Post-Construction Cleaning near you

HSE's account of construction dust is specific about what makes it harmful. Silica is a natural mineral present in large amounts in sand, sandstone and granite, and it is broken into fine particles by cutting, drilling and grinding, at which point it becomes respirable crystalline silica. The diseases HSE associates with construction dusts are lung cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, and it notes that silica may account for over 500 deaths a year among construction workers.

The dust in a house after building work is what is left of that process, sitting on surfaces waiting to be disturbed. Sweeping it, brushing it or blowing it around puts it back into the air in a room that is now enclosed, warm and being breathed in by people who are not wearing anything. That is the reason the method matters more than the effort.

Where respiratory protection is used, HSE's guidance on site cleaning says you may need RPE depending on the location, duration and type of work, and to select RPE with an assigned protection factor of 20. For the higher-risk tasks involving silica or wood dust it describes FFP3 as the most advisable type of mask. A loose nuisance mask over a beard is not protection, and a cleaning firm that turns up with the right equipment and no respirators is only half prepared.

HSE's guidance on sweeping and site cleaning is unambiguous about the first thing not to do. Dry sweeping concrete dust and other building debris can produce high levels of dust, and it says to avoid dry sweeping where possible because this can be high risk. For minor or small amounts it points to damping down and using a brush, shovel and bucket, and for regular removal or site cleaning to using a water spray for damping down.

For the fine material — which after building work is most of what is left — it points to vacuum attachments fitted to an H or M class extraction unit. That classification is the practical dividing line between site equipment and household equipment. A domestic vacuum pulls fine dust through the motor and exhausts a proportion of it back into the room, which is why a house can seem dustier after an enthusiastic vacuuming than before it.

The sequence follows from the method: top down, so that anything disturbed falls onto surfaces still to be done; extraction before wiping, because a damp cloth on dusty plaster residue makes a smear that then has to be removed twice; multiple passes with time in between, since airborne dust is still settling; and floors genuinely last. Protective sheeting and covers come off as the last act, not the first.

The single most common complaint after a post-construction clean is that the house looked immaculate on the evening and dusty again by the weekend. It is rarely a failure of the clean. Fine particles stay suspended in air for a long time and settle slowly, and every cupboard, recess, curtain, radiator fin and length of trunking in the property is a reservoir that releases more each time a door closes or the heating comes on.

The practical answers are sequencing and expectation. Get the clean done after the last trade has left rather than during a gap, agree a follow-up pass as part of the booking, change the filters in any extract fans and the MVHR unit if there is one, and leave the property ventilated between the two visits so the remaining airborne dust settles somewhere it can be removed from.

The second recurring problem is soft materials nobody counted. Curtains, blinds, upholstery, mattresses and carpets absorb builders' dust and cannot be wiped. They are separate jobs with separate equipment, and they are the difference between a property that reads clean and one that actually is. Where possible the honest answer at the planning stage is to take soft furnishings out of the affected rooms before the work starts.

This is priced on how much dust there is and what has to be removed from what, and nobody can judge it from a description. The variables are which trades were involved and whether there was any cutting, grinding or plastering, how many stages of clean are needed, the amount of glazing and whether paint or plaster has to come off it, the number of new and delicate finishes, whether soft furnishings and carpets are involved, whether the property is occupied while the work finishes, and how the debris and dust waste is removed. A single room refit and a whole-house refurbishment are not the same job at different scales.

LokalMatch connects the two sides and does nothing more. Describe the work that has been done and the property, with your postcode, and cleaning firms covering the area contact you themselves. Using it costs homeowners nothing, and pros pay for the enquiries they receive. LokalMatch neither carries out the cleaning nor sets prices, and it does not vet, rank or recommend any firm that replies, so asking about extraction equipment, respiratory protection and how many visits are included is worth doing yourself.