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 Gold Coast exposed everything that had been stacked around it: mixed household and yard waste, timber, plaster and offcuts and metal, wire and fittings.
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 mixed household and yard waste, timber, plaster and offcuts and metal, wire and fittings, along with the usual loose odds and ends that build up around a job like this. It's typical of what we see from trades finishing a job site.
Working in Gold Coast
Gold Coast is a city of beachside towers, canal homes, family suburbs and hinterland acreage. We run trucks across the whole Gold Coast every day, from Coolangatta to Coomera and out to the hinterland, so wherever you are there is usually a crew nearby. We bring the right truck for the street, from tight unit driveways to wide acreage tracks.
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: single or multiple truck loads, mixed material handling and sorting and licensed transfer station disposal. 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
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
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 waste Removal to mean everything goes to landfill. On this job, close to a third of it went somewhere useful.