The four things that make the biggest difference are parking, access, a clear brief on what stays, and a warning about anything hidden. A crew that arrives to find a legal space for the van, an unlocked side gate, tape on the three plants you want kept and a note about the pond under the brambles will clear more in a day than the same crew spending the first hour parked on a double yellow waiting for you to find the key. Everything below is either the day before or the morning of, and most of it takes minutes.
The day before
Sort the parking. A tipper van needs a legal space near the property for most of the day, and it needs to be close, because every metre of carry is time. If your road is permit-controlled, arrange a visitor permit or ask a neighbour. If it is narrow, or there is a school run, tell the crew when you book so they can plan the arrival time. Putting your own car out on the road the night before and leaving the drive empty is the single most useful thing most people can do.
Unlock the gates and find the keys. Side gates, back gates, garage doors, the padlock on the alley. If you will not be there, agree in advance how they get in: a key left with a neighbour, a key safe code, a gate left on the latch. Do not agree to a code over social media or text to a number you have not verified.
Move the bins. Bins in a passage take up the exact width the crew needs. Move them to the front, and if collection day falls on the clearance day, put them out the night before so the passage is clear by morning.
Mark what stays. This is where jobs go wrong. A crew works fast, and a garden that looks like undifferentiated green to them may contain the rose your mother planted. Use electrical tape, a ribbon or a printed label on anything that is staying: plants, pots, ornaments, the good fence panel, the compost bin, the water butt, the paving you are keeping. Then take a photo of the garden on your phone, mark the photo up with what stays, and send it to the crew or show it to them on arrival. A marked-up photo settles arguments that words do not.
Lift anything valuable or fragile. Solar lights, ceramic pots, glass cloches, furniture, bird baths, the barbecue and anything sentimental go into the house, the garage or the front garden. Clearance involves barrows, boards and people walking backwards carrying brash, so assume anything left in the working area may be knocked.
Tell the neighbours. A quick word the day before is worth a lot in terraced streets: when the van arrives, that a machine will be running for part of the day, and that access may be tight. If the crew needs to work near or over a boundary, agree it with the neighbour first. See who owns a boundary hedge and cutting a neighbour's overhanging branches.
Confirm the quote and what is in it. Before the day, get it in writing: the price, whether waste removal is included, what is being cleared and what is not, whether the shed, decking, fencing, rubble or the hedge are part of it, and what happens if something unexpected turns up. Our price card includes waste removal, with mixed waste adding about 20 per cent and access through the house or a carry of over 20 metres adding about 15 per cent. Getting the scope straight in advance is how you avoid a conversation about extras at four o'clock.
The morning of
Move the cars. Yours and, if you can arrange it, the one parked across the dropped kerb.
Unlock everything and prop the gates open. Take off the padlock rather than leaving the key in it.
Do the walk round. Five to ten minutes with whoever is leading the crew. Walk the whole garden, point at what stays, point at what goes, say where you want the waste stacked while they work, and agree where they can put boards or a tarpaulin down. Confirm the price and the finish you expect: cut to ground level, dug out, raked over, or left ready for turf. These mean different things and different money.
Pets and children indoors. Chainsaws, chippers, strimmers and mini diggers do not mix with either. Cats in particular will hide in exactly the pile that is about to be moved, so keep them in. If a dog uses the garden, arrange somewhere else for the day and tell the crew, because gates will be open for hours.
Point out the hazards. Crews cannot see through brambles. Tell them about:
- ponds, wells, soakaways, septic tanks and inspection covers
- buried cables to a shed, greenhouse or outside light, and any garden lighting on a spur
- water pipes, an outside tap feed, and any irrigation
- glass, including old cold frames, greenhouse panes and buried bottles
- sheds containing fuel, gas bottles, paint, weedkiller or fertiliser
- a shed or garage with a corrugated cement roof, which may contain asbestos. See asbestos in old sheds
- anything you think might be Japanese knotweed. See Japanese knotweed and garden clearance
- rotten decking, a collapsing retaining wall, an unstable wall or a loose manhole cover
- low overhead cables and the route the van cannot take because of a low bridge or a bollard
Sort power and water. Most crews work on petrol and battery machines, but an outside tap is useful for washing tools, damping down dust and cleaning the path at the end. If there is no outside tap or accessible socket, say so in advance.
Agree the waste stack. Cut material has to go somewhere between the garden and the van. The drive, the front lawn or the kerbside are the usual options. Waste should not block the pavement, and nothing should be left overnight where it can be added to, which is how a tidy garden becomes a fly-tipping site. On a job running to a second day, ask for the cut material to go with them each evening.
What the crew will bring
You are not expected to supply anything. A typical clearance crew of two or three arrives with a tipper van or a caged trailer, strimmers and brushcutters, hedge trimmers, a chainsaw and a pole saw, loppers, mattocks and forks, barrows and rubble sacks, tarpaulins and drag sheets, boards to protect soft ground and hard floors, dust sheets if the route is through the house, and their own PPE. Larger jobs may bring a chipper to reduce woody material, or a mini digger for stumps, roots and slab bases. They bring their own fuel and their own bags, and the price on our card includes tipping the waste at a licensed site.
What they do not bring is a mind reader. Everything on this page exists because the crew cannot know what you want kept, what is buried, or where the van is supposed to park.
What preparation is worth
Doing all of the above reliably saves about an hour on a typical job, and much more on a tight-access property. It also cuts the risk of the two things that genuinely spoil a clearance: something being taken that you wanted kept, and something being hit that nobody knew was there. See how long garden clearance takes for where the rest of the day goes, and how much garden waste fits in a van for why tip runs matter.
Booking the work
We are an introducer. We pass your enquiry to one local clearance specialist for your area, who confirms a fixed price from your photographs and arranges a date.
- Garden clearance and overgrown garden clearance
- Bramble clearance for the heaviest going
- Green waste removal if you have already cut it
- Shed removal and hedge trimming
- Garden clearance cost guide for what moves the price
Questions
Do I need to be there all day?
Usually not, but be there at the start for the walk round and at the end to check the work, and be reachable in between. If the only route in is through the house, you or someone you trust does need to be there throughout. See access through the house.
What if the crew finds something that changes the job?
Good crews stop and call you before doing anything about it. Asbestos cement sheets, knotweed, a buried slab, a fuel tank or a large quantity of household rubbish under the growth all change the method, the tip rate or both. Agree in advance that nothing extra is charged without your say-so, and expect the honest answer that some finds need a separate visit.
Should I cut anything back myself first?
Only if you enjoy it. Cutting is the fast part of the job and you are unlikely to save much money. What does save money is reducing the volume that has to travel: pre-sorting rubble and general rubbish out of the green waste can keep a load out of the mixed waste rate, which is worth about 20 per cent.
Who moves the bins back and clears the path?
The crew should leave the working area, the access route and the pavement swept and clear before they go. It is reasonable to ask for that at the walk round and to check it at the end, before anyone leaves.