor scrubbed with a machine, then mopped twice, then dried.

5. Final dust. Fans, lights and the tops of frames are wiped again last, because the scrubbing stirs up what was missed.

Things to know before the day

• Distemper walls cannot be washed. They mark. They are dusted only.
• Polished granite and marble are cleaned with neutral cleaner only; the acids that remove cement haze from vitrified tiles will etch natural stone. Tell the team what your floor is.
• Wooden flooring and laminates are vacuumed and damp-mopped, never soaked.
• Fans and lights should be switched off at the MCB while they are cleaned.
• The dust keeps coming for a week or two from hidden spots — inside the AC, on top of the fan housing, in the ceiling cornices. Dust a few times yourself; it settles down.

Post-renovation in a lived-in house

If you have repainted or redone one bathroom while living in the house, the dust has gone everywhere — into wardrobes, onto kitchen shelves, into the bedding. Tell us it is a partial renovation so the team plans for moving furniture and covering things. Cupboards that were closed still need wiping inside; fine dust gets through.

When to do a full home deep clean instead

If the work was small — a plumber replaced a tap, an electrician ran a wire — and the mess is local, a bathroom scrub at ₹699 or a kitchen deep clean at ₹999 will do. Post-construction is for a house that has been a site: plaster, cement, paint, tiling, carpentry. The tell is simple — if there is dust on the walls, not just the floor, it is a post-construction job.