Remember - Measure Twice, Cut Once

Professional Renovations - 30 Years Experience

Keeping The Job Site Cleaned Up



Next to poor quality materials or workmanship, there is nothing more irritating and dangerous in construction than a messy job site…

How clean should a job site be? “Clean”, simple and sweet. There is no reason for any contractor to allow a site to become messy. It does not take to much extra effort to keep things tidy while you work – especially at the end of the day. No mess should ever be left when a contractor leaves the job site for the day. A messy and cluttered job site is dangerous to you, your family and friends, and anyone working on the site.

There should always be a garbage area, bin or trailer on site at all times where trades can dump garbage when they are done, especially at the end of the day. This ensures no tradesman has an excuse for not cleaning up. Even a temporary pile in the middle of a floor area is better than debris all over the floor.

I always have a cleanup clause in my contracts that requires every trade to keep their work area clean and all of their debris cleaned up and removed when they leave for the day or finish the job if it is less than a days work.

I am not talking about a pile of wood cutoffs by a mitre saw being used during framing or finish carpentry. I am talking about blocks of wood, sawdust, drywall cutoffs and other debris randomly left all over floors or your yard as tradesmen work on a given task. It takes very little effort for a contractor to find places to store materials neatly on site and have tradesmen clean up after themselves and not leave debris anywhere they feel like.

As a homeowner it is reasonable to expect the construction area of your home to be kept clean. Except during demolition, you should be able to walk safely through the construction area at any time. For example, it takes no more work on the part of a drywall boarder to lean cutoff drywall boards against a wall versus dropping them on the floor (not to mention that good pieces of drywall can get damaged). Painters do not need to have paint cans all over the house, they can keep everything in a neatly organized corner. The same can be said for any other trades on the job.

In a perfect world, the picture above is ideally how clean a job site should look at the end of each day. At the very least, all debris should be cleaned up at the end of the day and dumped into a bin or specified spot. Sweeping up interior areas should be expected, however it may not happen every day, but debris should always be cleaned up – safety should always be a priority and regular cleanups keeps things this way.

One way to help ensure each trade person cleans up after themselves is to include a fee in your contract that specifies if garbage is not cleaned up and materials kept organized at the end of the day, you will charge a fee of $50 for each time you have to cleanup – or a smaller fee “per trade” if you are doing the general contracting and hiring trades yourself. If this happens and you are the general contractor, keep track, let each trade know each time it happens, and when it comes time to pay, you provide a bill for cleanup you had to do (of course you have to clean to be able to charge for it). Hopefully you won’t need to do this, but a fee based penalty usually works and tradesmen tend to keep things clean. If a contractor/trade has an issue with the above fee for cleanup, you should be concerned and assume that he/she may not keep their job sites clean and safe.

Overall, be reasonable, obviously tradesmen will have tools, materials and some mess while they work, but after a task is done – cleanup should follow, especially at the end of the day!

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April 12, 2010 | Filed Under Clean Up, Do's & Don'ts, General 

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