Post-Construction Cleaning in Chicago
Rough clean, final clean, and punch-list touch-up, sequenced around the trades still on site and built around your CO date. Final clean and interior paint under one contract, so closeout is one schedule instead of three subs to chase.
A Low-Drama Closeout Partner
You have a CO date, an open punch list, and trades still finishing. The last thing a closeout needs is a cleaning sub who treats your jobsite like an empty office building. Showing up on their schedule, working around nothing, and leaving overspray and sticker residue for the walkthrough to catch. Post-construction cleaning is its own discipline, and it is the one that decides whether a space reads as finished on turnover day.
LPJ Services handles post-construction cleaning for general contractors across the Chicago area, on projects from 1,000 to 30,000 square feet. We are the last cleaning trade in. We work around whoever is still on site, phase the work floor by floor when that protects the date, and treat your schedule as the fixed point because on a build-out, it is. What follows is exactly how we run a closeout, in the order it happens.
Rough Clean
The rough clean happens during construction. It is debris removal and gross cleanup, clearing the space so the other trades can keep working. It is not the pass that gets you through a walkthrough; it is the pass that keeps the job moving. We remove debris from the space (the container is generally yours), knock down the dust the framing and drywall left behind, and hand the trades a floor they can actually work on.
Final Clean
The final clean is the detail pass before turnover, and it is where a space either reads as finished or reads as almost-done. Dust on every horizontal surface and every ledge nobody thinks about. Drywall residue, paint specks, overspray, adhesive, stickers and labels on glass and fixtures, grout haze on new tile, interior glass, fixtures wiped down. This is construction-condition cleaning, not standard janitorial, and it is the scope that carries the most risk to finished surfaces, so it is the one we staff most carefully.
Touch-Up
The touch-up is the pass after the walkthrough. Final cleanup always surfaces details. A missed ledge of dust, a streaked pane, a sticker nobody caught, a scuff from the last trade through. We come back and handle them so turnover is not held up on cleaning items. Rough clean, final clean and touch-up are three separate scopes; we price and schedule them separately, and you can take one, two or all three.
We work around the trades still on site
Most closeouts are not a clean handoff. Someone is always still finishing something. We plan around the active trades rather than waiting for an empty building, and we phase by floor or by area when that keeps your schedule moving. From a cleaning standpoint we are generally the last trade in: on multi-scope jobs our own order is painting, then floor work, then the post-construction clean.
We schedule against your CO date
The certificate-of-occupancy date is the fixed point, and it usually moves. We build the schedule around your date rather than a fixed slot on ours, and when it shifts we re-sequence. We ask for five days' notice so we can staff the job correctly and walk the scope. A final clean on a medical build-out is a different job than a warehouse, and we would rather know that before we are on site than find out during.
The Details That Fail a Walkthrough
A walkthrough is not failed by the big things. Those get caught. It is failed by the details a general clean skips. Our final-clean crews are looking for the specifics that construction leaves behind, on every surface a new space has:
Dust control matters while the finishing work is still going. We contain our own work so we are not moving dust into a room another trade just finished, and we sequence so the final clean lands after the dust-generating work is done, not in the middle of it, where it would only have to be redone. The space is finished by the time we are detailing it: new floors, glass, millwork, fixtures, paint, countertops, appliances. Our crews work to construction conditions, not standard janitorial, and the method is chosen for the surface. Damage at this stage is a change order for someone, and we would rather it not be either of us.
Debris Removal and Coordination
We handle debris removal from the space. The packaging, the offcuts, the protection that comes up at the end. The container is generally the GC's: we are loading it, not supplying it. If your project needs it the other way, raise it during scoping and we will work it in. The point is that the space leaves our hands clear, not that you inherit a pile in the corridor after we go.
Final Clean + Interior Paint, One Contract
This is usually the reason GCs use us. Final clean and interior painting come under one contract, one schedule and one point of contact. instead of coordinating two subs against the same date and hoping their sequences do not collide. When one account manager owns both, the paint touch-up and the final clean are planned as one sequence and the space is disrupted once.
The same contract can carry floor care, interior window cleaning, pressure washing and debris hauling. The closeout scopes that otherwise mean another sub, another COI and another schedule to reconcile. One vendor for the whole cleaning-and-finish side of closeout is one fewer thing between you and the date.
Working With Us
The qualification details a superintendent needs before deciding, stated plainly:
See the Work
Two recent post-construction jobs, straight from our crews' cameras:
Questions General Contractors Ask
When do you come in relative to the other trades?
Last, from a cleaning standpoint. On projects where we're handling multiple scopes, our own sequence is painting, then floor work, then the post-construction clean, so the final clean happens after our other trades are off the space, not alongside them. We schedule against your turnover date and work around whoever's still finishing.
Can you work while other trades are still on site?
Yes. Most closeouts aren't a clean handoff. Someone's always still finishing something. We plan around active trades rather than waiting for an empty building, and we'll phase by floor or by area if that keeps your schedule moving.
What's the difference between a rough clean and a final clean?
Rough clean is debris removal and gross cleanup during construction, clearing the space so other trades can work. Final clean is the detail pass before turnover: dust, drywall residue, paint specks, adhesive, stickers, grout haze, interior glass, fixtures. Touch-up is the pass after the walkthrough. They're separate scopes and we price and schedule them separately.
How much notice do you need?
Five days. That's what it takes to staff the job correctly and walk the scope. Final clean means something different on a medical build-out than on a warehouse, and we'd rather understand that before we're on site than discover it during. If your date compresses, tell us and we'll be straight about whether we can still do it right.
Do you handle punch-list re-cleans after the walkthrough?
Yes. Final cleanup always surfaces details. Missed dust, a streaked pane, a sticker nobody caught, a scuff from the last trade through. We come back and handle them so turnover isn't held up on cleaning items.
What happens if our CO date moves?
It usually does. Tell us as early as you can and we'll re-sequence. We build the schedule around your date rather than a fixed slot on ours.
Do you handle debris removal, or do we provide the container?
We handle debris removal from the space. The container is generally the GC's. We're loading it, not supplying it. If your project needs it the other way, raise it during scoping and we'll price it.
Do you handle the painting too?
Yes, and it's usually the reason GCs use us. Final clean and interior painting come under one contract, one schedule, one point of contact, instead of coordinating two subs against the same date. Floor care, interior window cleaning, pressure washing and debris hauling can go on the same contract.
How do you protect finished surfaces?
The space is finished by the time we're in it. New floors, glass, millwork, fixtures, paint, countertops, appliances. Our crews work to construction conditions, not standard janitorial, and the methods are chosen for the surface. Damage at this stage is a change order for someone, and we'd rather it not be either of us.
What size projects do you take?
1,000 to 30,000 square feet.
Building it out for a client?
See how LPJ works as a closeout subcontractor for general contractors.
Have a closeout coming up?
Give us five days and the scope, and we'll build the clean around your date. Final clean and interior paint on one contract.