After builders cleaning at £30 per cleaner-hour
Monster Cleaning’s after builders clean costs £30 per cleaner per hour, plus £32 for equipment and detergents. It takes a property from the day the trades pack up to a place you can move into: the fine dust off every surface and out of the cupboards and vents, and the plaster, paint, grout haze and sticker glue lifted from new finishes without marking them.
How many cleaners you need, and for how long, depends on the size of the place and how much the builders left behind, so we work the job out with you before it goes in the diary. Offices and shops after a fit-out are £31 per cleaner per hour.
Prices last updated September 2026.
What an after builders clean is
An after builders clean is the one-off clean a property needs when building work finishes: a renovation, an extension, a new kitchen or bathroom, or a new build before you move in. It deals with construction dust and the residue the trades leave on new surfaces, which ordinary cleaning products and a household vacuum can’t handle.
Most building jobs end on a “broom-swept” finish, and that means exactly what it says: someone ran a brush over the floor. Everything else stays where it landed. The clean afterwards is rarely part of the builder’s quote.
Builder’s dust needs its own clean
Plaster and MDF dust is far finer than household dust. It’s light enough to hang in the air for hours after anything moves in the room, so it keeps landing. You hoover, go and put the kettle on, and when you come back there’s a fresh layer on the windowsill.
It also gets into places nobody checks. Cupboards that stayed shut through the whole build are full of it. So are the top edges of the doors, the gap behind each radiator, the cupboard hinges and the fins of the extractor. It sits in the air vents too, and in the trickle vents on double glazing (the bit most people forget).
A household vacuum blows most of it straight back out through the filter, finer than before. That’s why our cleaners use HEPA vacuums on every after builders job, and why the order they work in matters so much. If you are tackling a small job yourself, our guide to cleaning up after builders sets out the order and the safety checks.
Then there’s the residue. Paint flecks on new aluminium window frames get much harder to move once they’ve had a fortnight to dry. Silicone ends up smeared across the tiles where a finger ran along the sealant. Grout haze is a faint white film you only see when the light catches it. There’s sticker glue on the appliances, and protective film that has sat on a radiator all summer and gone tacky. A supermarket kitchen spray won’t shift most of it, and the wrong cloth scratches. Matt emulsion is the least forgiving surface of all: one pass with an abrasive scourer burnishes a shiny patch that shows under every downlight until the wall is repainted.
After builders cleaning checklist
The team cleans the whole property, top to bottom.
Throughout the property:
- Dust off ceilings (as far as a step ladder reaches), walls, cornicing, picture rails, shelves, skirting boards, architraves, door frames and window sills
- Radiators cleaned, behind them as well, and light fittings dusted
- Air vents, extractor grilles and the trickle vents on the windows cleared
- Every floor vacuumed with a HEPA vacuum, grout lines on tiled floors included
- Hard floors mopped with a pH-neutral product, which new stone, engineered wood and LVT need (alkaline cleaners can damage them)
- Sockets, switches, thermostats, door handles and finger plates wiped
- Paint and plaster spots taken off hard surfaces with a product matched to the finish
- Internal glass, shower screens, splashbacks and mirrored wardrobes cleaned
- Labels, protective film and sticker residue removed from new fixtures, sanitaryware, appliances and radiators
In the kitchen:
- Inside and outside every cupboard, drawer runners included (MDF dust collects there more than anywhere)
- Appliance fronts, tops and the sides you can see
- Sink, taps and splashback descaled and polished
- Hob, extractor hood and filter housing degreased
- The silicone along the worktops and splashback checked and wiped
In the bathrooms and wet rooms:
- Toilet, bath, shower tray and basin cleaned and disinfected
- Grout haze and cement residue removed from new tiling with an acid-based product, applied carefully and rinsed off thoroughly
- Taps, shower heads and wastes descaled
- Mirrors, glass screens and chrome polished
- The fitter’s silicone smears cleaned off every joint
After builders cleaning
After builders cleaning prices
You pay for the cleaners’ time. The price is the number of cleaners, times the hours each one works, times £30, plus £32 for equipment and detergents (£22 for the equipment, £10 for the detergents). Some examples:
| Team and time | Price |
|---|---|
| 1 cleaner, 4 hours | £152 |
| 1 cleaner, 5 hours | £182 |
| 2 cleaners, 4 hours each | £272 |
| 2 cleaners, 6 hours each | £392 |
| 2 cleaners, 8 hours each | £512 |
| 3 cleaners, 8 hours each | £752 |
Every price in the table includes the £32. Your job may need a different team or more time; we tell you which before you book. Business premises after a fit-out are £31 per cleaner per hour (commercial cleaning). Where there’s no free parking, we add just what parking costs us. Every other price we charge is on the prices page.
How long an after builders clean takes
It depends on the size of the property and the state the builders left it in. A one-bed flat after a tidy kitchen refit is often four to five hours with one cleaner. Above a one-bed we usually send two cleaners, so the job is done the same day and a second pair of eyes checks the first. A four-bed house after a full renovation is a day’s work for two cleaners, sometimes more.
A contractor who kept a single-room job tidy can bring you in under the estimate. A full gut job, where the crew disappeared the moment the skip was lifted, sits at the top of the range and sometimes past it. So when you ring, we ask what was done and how the place was left, and tell you which end you’re likely to be at.
If the team walks in and finds it a lot worse than described, they stop and talk to you before carrying on. The same goes for a job that’s running past its estimate: nobody works into extra hours without your say.
The order the team works in
A single pass doesn’t work after building work, because the dust disturbed in the first hour settles on everything cleaned in the second. So the team works in stages, always in this order.
Open the place up. Windows and trickle vents open and doors wedged before a cloth touches anything. Moving air carries a lot of the suspended plaster dust out, and clears any solvent smell as we go.
Dust from the top down. HEPA vacuums first, from the ceilings and high ledges down to the skirting, so gravity helps. Brushing first would only throw the dust back into the air.
Residue and stickers. Paint speckle, plaster spots, grout haze, silicone smears and sticker glue, each lifted with the product that suits the surface and tested on a hidden patch first on anything delicate.
The wet clean. Floors with a pH-neutral solution, then glass, sanitaryware and a final wipe of every surface, once the airborne dust has dropped and been vacuumed up.
A last walk round. Back through every room with fresh eyes, because late-afternoon light shows up a grout-haze shadow the morning light hid.
Who cleans your property
Cleaners we’ve interviewed ourselves. Each cleaner is interviewed in person and insured, and works alongside the team until trained on our 57-point checklist.
Care with new finishes. Non-abrasive cloths and pH-neutral products on any surface we haven’t confirmed, and no solvent goes near matt paint, engineered timber or natural stone before a patch test.
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Cleaning since 2014. More than 40,000 properties cleaned in London, Liverpool and Manchester.
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Booking an after builders clean
Ring 0333 555 2076, 8am to 7pm, seven days a week. Tell us how big the place is and what work was done, and give us your deadline. We work out the team and the hours with you and give you the price.
Cleans run seven days a week, with 7am starts if you need an early finish. Booking five to seven days ahead gives you the best chance of your date, though midweek slots often come up at short notice, so ask even if the builders have only just rolled up the dust sheets.
The team arrives with everything: HEPA vacuums, pH-neutral floor solution, residue removers and solvents, microfibre cloths, ladders and bin bags. You don’t need to supply a thing.
Cleans to add on the same visit
The after builders clean gets the building site out of the property. These get it the rest of the way, and each is priced on its own:
- Carpets: plaster dust works down into the pile, deeper than a vacuum reaches, and hot water extraction lifts it out (carpet cleaning).
- The oven: if it stayed in the kitchen during the works, there’s a grey film inside the door seal and on top of the fan (oven cleaning).
- Windows: new builds often come with paint flecks on the frames and cement run-off on the outside glass (window cleaning).
- Drives, patios and paths: paint drips and mortar splashes come off far more easily in the first month than after six months of rain (outdoor cleaning).
Carpet, bedroom
£36
Carpet, living room
£43
Carpet, stairs flight
£41
Single oven
£77
Double oven
£110
Windows inside and out
2-bed house
£128
Pressure washing
per m²
£4
After builders, deep or regular cleaning
| Clean | Price | Book it for |
|---|---|---|
| After builders | £30 per cleaner-hour | Dust and residue after building work or a new build |
| After builders, business premises | £31 per cleaner-hour | Offices and shops after a fit-out |
| Deep clean | From £186 | A one-off clean of a lived-in home: grease, limescale, grout, behind the appliances |
| Regular cleaning | From £69 a visit | Keeping a home clean week to week |
If you lived in the home before the work started, it may need both: the building dust, and the grime from before. We often do the two on the same day. For an ordinary one-off clean with no building work involved, book a deep clean, from £186 for two cleaners for three hours. Once you’ve moved in, regular cleaning is £23 per cleaner per hour weekly, with the same cleaner each visit where possible.
After builders cleaning questions
How soon after the builders leave should I book?
As soon as they’ve cleared their tools and their waste. Don’t leave it weeks. Fresh plaster dust comes off fairly easily; dust that has had a month to settle, take in some damp and dry again is much harder to move, and that means more hours.
Do you take away builders’ rubble?
Small leftovers, yes: offcuts, packaging and dust sheets go as part of the clean. Skips, rubble and building materials need clearing before the team arrives. They can’t clean round a stack of plasterboard in the hallway.
Can you clean a new build before I move in?
Yes. A new build carries almost as much dust and protective film as a renovation, with build dust inside every cupboard and usually a layer of grime in the boiler cupboard that nobody thinks to check. We clean it to move-in standard, inside the white goods, wardrobes and fitted units.
Should the clean happen before the snagging inspection?
Yes, book it first. Scratches, gaps in the caulk, uneven grout and missed paint all hide under a layer of dust. Clean first and snag second, and the list you hand the developer is far more useful.
Is your team insured?
Yes, every cleaner is insured. If your developer or managing agent needs to see the cover before the job, we’ll send it to them.
Do I need to be there during the clean?
No. Most customers leave keys with a concierge or in a key safe, and the team locks up when it leaves. If you’d like to walk round at the end, we’ll message you about half an hour before we finish.
Ring 0333 555 2076 (8am to 7pm, seven days a week) with the size of the place and what the builders did, and we’ll price the job with you.