The four columns, stage by stage, and what each one leaves behind on paper

0 · One operation, one works order

An operation is the column on the matrix: the thing being attempted, as distinct from the premises it is being attempted in. Each of the four runs in a fixed order of stages, and each ends with a document, because an operation that leaves nothing written down cannot be shown to have happened.

1 · Deep clean (DC)

1. Clear and survey. Loose items are moved by the holder beforehand; what remains is listed on the sheet rather than moved blind.
2. High level dry. Fittings, tops of frames, pipe runs, vents and extract grilles, taken dry so that the dust is lifted and not spread.
3. Surfaces. Cupboard carcasses inside and out, sanitary ware and tiling, glass and reveals, each to the dilution on the sheet.
4. Floor. Last, and to whatever the substrate allows: scrub and rinse on vinyl and tile, extraction on carpet, damp mop only on laminate.
5. Walk round. Both directions, with the lights on, then with the lights off and the daylight only — the two find different things.

Ends with: a completed room list on the sign-off sheet, countersigned on site where there is somebody to countersign it.

2 · Floor care (FC)

1. Sweep or vacuum. Grit is abrasive. Taking it off dry is the difference between cleaning a floor and sanding it.
2. Apply and dwell. Neutral detergent at the stated dilution, left for the dwell time on the sheet and not longer, because a solution that dries on the floor has to be done again.
3. Agitate. Machine where the room allows the machine, by hand at edges, under fixed units and around pit edges and thresholds.
4. Pick up and rinse. Wet pick-up, then clean water, then a second pick-up. Signage stays up until the floor is dry to the hand, not to the eye.
5. Seal, where specified. Only on a substrate that takes it, only after the floor is dry through, and only when the room can be kept off for the cure time.

Ends with: the dilution sheet filed with the method statement, and the drying time written on the sign-off so the next trade is not booked over it.

3 · Post-works clean (PW)

1. Confirm the trades are off. In writing, from whoever is running the works, with a date rather than an assurance.
2. Debris and protection. Gross debris out first; floor protection and taped sheeting lifted after, because lifting it early releases what it has been holding.
3. Residues. Plaster splash, adhesive, silicone smears, sticker residue and film, each off the surface it is on and by a method that surface will take.
4. Fine dust. Cutting dust travels further than anybody expects: sills, tops of closers, light diffusers, trickle vents, the tops of ceiling tiles.
5. Glass last. Then the floor, then out through the route that was kept clean for the purpose.

Ends with: a sheet listing what was lifted and what was deliberately left, so that the handover inspection is not an argument.

4 · Void turnaround (VT)

1. Keys and services. Receipt signed, water and power checked, meter readings noted where the order asks for them.
2. Kitchen and bathroom. First, because they take longest and because the rest of the unit can dry while they are being done.
3. Rooms, then hall. Working toward the door, so that the last thing cleaned is the way out.
4. Floors throughout. In the same direction, finishing at the threshold, with the drying time recorded.
5. Hand back. Keys returned against the receipt, sheet signed, anything found and left in place listed on it.

Ends with: the signed sheet and the key receipt, filed together. Where the property is one the company itself lets, the same sheet goes on the property file instead — the separation is set out under let property.