Post-construction cleaning for villas in Marrakech

A villa combines three things a flat in a block never has all at once: a large floor area, several storeys, and terraces that form part of the handover. On top of that comes something particular to Marrakech: on this kind of property the floor is almost always marble, travertine or limestone, rarely industrial porcelain.

In practice that means:

• high volumes — double-height living room, mezzanine, stairwell — which are dusted before the floors, never after, and which call for a pole rather than a stepladder
• vertical circulation: every trip down from an upper floor brings dust onto what has just been done, so the order of work is imposed, not improvised
• terraces and a roof terrace that catch cutting waste, mortar and packaging throughout the build; the garden and the grounds stay outside the service
• a lot of glass: sliding patio doors, glass roofs, glass balustrades, often still carrying protective film baked on by the sun

The comparison with the other property types is set out on apartment, studio and, for a property in the medina, riad.

This is the first worry an owner puts into words, and it is a sound one. The whitish film left by grouting — cement haze — settles into the micro-porosity of the stone. Badly dosed acid takes it off, and takes the polish with it.

What we do, in this order:

1. Identify the material. Marble, travertine, limestone, stone-effect porcelain: they do not have the same sensitivity to acid, and confusing them by eye is common.
2. Test patch. A discreet square is treated first, dried and checked. Until the test patch is approved, nothing is rolled out.
3. Measured mechanical action, low-speed rotary machine and a pad chosen for the hardness of the substrate, rather than a strong product across the whole floor.
4. Full rinsing and controlled drying. A limestone floor left damp over new grout comes back as a white mark in the first sun.

What we do not do: spread black soap on as a finish to give it a shine. That is the shortcut that leaves a floor greasy and covered in marks the next day, and it is exactly the complaint that keeps coming back in the reviews left for other companies in the city.

The treatment is matched to the material — not every floor can be crystallised — and the service includes neither sanding nor repairs. Detail on traditional floors.

The principle is simple and it is not up for discussion: you go down, you do not come back up.

1. Roof terrace, if it has been added, and high volumes: dust removal, ventilation grilles, light fittings.
2. Upper floor, room by room, doors closed behind the team.
3. Stairwell — done after the floors it serves, never before.
4. Ground floor, living room and kitchen last among the internal rooms.
5. Terraces, once nobody is crossing the house with equipment any more.

A villa is counted in days for a team of 3, calculated from the floor area, the windows and patio doors, the bathrooms, the storeys, the terraces and the square metres of floors other than standard tiles.

An empty 250 m² villa in standard tiles, on two levels, with sixteen windows and patio doors and three bathrooms, takes 3.5 to 4 days with a few small marks. Many marks multiply the base time by 1.35, thick residue by 1.8. The duration is confirmed after photos.

Terraces are never included by default: you add them, and they are priced separately, per m².

• Outdoor or roof terrace, standard tiles: 10 MAD incl. VAT per m²
• Another surface, or an unknown one: 30 MAD incl. VAT per m²

A roof is only taken on if it is flat, protected and reached by a staircase; no pitched roofs. The terrace does not count towards the 7,500 MAD minimum: it is added afterwards.

On a joint less than a few weeks old, no pressure washing — a lance held too close blows the paving joints out. The detail is on post-construction terraces. The garden, the grounds, the paths, the garden furniture and the pool are not part of the service.

On a villa, the glazing is often the most visible part of the final result. Two cases arise:

• Accessible windows and patio doors — protective films, manufacturer's labels, plaster and paint spatter: included in the villa's price per m². Their number does not change the price, only the duration.
• Glass roof, transom or glazing out of reach — this is no longer an accessible window, and it falls under window cleaning: with a pole from the ground between 3 and 5 metres, with a 25% supplement and feasibility confirmed on photos. Above 5 metres we do not do it: we have neither a cherry picker nor ropes, and it is written down before the date rather than discovered on the day.

Scraping is done with a fresh blade at a constant angle, never on coated glass. A worn blade scratches, and a scratch on a new patio door cannot be repaired: the subject is covered in detail on residue scraping.

We work from the interior floor area, all storeys added up, the floor type and the declared condition, then confirm on photos or at a visit.

• Standard tiles: 20 MAD incl. VAT per m²
• Marble, travertine, stone, zellige, bejmat, tadelakt, polished concrete, wood: 30 MAD incl. VAT per m²
• Villa minimum: 7,500 MAD incl. VAT, top-up calculated on the floors
• Many marks +20%, thick residue +40%, furnished villa +15%

Two calculations run through our estimator:

• 250 m² villa in standard tiles: 250 × 20 = 5,000 MAD, brought up to the minimum by a 2,500 MAD top-up, so 7,500 MAD incl. VAT
• furnished 400 m² villa including 250 m² of marble, 100 m² terrace in standard tiles: 150 × 20 = 3,000 MAD and 250 × 30 = 7,500 MAD, so 10,500 MAD, above the minimum; terrace 1,000 MAD, base 11,500 MAD; furniture +15%: 1,725 MAD; total 13,225 MAD incl. VAT, for 8.5 to 9 days with twenty-four windows and patio doors, five bathrooms and one upper storey

The detail of the grid is on post-construction cleaning prices, and every EPUREVA service on the general price schedule.

Three things you can check before signing, not after the work:

1. The protocol is written on the quotation: type of machine, type of pad, product and method chosen for your floor. If it is not written down, it is not binding.
2. The test patch is treated and approved with you where the floor is old, previously treated or of uncertain origin.
3. The checklist is signed on site at the end of the work, item by item and room by room. If a ticked point is not up to standard, we come back free of charge within 48 hours, on that point.

No work starts without a price confirmed in writing, and a single contact follows the job from the first message to the invoice. You can describe your villa and get an estimate: floor area, number of storeys, floor type, terraces, and the handover date you are aiming for.