Post-construction window cleaning in Sherman Oaks is a different job than a maintenance clean, and treating it as the same one is how new glass gets scratched. Construction leaves behind cement and stucco fines, gypsum dust, adhesive residue, paint overspray, and label glue, none of which is loose dirt, and all of which is abrasive or bonded.
Quick answer
Post-construction window cleaning is a deeper clean for new builds, it removes silica dust, paint specks, stickers, and construction film that standard cleaning won't touch.
The checklist is the same everywhere. What is on your glass is not. These are the conditions that actually shape this job in Sherman Oaks. Each one is true here and false in plenty of other towns we serve.
Sherman Oaks sits in or against the wildland urban interface, which means that in some years the deposit on the glass is not dust at all. Wildfire residue is a mix of fine carbon, alkaline ash, and condensed organic tars, and it behaves nothing like road film. The ash is caustic enough that letting it sit wet on glass etches it, the tar fraction is oily and smears rather than lifting, and the carbon is abrasive. Wiping a smoke-filmed window dry is the single fastest way to scratch it permanently. The right sequence is a flooded neutral-pH pass to carry the alkaline fraction off before anything with an edge touches the pane, then a separate solvent step for the tar, then the actual wash. It is genuinely a different job than a maintenance clean, we quote it as one, and we will tell you honestly when a pane has been etched past what cleaning can fix.
Most of Sherman Oaks is roofed in clay or concrete barrel tile over a shallow pitch, and tile does not take foot traffic the way composition shingle does. Walking a tile field cracks tiles, and cracked tile is a leak next February whether or not anyone notices it in August. So the work gets planned around the roof rather than across it: ladder standoffs that bear on fascia rather than tile, work positions chosen off the roof where possible, and where roof access is genuinely required, walking the courses and the batten lines rather than the pans. There is a second consequence that catches people out. Tile roofs here frequently have partial gutter runs or none at all on the elevations that shed onto hardscape, so "gutter cleaning" may cover only part of your house. We look before we quote and tell you which runs actually exist.
Cement, stucco, and gypsum fines are harder than glass. Dragging them across a pane with a dry cloth. The instinctive thing to do when you see haze on a brand-new window, grinds them into the surface and leaves permanent fine scratching that shows in every low-angle light for the life of the window. Construction glass gets flooded, given real dwell time to release the bonded material, and only then bladed. If a Sherman Oaks builder's cleaning crew is wiping windows dry, that is a problem worth stopping.
A razor scraper is sometimes necessary for paint spatter and adhesive, but tempered glass, which is what most modern safety glazing is, often carries fabrication debris in the surface from the tempering oven. Running a blade across it can drag that debris and cause scratching that then gets blamed on the cleaner. We test in an inconspicuous corner first, use the blade only where it is required and always wet, and stop if the glass tells us not to. That test costs a minute and prevents an argument about a very expensive pane.
On Sherman Oaks projects the right sequence is a rough clean once the messy trades are finished and a final clean after the last of the finish work. Trying to do it in one pass at the end means the bonded material has had months to cure and the final result is worse for more money. Builders who schedule both consistently get better handover results, and it is worth putting on the schedule at framing rather than remembering at punch list.
Sticker and label removal. Every new window has stickers (NFRC, manufacturer, ENERGY STAR). We scrape and chemical-treat each one without scratching the glass.
Silica dust removal, fine concrete and drywall dust gets into screen tracks and frames. We clear out every track and wipe every frame as part of the standard scope.
Paint speck removal: drywall mud, primer, finish paint, and overspray. Each is treated with surface-appropriate chemistry. What works on dried paint won't work on cured polyurethane and vice versa.
Saw-cut grit cleaning, the fine wood/metal dust that settles on every horizontal surface near where cuts were made. Cleaned from sills, frames, and screens.
Final detail clean, after all the heavy lifting, a standard interior + exterior + screen + sill + frame clean to deliver a move-in-ready home.
HOA/builder coordination, we coordinate with your builder's finish-out schedule so we're cleaning after the punch-list is complete (otherwise it's a wasted clean).
We sequence post-construction cleaning AFTER the builder's punch-list is complete. Cleaning earlier wastes the work because more dust will settle. Most builders want us in 1-3 days before walkthrough.
Each window's stickers get scraped (plastic blade, never metal) and any adhesive residue is chemical-treated. This alone takes 10-15 minutes per window on a fully-stickered new build.
Clear every screen track and bottom track of silica dust and grit. Wipe sills and frame interior. This is what makes the difference between 'looks clean' and 'feels clean'.
Surface-appropriate solvent for each contaminant. Dried latex paint = different chemistry than cured polyurethane = different chemistry than spray-paint overspray. We carry the full kit.
Standard interior + exterior + screen + sill + frame clean. Now-ready home, photographed, walkthrough-ready.
Most Sherman Oaks properties land between $635 and $1380 for this service. That band is derived from real Sherman Oaks jobs, not a national average, which is why it differs from the number you would see on our page for a neighboring town. Here is how the job profiles break down:
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Hillside lots climbing toward Mulholland with view glass over slopes. Access has to be planned before the price.
Postwar ranch with aluminum sliders and jacaranda-lined streets. Track sand and honeydew timing dominate.
Larger traditional lots with mature canopy. Heavy organic litter in tracks and weep holes.
Mid-century modern with big original single-pane lights that are slow and expensive to replace.
Storefront and mixed-use glass on a heavily trafficked road, needing a shorter route interval than residential.
Elevated cul-de-sac streets with view glass and real canyon wind exposure from behind.
See every neighborhood and the full local guide on our Sherman Oaks window cleaning page.
Front Range new construction is concentrated in Stapleton (Central Park) Denver, Painted Prairie Aurora, Banning Lewis Ranch Colorado Springs, and Bucking Horse Fort Collins. We have established workflows with builders in each of these communities and can coordinate with their punch-list teams directly.
Colorado dust is finer than other regions because of the dry climate, silica from concrete and drywall hangs in the air longer and settles in tighter places (track corners, screen frame seams). A standard window clean misses 30-40% of this; post-construction cleaning catches it.
Hail timing, for builds completing during hail season (May-September), the post-construction clean often happens after a hailstorm. We run a separate post-hail check on top of standard scope at no extra charge.
Because it is genuinely more work and more risk. Construction residue is bonded and abrasive rather than loose, each pane needs flooding and dwell time before anything touches it, adhesive and paint need careful blade work, and tempered glass has to be tested first to avoid fabrication-debris scratching. A maintenance clean is a fraction of the labor per window.
Almost certainly cement, stucco, or gypsum fines that got damp and cured onto the glass. It is not ordinary dirt, household cleaner will not lift it, and, most importantly, do not wipe it dry. Those particles are abrasive and dry-wiping them grinds them across the pane. It needs a flooded pass with real dwell time, which is what a proper post-construction clean is.
Standard cleaning removes surface dirt: pollen, dust, fingerprints. Post-construction removes the construction film: silica dust, drywall mud, paint specks, sticker residue, saw-cut grit. It's roughly 2× the labor and uses different chemistry.
Most new builds run $400-$1,200. A typical 2,500 sqft new build with ~28 windows is around $700-$950. Larger custom homes (3,500+ sqft) run $950-$1,500+. Townhomes are $200-$350 per unit.
AFTER the builder's punch-list is complete and before homeowner walkthrough. Earlier wastes the work; later means walkthrough delays. Most builders want us in 1-3 days before walkthrough.
Yes. Dried latex paint, cured polyurethane, oil-based stain, and spray-paint overspray each need different solvent chemistry. We carry the full kit. Severe overspray (whole-window coverage) carries a $50-$200 add-on.
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