Dissatisfied with the final construction cleaning - am I being too picky?

I had said at the beginning that our architect recommends the final construction cleaning. But she also said that we should look for a company that explicitly advertises this kind of service. Apparently, this is a specialization of its own. We haven’t obtained any quotes yet, but we have already looked at corresponding companies. I expect at least €1000, probably more. Regarding the reviews, 5 stars from 7(!) reviews is not really meaningful from my point of view. 100 reviews. Possibly. Rather many more. Of course, you won’t find that regionally. Even our kitchen studio, which has a very good reputation, has only about 20 reviews in 30 years. From my experience, reviews are a dangerous field. This is by no means a criticism of your approach. More from my side, either tick it off or have a professional do it again.

Yes, I will keep that in mind and check the reviews more carefully in the future. Normally, I am more thorough with such things; maybe I was a bit blinded here by the combination of price + review profile. The cost estimate for a specialized company is definitely worthwhile. The way we did it regionally, as I realize, is a bit of a gamble.

If the set price is not supposed to play a role, then I can say that €20/hour for the basic cleaning of an entire single-family house is acceptable. You just have to do the rest yourself more thoroughly. How do you want to get the paint off the roller strap reels? Did you paint it yourselves? But it doesn’t really matter; you should have clarified your expectations in detail with the cleaning duo beforehand, because final construction cleaning, ready for occupancy, is definitely not a clearly defined offer. A construction description stating that the windows are installed in anthracite is just as clearly detailed.

Well, I already posted the clearly defined offer further above. They wrote down very precisely what was included in their offer (we also had a phone call beforehand). The items mentioned in the offer were also carried out. Only afterward, the relevant areas were simply not clean. The painting was done by us ourselves but commissioned through the painter, so it’s our problem. The paint can also be removed from the roller strap reels with warm water / possibly a bit of soap; it’s all water-based. If there is plaster on it that won’t come off (they made quite a mess), the general contractor has already assured me that they would replace the tape.

According to the contract, the kitchen was only to be cleaned on the inside, not on the outside. Paint and silicone on tiled walls and blinds were not included in the contract, only the floor was, or at least that’s what the contract says; it’s a matter of interpretation. I simply believe that the contract was not issued well enough. I also fell for something like that once. I had a window cleaner for a while until I noticed that the frames and window sills were totally dirty. When I confronted him, he told me that window cleaning was contractually agreed but the rest was not. Well, to me, that was included, and for him, it was missing in the contract. Since then, I have been very thorough and make sure my wishes are confirmed in writing accordingly.

Yes, maybe I should have had that written down more precisely. I was naïve in assuming that with an offer text that contains both “final construction cleaning” and “bathrooms: clean tile splashbacks up to the ceiling, clean and polish fittings as well as clean tub/shower, toilet, and sink, possibly with cabinets,” it would be assumed that CLEANING the tile splashback also means removing the dirt from it, and that paint residues / silicone / cement slurry are to be considered dirt. Especially since we had talked about this on the phone beforehand and paint residues and cement slurry were explicitly mentioned. After my first indication that the floors were still full of it, the young man did make corrections, and then his boss came again after attempt #2 since they still weren’t all gone. So there really wasn’t any discussion about the scope of the offer; in my opinion, they simply did not work carefully. That also includes the “wiping around objects.” Parts of the living room were simply not wiped at all.

Yes, they were certainly sloppy but the price is of course also not really appropriate for a final construction cleaning. It is annoying all the same. Was that even a real company?

Yes, they were certainly sloppy, but the price is of course not really appropriate for a final construction cleaning. It's definitely annoying. Was that even a real company?

They definitely have a business card and a homepage, but what does that really mean.

The offer refers to a complete cleaning, not to a final construction cleaning. Also missing is the note about any adhesive residues on all surfaces. When I think about where we had adhesive residues from the protective film on the window frames, glass, etc... The offer here only refers to the floors. A cleaning like simple wiping in my opinion is something different, unless it is about fine dust. I think a (small) company simply took on too much without knowing what is included in a BER. And this is what the accepted offer looks like. Accordingly, the evaluation must be made accordingly, because what a company keeps small or takes on too much, that doesn't work. A crime scene is also cleaned by a specialist cleaner and not by a cleaning lady who just wants to fill a gap in her schedule. But I think Kati has blocked me - so she will never read this... unless someone copies it to her again

I feel a bit addressed here, since the recommendation for MyHammer for this job came from me. However, I also remember the note that you get what you pay for. For €420, understandably, you only get a rough cleaning. A "proper" final construction cleaning costs €1200-1500. For example, cement residue is already difficult to remove, suitable products are not free. Heavy dirt on the window is also not wiped away with one stroke, and the risk of damage is high, i.e. careful work = more expensive.

I feel a bit addressed here, because the recommendation for myhammer for this job came from me.

I believe you already gave a good tip there. Myhammer is not the executing company but only the platform/bulletin board where companies/people gather like at a marketplace in real life. We ourselves and in our environment have had the best experiences with it, also on the other online marketplace where I have so far hardly ever had a bad experience with important purchases/services. But you also have to make an effort here and possibly need some experience to separate the wheat from the chaff. A bit of luck is of course also not misplaced here, although you also need that somewhat when you call a company directly.