Top tips for a successful house clearance

At Berkeley House Clearance offer a few tips to help prepare for a house clearance, along with some guidance to help you manage the challenges of clearing a home and disposing of household waste.

Decide what to keep and what should go.

Start by deciding what you want to keep. If you are clearing a home following a bereavement there may be a lot of items that hold sentimental value. It’s important to give yourself time to sort though these items, letting go can be difficult.

If there are items that need to stay in the home get them boxed or labelled. These could be value items or things that have been earmarked for family members or agreed as part of a house sale.

Use a Post-it note to label everything you want to ‘Keep’. This is a simple way let your house clearance company know what should remain in the property.

Locate important documents.

Find important documents such as passports, bank cards, utility bills and guarantees for boilers/cookers etc and put these aside. If there are documents or other items that you can’t locate, speak to your house clearance company. They will look out for these items and put them aside during the clearance.

Choose a reputable house clearance company.

When you entrust a company to clear a home you want to be sure they will manage everything professionally and respectfully. You also want to be sure that they complete the job and remove everything that needs to be removed!

Reviews left by customers on Facebook and Google can help determine if a company is established, and considered to be reliable and trusted.

Get the best price when hiring a house clearance service.

A house clearance professional is a good source of knowledge and will be able to give advice about resale and reuse value of items in the home. They will also use any resale value against the cost they charge for their services. Clothing, bric-a-brac, furniture, electricals are just a few of the items in the home that may have resale value.

If you want the best price when hiring a house clearance company get professional advice and a house clearance quote before you start the process of removing and discarding things.

It’s important to remember that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. It’s advisable to get advice from a property clearance professional before making lengthy trips to the local tip to discard household items.

Terry: Berkeley House Clearance

More about cost.

Having less in the home doesn’t necessarily guarantee a lower quote. Service costs vary and regulations about commercial waste disposal are complex. A professional will consider:

• access to the property
• the volume and weight of items that need to be removed
• the reuse and resale value of items
• the amount of landfill items

To find out more about house clearance costs and get advice about managing and disposing of household waste please call and chat to Terry. If you need more comprehensive support please request a home visit.

Get a professional valuation and appraisal service.

When it comes to valuing items in the home a house clearance professional can offer years of experience, and an expert eye!

Most house clearance house clearance companies will offer valuation and appraisal services free when they carry out a home visit. A house clearance professional will also provide you with the right support if you have antiques and collectibles that you wish to sell.

If you are an executor dealing with the estate of someone who had died then a more comprehensive valuation service will be required. Under these circumstances a house clearance professional will be able to give a formal valuation service. They will also be able to provide a written valuation of the homes contents for probate, working with your solicitor when necessary.

Be wary of house clearance companies who ‘cherry pick’!

Be wary of house clearance companies who ‘cherry pick‘ as they may not have your best interests at heart. It’s beneficial if you are able to sell ‘value items’ but important to make sure you are not left with old furniture, heavy, bulky items or lots of household waste to manage.

A reputable service provider with use the ‘value’ of your household items against the cost they quote to clear a property, and give a fair price for their services.

The best way to start a house clearance is to book a home visit. This is where a house clearance professional will come to the home to make an appraisal of household contents an assessment of the work that needs doing. After this they will provide a quote for the removal and dispose of everything that needs removing.

Once you understand the full cost of the house clearance you can make more informed decisions about the sale of those ‘high value’ items.

Get support with recycling.

The process of sorting through items can be time consuming enough, then everything has to be removed and disposed of responsibly and legally.

A company that is committed to sustainability will know the best way to recycle your household items and do their best keep things away from landfill.

For recycling support please call and chat to Terry.

Always choose a licenced waste carrier.

If you need to dispose of household items and rubbish it’s important that everything is managed properly and disposed of correctly! If you use a company to clear waste from a home you must check that they are legally allowed to carry it!

An Environmental Agency licence is a companies legal right to operate and a basic requirement a business needs if they collect and manage waste. So whether the service you are paying for involves the removal of furniture, appliances, clothing; basically anything from the home, garage, shed and even the garden, the company you employ to do the work needs to be registered with the Environment Agency.

Ask to see the registration card. Alternatively you can check a companies registration details on the Environment Agency website. If you can’t find the details it’s best to avoid!

For more advice to help manage a house clearance please visit our house clearance questions page.