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House Clearance: DIY or hire the experts?
Clearing any property whether it is your own in readiness
for moving, getting rid of the old for the new or that
of a deceased loved one, family member or friend can
be an extremely stressful and challenging task to undertake
as there are so many things to take into consideration
and indeed do when carrying out a house clearance from
start to finish.
One of the very first things to consider is whether
to do the clearance yourself or hire a house clearance
company to do it all for you. There are pros and cons
to both which you must weigh up before deciding what
will be the best route for you to take.
DIY House Clearance
Pros
Go at your own pace – Clearing a property yourself
will allow you to undertake the task at your own pace,
resulting in less chance of something valuable being
discarded, accidentally broken or important paperwork
getting lost during the process of the clearance. Working
at your own pace will also give you more time to carry
out the clearance on your days off. Some house clearance
companies only work set days at set times which may
clash with dates and times that you’re unable to
be available for.
Get the family together – The clearance of a property
can be an ideal time to get the family together and
spend some quality time with each other.
Make some money – You could hold a garage or garden
sale from the contents of the property. Inform neighbours
and make tea, coffee and some snacks. Garage/garden
sales are becoming increasingly popular in the UK and
can be a financially rewarding way to get rid of unwanted
household-ware.
Cons
Labour intensive – Removing items of furniture
from a property whether small and manageable to large
and heavy items is physically tasking even for young
strapping lads.
This labour intensive work can be made even more intensive
if the items of furniture need broken up to fit into
a skip (or several) or packed into a van, transported
to a recycling centre and then disposed of.
Most modern recycling centres require you to separate
the waste first before disposal. For example, wooden
materials will typically go into a container marked
“wood”, cardboard “cardboard” etc.
This can not only be physically demanding – going
from one container to another - but also time consuming.
Even boxes of packed bric-a-brac, books and other household-ware
such as linen and clothing can be awkward and heavy
to manage, especially on your own.
The real cost to you – In many cases it can actually
prove more cost effective to hire a house clearance
company rather than carrying it out on your own. When
doing it yourself, you may have to hire a van, a skip
(or several), take an unpaid day off work (or more)
and even pay someone to help you, all of which can amount
to over several hundred pounds.
For example, the average cost of van-hire ranges from
between £35 to £80 depending on van type,
usage terms, hire time and area. Skips are even more
expensive; ranging from anywhere between £80 and
£150, and that’s just for an ordinary small
sized skip!
With skips you will also need a permit from your local
council if there is no driveway to park the skip at,
which will have to typically be arranged at least 1
full day before actually hiring a skip depending on
the speed with which your local council processes and
issues their permits.
Without a permit a skip-hire company will refuse to
park one on a road or public path as doing so will result
in a heavy fine and other penalties not only to them
but you yourself too.
Some skip companies can also charge extra based on
the weight of contents in the skip and will refuse to
take away any overloaded skip which would result in
you having to take items back out of the skip to dispose
of separately.
You cannot dispose of certain items via a skip either.
These items are TVs, computer monitors, fluorescent
light tubing, chemicals, fridges and fridge freezers,
car batteries and car or bike tires. You would have
to individually dispose of such items separately yourself,
which could mean several trips to your local household
recycling centre.
Time consuming – Clearing a property is very time
consuming be it a part clearance or a full clearance,
especially if the property is cluttered or includes
sheds, garages etc. to clear also. Only an experienced
and professional house clearance company can put an
accurate time-scale on such a task.
If you’re doing the house clearance yourself,
the time in which it will take for you to clear the
property depends on the size of the property itself,
what needs to go, what needs to stay, how many helping
hands there will be, just how many hours or days you
can put into the task and the methods of disposal you
will use.
Emotional distress – If the property belonged
to a loved one, a family member or a friend and you’re
tasked with clearing it on their behalf; then emotionally
you will naturally feel distressed.
Dealing with the loss of someone close is tough enough;
having to then go through their possessions, affairs
and discarding with items that would have once held
some form of attachment to your loved one, family member
or friend can be even more distressing.
Hassle factor – If you yourself are clearing a
property from start to finish the burden of decision
making, organising and completing the task at hand rests
solely with you which can prove a great deal of hassle
especially if there are many things to do in order to
complete the clearance.
House Clearance Experts
Pros
Save time – An experienced and professional house
clearance company should be more than adept at tackling
most types of clearances within a few hours - from standard
houses to large properties depending on what needs to
be cleared exactly.
Such an organisation will deploy a number of experienced
and knowledgeable staff - typically ranging from 3-4
men – who will use their expertise to not only
save you the customer time but just as importantly they
and their company time too.
A professional company will also be able to give you
a realistic timescale to complete the clearance and
in most cases be able to stick to it and even complete
the job in advance of the time quoted.
Save money – An experienced and professional house
clearance company should be experts at reducing their
costs and thus be able to pass on savings to you the
customer.
They typically reduce their costs by recycling as much
household waste as possible by way of donating things
to charity, separating recyclable waste from non recyclable
waste or selling on any items with any potential resale
value.
Remember, however, that what you constitute as having
some resale value may not always be shared by a house
clearance expert. There is very little money to be made
in second-hand goods these days as the depreciation
aspect of even ‘modern’ or ‘recently
new’ household-ware is staggeringly high due to
cheap mass production. For example, you can buy a new
microwave for under £15 at an Asda or a Tesco
so people tend to buy new and not second-hand anymore.
By keeping their operating costs as low as possible
a reputable house clearance company will be able to
provide you with a reasonable quote that should provide
a good value for money service. Considering the cost
of skip-hire, van-hire and indeed man-power among various
other DIY costs your better house clearance companies
will – in comparison – actually save you money.
Save the environment – Well, not quite, but a
professional and reputable house clearance company will
certainly do their best to help the cause. With waste
management costs for any waste carrier being so high
(an all-time high according to various researches) recycling
as much as possible really does pay.
Although time consuming, all such companies will do
their utmost to make sure as much as possible does get
recycled from any house clearance undertaken rather
than end up at a landfill site.
Any company that carries waste be it household waste
or other waste are permitted by law to be registered
with the Environment Agency and must carry a Waste Carriers
Licence issued by them.
Avoid using any company that does not hold such a licence
nor is registered with the Environment Agency as they
are likely to be the kind who fly-tip which is a criminal
offence and using such companies can land you with a
hefty fine. Also avoid any company that does not have
a recycling policy.
Peace of mind – Whether you decide to go DIY or
hire a company to carry out the clearance there will
always be an element of hassle or distress for you to
contend with. However, an experienced and professional
house clearance company will shoulder most of the hassle/distress
aspect for you such as organisation, disposal, man-power,
probate even and timescales etc.
A professional company will take care of everything
for you from start to finish in a quick, methodical,
efficient and discreet fashion - leaving the property
empty and clean of everything that needs to go at the
end of the clearance and you fully in peace of mind.
Cons
Where to look, who to choose – There are thousands
of house clearance companies throughout the UK (many
will be operating in your own local area), companies
that range from the well established with a reputable
name to one-man-and-a-van type companies.
Where to look and who to choose can be a job on its
own and needs carefully researched in order to stay
clear of the many “cowboy” companies that
are in operation.
Because of the sheer number of companies out there
and the nature of a house clearance and what it involves
it can be like a lottery finding that winning quote
and indeed service that can satisfy your requirements
fully.
Trust – The image of a Del Boy-like character
of Only Fools and Horses’ fame, although a loveable
TV screen favourite, is an all too familiar one when
thinking of a house clearance company.
One automatically thinks of a rouge-like figure out
to make a quick few quid from conning antiques and valuables
out of unsuspecting folk, and that’s because such
characters dominate the house clearance industry unfortunately,
which tarnishes the reputable and professional companies
out there. Sadly there are more of these “cowboy”
companies than trustworthy ones.
Hidden costs – In the services sector there is
always the prospect of some hidden costs or extras and
the house clearance sector is no different. The better
companies will get as much information from you as possible
in relation to the house clearance and will be able
to provide you with a quote based on this information
and stick to that quote.
The less reputable ones, however, will find ways of
trying to get more money out of you and unless you’re
fully versed in the intricacies of waste management
then you can easily be manipulated into handing over
extra cash.
There are also many inexperienced start-up companies
operating that may think they have their costs covered
only to find out they have undercharged for a clearance
after completion or during the clearance.
Try to use companies that have clear policies with
regards to their prices and have at least been operating
for 10 years or more. The better companies will happily
state how long they have been in operation for.
Fly-tipping – This illegal activity is quite common
and the scourge of many a local authority who via the
tax payer spend millions a year on cleaning up waste
dumped in streets, fields and back alley-ways by illegal
traders. A reputable house clearance company will be
registered with the Environment Agency and hold a valid
Waste Carriers Licence, and also be able to produce
waste transfer stubs. Using a company that fly-tips
your waste can result in a heavy fine for you.
Conclusion – Whether you decide to do the house
clearance yourself or hire a company to do it for you
the most important thing is getting the job done in
a manner that suits you and anyone else connected with
the clearance of the property.
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