We have been doing house clearance in Boston since 2007, out on the Fens, and most of it begins with a phone call or a set of photographs rather than a visit. Two of ours, told properly, will tell you more about how a Boston house clearance actually runs than any amount of description.
The keys for that one were sitting in an estate agent's office a few doors off the Market Place, and the people dealing with the house were living abroad. July 2022, a PE21 address on the Boston side of the Haven. We were asked to bring ID with us when we collected the keys, which is fair enough. The agent had never met our lads and wasn't going to hand over a set of keys to whoever walked in at quarter to nine. Keys back to the same office before half five, too. That was the arrangement, and it worked.
The other wrinkle was that the house had no power and no water when we arrived. Not cut off, just switched off. The electric was on a card meter and the board had been left tripped, so it was a case of flicking the switch and checking there was credit on the card. The stopcock was either under the kitchen sink or by the front door — the family weren't sure which, and told us so honestly rather than guessing. That sort of message is worth ten minutes of standing about in an empty hallway wondering.
Afterwards we sent the usual set of photographs of the empty rooms. The reply came back with a question we get more often than you'd think in this part of Lincolnshire: were those dark patches on the floorboards damp, or mould? Once the carpet and underlay come up in a house that's been shut for months, you see the floor properly for the first time. Our team leader gave an honest opinion — it looked like damp — and said plainly that it would need someone qualified to confirm it. Nobody was pretending to be a surveyor. The reply we got was short: "Thanks for confirming and thank you for all your help, including the info about the floorboards."
A morning job on the other side of town
Four months later we were in PE21 again, a different corner of Boston, and that one was done and dusted by lunchtime. The council had already been for the mattresses, so those were off the list. What was left for us was the white goods and the household contents: a washing machine still plumbed in, a fridge freezer, and a small tumble dryer. We had asked in advance what was in the kitchen and whether any of it was staying, and the answer came back in one line — "No cooker but there is a small tumble dryer." That is exactly the kind of reply that makes a Boston house clearance run to time, because the lads know what they are lifting before they set off.
The other question we were asked beforehand was whether the washing machine needed disconnecting first. It didn't. Our lads carry the tools for that and they'll take a machine off the taps and the waste themselves — same with a cooker if it's on a flexible hose rather than hard-piped. Hard-piped gas is a different matter and needs the right trade; we'll say so rather than have a go.
Fridges, freezers and mattresses are worth mentioning on their own. Fridges and freezers count as hazardous waste, so they can't simply be tipped in with the rest of the load — the gas has to be dealt with and the units go for separate processing under the regulations. Mattresses can't be compacted with a household load either and go the same separate route. Upholstered furniture — sofas, armchairs, padded dining chairs, office chairs, even a single loose seat cushion — falls under the POPs rules and has to be kept apart from the rest and sent for incineration rather than landfill. None of that is a surprise sprung on the doorstep. Tell us on the phone what's in the house and we'll tell you what we can take and what needs handling separately.
Out on the fen
Boston work isn't all town work. A fair share of what we clear sits out in PE22 and PE20, down lanes with a dyke on one side and no passing place for half a mile. Sibsey, Stickney, Old Leake, Wrangle, Friskney, Butterwick, Benington and Leverton on one side of the town, Swineshead, Kirton, Sutterton, Bicker, Wigtoft, Algarkirk and Donington on the other. Farm cottages, bungalows put up in the sixties, the odd old place with two outbuildings and a yard that has been filling up quietly since the seventies.
Photographs of the route in matter more out there than they do in town. You want to know whether a Luton van can turn at the end, whether the verge will hold it after a wet week, and how far the lads are walking each item from the door to the tailgate. On a fen lane those three things decide the shape of the day. We also want to know before we set off what is wired in and staying and what is on a plug and coming. An oven hard-wired into the wall usually stays, a fridge on a plug usually comes.
Where there are outbuildings involved, our team leader would rather make the estimate on site than pin one to photographs. That's the honest way round. Photographs flatten a yard, and a shed nobody has opened since 2011 never looks in a picture the way it looks when the door comes off.
Where we work from Boston
PE21 is the town itself — Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Wyberton, the estates out past Boston West, the terraces round the Stump and the streets running back off the Market Place. PE20 takes in Swineshead, Kirton, Sutterton and the villages towards Fosdyke and Frampton. PE22 runs north and east from the town out to Sibsey, Stickney, Old Leake and Wrangle. Those three districts are our own patch for house clearance in Boston, and every job described on this page happened inside them.
We work the surrounding towns as well, and each has its own page rather than being swallowed into this one. There's house clearance in Spalding down the A16, house clearance in Sleaford out to the west, house clearance in Skegness along the coast. House clearance in Lincoln for anyone dealing with a Boston property from the city end.
- house clearance in Spalding
- house clearance in Sleaford
- house clearance in Skegness
- house clearance in Lincoln
If you're travelling in to meet the team, Boston railway station is on Station Street, on the line that runs from Skegness through Sleaford and Grantham towards Nottingham. Plenty of the people who book us arrive that way for the morning, hand over keys and leave us to it. We start at nine and aim to finish the property in the day where the volume allows.
Parking in Boston town is its own small puzzle. The streets round the Market Place are tight, market days fill the centre, and the level crossings can hold a van up for longer than you'd plan for. Tell us on the phone if the property is on a narrow terrace or a shared courtyard and we'll sort the approach beforehand rather than discovering it at nine in the morning.
Probate house clearance in Boston
A good share of our Boston house clearance work is probate work, and it usually comes to us second-hand. From an executor living in another county, a solicitor acting for the estate, or a family member who has been given the job because they live nearest. Both of the jobs above were handled at a distance, one of them from outside the UK entirely.
Probate clearances have their own rhythm. Nothing goes until the executor says it goes. If there are papers, photographs, jewellery or documents to be found before the house is emptied, say so and the lads will set those aside in a box rather than bagging them with the rest. If something is to be left in place — carpets, curtains, a light fitting, a fitted wardrobe — tell us and it stays. We send photographs of every empty room at the end, which is what an executor at a distance actually needs, both for their own record and for the file.
On the money side of a probate house clearance there is one thing to say plainly, and it isn't a figure. We invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly — you don't have to pay it personally and claim it back. Payment can come out of the estate. There is no deposit and nothing to pay up front: the invoice goes out after the clearance is finished and the photographs have been sent. For a figure, ring the office or send photographs through the form on this page.
What it costs and where it all goes
On cost, this page says one thing only. Ring us on 0800 046 5555 with the address, the number of bedrooms and roughly what's still inside, or send photographs through the form on this page, and you'll get a figure. Estimates are free and there's no obligation attached to them. What we won't do is publish numbers here that were true for somebody else's house on somebody else's day.
Nothing goes straight to landfill because it's easier. Furniture, white goods that still work and household goods in decent condition are offered on for reuse where somebody locally will take them. On more than one clearance the best outcome has been a family member taking the fridge, a freezer and the television for a first home, and that beats anything we could do with them. What's genuinely finished is weighed in and processed at a permitted transfer station, with the paperwork kept for each load — if you want the disposal receipt, ask and you'll get it. Our waste carrier registration is CBDU419679 and we're insured for the work; you're welcome to check both before we come.
A few things can't travel in an ordinary household load at all. Tins of paint, gas canisters and fire extinguishers, car tyres, asbestos sheeting off a shed roof. They're all dealt with, but each has to be declared and handled separately, because that's what the rules require of anyone moving them. Tell us what's there and it stops being a problem on the day.
Hoarder house clearance, garage and loft clearance in Boston
Some of the properties we're called to haven't been sorted in twenty years, and a hoarder house clearance is ordinary work here rather than a special case. Lofts still packed, a shed you can't get the door past, a garage with more in it than the house. Garage and loft clearance is a job in its own right and plenty of Boston bookings are only that — the family has done the rooms and what's left is up the ladder and behind the up-and-over door. We don't flinch at those and we don't comment on them — we just bring the right number of hands and tell you straight whether it's one day or two. There's no need to bag anything up or empty a single drawer beforehand. Our lads clear cupboards, wardrobes and drawers as they go, lift carpets and underlay if you want them gone, and sweep through at the end.
Boston house clearance questions we get asked
Can you invoice a solicitor or an executor for a probate house clearance? Yes. We invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly, and payment can come out of the estate — you don't need to settle it yourself and reclaim it later. There's no deposit; the invoice follows the finished clearance and the photographs of the empty rooms.
Do I need to be at the property in Boston on the day? No. A great many of our Boston clearances are done with keys collected from an agent, a neighbour or a key safe, and photographs sent afterwards. If the keys come from an office, tell us what ID the lads need to bring and when the office closes, and we'll work to that.
Do I have to sort or bag anything up first? Not a thing. Drawers, wardrobes and cupboards can be left exactly as they are. If certain items are to stay — carpets, curtains, an oven that's wired in, a piece of furniture going to family — just list them when you book and they'll be left where they are.
Can you take a fridge freezer, a mattress or a sofa? Yes, all three, but they don't travel as ordinary household waste. Fridges and freezers are hazardous waste and go for separate processing, mattresses can't be compacted with the load, and upholstered furniture falls under the POPs rules and has to be kept apart and incinerated. Just say what's there when you ring.
How long does a house clearance in Boston take? Most three-bedroom houses in PE21 are a one-day job, starting at nine. Fen properties in PE20 and PE22 with outbuildings, or a house where the loft and garage are both full, can run to two. We'll tell you which it is before the day rather than on it.
Do you cover the villages as well as Boston town? Yes — PE20, PE21 and PE22 in full, from Skirbeck and Fishtoft to Swineshead, Kirton, Sibsey and Old Leake. Neighbouring towns have their own pages, so if the property is nearer Spalding, Sleaford, Skegness or Lincoln, start there.
Ring the office on 0800 046 5555 with the address, the number of bedrooms and roughly what's still inside, or send photographs through the form on this page. We'll come back to you with a figure for the house clearance.
