Clearing site before the inspection in Mermaid Beach

We've been in Mermaid Beach for a while now, and this was the first time I'd paid someone to take rubbish away. We were building a granny flat in our backyard, and the builder's rubbish had piled up along the fence for weeks.

Timber offcuts, plasterboard, packaging, broken bricks, steel strapping and a heap of mixed rubbish from the trades.

Mermaid Beach is beachfront cottages, duplexes and knock-down-rebuild sites, and getting things out isn't always simple. Narrow lanes off the Gold Coast Highway need careful truck placement.

I sent a couple of photos and got a call back within the hour. They gave me a rough idea on the phone but said they'd confirm a fixed price when they saw it in person.

They parked so the back of the truck lined up with the side gate, put a drop sheet down at the door and asked me to show them anything that was staying.

There were nails everywhere. The crew wore proper boots and gloves and swept the area with a magnet bar at the end. I've never seen that before.

By the time I'd made them a coffee, it was nearly finished. The price didn't change, and they even took a couple of extra bits I'd forgotten about without charging more.

I'd tried to do it myself twice before. Next time I'm just ringing straight away.