For families clearing a parent's house after a death or a move into care. We put aside the papers, photographs and keepsakes before anything leaves, clear the rooms in the order and at the pace you choose, and fix the price with you before we start.
The first visit is a walk through the house with you, or with whoever the family nominates. You show us what is staying, what is going to family, and anything nobody has decided on yet. Those things are left alone, or moved into one room so they're out of the way.
Then, while we clear, we look for the things families most often go searching for later. Pockets, handbags, drawers, shoeboxes and the backs of wardrobes get checked before they're loaded. What we find goes into the set-aside room for you to go through in your own time.
If something might matter and we can't tell, it goes into the set-aside room rather than the load.
Some families want the house cleared in one go. Others need a room at a time over several weekends, with time in between to decide what to keep. We can price the whole house at the first visit and come back as often as the clearing needs.
You can be there for every load, drop in now and then, or leave it to us. Plenty of people would rather not watch the house being emptied, and the work runs the same either way.
In a street where the family has lived for a long time, the neighbours often knew your parents. If one of them comes over while we're loading, we'll point them to you.
The executor usually leads. Before anything of value is sold or given away, the estate may need its contents listed or valued, and the solicitor handling the estate can tell you what has to wait.
We can start with what is clearly of no value to the estate, like the fridge and pantry, clothes and linen, and the broken things in the garage, and leave the rest until the executor is ready.
A room in care holds very little, so what goes with your parent is chosen and moved first. If they want a say in what the family keeps, we work around the day they visit the house.
Then we clear the rest in the order you choose, whether that's straight away or once the house is ready to sell.
The agent will have dates: the photographs, the first open home, settlement. Tell us those and we'll plan the clearing around them, leaving the rooms empty or pared back to what the stylist wants.
Furniture kept for the photos can go afterwards, on a second visit after the last open home.
When a parent is moving somewhere smaller but still living in the house, we clear around them: the spare rooms, the under-house garage and the shed first, and the rooms they use every day last.
Nothing leaves their room until they've been through it.
Davidson's houses went up from the late 1970s on, so some have been with one family for decades. When a house has been with one family that long, the clearing tends to look much the same from one house to the next.
Many of the houses sit on sloping blocks, split-level with the garage and storage underneath. That shapes the carry: the under-house garage usually has the easiest path to the street, and the upstairs rooms mean stairs for every wardrobe and bed.
On NSW EPA advice, a house built before 1990 may well contain asbestos, and so may the buildings around it. In a clearance, that matters for an old fibro shed, a lined garage or a closed-in sunroom. We clear what's inside and don't touch the sheeting. If a shed or lining is coming down for the sale, have it tested first; asbestos.nsw.gov.au explains who can do it.
We sort as we load, so the useful things have somewhere to go besides the tip.
Everything in the set-aside room, boxed and left where you ask, for you or whoever is collecting it.
Furniture, kitchenware, linen, books and clothes in good order, where a charity will take them. Charities choose what they accept, so some good things still can't go.
Metal, whitegoods, electronics, cardboard and clean timber, sorted out for recycling where we can.
What's left goes to a licensed waste facility. Nothing is dumped, and nothing is left on the kerb.
If we come across any of these, we leave them where they are and tell you, with where they can go instead.
We walk through the house with you or the executor, see the stairs and the under-house garage, and hear what's staying. You get one fixed price for the whole clearance, or a price for each stage if you'd rather go slowly.
Whatever you've chosen is marked or moved into one room. The papers and keepsakes we find along the way join it.
A room at a time, starting wherever the family wants. Good furniture is carried out whole, and each room is swept once it's empty.
Before we go, we walk the empty house with you, or with whoever holds the key. Anything found late goes into the set-aside room.
After the first look we give you one fixed price. It covers the carrying, the loading, the sorting for charity and recycling, and the disposal fees, so nothing is added by the hour or by the trip.
If more turns up than we priced for, like a locked room or a full roof space, we show you what it is and agree the change before we take it.
Tell us who the quote should go to: you, the executor, or the solicitor looking after the estate.
No. If you can, take the things you already know you want. If you can't face it yet, tell us what matters and we'll set those things aside as we go.
That's for the executor and the solicitor handling the estate to decide. Often the things with no resale value can go first while anything that might need a valuation waits. We'll work to whatever they decide.
We stop, put it with the set-aside things and tell you. Nothing that looks personal or valuable is loaded without you knowing about it.
A little. Northern Beaches Council lets a household book two bulky goods collections in 12 months, the pile can only go out the night before, and the bookings belong to the property rather than the person. If your parent already used both this year, the next one waits for the anniversary. A whole house won't fit in either way. The council's booking rules
For the first look it helps, so someone can show us what stays. After that, no. Tell us how to get the key and we'll lock up after each visit.
Yes. Tell us what the agent or stylist wants left in each room. We clear around it and come back for it after the photos or the last open home.
We sweep each room as it empties. A full clean for the sale is a job for a cleaner, and we can finish before their booking so they have empty rooms to work in.
A few lines is plenty. We ring you back, come and look at it, and agree one fixed price before anything is lifted.
No hourly rate, no tip fees on top. The price covers loading, sweeping up and taking it to a licensed facility. If the job changes on the day, we agree the change before we carry on.
