Clearing a property is both mentally and physically demanding. A multitude of decisions and considerations have to be made and knowing how and where to start can be confusing. Please read our guide. We offer a few tips to help you prepare your house clearance, and all the advice you need to get the best service from your house clearance company.
A house clearance industry guide
Decide what you want to keep
Decide what you want to keep. If you are clearing a home following a bereavement there may be a lot of sentimental items. It’s important to give yourself lots of time to sort though these items.
Get packing
There may be items in the home that you don’t want your house clearance company to remove. This could be value items, sentimental things that have been earmarked for family members, furniture or items agreed as part of a house sale.
Get the items you want to keep boxed and/or labelled. A simple Post-it note is a good way label the items you want to ‘Keep’ and let your house clearance company know which items need to remain in the property.
Locate important documents
Find important documents such as passports, bank cards, utility bills and guarantees for boilers/cookers etc. Then put these aside before the clearance starts. 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 the right house clearance company
Choosing the right company is important. An experienced company understands the business, will bring a range of benefits and can help avoid any unnecessary complications further down the line.
How to do you find the right house clearance company? One of the best ways to begin is to research their social profiles. Facebook and Google profiles speak volumes about a company and the experience they offer. Reading customer reviews can establish that a company has supported customers in the past, and how their services were rated.
Get the best price for your house clearance service.
House clearance companies use different ways to calculate their service charges. While some companies quote a standard fee, other companies offer a more personal, customer focussed pricing approach that considers a number of factors. This includes the volume and weight of the items that need removing from the home, re-sale value and the amount of unsaleable items that will need recycling, or sending to landfill.
Be wary of companies who ‘cherry pick‘, if you need to clear an entire home, get a quote for that service and the right advice from the onset. A reputable service provider will use the ‘value of assets’ in a home against the cost they quote to clear property. So, whilst is okay to sell ‘value items’, it’s also important to make sure that you don’t end up in a situation where you are left with dated furniture, beds and other household items and waste to clear. These items can cost a lot to remove.
We recommend that customers get professional advice before they progress with the house clearance and more importantly before making lengthy and time consuming trips to the local tip. The ‘value’ may be in the items you choose to throw away, so it’s important to get a second opinion.
To find out more about how we calculate our service charges please call and chat to Terry. Please follow the link here to find out more about us.
Valuation and appraisal services
An established company will be able to offer advice about the sale of antiques and collectibles in the home and offer informal and formal valuation and appraisal services.
If you are an executor dealing with a deceased estate ask your house clearance for a written valuation of the homes contents for probate. An experienced house clearance company will be confident when it comes to offering this service and will work alongside your solicitor where needed.
Use a house clearance company that is environmentally and socially responsible
An reputable company will know the best and most cost effective way to manage all the items in the home, and will aim to be as environmentally and socially responsible as possible. They will be able to help with recycling, donate useful items to local charity and send as little as they can to landfill.
A licenced waste carrier is aways the right choice.
It’s important to use a licenced Waste Carrier. This registration is a companies legal right to operate and carry any waste they remove from the home. Ask to see the registration card, or view their registration details on the Government register here.
How to prepare for a house clearance.
Need House Clearance advice?
For house clearance advice please contact us. We have supported customers in all aspects of the house clearance process for more than 30 years and offer a full range of services in the Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, Solihull, Lichfield and Walsall areas. Please call Terry on 07973 620154 for more information, or use the link below to send a message and we’ll get straight back to you.
Read our case studies. Find out more about the house clearance process and what we do.
- Sutton Coldfield House Clearance
- Birmingham House Clearance
- Solihull House Clearance
- Walsall House Clearance