Post-Renovation Cleaning in Malaysia is something that nobody thinks about when they’re building a renovation budget until after the contractor has moved on and they’re standing in the middle of their “renovated” home, staring at the dust beneath their feet. After spending money on making all the improvements, the dust has settled (supposedly) and you are still seeing a haze of grey on your fingers when you touch surfaces. If you’ve heard of it before, you’re not the only one, and there’s a reason why it doesn’t suffice to clean regularly after a reno.
Why Post Renovation Cleaning is Unique
A normal house clean is about the common dirt, spills, and general grime. Post-renovation cleaning is about something completely different – construction debris. That includes cement dust, paint splatter, sawdust, silicone smears, adhesive residue and the ultra-fine particle that infiltrates all the cracks, corners, and cabinet corners during construction. It’s another type of dirt and another method of dealing with it. Using a regular cloth to remove it from the area can simply spread it around or even scratch newly finished surfaces if it contains any grit.
Why renovation dust is such a problem.
This is the one thing that surprises most homeowners. Cement and plaster dust consists of particles so small they just don’t lay on a surface and wait to be wiped off — they float in the air for days, even weeks, after construction is finished, and reattach themselves long after you think you’ve scrubbed. This is why you can clean a shelf with your sponges and make it immaculate in the morning and return to the shelf the next day, and find a grey film covering the surface. You didn’t clean poorly, it’s that there is dust floating in the air in the room settling back down. This is exactly the kind of frustration that could lead anyone to seek professional assistance: when a cloth and a mop can’t stop the dust that is constantly coming from the air.
What is a Proper Post-Renovation Clean covering?
A clean after renovation is more than just a regular visit. It typically includes:
Cleaning dust off any surface, including high and hidden surfaces people often miss
Dusting behind closed doors in cabinets, wardrobes and drawers
Cleaning up tiles and grout to remove cement haze and adhesive residue
Windows, glass panels, tracks and grilles get a surprising amount of dirt from which to be cleaned
Deep cleaning kitchens and bathrooms, where dust combines with moisture to create a residue that is hard to remove
More than one pass on the floor vacuuming and mopping, as if there’s something there that hasn’t been cleaned
Cleaning light fixtures, switches, sockets and air-cond vents
Factors that Influence the Price
No one-size-fits-all flat rate for this type of cleaning as it is determined by the amount of mess. Some factors which influence the price:
Design of the renovation: A full home gut job creates a lot more residue compared to a refresh of a single room.
Property size: The more area you have, the longer it takes.
The level of dust and debris: Some jobs leave behind a light film and others leave heavy cement dust and rubble behind.
Access: The quote may be influenced by high rise units with limited lift access, or limited handover deadlines.
Add-ons: The buffing of tiles to remove the cement haze and the cleaning of airconds to remove dust from the system are usually done separately, also at separate prices.
It is much more accurate to get the quote from an assessment on site or an assessment done based on a photo than to quote by phone – as the amount of residue will differ so much from house to house.
Why Going the DIY Route is Mostly a Frustrating Endeavour
Many homeowners begin by wanting to clean up the post-reno job themselves and many end up not doing it. It’s not that it can’t be done – it’s that it can’t be done as easily as it appears. Household cleaners and regular mops are not designed to remove cement residue or tile adhesive haze from tiles. The amount of dust that is discovered makes what seems like a weekend job seem like several tiring days. When you’re already exhausted, you forget areas to check, such as inside cabinets, window tracks and vents.
Not only is it bad for the overall results, but it is not great for the health of the people doing the cleaning either when they repeatedly kick up construction dust. Worst of all, without the right technique, the surface cleaned looks dusty again in one day as the dust is continuously settling while floating.
It is important to be certified for this type of position.
Post renovation cleaning falls on the intersection of construction and cleaning, so credentials are important here, rather than routine housekeeping. Bamboo Cleaning Services is CIDB certified, which means our clean-up after construction process is recognized at construction industry standards, rather than just cleaning industry standards. That means that the workers who will be in your home are not only trained at our own centre but also certified under HRDF, MECSc and ISSA.
Serving Homes Across KL, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka
It doesn’t matter whether you’ve just renovated a condo in Mont Kiara, a terrace house in Shah Alam, a shop lot in Seremban or a heritage property in Melaka, the issue remains the same – Construction dust that you can’t get rid of with regular house cleaning. Bamboo Cleaning Services has teams of trained professionals stationed across all of the four regions, trained specifically for post-renovation tasks so that you don’t have to handle the last of the hardest renovating tasks alone after everyone has left.
Do a Job Well Done
Renovations are a great investment and should be finished appropriately. It’s much more effective to have a team that does this kind of clean for a living, than waste your first weeks in a newly renovated home on a slow war with construction dust. Contact Bamboo Cleaning Services for an estimate for the actual work that has been completed and let them do the dusting so you can enjoy the space that you have put so much effort into improving.
