Preparation is the cheapest part of a house clearance. An hour spent on documents and keys prevents a day of confusion.
Remove the things that must not be mixed
Take documents, passports, driving licences, bank paperwork, jewellery, cash, medicines, keys and any photographs you already know you want. If the house is a deceased estate, do this even if you feel unready. Those items are hard to recover from a mixed load.
Leave a labelled box by the door for anything found on the day that looks personal. Tell the team it exists.
Photograph the rooms as they are
Photographs help the quote and they help you later. If a relative asks what was in the back bedroom, a picture is better than an argument. Photograph outbuildings and the loft hatch as well.
Decide the scope in writing
Whole house, or everything except the dining room. Loft included, or not. Garage included, or not. Garden furniture in or out. Write it down. The quotation should match that list.
Access and services
Make sure someone can open the property. If parking is restricted, say so. If a cooker or hob is still connected to gas, it may need isolating before it can be moved. We are not a gas engineer. Flag it early.
Fridge contents can stay if the clearance includes perishables. If the property has been empty, expect extra time for spoiled food. That is ordinary, not a judgement.
Hazardous or awkward items
Mention asbestos suspicion, gas bottles, large volumes of paint, clinical waste, a piano, or a fish tank that is still full. Some of those items stop a standard clearance until a specialist has been involved.
The morning of the job
Leave a kettle if you want one, or do not — it does not matter. What matters is that the rooms in the quote are accessible and the “keep” items are marked or gone. If you cannot be there, appoint a keyholder and send the written scope to everyone involved.
The house clearance service page explains what happens after we arrive.