More finishes are damaged in the final weeks of a build than at any other time, and most of it is cleaned off, scratched in or chemically burned rather than broken.
In the last weeks before handover, every trade works at once in rooms that are already finished, and then a cleaning crew moves through with products nobody specified. The damage that results is responsible for a large part of the snag list: scratched stone, etched marble, stained grout, burned timber finishes and silicone smeared across glass. The beliefs below are what allow it to happen on an otherwise well run project.
How to test a claim like this
Judge the final phase by three questions. Is there a written protection plan naming the material used on each finish and who maintains it? Is the cleaning specified by product, with the manufacturer guidance for each surface attached, rather than left to whoever turns up? And is there a condition record for each room when it is completed, so that later damage can be attributed rather than argued about?
Myth 1: Protection is just plastic sheeting and tape.
Reality: Protection has to suit the finish. Impermeable sheeting over a fresh stone or screed floor traps moisture and can cause staining and efflorescence. Tape applied directly to a lacquered or powder coated surface can lift the finish when removed, particularly after weeks in the heat. Each material needs the protection its manufacturer recommends.
How to check it yourself: Ask for a protection schedule naming the material used over each finish, with the manufacturer guidance attached.
Myth 2: Cleaning is unskilled work that can be bought by the square metre.
Reality: Final cleaning involves acids, alkalis, solvents and abrasives being applied to natural stone, polished metal, glass, timber and coated surfaces. Acidic cement residue removers will etch marble permanently. A cleaner who uses the same product everywhere will cause more damage in a day than the trades did in a month.
How to check it yourself: Require a cleaning method statement listing the product to be used on each finish, approved before the crew starts.
Myth 3: Scratches and marks can be polished out later.
Reality: Some can. A honed stone can often be refinished, and a lacquered timber surface can sometimes be touched in. But an etched polished marble, a scratched coated aluminium profile, a chipped ceramic tile edge and a scratched glass pane are generally replaced rather than repaired, and replacement of one unit in a finished area is disproportionately expensive.
How to check it yourself: Identify the finishes in the building that cannot be repaired and give them the highest level of protection.
Myth 4: Grout and silicone can be left to clean at the end.
Reality: Cement grout residue and silicone are far easier to remove while fresh. Once they have cured on a textured stone, a frame or a glass pane, removal becomes mechanical and risks the surface underneath. The correct approach is cleaning as the work proceeds, which is a condition on the trade rather than a task for the final crew.
How to check it yourself: Make progressive cleaning a condition of each trade sign off rather than a separate final activity.
Myth 5: Once protection is down, the room is safe.
Reality: Protection gets lifted, moved and walked past. The failure mode is not an absent protection plan but an unmaintained one: sheeting pulled back to run a cable and never replaced, a corner left exposed where a trolley turns, a covering soaked by a leak. Protection needs an owner and a daily walk.
How to check it yourself: Assign protection maintenance to a named person with a daily inspection record.
Myth 6: The snag list will pick up any damage.
Reality: A snag list records that damage exists, not who caused it, and by handover the responsible trade may have left site. Without a condition record taken when each room was completed, every damaged item becomes a negotiation. With one, responsibility is usually obvious and the cost lands where it belongs.
How to check it yourself: Photograph each room on completion of its finishes and file the record by room and date.
Myth 7: A deep clean at the end is enough to hand over.
Reality: A final clean removes dust and residue, but handover also needs protection removed without damage, filters replaced after a dusty construction period, drainage and gullies cleared of construction debris, and water systems flushed. A building that looks clean can still have a plant room full of dust and a blocked gully on the roof.
How to check it yourself: Use a pre handover checklist that includes filters, gullies, water system flushing and plant areas, not only visible surfaces.
What this changes in your decision
- Produce a protection schedule naming the protection material for every finish, with an owner and a daily check.
- Approve a cleaning method statement by product and surface before any cleaning crew mobilises.
- Make progressive cleaning a condition of each trade completion rather than a final task.
- Photograph each room when its finishes are complete and keep the record for attribution.
- Run a pre handover checklist covering filters, gullies, water systems and plant spaces as well as surfaces.
Domira builds and supervises projects across Saudi Arabia, and this is the level of detail its site teams work at. Send the drawings or the site, and Domira will tell you what the specification has to say before anyone prices it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How should marble floors be protected during construction?
With a protection system the stone supplier accepts, which usually means a breathable layer rather than impermeable sheeting that traps moisture, laid over a clean dry floor and taped to itself rather than to the stone. Heavy traffic routes need board protection on top. The protection has to be maintained daily, because the failure is almost always a lifted or displaced cover.
What damages marble during final cleaning?
Acidic products, which are commonly used to remove cement residue and grout haze, etch polished marble and other calcareous stones permanently, leaving dull patches that cannot be wiped away. Abrasive pads scratch the polish. The remedy is to specify the cleaning product for each surface in advance and prove it on an inconspicuous test area first.
When should a builders clean happen?
Cleaning should happen progressively as each trade finishes, with a final clean once all work in the area is complete and before protection is removed from adjacent finishes. A single clean at the very end has to deal with cured residue across every surface at once, which is both more expensive and far more likely to damage something.
Who pays for damage to finishes discovered at handover?
It depends on the contract and on whether the cause and timing can be established, which is exactly why a dated condition record per room matters. Where responsibility cannot be attributed, it tends to be settled commercially rather than by right. Keep the records, raise damage as it occurs, and do not leave attribution to the final snag list.
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