House Cleanout case study

The situation

A brother and sister had inherited the family home at a unit block in the central Gold Coast. They both lived out of town, both worked full-time, and they had one long weekend to get the place ready for the agent. Every room had something in it: clothing, linen and personal effects, garage, shed and yard items and carpet and curtains if required.

Why the customer needed help

A skip bin was the first thing they looked at, but there was nowhere to put one without a permit, and nobody to fill it. What they needed was house Cleanout where someone else does the lifting.

What was at the property

By my count there were clothing, linen and personal effects, garage, shed and yard items and carpet and curtains if required, along with the usual loose odds and ends that build up around a job like this. It's typical of what we see from owners preparing a property for sale.

The initial assessment

When I got there I didn't start with the rubbish, I started with the customer. I asked them to walk me through what was staying and what was going. Twice they pointed at things I'd assumed were rubbish and said "not that". It's why I never quote from photos alone on a job like this.

How the job was planned

We agreed on an order of work. Heavy items first, while we were fresh and the truck was empty, then the loose material packed around them. Anything worth donating would go in last so it wouldn't get crushed.

Preparation

I parked the truck so the tailgate lined up with the shortest path, laid ply over the garden edge so the trolley wouldn't chew it up, and set out a tarp for the donation pile.

Step 1

Step one was the bulky stuff. My offsider and I took the largest items out first, tilting them through the door frames rather than forcing them. With clothing, linen and personal effects, garage, shed and yard items and carpet and curtains if required in the mix, there was no point clearing small things while the big ones were still blocking the way.

Step 2

Step two was the heavy lifting. Anything over about forty kilos went on the trolley or got a two-person lift with straps. No hero stuff. A strained back on the first job of the day ruins the week.

Step 3

Step three was loading the donation pile carefully, strapping it separately at the front of the tray so it would arrive at the charity in one piece.

Removal, sorting and loading

I'm fussy about the load. A well-packed truck means one trip instead of two, and that's the difference between a fair price and an inflated one. We netted the top before we drove off.

From the truck it went to a licensed transfer station, where recyclables were dropped off separately, and anything usable went to a local op shop before the tip run.

Challenges we ran into

Paperwork was mixed through everything, including old bank statements, letters and photos that needed to be kept or shredded rather than tipped.

How we handled them

We set up a box for anything with a name or account number on it. The family went through it at the end, and we took the rest for secure shredding.

Completion and final result

When the last load was strapped down, the space was empty and swept. The customer walked through with me, signed off, and paid the price we'd agreed at the start, not a dollar more.

What I learned

The lesson I keep re-learning: always walk the access before you look at the load. The rubbish rarely causes the trouble. The doorway, the step or the gate does.