A house clearance is the whole contents of a property, every room, the loft, the garage and the garden, carried out, loaded and taken away in one visit, with the keys handed back at the end.
How does a house clearance work?
You send photographs or we come and look, and the price comes back in writing for the whole property. On the day Complete Waste Management collects the keys, carries everything out room by room, loads it, sweeps through, photographs each room empty and hands the keys back. Nothing is paid until it is done.
The quote
A whole house is priced as a whole house, not by the item or by the load. For a flat or a few rooms, photographs of each room are enough and the price comes back in writing from those. For a whole house, or anything with a loft, a garage and a garden on top, we come and walk it with you, because the price depends on what is in it, how much of it is heavy, and how far it has to be carried, and a photograph of a doorway does not show a loft. The written price covers the lot: the lifting, the loading, the sweep through and the disposal, with no extras on the day for things that were there when we looked. Our guide to house clearance cost sets out what moves the figure. If you only want part of it cleared, say so, and the price is for that part.
What to set aside
Before the day, go through the house for what is staying, because once a room is being cleared it is cleared. Paperwork is the big one: deeds, wills, bank letters, passports, pension documents and anything with an account number on it, which turn up in drawers, in coat pockets, in biscuit tins and in the loft. Photographs and letters. Jewellery, watches and anything small that matters, which are easy to miss in a drawer of odds and ends. Keys for other doors, the garage and the shed. Anything you think has a value, from a piece of furniture to a collection, tell us about before the day rather than on it, so that it is set aside and talked about rather than loaded. Put what stays in one room, or label it with tape so it is plain, and tell us which room or which label. If you cannot get to the house, say what you are looking for and we will put it to one side as we find it. Nothing of that kind goes on the truck without being asked about first.
The keys
Most of the houses we clear are empty, and the keys come from the family, the executor, the letting agent, the housing officer or a lockbox on the door. We meet you there if you want to walk us round, or let ourselves in if you would rather not be there. The house is locked behind us and the keys handed back to whoever gave them to us, with a message to say it is done.
The day
The big furniture goes first, because once the wardrobes, beds and sofas are out there is room to work. Then the drawers, cupboards and shelves, room by room, from the top of the house down, so that nothing is carried past a room still full. The loft, the garage and the shed are last. Carpets and curtains come up if you ask, and are left if you do not. Everything is carried out by hand, with the floors sheeted where they need it, and loaded on the truck in the order it will come off. Then every room is swept and photographed.
Before
AfterWhere it all goes
The contents are sorted as they are loaded. Furniture, white goods and anything else still fit to be used again are set aside for reuse rather than scrapped. Metal, wood, cardboard, textiles and electricals are separated for recycling. What is left goes through a permitted transfer station, and Complete Waste Management, licensed waste carrier CBDU663075, is the carrier on the paperwork, which you can have a copy of for an executor or an agent.
What you get back
The keys, a photograph of every room empty, and a note of what was taken, with the paperwork if you need it. The house is swept through, ready for the agent, the landlord or the next tenant. Payment is after the job, by bank transfer or cash, once you have seen the photographs. If something was missed, you tell us and it is put right. The prices are on our house clearance page.
