The ultimate guide to house clearances

Nobody looks forward to a house clearance. It’s time-consuming, dirty work that can sometimes be overwhelming.

Even if a house clearance allows you to sell a property or begin an exciting renovation or refurbishment, it is an inconvenient means to an end that ‘just has to be done’. A house clearance can, of course, also be an emotional time if the property was owned by a relative who has passed away. None of that is easy to deal with.

Here’s the good news! With thought and planning, the whole experience can be made so much easier.

This ultimate guide to house clearances highlights the considerations and outcomes that can make your house clearance more manageable and cost-effective.

How do I plan a house clearance?

The first thing you need to decide when planning a house clearance is the best method for removing your waste.

What is the best method for removing my waste?

You have three main options:

The DIY house clearance

You do the house clearance yourself and drag unsuspecting family members and friends into the mix to make several trips to the tip.

Rubbish removal

Often referred to as ‘man with a van’, rubbish removal companies come to the property and take the rubbish away for you.

Skip hire

You hire a skip for a period of time and fill it up yourself. The skip hire company takes the skip away after an agreed period of time and, if needed, replaces it with an empty skip.

How to decide the best way to do your house clearance

There are some areas for consideration when deciding how to go about your house clearance:

How much will the house clearance cost me?

Spending money on shiny new things that make you happy, or your life easier, is a choice with a cheerful outcome. However, having to spend money on having things you don’t want taken away can be jarring. Particularly if it isn’t even your stuff!

The key is to complete a house clearance in the most cost-effective way to make the whole experience less painful. This will depend on how much stuff you need to remove, what kind of waste you have and how quickly it needs to be gone.

• Doing the house clearance yourself will be the cheapest option in terms of parting with money, but when you consider how long it will take, you may decide that it’s not a valuable use of your time.
• The average cost of hiring a rubbish removal company is around £60 per hour or £75 per cubic yard but this doesn’t account for the removal of large items such as white goods which can be an extra £75 or more. According to Checkatrade, a larger ‘man and a van’ will cost anything from £335 to £595, with the upper end of the scale being the equivalent of removing a skip’s worth of waste.
• The cost of skip hire for a typical 4 cubic yard skip is typically significantly cheaper. The cost will be affected by the size of the skip, the duration of hire and council permits which are arranged by your skip hire company. On average, however, the cost of skip hire is cheaper than rubbish removal.

What kind of waste will I be removing during my house clearance?

The kind of waste being removed in a house clearance may determine whether you can do the house clearance yourself or if a rubbish removal company or skip hire is the better option.

Some waste items are difficult to remove yourself, particularly heavy or harmful waste. However, you need to check if a waste removal company is happy to do it for you as not all will take builders’ rubble, for example. A rubbish removal company will also factor in large items of furniture when they provide a quote. Both rubble and furniture can be put in a skip as long as it doesn’t overflow or exceed weight restrictions.

If you only have a very small amount of waste that can be taken to the tip over a few car loads, doing it yourself may be an option. However, you will need to check if your local recycling centre will accept all types of waste that you have, and if using a van you will need a licence.

Recycling house clearance waste vs landfill

Skip hire and rubbish removal companies will sort waste for recycling. Without the expert knowledge, it would be much more difficult for you to do this yourself.

A skip hire company is likely to have a larger site with more sophisticated recycling facilities than a rubbish removal company to recycle a range of different waste types. Skip hire companies therefore send less waste to landfill which means that their services, and ultimately your house clearance, are better for sustainability and the environment.

Contact 1^st Choice Concrete & Skip Hire for a quote

Get in touch to discuss the details of your house clearance and to obtain a quote.