Most jobs I've done for people the contractors left sawdust and bits in the cabinets. I even did a job for someone whose kitchen was put in for the previous owner and it still had sawdust and bits in the cabinets when he moved in.

Mine cleaned everything. They also bill out at $75 an hour per person onsite, so I could've done it myself:) They are probably being lazy but it may not be scope of work for the cabinets to be spic n span. If you are generally happy with their work I wouldnt ruin it at the end by going ballistic, but I am nonconfrontational.

Okay, will this would have been confrontational email number 4 of the day, so I guess I will take a deep breath and get out the rubber gloves. To clean.

: )

our builder is responsible for having the house clean and ready to go before we move in. in our old house, i had the kitchen cleaned after the remodel.

Ours left the dust and debris too. What gets me the most is when I open the drawers and see it in the bottom of the cab box. I will have to break out our vacuum with the extension hose when I am feeling ambitious. There is so much to do, to make our space back to normal and it really ticks me too.
I would not expect perfection, but some subs leave coffee cups and clippings/wrappers/boxes/dirty paper towels/broken bits of things all over the place despite a large outdoor garbage pail with no lid that is centrally located in our dining room for months and assorted smaller pails all over the rooms. I'd like it to be reasonably straightened up at the end of the day. An extra 90 seconds would make a world of difference if each person did that. I know we had dust everywhere and it was rough going for a while, but since the sheetrock has been up, the excess mess bugs me. It feels like a lack of respect for our home and us in a way.

That said, we said nothing and let it slide. I chose to pick my battles and while annoying, it was not critical to the project.

A "cleaning staff" was hired by our GC before we moved back into the house. I cleaned again before we moved back in - but I clean with a toothbrush and am a little fastidious about cleanliness.

The site had to be cleaned up of all coffee cups, wrappers, lunch scraps everyday because we get bears from the nearby forest. The GC and the trades were very good about that. I figured it was even.

Ours were clean when the cabinetmaker left (which I know for sure because I was testing sizes of inserts and measuring all the drawers) but after another couple of weeks of finishing work---none of it *that* messy---they were filled with sawdust and bits of things once again. (Seriously, inside drawers...?!?) So it might be that some cabinetmakers don't bother cleaning them since they will need to be cleaned at the end of the project anyway. Not necessarily an excuse, but an explanation maybe? Still, I'd ask them to clean them if you want them clean, since it doesn't take that long.

When the 2 young Amish women came with the 2 young Amish men to install my cabs, I 'assumed' they were there to clean the cabs. Talk about stereotyping! They hung the doors on the cabs, put the shelves in, generally an extra pair of hands. They did do some sweeping of saw dust, but no cleaning. I probably cleaned them 3 times between then and the time I started filling them up.

Ours were immaculate.

My Cabinetmaker is a slob! He leaves bits of sawdust, screws, rags, scrap pieces of shims and the like all over MY NEW kitchen... This irritates the heck out of me as I am constantly vaccuming, wiping everything down, dusting and removing trash from the workzone!

Then again.. I married him, I should have know what I was getting into when he said he would build our cabinets :)

~ D ~

We had to clean ours - they were an awful mess. Same as you described - sawdust and particles. I was initially annoyed by it (started a thread asking the same question as you!) but actually found the cleaning process to be cathartic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread about cabinet cleaning

I've got the same problem as grneyesct - what drives me nuts is when he does not even give me a chance to unload a drawer or cover something up before he starts! He also cooks and loads the dishwasher, but he won't take out the sink grates to clean under them or empty the drain baskets. Last night I asked if he could at least rinse the sink after dumping out his coffee - as I was scrubbing coffee stains off my white porceline sink . . .

But as to contractors - I've never experienced any that did a good job cleaning up after themselves. I'll put up with alot, but the one thing I really get ticked off is finding cig butts in my yard.

Normal. Everything had to be vacuumed and wiped out and lined. Our contractor said he could provide a cleaner to come in afterward. Yours may have someone. I didn't make a fuss after they carried the sofa bed up a flight of stairs, put up all the hooks, cup hooks and extras on all the doors.

Clean as a Whistle

Our contractor had a charge of $1,200 to clean the areas that were remodeled: kitchen, familyroom, laundry room & half bath. At the end of the job, I did not want to wait for a cleaning crew to come in. I just wanted to get the rooms cleaned as quickly as possible so I could move back into them. I thought I would be more thorough and careful in cleaning, plus the process gave me another chance to have a close up on every detail. And I liked saving the $1,200. From what I've read on this thread, though, it sounds like my GC and his subs were unusual because they never left trash in any of the rooms.

My contractor is immaculate. He vacuums every day. I swear he has cleaned the powder room.

But after assembling, perfectly, and hanging the cabs, there is sawdust and teeny bits. Very time consuming to clean, for me. But he's been perfect in every way and spent 3 weeks at our house more than he expected, just due to the scope of work and a few surprises. He works hard from morning til late, no fluff.

My cleaning ladies come tomorrow after a six week hiatus and they'll wipe the dust off the high cabs I couldn't reach. Then I'll be even happier.

But it was a bit disconcerting, wanting to put everything back, but couldn't.

If otherwise everything was ok, this is a little wart.

Westy

Guess I was lucky. My GC did the install and he always cleaned up. At the very end I had my cleaning gal go over everything before I started to fill. There was mostly just dust at that point.

Nancy

I'm very clear about what the garbage men will and won't take, and put out bags, containers, etc.

I go barefoot all the time & something that grosses me out more than anything in the world is having to clean up -- god forbid TOUCH -- someone's used cigarette butt.

That alone will send me into a tizzy & you can bet anyone I've paid to help on the house has darned well cleaned those up.

Since I pay by the hour, I feel their time is better spent working than cleaning. If all I had to worry about was some sawdust and stuff in new cabinets? I'd consider that great.

But in reality, which is not where I live, I think it shows a lack of pride in their product if you're having them built and installed that way.

You're fighting a losing battle, tho, if you're still under construction. Figure out why it makes you so mad and take care of that, so you can relax a bit. You're going to face more dust and mess that just settles from the air. This isn't worth fury. (Altho I get it!)