DIY House Clearance or Hire a House Clearance Company?

Whatever the reason your clearing your house or property there are many things to consider before you start. The first being if you choose to take on the task of clearing the house yourself or calling in the professionals to complete the house clearance for you.

Do it yourself House Clearance

Pros

No rush. house clearance at your own pace, clearing the house yourself means you can go through the contents gradually without the chance of missing things of financial or personal value.

Get Friends & Family to Help. A House Clearance is a good excuse to get friends and family together to not only help out but to socialise if you don’t get chance to meet up very often. It also helps you get the house clearance completed quickly with more help.

Make some Cash. While spending time sorting through everything you can spread the word and have a garage sale while you’re on site, anything you don’t sell that you don;t want to throw away you can always try selling at a car boot sale.

Cons

Heavy and time-consuming work. Clearing a house especially if it holds some personal connection can be a big task as not only does it demand a large amount of physical activity but it also means you often spend longer looking through paper work & junk in much more detail than is needed.

Removal transport or skip required. You’ll need to arrange a big van or a Skip to remove the things you want to dispose of. If planning on spreading the house clearance over a few days this can very quickly become costly.

Separation of waste. All recycling centres require the waste to be separated before disposal. This aids the effectiveness of the recycling centres but it can be quiet a hindrance to split the waste into wood, chipboard, paper, metal, plastic etc. So don’t overlook additional time required both cleaning the house out and time spent at the recycling centre disposing of the waste.

The Cost. you don’t always save money doing things yourself. Make sure you consider the cost of you time and others, will you have to take time off work? Will you have to hire a skip or a van or both?

Personal distress. If your tasked with the job of clearing a house of a bereaved family member or friend then you also need to consider the emotional cost this may have on you.


House Clearance Company

Pros

Time saving. Professional house clearance companies are used to doing the job so they are able to clear a house in a much shorter time. Usually a house clearance company can be finished in less than 8 hours.

Large Teams & Experience. House clearance companies will use a number of skilled staff members (often around 4 men) who can save you time as they do this all the time.

Accurate Timescale. House clearance companies are used to doing house clearances so they can accurately estimate the size of any job. This gives you time to plan your time if you want to be there and oversee the clearance.

Reduce Costs. Using an experienced house clearance company will usually save you money. House clearance companies have the right equipment and contacts to be able to offer you an effective service that’s often cheaper than you could do yourself. Costs are rduces by recycling as much waste as possible including donations to charity and selling any items on with positional resale values.

Environmentally friendly. Reputable house clearance companies will do their best to recycle your house contents as these companies are charged to dispose of waste it makes more sense if the can recycle. This reduces the amount of waste in our landfill sites.

Peace of mind. Whether you DIY or ask a House Clearance company to help out there is always some element of hassle or distress for you to contend with. Experienced House clearance companies will shoulder most of the responsibility for you and deal with proejct organisation, waste disposal, Labour, and even Probate if required. A House Clearance company will take care of everything for you from start to finish in a very efficient and discreet fashion - leaving the house both empty and clean.


Cons

Who do you Choose? Where every you are in the world there are always going to be many companies to choose from. Both Local and national. In the UK there are Thousands of companies offering house clearance services from one man in a van to companies that have been trading for over 30 years.

Trust issues. If you choose a reputable company you should have no problems when it comes to relying on their trust. If the company has been in business many years chances are they are a trustworthy company or they wouldn’t still be around. You can always supervise the house clearance to give you extra piece of mind.

Hidden Costs. In any service based business there are always chances of hidden costs, another reason for you to pick a company by reputation not just cost alone. The better companies will ask more questions so that there quotation can be s thourough as possible, you are less likely to then be hit by a larger bill due to unforeseen circumstances. All companies should also stick to the quote given, ask them if this is the case when getting the quotation.


Tips

If using a House clearance company there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from either over pricing or the cowboys that are unfortunately going to be out there waiting to take your cash.

1. Always get at least 3 quotations, don’t phone a man with a van use a company you can check on.

2. Ask how long the company has been trading for.

3. Ask for references from past clients, most will be able to offer you written references.

4. Ask the company how they deal with waste – they should have a clear waste disposal strategy in place and be able to explain it in some detail.

5. Check with them that they are registered with the Environment agency , House clearance companies or any company that disposes of waste has to be by law. Ask to see there Waste Carriers Licence before they commence any work.


Remember there are many inexperienced house clearance companies out there, asking a few select questions will make sure you choose a good one which will make the whole process easier to deal with. Try to use companies that have been operating for at least 10 years or more. Whether you decide to do the house clearance yourself with friends and family or chose to hire a professional house clearance company to do it it’s important to make sure you choose the option that suits you the most. House clearances can be very stressful so sometimes it’s very helpful to have the reassurance of a professional house clearance company to help.