Written by Chris Smith · Illustrative case study
The situation
A brother and sister had inherited the family home at a property in Merrimac. They both lived out of town, both worked full-time, and they had one long weekend to get the place ready for the agent. Every room had something in it: overgrown yard debris, building and renovation leftovers and accumulated hoarded material.
Why the customer needed help
A skip bin was the first thing they looked at, but there was nowhere to put one without a permit, and nobody to fill it. What they needed was property Cleanout where someone else does the lifting.
What was at the property
By my count there were overgrown yard debris, building and renovation leftovers and accumulated hoarded material, along with the usual loose odds and ends that build up around a job like this. It's typical of what we see from owners of neglected or abandoned property.
Working in Merrimac
Merrimac is a family suburb of low-set homes close to schools and parks. Merrimac mixes established homes, units and local businesses, so jobs range from single items to full house and office cleanouts. We plan around driveways, unit car parks and loading zones so the truck is close to the load.
The initial assessment
When I got there I didn't start with the rubbish, I started with the customer. I asked them to walk me through what was staying and what was going. Twice they pointed at things I'd assumed were rubbish and said "not that". It's why I never quote from photos alone on a job like this.
How the job was planned
We agreed on an order of work. Heavy items first, while we were fresh and the truck was empty, then the loose material packed around them. Anything worth donating would go in last so it wouldn't get crushed.
Preparation
I parked the truck so the tailgate lined up with the shortest path, laid ply over the garden edge so the trolley wouldn't chew it up, and set out a tarp for the donation pile.
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 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
On the truck, heavy and flat things go on the bottom, long things go along the sides, and anything fragile for donation rides at the front where there's less bounce. Recycling stays in its own section so it can come straight off at the transfer station.
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
Paperwork was mixed through everything, including old bank statements, letters and photos that needed to be kept or shredded rather than tipped.
How we handled them
We set up a box for anything with a name or account number on it. The family went through it at the end, and we took the rest for secure shredding.
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
The lesson I keep re-learning: always walk the access before you look at the load. The rubbish rarely causes the trouble. The doorway, the step or the gate does.