What you're really paying for
Anyone with a van can move waste. Doing it legally requires registration as a waste carrier with SEPA, and access to licensed transfer stations that charge real gate fees to accept material. Those two things are most of what separates a legitimate operator from a cheap quote.
The transfer note is the part that protects you. As a waste producer you carry a duty of care (your legal responsibility for waste you produce), and if the person you paid dumps your waste in a lay-by, liability can follow the waste back to you — with your address on the paperwork inside it. Failing that duty can carry a penalty of up to £5,000.
So the check matters more than the price. Ask for the SEPA registration number and look it up on the public register; ours is WCR/R/3002381. Our licensed carrier guide sets out the full version.
- A SEPA waste carrier registration
- Access to licensed disposal facilities
- The labour to carry and load
- Insurance while it's being moved
- A duty of care transfer note
- Liability handled properly
The labour is most of the job
For a tenement flat, a loft, a garage or a garden, the carrying is the work. Disposal is a fee; getting a divan base down three flights of a Glasgow close is an hour of two people's time and the thing you are actually paying for.
That is why pricing by volume with the labour included is the customer-friendly model, and why an hourly rate is not — an hourly rate transfers the risk of a slow day onto you and rewards nobody for being quick.
It is also why access should be priced at quote stage rather than discovered on the day. Our prices assume stairs, shared closes and a walk to the van, and there is no access surcharge added when the crew arrives.
Check us before you book us
WCR/R/3002381 on SEPA's public register. Two minutes, and it's the whole point.
How to choose one
Six questions, and a legitimate operator answers all six without hesitating. What is your SEPA registration number? Is the price fixed or an estimate? Does it include the carrying? Will I get a transfer note? Who turns up — your own crew or subcontracted labour? And what happens to the waste?
The red flags are consistent: cash only, no paperwork, no company name on the van, contact only through a social media profile, and a quote well below everyone else's. That last one is information rather than luck — legitimate disposal costs money, so a very cheap price often assumes the waste will not be disposed of legally.
The comparison against a skip and the council is in our man and van guide, and the pricing detail is in how much junk removal costs in Glasgow.
Preparing for the visit
You do not need to move anything to the kerb or sort it in advance — that is what you are paying for. Two things genuinely help, though.
Send photos rather than describing it. A wide shot of everything plus a close-up of anything unusual gets an accurate price first time and removes the renegotiation that happens when a crew arrives to something different from the description. Mention which floor if it is up a stair.
And flag anything on the no-list before the day: asbestos, gas bottles, bulk liquid paint or solvents, fuel, clinical waste, tyres and car batteries all need their own route. We would rather tell you in a message than leave them behind in your hall — the full list is on items we take.
