Your guide to new-home cleaning checklist (room by room) - building guidance for Adelaide and South Australia.
Content scope
This guide has been reviewed for South Australia (Adelaide metro + regional SA). Building licensing, warranty, stamp duty and approval rules differ in other Australian states — verify against your local authority before acting.
A new home is deceptively dirty. Under the showroom shine sits construction dust in every cavity, residue on new fittings and grime in places you only find once you start cleaning. Working room by room with a checklist means nothing gets missed before the furniture arrives. This is a practical, room-by-room cleaning checklist for an Australian new build, in the order that works best. Do it the week before you move in, while the house is still empty and easy to work through.
At a glance
Whole-house clean (first)
The essential first pass before room detail
Wet areas (kitchen, bath,…
Getting appliances and tapware move-in ready
Dry areas (bedrooms, living)
Clean floors before the furniture arrives
Read time
Including FAQ and supplier shortlist.
Key takeaways
Plain practical advice for Australian builds. No fluff.
Before you tackle rooms, do the jobs that cross every space: remove all stickers and protective films, vacuum every cavity, wardrobe, drawer and vent, wipe down walls and skirtings, and clean the windows and tracks. Work top to bottom so dust falls onto floors you clean last.
Wipe inside and on top of every cabinet and drawer where dust settles, clean the rangehood filter and oven of any manufacturing residue, run the dishwasher empty on a hot cycle, clean the sink and tapware with a non-abrasive cloth, and wipe the splashback. Check for grout haze on tiled splashbacks.
Remove film from the shower screen, mirrors and tapware, clear grout haze from new tiles, run the taps and check drainage, wipe inside vanity cabinets, and clean the exhaust fan cover. Flush toilets and check seals. Run the washing machine empty on a hot cycle before first use.
Vacuum carpet thoroughly, including edges and under where beds will go, as construction dust hides in the pile. Wipe wardrobe shelves, rails and tracks, clean windows and sills, and wipe skirtings. Do this before the mattress and furniture arrive so you are not cleaning around them.
Open-plan living shows every speck on hard floors. Vacuum then mop with a pH-neutral cleaner suited to your flooring, wipe down walls and any built-in joinery, clean sliding door tracks, and dust light fittings and ceiling fans. These large floors are where an automated vacuum earns its keep afterwards.
The garage collects the most building debris and is often skipped. Sweep then vacuum the slab, wipe down any storage, and clean the entry threshold so you are not walking grit into the clean house. Hose down the alfresco or porch so the first impression at the door is clean.
“Run the dishwasher and washing machine empty on a hot cycle before first use”
George Giannakakis
Founder
Quick compare
| Whole-house clean (first) | Wet areas (kitchen, bath, laundry) | Dry areas (bedrooms, living) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $50 to $150 in supplies | $20 to $80 in supplies | $20 to $80 in supplies |
| Best for | The essential first pass before room detail | Getting appliances and tapware move-in ready | Clean floors before the furniture arrives |
The cross-room jobs: films, dust, walls, windows and skirtings.
Typical cost: $50 to $150 in supplies
Pros
Cons
Best for: The essential first pass before room detail
The rooms with fittings, appliances, grout haze and residue.
Typical cost: $20 to $80 in supplies
Pros
Cons
Best for: Getting appliances and tapware move-in ready
Carpet, hard floors, wardrobes and large open areas.
Typical cost: $20 to $80 in supplies
Pros
Cons
Best for: Clean floors before the furniture arrives
Cleaning a new home room by room yourself costs $50 to $200 in supplies across the whole house: a vacuum, microfibre cloths, a pH-neutral floor cleaner, glass cleaner, grout-haze remover, sticker-residue remover and non-abrasive cloths for stone and tapware. The work itself is a full day or two for a typical home while it is empty. If time is tight, a professional builder's clean covers the lot for $300 to $700. Either way, the biggest payoff comes from doing it before the furniture arrives, so the dust in carpet, wardrobes and cavities is lifted rather than trapped. Afterwards, a robot vacuum at $400 to $2,000 keeps the resurfacing dust under control for the few weeks it takes to settle, which is genuinely useful while you are still unpacking.
All our cleaning & move-in guides in one place.
What a builder’s clean misses, the right order to clean, and dealing with dust and haze.
Why dust keeps resurfacing after handover and the low-effort ways to stay ahead of it.
What actually matters — suction, self-emptying, mopping and navigation — and price bands.
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DEEBOT N20 PLUS Black Robot Vacuum & Mop with Mapping (Anti-Tangle, Self-Empty, Pet)
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