Written by Chris Smith · Illustrative case study
The situation
After a week of heavy rain, a homeowner at a property in Pacific Pines found his back fence line buried under terracotta and plastic pots, weed mat and plastic edging and dead plants and root balls. His green bin takes about a wheelbarrow at a time, and the council bin day was a fortnight away.
Why the customer needed help
Their main worry wasn't the cost. It was not knowing what could legally go where, and not wanting to damage the house getting it all out. Both of those are part of the job for us.
What was at the property
By my count there were terracotta and plastic pots, weed mat and plastic edging and dead plants and root balls, along with the usual loose odds and ends that build up around a job like this. It's typical of what we see from households redoing a garden bed.
Working in Pacific Pines
Pacific Pines is a large family suburb of master-planned estates. Pacific Pines is full of newer family homes and growing estates, so we do a lot of moving-in packaging, garage clear-outs and backyard rubbish here. Estate streets are wide, but we watch for parked cars and estate rules on bin and truck times.
The initial assessment
I arrived at the property and the first thing I noticed was the access. Before I look at the pile, I walk the route it has to travel: doorways, steps, the driveway slope, overhead wires, where the truck can park. For this job I paced it out and worked out we'd need about two-thirds of the tipper.
How the job was planned
I gave them a fixed price there and then, based on volume, and explained what was included: vegetation, soil and pot removal, separation of compostable and inert material and removal of edging, weed mat and mulch. They said yes on the spot, so we planned to load in one visit rather than two.
Preparation
We checked the weather, laid out the straps and blankets for anything worth saving, and agreed a hand signal for "stop" because the truck was right on the road.
Step 1
Step one was clearing a working space. We shifted the easy, loose items straight onto the truck so we had room to manoeuvre around the awkward ones.
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
The ground was boggy from the rain, and the truck couldn't get anywhere near the back of the block without sinking.
How we handled them
We parked on the street and barrowed it out in short runs along boards, which kept the lawn from getting torn up.
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
What stuck with me was how much of it could be reused. People expect garden Waste Removal to mean everything goes to landfill. On this job, close to a third of it went somewhere useful.