How to choose a builders clean contractor

What to check, what to put in the scope, and the arrangement worth agreeing before a handover inspection rather than after.

Builders cleans sit on the critical path. The inspection date is fixed, the trades have usually run late, and the cleaner is the last one in. That timing is exactly why the scope needs settling early.

Before you request quotes

• Count the windows and the bathrooms. Those two numbers drive more of the price than the floor area does.
• Note the finishes already installed: stone benchtops, timber floors, powder-coated frames, frameless glass. Each changes both method and price.
• Decide whether you need one clean or two. A rough clean during construction and a final clean before handover are separate jobs.
• Establish whether other trades will still be on site, since cleaning around active trades usually has to be redone.
• Confirm site access, parking, and whether water and power are available.

What to specify before a handover clean goes through site access, timing and these readiness details in more depth, so the quote you get back matches the job on the day.

What to check about the contractor

• Public liability insurance, and that the certificate is current and covers the site.
• Whether they carry workers compensation cover for their crew.
• Whether they have done builders cleans specifically, rather than commercial or domestic cleaning. It is different work.
• Whether they have handled your finishes before, particularly stone and frameless glass.
• Whether they can meet your handover date, and what happens if trades overrun.
• Whether they are a BSCAA member or hold a BSCAA Prequalified Contractor certificate.

What is BSCAA, and why does it matter covers what that membership or certificate does and doesn't confirm. If you're comparing a specialist builders-clean contractor against a commercial cleaning company that also runs a construction division, vetting a cleaner's construction division covers the extra checks that situation calls for. For how the industry itself is classified and sized, see the Australian cleaning and construction data.

Agree the re-clean arrangement up front

A building gets dirty again between the final clean and the inspection. Remedial trades come back, inspectors walk through, deliveries arrive.

Agree before work starts how many re-cleans are included, what triggers one, and what a return visit costs if it is caused by other trades rather than by the cleaner. That single clause converts the most common argument in this trade into a line item you already priced.