Cleaning a new-build flat handed over by the developer

A flat from a developer is dirty in a different way from a lived-in home. There are no food stains or shoe marks — there is cement dust lying in an even layer over everything and rising into the air at every movement, stickers on the glazing, leftover expanding foam in the reveals and dried mortar on the screed.

What it costs

• post-renovation cleaning — UAH 150 per square metre;
• a 45 m² flat — UAH 6,750;
• a 65 m² flat — UAH 9,750;
• a window after renovation — UAH 499 each;
• an additional hour — UAH 499.

The count follows the floor area rather than the number of rooms: in an unfinished new build counting rooms makes no sense, because sometimes the walls between them are not there yet. The sum is fixed before the visit and is not revised on site.

Calculate the price

Cement dust

The defining feature of a new build is that dust cannot be collected in one pass. It settles out of the air again and again, so the floor is washed in three or four passes with breaks rather than once at the end. First everything top-down with a filtered vacuum, then damp cleaning, and only at the end the finishing pass over the floor.

Clean it in a single pass and the sills will be grey again by morning — that is not a failing of the cleaner but physics: fine particles stay airborne for hours.

Glazing and stickers

Protective film on the frames bakes onto the plastic after six months in the sun and comes off in pieces. It is removed with a scraper and solvent, slowly — which is exactly why a window after renovation costs UAH 499 rather than the usual 350. Factory stickers are taken off the glass with a blade held at an angle so nothing gets scratched.

If the film has already yellowed and cracked, the honest forecast is this: the frame will come clean, but a matt trace of adhesive may remain. The cleaner says so before starting.

What else is included

Screed and tiling cleared of mortar, reveals and sills, radiators including the space behind them, sockets and switches, doors with their frames, the bathroom in full, the kitchen if it is already fitted, and the balcony where it is accessible.

What we do not do

We do not remove construction waste: bags of mortar, offcuts of plasterboard and broken tiles are taken away by your contractor, and we come afterwards. We do not strip paint from surfaces it was deliberately applied to, do not sand screed and do not work above stepladder height.

If there is no water or power yet

In new buildings this is normal. Tell us in advance: the cleaner brings canisters, but the work takes longer and that has to be built into the order. On a temporary supply a powerful vacuum can trip the breaker — then we work with lower-powered equipment and allow more hours.

Related pages

Post-renovation cleaning · Post-renovation prices · Cleaning after builders · Windows after renovation