Four weeks out
The loft is the one that catches everybody. People plan a clearance based on what they can see at eye level, then open the hatch two days before and find forty years of boxes. Look early — it changes the load size and therefore the price, and it's much better to know now.
Same for the garage, the shed and under the stairs. If you want a fixed price that doesn't move, we need to see those spaces in the photos too. Our loft clearance and garage clearance pages cover those specifically if they're the bulk of the job.
- Confirm who has legal authority to clear
- Book the clearance date
- Tell utilities and take meter readings
- Redirect post
- Book any valuations you want
- Tell the council about council tax
- Check the loft, garage and shed
- Arrange parking or permits if needed
One week out
Defrosting the freezer sounds trivial and is the single most common cause of a miserable clearance day. A freezer that's been switched off for a week and never emptied is genuinely one of the worst things in this trade.
Labelling matters too. If there are items staying — a fitted appliance, a carpet, something a family member is collecting — put a note on them. Crews work quickly, and "I assumed you'd know" is how the wrong wardrobe ends up on the lorry.
- Do a full paperwork sweep
- Empty and defrost the freezer
- Set aside anything being kept
- Photograph each room
- Separate hazardous items
- Confirm access, keys and parking
- Label anything not to be taken
- Confirm the price and the date
Rather not do the list yourself?
Loft, garage, shed and every room cleared in a single visit, at one fixed price.
What can't go in a standard clearance
This is the part people don't expect. A general house clearance can't take hazardous waste, and a licensed carrier will tell you so rather than quietly loading it. Asbestos is the big one — common in older Scottish properties in garage roofs, artex ceilings, old vinyl floor tiles and boiler flues — and it needs a licensed specialist. Our asbestos guide explains how to identify it.
Also excluded: gas bottles and cylinders, bulk solvents and wet paint, clinical waste, and car batteries and tyres. Leftover paint has its own route, covered in our paint disposal guide.
Plasterboard has to be kept separate from general waste, and anything with a plug is WEEE (anything with a plug or a battery) and gets handled under separate rules — we take both, they just travel differently.
On the day
Make sure the crew can park close to the door. On a tenement street or a narrow terrace this is the difference between a three-hour job and a six-hour one, and in a few Scottish city centres you may need to arrange a suspended bay in advance through the council.
Walk the crew round the property first and point out anything staying, anything fragile, and anything you'd like looked at rather than binned. Then, honestly, leave them to it — you don't need to supervise, and most people find it easier not to watch.
Do a final walk-through before they leave: loft hatch, under the stairs, the back of the airing cupboard, behind the shed. Once the lorry's gone it's gone.
After the clearance
Get your waste transfer note. It's a record of what was taken, when and by whom, and if you're a landlord or executor you may need it. We issue one as standard.
Then the property is ready for whatever comes next — sale, new tenants, or handover. If it needs more than a sweep, an end-of-tenancy standard clean is a separate question, and we've written about when a landlord can and can't charge for it.
