System Upgrades & Modernization for Property Developers in Bristol

Construction dust should be treated as a health risk, not just dirt. Dust from cutting plasterboard, concrete and stone can contain respirable crystalline silica, and HSE guidance is to control it rather than sweep it into the air. Ask cleaning companies how they will manage dust: vacuum cleaners with suitable filters, damp methods rather than dry sweeping, and protective equipment where needed. Cleaners on a live site also come under the site's arrangements under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, including induction and site rules. Ask how the cleaners will be supervised on site.

The scope should be specific to the building. List each area, the surfaces and finishes involved, and anything that needs special care, such as natural stone, timber floors, coated glass, stainless steel or sanitaryware with protective coatings. The wrong chemical or an abrasive pad can damage a new finish, and someone pays for a scratched worktop or etched tile, so agree methods for delicate finishes in advance and ask for a trial area where there is doubt. Manufacturers' care instructions for specialist finishes are worth passing to the cleaning company before work starts.

High-level and external cleaning often takes the most planning. Atriums, stairwells, light fittings and high glazing may need access equipment, which brings the Work at Height Regulations 2005 into play. External windows and cladding may require rope access, mobile elevating work platforms or water-fed poles, and sometimes need cleaning before the scaffold is struck. Decide early whether the cleaning company or the main contractor provides access equipment, and who protects finished areas afterwards.

Programme is the other pressure. Cleaning is squeezed at the end of a job, and trades returning for snagging after the sparkle clean can undo it. Build realistic durations into the programme, agree a sign-off process for each floor or plot, and set a rule for how cleaned and signed-off areas are protected or locked. On residential schemes with phased handovers, plot-by-plot cleaning against a checklist lets the sales team see what is ready.

Think about waste and the building's systems. The scope should say whether cleaners take packaging and bagged debris to site skips, and who is responsible for the skips. Ventilation grilles, extract fans and kitchen appliances should be cleaned of construction dust, and the mechanical contractor may need to replace filters before handover. Lift cars, door tracks and shower screens are commonly overlooked, and keys and fobs for completed plots need a handover log of their own.

Proposals worth shortlisting set out what each stage covers, how many operatives and days are allowed, who provides access equipment, how damage to finishes is handled, and how the company would respond if extra cleans are needed after late snagging. A sample checklist from a similar project shows the level of detail to expect at sign-off.