Hiring a junk removal company in Kitsilano

You live in Kitsilano and you have some unwanted items that you need disposed of. What are your options? This page will provide you with some good ideas on what your options are.

Hiring a hauling services in Vancouver

This is the option, which is the easiest but at the same time will cost you the most, is the most popular. The process involves calling a disposal company that is servicing Vancouver, or even better, located in the Kitsilano area.

What should you know before contacting a rubbish removal company?

  • Know who you are dealing with. There are some bad apples in this industry. This kind of service is booming and it is attracting some questionable characters, just like in the renovation business. Do your background check on whoever you are planning to hire to get rid of your junk. Read comments, check their website and most importantly, speak to customer service. I can’t stress enough the last point. Why is that? Because, when you speak to a person, if you are really paying attention, you will be able to sense that something is not right about the story they are selling you.
  • Be able to describe what kind of junk you have and how much is there. The best thing to do, once you have decided which garbage company to hire, is to look at the size of truck they will send to you house. Every disposal company should have a picture of their trucks. Look at your pile of rubbish and try to picture how much of the truck will be filled up by that pile. Then when you are talking to a customer service representative, you can use this as a measuring unit. For example you can say that you will need about 1/3 of their truck. Then they will be able to offer you a more precise cost estimation.
  • Have few dates that you can be at home. They may not be able to send a truck exactly when you are free. The more dates you have, the greater the chance is for them to find a slot that works both for you and them.
  • Get as much of your junk sorted as possible. Hauling companies will do all the sorting and bagging, but only up to a point. If they have to spent hours sorting, bagging and carrying items to their truck, they will charge you extra labour fees after the 1st hour. Separate into smaller piles metals, cardboard, and electronics, from the rest of the junk. If you have large items, which can’t fit into a garbage bag, then you don’t have to worry about bagging your garbage. However, if you have hundreds of small items, they have to be bagged. Again, you don’t have to, but if you think the one hour of free labour will not be enough for the guys to take care of your project then you might want to bag your rubbish.

Should you hire a big or small junk removal company?

This really depends on what you are looking for and what is your tolerance for bad services. Small companies are nothing more than a guy with his pickup truck, making some extra cash on the weekends. Some of these guys are hard workers, but for the most part the rest are not reliable. If you want to save some money, but don’t mind staying at home all day waiting for them to show up, then you can try a small company. You will also need to be able to be around some peculiar behaviour, for these guys have the tendency to be moody. Again, I don’t want to paint them all with the same brush, but you need to be cautious when you are hiring them. Use your phone conversation to determine if you are dealing with a problematic guy.

The other extreme is the large companies. They will provide you with a good quality service, for the most part, but they will cost you significantly more. Their higher junk removal rates are not entirely unfair, because they have larger call centres and more labour to support. However, they also have the tendency to overcharge clients under the pretext that some items need a special disposal methods. This is true for some of those items but that is not always the case.

Therefore, you best option is probably hiring a company of an average size. It is not black and white, but you can use these general rules when guiding your decisions. Again, read their google reviews, talk to them, compare rates and you should be fine. You don’t have to get it right the first time. Once you find a good rubbish disposal company, you will be very proud of knowing it and you will feel like you are helping your friends by recommending it to them. I am not exaggerating. My business has become mostly referrals. Most people had bad experience with hiring hauling companies and they are on the look for a good service. Be one of those people how are able to contribute to the solution.

Selling your items

Considering that they are not junk, then you can sell them. You can try craigslist for example. Make sure you give yourself some time for this option. I had clients who call me the last minute and many times I can’t help them. They have to be out by the end of the  month and think that they can sell their furniture in 2 days. This doesn’t work most of the time. However, Kitsilano is a vibrant are and people are moving in all the time. New comers need affordable furniture. This is true for the whole of Vancouver. It is a growing city.

Donating you items

This is also a good option. Some charities still take good furniture. Mind that  “good” is a term that few people agree on when it comes to personal possessions. You may love your old couch but most people will not have the same attachment to it. So, give your self few weeks for this project. Post on craigslist and talk to charities. Take pictures and email them. See who wants your items. There are plenty of charities in Kitsilano area and Vancouver as a whole.

With this, we come to the end of how to get rid of items that you have no use for. This topic is larger than what this page can over, but my page has additional information of diverse nature on the topic of junk removal. Feel free to explore it and find more answers.