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Building a Home

Exterior Cleaning - how clean??

13 years ago

How clean should we expect our job site to be when they are finished? I've searched here and on-line and can't find much information. The main trash was hauled off or burned but I've picked up 4 large trash bags of trash/debris already and there's still MORE. We paid for 'clean up" but found the exterior still a HUGE mess. We want to be fair yet also feel it wasn't done properly. Since we're in the country our builder did several burn piles and said he used a tractor to scoop the nails and debris from the burn pile into the dumpster but we are still finding nails, tile, etc. both there and around the house. What is considered a normal amount of clean up. Are we expecting too much?

Also, what is the average fee for exterior clean up?

TIA,

Sunny

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Comments (4)

sunnny
Original Author
13 years ago
I picked up 5 more bags of debris yesterday and think I'm about finished. Other than the stuff in the burn pile which has tile, hardi board pieces and NAILS!
Any information would be helpful.
Thanks,
Sunny
worthy
13 years ago
I don't know what's "normal" or "average." Your contract should have specified exactly how clean is clean. All I can say is that if your builder were under the mandatory government warranty I build under, "burnpiles" (!) and bags of trash would have been his responsibility. Disposing of construction waste by burying or burning it is illegal here. However, you can't expect to see the end of every last nail. I tear down and rebuild, so I'm used to finding everything from stashes of 100-year old bottles, to fuel oil tanks, dead pets and rolls of carpeting. So far, no human remains.
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sue36
13 years ago
If there is no other detail in the agreement, it would be reasonable to assume that clean means the area is reasonably free of foreign material. There shouldn't be any visible wood scraps, tile, paper, etc. Nails should be picked up by shovel and the area swept with a magnet.

I don't understand how so many nails end up in a burn pile unless this was a rehab job. The only thing that should be burned is scraps of wood (and no PT). The bracing gets nailed in and then removed, but there shouldn't be the quantity you are describing. Also make sure the perimeter of the house is swept with a magnet. This is a good job for a low-wage person, maybe a teenager that wants to make some extra money.
energy_rater_la
13 years ago
you will need one of those magnets on wheels...
your builder prolly has one.
I'm a fanatic about nails in my yard...
always catch a flat on my lawnmower or truck
tires....

best of luck.

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