Most house clearance in Stevenage is a good deal smaller than people expect it to be. A garage first, then three things out of the back garden. That was the whole booking on an October Wednesday, and a week like that one is the ordinary run of the work rather than the exception. The customer had answered our questions in one short email — garage and three items in the garden, no Covid in the house, some items to be left, no parking restrictions — and that was that. We had already moved her twice: once because the Thursday suited better than the Friday, once because the team leader had a medical appointment and couldn't be on site until half ten. She took both changes without a murmur. Small job, went smoothly, and the garage door shut on an empty garage by the early afternoon.
We do a lot of house clearance in Stevenage and across the rest of the SG postcodes, and honestly, most weeks look more like that garage than like the big ones — a part clearance, an end of tenancy clearance, a single room. But the big ones happen too, and they need thinking about differently.
The house clearance we answered two ways
In June 2019 an enquiry came in for a full property clearance, and we replied with two routes rather than one. We don't always do that, and it is worth explaining why we did.
The first route was the clearance itself. We told them we could clear the property, no problem. The team turns up at the property at nine o'clock in the morning and usually gets the place fully cleared on that day. Nothing is paid up front. Nobody needs to box or bag anything beforehand either — the lads clear everything from inside the cupboards, the wardrobes and the drawers themselves, take up carpets and underlay where those are going, and sweep right through the property at the end if that is what is wanted.
The second route was our own sister waste-removal service, and it is a genuinely different animal. That one is a tipper with a driver. The items have to be got ready for collection first, because the labour allowance on it is a limited one — we can add a labourer to the team where that is needed, but the assumption behind it is that the pile is already outside or standing by the door. Its full load allowance runs to 1500kg, where a ton is the usual limit elsewhere, so it will take a heavy load once somebody else has carried that load out. It suits a garage that has already been emptied onto the drive. It does not suit a house nobody has walked into since last winter.
That is the honest split of it, and it is the thing worth working out before you ring. If there is somebody fit and willing to carry everything to the kerb, the tipper is enough and we will say so. If there isn't — and with an estate at a distance there usually isn't — it is a clearance you want. Tell us which of those two you are actually in and we will point you at the right one, even when the right one is the smaller job.
What Stevenage houses hand you
The town was built to a plan, and it shows in the work. Whole estates in Bedwell, Shephall, Chells and Pin Green went up in the fifties and sixties with rear parking courts, garage blocks set back from the terraces, and service roads that were never meant for a Luton with a tail-lift. Get the wrong end of a court and you're barrowing forty yards past somebody's washing. Get the right one and the van backs up to the kitchen door.
The Old Town end is a different animal — older houses off the High Street, narrower frontages, restricted bays, and stairs that turn twice on the way up. Then there's the newer stuff towards Great Ashby and Symonds Green, where the drives are fine but the loft hatches are small and the boarding stops halfway.
None of that is a complaint. It's just the reason we ask about parking before we book you in rather than after. Where a bay needs suspending, that is arranged with the borough council in advance, and it is worth doing: a team standing about waiting for a space to open up is a slow start to a day that has a whole house in it.
The five places that turn a one-load job into a two-load job are the loft, the garage, the shed, the cupboard under the stairs and whatever has been stacked down the side of the house. They are the ones people forget to mention, because they haven't opened them in years. Have a look before you ring us. If the answer is "I've no idea what's up there", say so — we would rather plan for the worst hatch in Stevenage than find it at half past three.
Probate house clearance in Stevenage
A fair share of what we do here is probate work, and it comes with its own set of worries that have nothing to do with furniture. Where the clearance follows a death and a solicitor or an executor is handling matters, we invoice them directly — the solicitor, the power of attorney or the executors of the estate — rather than asking a family member to fund it from their own account and claim it back afterwards. Payment can come out of the estate. There is no deposit, nothing on the doorstep, and no card details before the van moves; the invoice follows the work once you are satisfied with it.
That matters more than it sounds, because probate does not run to anybody's timetable. We have waited weeks on paperwork sitting on somebody's desk, and the person dealing with it spent that time apologising for a delay that was never theirs to cause. A probate house clearance in Stevenage is a job we are content to have done and wait on. It is not a job we will chase you over while you are still waiting on a grant.
You don't need to sort or set aside anything before we come. We empty the wardrobes, the drawers, the airing cupboard and the kitchen cupboards, lift carpets and underlay where those are going, and sweep the place through at the end. Some people spend a fortnight dreading that part of it. Don't — it's the part we are actually for. Anything of sentimental value that turns up during a probate clearance — albums, letters, a tin of photographs, service medals — is put aside and given back or posted on. Tell us in advance what you would want kept and it gets kept.
Most house clearance Stevenage enquiries begin with the same question, which is what it will cost. The answer is a phone call: ring the office on 0800 046 5555, or send photographs through the form on this page, and you will get a figure for your property. We would rather do that properly than have somebody stand in your hall inventing extras.
Garage and loft clearance in Stevenage
A garage and loft clearance on its own is a normal booking here. The new-town houses came with a garage in a block or at the end of a drive, and most of them have not had a car in them for years. Lofts are the other half of it — hatch, ladder, and whatever went up there when the family moved in. Name both when you ring, because between them they decide whether the day is one load or two.
Where everything goes
Furniture and household goods that somebody else can still use go out to a charity shop or a reuse project locally wherever they'll take them — we'd rather see a wardrobe carried into a shop than tipped. What can't be reused is sorted and weighed in at a permitted transfer station, and we keep the transfer notes for every load. Ask to see either and we'll send them. We hold a waste carrier licence, CBDU419679, and we have been doing this since 2007.
A few things travel on their own terms. Fridges and freezers hold gas and are handled under separate rules. Sofas, armchairs and other upholstered seating are handled as POP waste, mattresses go through their own separate route, and televisions and monitors are electrical waste. Paint tins, gas cylinders and anything chemical can't ride in a mixed household load at all, so tell us if there's a shelf of them in the garage and we'll sort out how they go.
Hertfordshire runs the household recycling centres and vans generally need a permit arranged beforehand, which is half the reason people ring a firm instead of doing three trips themselves. The other half is that a skip sits on your drive for a week and you still have to fill it.
Properties that have got badly on top of somebody are ordinary work for us, not an event. Nobody comments, nobody photographs anything except the standard before-and-after shots the team leader takes for quality records, and those go to you and nowhere else.
Across the SG postcodes
South Stevenage and North Stevenage including Old Town and Town Centre are the two halves of it, with Great Ashby on the northern edge and Bragbury End, Walkern and Ardeley out in the villages.
We work SG1 and SG2 in Stevenage itself, and out through SG3 at Knebworth, SG4 towards Hitchin, SG6 in Letchworth Garden City, SG7 at Baldock, SG8 around Royston, SG12 at Ware and SG13/SG14 in Hertford, and SG18 over the Bedfordshire border at Biggleswade and Langford. Several of those have pages of their own: house clearance in Hitchin, house clearance in Letchworth Garden City and house clearance in Royston for the smaller places on our side of the county, and house clearance in St Albans for the bigger town down the A1(M).
Stevenage station puts the town twenty-odd minutes off King's Cross on the East Coast Main Line, which matters more than you'd think: a good half of the executors we deal with here don't live in the county any more. They come up for the morning, hand over the key, and go back the same day. If you can't get here at all, we'll take the key from a neighbour or an agent, clear the house, and email you photographs of every empty room.
The A1(M) runs alongside the town, so getting a second van over from another job is rarely the drama it would be somewhere with one road in. One customer wrote afterwards: "Thank you for your excellent service I was really impressed and Thank you for your excellent service, I was really impressed."
What we need from you to book
Ring us or send the details through and we'll talk it over properly — how many bedrooms, whether the loft and garage are in, what the parking is like on your road, and when the keys need handing over. You'll get a figure from that conversation, not a salesman on your step an hour later. Then the team meets you at the property at nine, and most Stevenage houses are done and swept by the end of the day.
Questions we get asked about house clearance in Stevenage
Can you invoice a solicitor or executor for a probate clearance? Yes. We invoice the solicitor, the power of attorney or the executors of the estate directly, and payment can come from the estate. There is no deposit — the invoice follows the completed work.
What does house clearance in Stevenage cost? That depends on what is in the property, so we won't guess at it on a page. Ring 0800 046 5555 or send photographs through the form on this page and you'll get a figure for your house.
Do I need to clear anything out beforehand? No. Cupboards, wardrobes, drawers, the airing cupboard, the loft — we do all of it. If there are things staying, tell the team leader on the morning and they will be left where they are.
What can't you take on the van? Paint, chemicals and gas cylinders can't go in a mixed household load. Fridges, freezers, mattresses, upholstered furniture and electricals all go, but on their own separate routes under the rules that cover them.
Nobody can be at the house — is that a problem? It isn't. We'll collect a key from a neighbour or an agent, clear the property and send you photographs of each empty room. Plenty of our Stevenage work is booked by executors living a long way from Hertfordshire.
Are you licensed and insured? Yes — waste carrier licence CBDU419679, fully insured, and working since 2007. Transfer notes for every load are yours on request.
