After a renovation, most people clean the site once, move in, and then spend the next two months wiping a fine white film off surfaces they already cleaned. That isn't bad cleaning. It's physics: drywall dust is far finer than household dust, it stays airborne for hours, and it settles into every vent, track, seam, and ledge in the building.
That's why a single pass never works. Disturbing one surface sends the dust back into the air, and it lands on everything you already did. Clean a site once and you've essentially redistributed the problem.
The approach that actually ends it is staged. A rough pass first, clearing debris and the heaviest dust while trades may still be working. A detail pass second, once the dusty trades are done: fixtures, trim, cabinet and closet interiors, window tracks, outlets and switch plates, vents. Then a final pass right before handover — glass, floors, and anything that has settled since the detail pass.
The HVAC system deserves specific attention. If the system ran during construction, the ducts and returns are holding dust that will blow back into finished rooms for weeks. At minimum, vent covers need cleaning and filters need replacing before anyone moves in.
A few details separate a professional post-construction clean from a general one: adhesive and sticker residue removed from window glass without scratching it, paint specks taken off fixtures and hardware, and cabinet interiors wiped before anything is put away. Sequence the passes around the trades rather than the calendar, and the dust stops coming back.