Written by Chris Smith · Illustrative case study
The situation
The call came in on a Tuesday morning from a woman who had been putting off a clean-up for the better part of two years. She'd finally sold her caravan, and the space it left behind at a property in Kirra exposed everything that had been stacked around it: long timber and fencing, heavy steel and machinery parts and oversized furniture.
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 long timber and fencing, heavy steel and machinery parts and oversized furniture, along with the usual loose odds and ends that build up around a job like this. It's typical of what we see from large household clean-ups.
Working in Kirra
Kirra is a beachside neighbourhood of units and holiday rentals. Kirra 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
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: heavy and oversized load handling, two-person crew as standard and strapped and covered transport. 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 triage. We pulled everything into three groups: donate, recycle and dispose. It takes longer at the start, but it means the truck gets loaded in the right order and nothing good goes to landfill.
Step 2
Step two was the loose material. Bags, boxes and odds and ends went into the truck in layers, packed tight into the gaps around the furniture so we weren't carting air to the tip.
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
There was a nest of ants under an old tarp, and a lot of the material was mixed in a way that made sorting slow.
How we handled them
We treated the ants, worked from the outside in, and sorted on the tray as we went rather than on the ground.
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 junk Hauling to mean everything goes to landfill. On this job, close to a third of it went somewhere useful.