Written by Chris Smith · Illustrative case study
The situation
The office manager of a small accounting firm at a property in Bonogin rang on a Wednesday. They'd downsized to a smaller floor and had to hand back the old tenancy by Friday. Left behind were cabling, switches and phone systems, kitchenette appliances and signage and desks, workstations and partitions.
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 office Cleanout comes in.
What was at the property
By my count there were cabling, switches and phone systems, kitchenette appliances and signage and desks, workstations and partitions, along with the usual loose odds and ends that build up around a job like this. It's typical of what we see from landlords preparing a vacant tenancy.
Working in Bonogin
Bonogin is a leafy valley of acreage homes behind Mudgeeraba. Bonogin properties are often larger blocks with sheds, paddocks and lots of trees, so green waste, shed clear-outs and scrap metal are common jobs. Long driveways and gravel tracks are fine; we check gates, slopes and wet ground before backing in.
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 cabling, switches and phone systems, kitchenette appliances and signage and desks, workstations and partitions 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 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
Some of the equipment contained data, so it couldn't just go into general waste, and there were desks bolted to the floor.
How we handled them
The drives were set aside for the client's IT person to remove, and we unbolted the desks with the building manager's okay.
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.