Cleanup after renovation?

You can do it yourself but it is exhausting beyond description. The talc like dust is EVERYWHERE and trust me, you don't even begin to understand where "everywhere" is. I would hire someone. Even then you'll be finding places they missed as you move in and unpack and then even months later.

You won't find any missed spots if you use Andy, from Green Home. #917-297-0172!!

Considerer using New York's Little Elves. I've used them 3 times for post construcion clean up and they're amazing. Ask for Barbara.

I'm in the same position, mynycse, at this very moment. We're having someone come from Si Se Puede (Yes We Can), a cleaning co-op based in Brooklyn, to clean up the dust and talc and general awfulness left by the contractor. I've never used them before, but they receive good reviews on Yelp and I love the idea of a co-op that empowers female entrepreneurs. I don't generally have someone clean my apartment, but the thought of doing this project myself is too daunting.

How much are you guys paying for this service?

Myvycse,

As a contractor I would highly recommend hiring a company to do post construction cleanup. I actually include that in my scope of work with bigger projects

from other threads that i've seen on this topic, the cleaning ladies are suppose to be making $50 per hr. i'd find a cleaning lady to use long term and pay her a little extra to do this time consuming work at a more reasonable rate of $15-20 per hr.

angray, I explained the apartment situation to the co-op, and was told that the estimate would be $115 for my 2 bed / 2 bath apartment (the estimate isn't supposed to be far off from the actual), 100% of which goes to the cleaner (as opposed to the significantly smaller fee that employees of cleaning companies receive). My mother in the suburbs gasped in horror when she heard that number, but others here in Manhattan told me that's perfectly reasonable. I suspect it's not going to be a regular gig, though.

rlmnyc, that sounds very reasonable. i just did a quick search and found this one that was just nuts.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/27096-post-construction-cleaning-services

You get what you pay for...Little Elves (or a comparable service) are definately very expensive, but they get every speck. Literally. That's what they do all day every day. They wash every glass in the kitchen, empty drawers and refold clothes, vacuum the crown molding etc etc. It's totally comprehensive. Not just a regular cleaning person putting in extra time.

if the op is doing a gut reno, there will be nothing in the drawers and i hope no clothing in the apartment. any cleaning lady can do the job if you tell her to make sure that every surface is spotless. paying $60+ an hr to a company that pays $10 to the workers is nuts.

Little Elves - $$$ but worth it. The key is having more than one person, if you don't hire a service.

Rub-a-dub-dub...