Disposal, Cleaning, Packing & Restoration Services

Disposal Services

Estate Clean Outs

There are many reasons why an estate clean out may be done. In Vancouver, many people need to downsize when they are doing a move. As well there will be different circumstances where elderly family members need to be moved, or they pass on, and something needs to be done with what is left behind.

Deciding what should be kept, stored, donated or taken to the transfer station can be difficult. Some items will have sentimental value, and it’s often a good idea to put some time into thinking about what you really want to keep.

We have a great deal of experience in dealing with estate clean outs and we understand being sensitive to how the client wants the items dealt with is what is most important.

This is the standard procedure we follow for an estate clear out.

1. We ask that everyone who is involved first go thru and take out what is personally important and valuable to them and what they wouldn’t want anyone else to touch and possibly lose. Money, valuables and important papers are the main things.
2. Important items must be marked off when the initial walk thru is done. It is not always obvious what is important, and we don’t want to risk sentimental or important items being thrown out or donated.
3. When the household items are separated into what will be kept, stored, donated, recycled or sent to the transfer station, it is often important that whoever is making the decisions on what is to be done give a final OK.
4. We have packers, packing material and cleaners available if the client wishes, or the client can do this part themselves if they wish to cut costs.
5. We have very good deals on heated secured storage, so if there are items you want to store, we can do this for you. However, we always asked the client to be sure that they want to keep their items for storage. Many people have lockers for many years and the cost of the storage begins to far exceed the value of the items stored. For some people, the sentimental value of the items is worth the costs, but it is always good to think on it before making the decision to keep certain items.
6. For small disposals, we take an estimate of weight and charge what we think we will be charged at the transfer station. Items that we are sure we can donate we won’t charge weight fees on but if we are unsure if items can be donated we will charge the weight fee. For larger disposals, we will bring back or send a picture of the exact bill charged at the transfer station. We will also document the exact amount of time we had to spend donating and recycling items and bill for that time.
7. We ask that a final walk thru is done and the client is sure that everything has been dealt with to their satisfaction.

Cleaning/Packing Services

If you need help with cleaning, packing and/or packing supplies, we can also help here for quite reasonable rates.

Generally, when doing the move-out pack, there will need to be a basic cleaning of your items so they can be wrapped and not make the moving blankets dirty. The kind of material used for doing the pack will depend on the value of the items and how much care and time and padding materials you would like the packers to use. For example, often just blankets can be used to wrap pictures before they are boxed; however, if you don’t want smudges or slight scuffs, then you should request that the packers bring bubble wrap to pre-wrap. The packers will have a good idea of how much care and time to put into the pack based on the items they are packing and will ask for your feedback on how you want the pack done.

There is always a need for a move-out clean as well. If you like, we can do a simple clean or a deeper clean if this is something you don’t want to deal with yourself.

All valuable, fragile objects we would ask that the person you trust most– yourself– deal with personally. Money, jewelry and important documents must always be separated before the various workers come thru. Small, delicate, expensive items you should box yourself or explain to the workers that they need to put extra care into packing the items and have them separated so that you may transport them in your personal vehicle, or they can be well boxed and marked. Hence, the chance of damage is much less.

Restoration Packing and Cleaning

We have an experienced restoration cleaning and packing crew available for fire and flood damage and insurance claims. We have packers that are experienced in using the encircle app that is used for taking pictures and documenting in a more complete way when a tag and list aren’t sufficient for storing and returning items. Rates are the same for this sort of pack and unpack but the time spent documenting and returning means more time must be spent on the job. A benefit of the documenting and picture taking is that items can be returned exactly as they were found and we can be certain if there was any damage done from moving and storing the items.

We have thick fully impermeable tarps that are laid down in the trucks when disposing of water and fire damaged items. All clean, non-damaged items we can store in 6’x7’x7′ vaults in a heated and secured warehouse or in individual lockers.