We have been doing house clearance in Axminster since 2007, and in a normal month there is an EX13 job of some sort on the sheet. A probate house clearance for a family who live nowhere near, a bungalow being emptied before it goes on the market, a rented place handed back at the end of a tenancy. The work is much the same shape whoever rings. Somebody tells us what is going and what is staying, we bring the right van and the right number of hands. The place is empty and swept by the time we lock the door.
What changes is the building. House clearance in Axminster covers a wide spread of housing for a town this size: Georgian and Victorian frontages around the centre, brick and rendered terraces on the streets running off it, the post-war and later estate up at Millwey Rise, bungalows round the edges where a good share of our probate work sits. Then cottages and farmhouses out in the lanes. Each has its own awkwardness. The town-centre houses have stairs that turn twice, low door heads and no side access. A wardrobe comes apart on the landing rather than going down whole. Bungalows are the kind ones — everything on the level, usually a drive to back onto. Now and then a loft that has been filling quietly since the seventies. Farmhouses are fine once you are in the yard. It is the last half-mile of lane that decides which van we send.
Axminster, and what we drive past to get here
Axminster sits in EX13, in East Devon, right on the Devon–Dorset boundary where the A35 comes through from Bridport. The station is on the West of England line out of London Waterloo, single track through here. That train is why a lot of executors turn up for a day and go home again the same evening. If you are handling a house from a distance, that train is your friend.
We work the whole of this branch. Seaton and Colyton down the Axe valley in EX12 and EX24, then up the A35 for house clearance in Honiton in EX14, Ottery St Mary in EX11, and along the coast for house clearance in Sidmouth in EX10, Budleigh Salterton in EX9 and house clearance in Exmouth in EX8. Millwey Rise, Kilmington, Musbury, Uplyme and the lanes towards Lyme Regis are all part of the same day for us. East Devon District Council handles the bins here; the household recycling centres are run by the county. Neither of them will clear a house for you, which is generally why the phone rings.
Inside EX13 itself we are on familiar ground: the town centre and Millwey Rise, Weycroft, Smallridge, Chardstock, Membury, Dalwood, Shute, Musbury and the scattered farmhouses in between. Some of those lanes are single track with passing places and a hedge either side. A Luton van fills them completely. Tell us the postcode and roughly where the gate is and we will send the right vehicle rather than the biggest one. "house clearance Axminster" is what most people type into a phone when a house needs emptying, and it lands them here, but half the jobs that follow are actually out in one of those villages.
House clearance Axminster: how the day runs
The team is at the property for nine. The team leader walks the whole place first thing. Every room, the loft hatch, the garage, the shed — and tells you there and then if he thinks it will run over the day. Nothing carries on beyond what was agreed without your say-so. Estimates are honest about their limits: nobody can see inside a loft from a photograph. A garage you have not opened since 2011 is anyone's guess. If the crew finds more than expected, you get a call and a choice, not a surprise at four o'clock.
Most three-bed houses in and around Axminster are done and swept by mid-afternoon. Bungalows tend to be quicker; a cottage with a boarded loft and a workshop at the bottom of the garden can take the whole day and sometimes a second one.
A collection rather than a full house clearance
Not every job is a whole house. One we handled was a straight collection — a short list agreed on the phone and then confirmed in writing, the van sent for that and nothing else. "As per our phone call we would like to proceed with your Collection Service," the customer wrote, and set out what was going: three POP items, three mattresses, an upright fridge and four tins of paint.
That list is a tidy little lesson in why we ask what is going before we come. Upholstered items fall under the persistent organic pollutant rules and cannot be mixed in with general household waste. Mattresses are handled on their own route. A fridge is a separate stream again because of the gas in it. And paint is hazardous — four tins is nothing. They cannot ride in the back with the soft furnishings, so it matters that they were named at the enquiry stage rather than found on the doorstep.
Parking was sorted out in advance too, which is more than half the battle on a collection: "I have permit for visitor parking bay." Loading time was allowed for in the booking, so the crew were not working against the clock while somebody hunted for a bay. The person who arranged it all was not the person living at the property, which is common enough. A relative organises it, we do the lifting, and the photographs go to whoever is dealing with the paperwork.
What actually comes out of a Devon three-bed
People ask what counts as a load. Easier to show it. Here is what one customer listed for us, room by room, before we quoted on a three-bed:
- Living room: sofa, armchair, coffee table, television, two dressers, a gas fire and a mattress
- Dining room and kitchen: dining table, four chairs, an armchair, chest freezer, glass TV stand. And, in the kitchen, only the fridge to go
- Bedroom one: double bed and mattress, two wardrobes, four chests of drawers, an old TV stand, a suitcase
- Bedroom two: small bed and mattress, a chest of drawers, two suitcases, a Christmas tree
- Bedroom three: wardrobe, chest of drawers, lamp, office chair, suitcase, a large backpack
- Bathroom and shower room: washing machine, dryer, a metal stool, a plastic stool, a towel rack, small wooden storage unit
- Garage and garden: garden table and four chairs, step ladders, old tools in the shed, broken wooden furniture, a mattress, a metal bed frame, a stack of plastic flower pots
The carpets stayed at that one — the buyer wanted them. On another job the opposite was true: carpets up in the bedroom, the lounge and a small runner in the hall. No curtains, no lampshades, and nothing to be dismantled. "Everything that needs to be taken, is in the pictures. No more than that," the customer told us, and that is exactly how it went.
You do not need to bag anything up or empty a single drawer before we come. The crew clears cupboards, wardrobes and lofts as they find them.
When the executor lives three counties away
A good share of Axminster work is probate, and the person dealing with it is often nowhere near. A son in the Midlands, a daughter in Scotland, a solicitor with a file and no time. Probate house clearance in Axminster is usually run at arm's length, and that is fine by us. We can collect a key from an estate agent, a neighbour or a keysafe, work the day without you there. Email photographs of every room once it is empty. Keys can go back by Special Delivery afterwards if that is easier than another long drive.
Nor does the person organising it have to be the one who pays. On probate work we invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly. Tell us at the booking who the invoice goes to and that is who gets it. Payment can come from the estate rather than out of a family member's own pocket. There is no deposit: we do the work first, and the invoice follows after the house is empty. The estimate itself is free and commits you to nothing.
Small things help more than people expect. Ask and the crew will take the meter readings while they are in the house, photograph them and send them over with the completion pictures the same afternoon. One less trip for somebody who lives four hours away. If there is anything of sentimental value to be set aside rather than cleared, say so in advance and it will be put in one room, not loaded. We have found laptops, paperwork, war medals and, once, a very large model railway; none of it goes on the van without a word from you first.
The bits we cannot put in a mixed load
Tins of paint, white spirit, gas bottles, garden chemicals and anything else flagged as hazardous cannot travel with household furniture. They need handling separately, and it is worth telling us at the enquiry stage if the shed has a collection of them.
Sofas, armchairs and padded dining chairs are their own category since the persistent organic pollutant rules came in: the foam and fabric cannot be mixed, sorted or recycled with everything else. Must go for incineration on a documented route. That is why a three-piece suite shows up as separate lines rather than disappearing into the load.
The tip run, and what avoids it
Sound furniture, crockery, tools, unopened bedding — we would far rather it went on to a reuse project or a charity depot in the district than into a skip. We will make the drop-off if the depot has room that day. Depots do fill up, and it can add an hour. Everything else is weighed in at a permitted transfer station, with paperwork for each tip. We are registered as an upper tier waste carrier with the Environment Agency, licence CBDU419679, and fully insured. Ask for either and you will get a copy.
Full houses, and what we say about them
Some properties have forty years in them and no floor left visible. A hoarder house clearance is a different sort of day. More loads, more small items, more time on your knees with a shovel and a bag — but we turn up to those the same as any other, work through it, and there is no commentary from the crew, not on the day and not afterwards. If the estimate needs to grow because of what is under the surface, we tell you before we carry on, not after.
Questions we get asked about house clearance in Axminster
Do I have to be there on the day? No. Plenty of Axminster clearances are done with nobody present. We pick up a key from an agent, a neighbour or a keysafe. You get photographs of every room when it is finished.
Can you deal with a solicitor or an executor instead of me? Yes, and often do. For probate work we take instructions from the executor or the solicitor handling the estate, send completion photographs to whoever is dealing with it. Provide waste transfer notes on request. We invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly, so the bill can be settled out of the estate rather than by a relative; there is no deposit. The invoice comes after the work, not before it.
Do you take carpets and curtains? If you want them gone, yes. Carpets and underlay up, curtains and rails down, and the floor swept through. Tell us at the booking, because plenty of buyers ask for carpets to stay.
Will you clear the garage, the loft and the shed? Yes. Garage and loft clearance is part of a normal day here. It is the part that most often surprises people, so mention it when you send photographs. Ladders, old paint, garden chemicals and gas bottles need flagging separately.
Do you cover the villages, or only the town? The whole branch. Axminster, Seaton, Colyton, Honiton, Ottery St Mary and the villages in between are all ordinary days for us. So are Sidmouth, Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth along the coast.
What about an end of tenancy or a flat clearance? Same crew, usually a shorter day. A one or two-bed flat clearance is generally a single visit. A landlord or managing agent can arrange it without being on site.
Booking a day
Send photographs of the rooms, tell us the postcode, roughly how many bedrooms, whether there is anywhere to leave a van, and what is staying. Use the form on this page, or ring the office on 0800 046 5555 and talk it through. Most people find it quicker to explain a loft over the phone than in writing. We will come back with an estimate and a date. Axminster, Seaton, Colyton, Honiton and the villages between them are all straightforward days for us. Most three-beds are done and swept by mid-afternoon.
