How to prepare for a house clearance

A few tips for a successful house clearance

Clearing a property can be both mentally and physically demanding. Many decisions and considerations have to be made and knowing where to start can be confusing. Please read our guide.

We offer a few tips to help you prepare your house clearance, along with some good advice to help get the best service support when you hire a property clearance company.

Decide what to keep and what should go.

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.

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

A simple Post-it note is a good way label the items you want to ‘Keep’ and let your house clearance company know that these items should 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 an experienced clearance company and get expert advice.

Choosing the right company is important. An experienced company understands the business, will be able to answer all your house clearance questions and will work with you to provide the best advice and the service support you need.

How to do you find the right house clearance company? Find their social profiles. Reading customer reviews on Facebook and Google can help to establish if a company is reliable and trusted.

Get best price when hiring a house clearance service.

House clearance companies use different ways to calculate their service charges. While some companies quote a standard fee while others offer a more personal, customer focussed pricing approach. The volume and weight of the items that need to be removed, reuse and re-sale value and the amount that will need to go to landfill are considered when providing a quote.

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.

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

Be wary of house clearance companies who want to ‘cherry pick‘ as they may not have your best interests at heart. Whilst it can be beneficial to sell ‘value items’, it’s also important to avoid a situation where you are left with heavy or bulky items, especially if you then have to pay another company to remove these items from the home!

A reputable service provider will use the ‘value of items’ in a home against the cost they quote to clear a property. Remember manpower and tipping charges can be high for heavy and bulky items. So to avoid making ‘costly’ mistakes we always advise customers to get a quote for the full service they need right from the onset, then you understand exactly what needs doing and how much it will cost.

Get recycling support.

A reputable service provider will know the best way to recycle, which items can be recycled and will also able to give advise about the resale value of household items that you may consider rubbish, and therefore choose to discard.

It’s important to remember that one mans junk is another mans treasure. That’s why we always recommend getting a second opinion before making lengthy and unnecessary trips to the local tip.

Terry: Berkeley House Clearance

Request a valuation and appraisal service.

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 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. They will work alongside your solicitor where needed.

Always choose a licenced waste carrier.

It’s important to use a licenced Waste Carrier. An Environmental Agency licence is a companies legal right to operate and is basic requirement a business needs if they carry and dispose of waste. So, whether the service you are paying for involves the removal of furniture, appliances, clothing household items, basically anything from the home, garage, shed or garden the company you employ has to be registered with the Environment Agency.

Ask to see the registration card and view their registration details on the Government register here. If you can’t find the details it’s best to avoid!