Written by Chris Smith · Illustrative case study
The situation
A small builder I'd worked with before rang from a job at a property in Tallebudgera. His skip had been picked up a day late, the next one wasn't coming for three days, and his trades were tripping over fixings, nails and offcuts, concrete footings and pads and broken timber and decking.
Why the customer needed help
They'd tried doing it themselves the weekend before, got about a quarter of the way through and realised the rest needed a truck, two people and a plan. That's where demolition Waste Removal comes in.
What was at the property
By my count there were fixings, nails and offcuts, concrete footings and pads and broken timber and decking, along with the usual loose odds and ends that build up around a job like this. It's typical of what we see from property owners clearing collapsed structures.
Working in Tallebudgera
Tallebudgera is a semi-rural suburb of acreage and family homes. Tallebudgera has a mix of older family homes, units and holiday rentals, which means plenty of furniture swaps, end of lease loads and yard rubbish. Some streets are narrow and busy in holiday periods, so we bring the right size truck and time the job well.
The initial assessment
First look, it was bigger than described, which is normal. People size up their own clutter by memory, not by volume. I measured it roughly by truck-loads, checked for anything we can't take, like paint tins or gas bottles, and found two old cans tucked at the back that we left aside.
How the job was planned
I split the job into zones in my head: what could come straight out the front, what had to come through the house, and what would need two of us and a trolley. That way nobody was waiting on anybody.
Preparation
Before lifting anything, we moved the cars, opened every gate wide and propped the screen door. A clear route is half the job.
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 fixings, nails and offcuts, concrete footings and pads and broken timber and decking 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 stuff in the hard-to-reach spots: the top of the garage racking, under the house, behind the water tank. That's usually where the surprises live, and this job was no different.
Step 3
Step three was the clean-up. Once the last item was out, we swept the floor, raked the ground where needed and walked the customer through the space to make sure nothing they wanted had gone.
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
Nails and screws were sticking out of most of the timber, and some offcuts had been mixed with good materials the builder still needed.
How we handled them
We knocked over the nails as we went and asked the builder to mark anything he wanted kept with tape. Nothing good went to the tip.
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
It reinforced something I tell every new offsider: ask before you lift. Two minutes of questions at the start saves throwing out the one thing someone really wanted to keep.