Planning Your House Clearance
Organising a house clearance is daunting, and if you plan to do it yourself – it’ll be VERY daunting AND overwhelming!
If you plan to do it yourself then the following steps will be very helpful to you:
- Work out how long it will take you to clear the house.
- Decide beforehand what’s to keep and what’s to go.
- Calculate (as best you can) how much you need to dispose of (to plan trips and costs).
- Plan your time and what you need.
- Have a plan for sensitive data like bank statements and documents
Let’s go through them one by one:
- Working out how long it will take you to clear the house
Planning how much time you need to clear a house helps you to organise who and what needs to be where and when.
Generally speaking, 2 people will take roughly half a day to clear a room, so 2 people clearing a 6-room house will take 3 days in total.
Of course, this depends on how cluttered the house is, if it belonged to a hoarder, then you’ll need to multiply that by 3. Or 4. Or more.
- Decide what’s to keep and what’s to go
I think the saying is “preparation is 9/10ths of the job”.
If you decide in advance what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of, then you can take the “keepers” out in advance, leaving you with a clear path to just remove the junk.
After that, it’s a matter of rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck into the job in front of you.
- Calculate (as best you can) how much you need to dispose of (to plan trips and costs)
This is quite tricky if you’re not used to clearing properties.
You will probably end up underestimating how much stuff there is to go, and this can vastly change the cost of van hire, skips required, and costs at the local tip.
If you end up hiring a van, and need to keep it for an extra couple of days, plus need more time to move stuff, well you can see the costs will ratchet up quite quickly.
- Plan your time and what you need
If you’ve managed to accurately work out the amount of stuff to clear, and how long it will take, and where it’s got to go, then you can plan your best options for moving it (van, skips, etc), and how much time you’ll need to complete the house clearance.
You might be able to sell some items, but this is extra time and effort.
Some items could be donated, in which case you’ll have to take them to the relevant charities, etc, unless they can come and collect (they usually need quite a bit of notice).
Anything that needs disposing of will need to go to your local tip, which is almost certainly going to incur charges, so find out what they are first. You don’t want any nasty surprises.
- Sensitive data like bank statements and documents
Be mindful about properly shredding, burning, or disposing of documents and bank details – identity theft and fraud are rampant, don’t fall victim to it through complacency.
Finally, remember your own well-being.
Moving lots of smaller items, or a few heavy items can have consequences, like backaches, strained muscles, squashed toes, etc – be sure to observe proper health and safety measures.
In all honesty, it would be easier, faster, less stressful, and almost certainly cheaper to hire a professional house clearance company like Keke to do it all for you.
Plus it would save you all of the headaches, hassle, and problems that you are undoubtedly going to encounter along the way.
Feel free to call us for a free, no-obligation quote to compare once you’ve done your own costings.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire A House Clearance Company To Do It For Me?
If you’ve (sensibly) decided to hire a team of experienced and professional house clearers like Keke Waste Disposal, then the things that will determine the cost are:
- The size of the property.
- The amount that needs disposing of.
- The type of waste and how it needs to be processed
Clearly the bigger the house the longer it will take, and of course, if the house is a hoarded house, there will be more per room to dispose of.
Then of course is the type of waste – some things are easy to dispose of, some can be donated to charity, but others need to be sent to specialist processing centres (like chemicals, etc).
It’s impossible to give an idea of the cost that will fit all jobs in a guide like this, we’d need to see the scale of the job to give you an accurate idea, so please feel free to get in touch to discuss your needs and get a free no-obligation quote.
Do I Have To Pay For House Clearance?
This is a great question and it’s something that people seem to be very confused over.
Some house clearance firms will say that the cost will be the difference between the cost to empty the property, and the value of the goods in the property.
So if the costs are £1000 and the value of the goods is £300, then you will pay them the difference of £700.
On the other hand, if the costs are £1000 and the value of the goods is £3000, they will pay you the difference of £2000.
The value of the goods is usually because they are antique or collectable.
However, at Keke we are upfront in admitting that we are not antiques, memorabilia, or collectables experts, and can you imagine if an amateur valued a painting or piece of China at £100, and it later turned out to be very rare and worth £Thousands and £Thousands?
For this reason at Keke, we recommend that you have any items that may have value to be assessed by a qualified appraiser or antique expert or auction house, and we’ll just charge you for the time and costs to empty the house.
[Learn More about how this works.]
In this way, you get the maximum benefit, and the lowest possible costs – contact us today for a free, no-obligation quote.
When Do You Need A House Clearance?
A house clearance might be needed for a number of reasons.
Maybe:
- You’ve become overwhelmed with clutter;
- A relative or tenant may have died;
- You might be selling a house and want it emptied;
- The house may have belonged to a hoarder;
- You might be going through a divorce;
- You might be planning to emigrate;
- It may be a council house that needs to be cleared for the local authority;
- Or any other reason;
Whatever the reason, if the house needs to be cleared then we can help you.
We offer very fair pricing and it’s based on the time to do the job and the number of van loads it will take. You can see our pricing below:
The average UK house clearance cost is £805 PLUS VAT - Our prices are lower and INCLUDE VAT - saving you £271 on a standard house clearance!
| Item | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard House Clearance | £695 | Including VAT! |
| Larger House Clearance | £695+ (contact for exact quote) | Including VAT! |
| Hoarder House Clearance | £Dependent on scale of job | Please contact for quote |
| Other Clearances | £Dependent on scale of job | Please contact for quote |
Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote today.
Do You Recycle Items From A House Clearance Or Just Take It To The Tip?
At Keke we never, ever treat the contents as rubbish and take them to a refuse site.
Well over 90% of the items we clear go to either recycling centres or are donated to charity.
You can see a recent job we did in Glasgow where we donated the entire contents to charity, with a video of the clearance.
