Cleaning up after your contractors leave

Drywall dust is the hard part of any remodel. It is fine enough to settle on top of cabinets, inside drawers, in light fixtures and along every baseboard, and it blows back out of your vents the first time the AC kicks on. New tile keeps a gray haze on its face after grouting. Every new faucet, vanity and appliance shows up with a sticker or a strip of blue film. A post-construction clean goes after all of that, working from the top of each room down to the floor. Dust gets wiped, not pushed around, and floors come last so nothing falls on a clean surface.

Every job starts with a walkthrough. We look at the rooms, what kind of dust, your new surfaces and anything that needs a gentle touch, like a fresh quartz counter or a natural stone shower. Then you get one quote for the work. Book it once the last trade has packed up. If painters or electricians are still coming back, the dust will come back with them. Remodeling a kitchen in Plantation or finishing a new build in west Broward? Send us the address and your target move-in date, and we'll pick a day to come look at the job.

On the checklist

• Construction dust cleared top to bottom
• Tops of cabinets, shelves and door frames
• Vent covers and return grilles wiped
• Stickers and film peeled off fixtures
• Cloudy grout film cleaned off the new tile
• Inside cabinets and drawers vacuumed
• Light fixtures and fan blades dusted
• Floors vacuumed twice, then mopped

What your contractor should finish first

Debris has to be gone before we start. Your contractor should haul out scraps, buckets, boxes and leftover tile, since junk hauling is not something we do. Paint should be dry and touch-ups finished. If your floors still have protective paper down, decide with your contractor whether it comes up before we arrive or after, so we're cleaning your real floor instead of its cover.

Big jobs sometimes go in two rounds. A rough clean right after the work wraps up gets most of the dust out. A final pass a few days later picks up what settled out of the air and your AC, right before your furniture comes back. Your walkthrough is when we'll talk about whether your job needs one round or two. For a new build, plan the final clean for the days just before your closing or move-in.

A good fit when

• The remodel's finished but the dust isn't
• You're moving into a new build soon
• The trades are done and debris is hauled out
• You want a quote after someone sees the job