How do house clearance businesses operate?

[garethp1]

Hi,

I have been attending a weekly general auction run by a house clearance company. Most of it is junk but they claim to own all the stock and each auction generates around £4000 a week. However I have also seen charities promoting free house clearances so I puzzled as to how they actually operate and what a house clearance business does.

 

[fisicx]

They turn up, clear everything out, sell the bits that have value and recycle the rest.

The free hourse clearances make their money through the sale of the stuff they collect. It's a very simple model.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Hi,

It used to be great now every man and his dog is doing them. The prices some folk are charging, i dont even know how they pay to tip the junk. Unless they are selling everything or giving stuff away which we are not geared up to do.

In the last 5 years since i bought the company, i have never found anything of great value.

I suppose it all boils down to how much you want to earn. If you only want to earn £50 or £80 a day then its great. With our overheads unfortunatly we need to earn more so we do more removals than clearances now.

Good luck, ben.

 

[garethp1]

Hi, that doesn’t seem to tally with the limited experience I have seen. The company that runs the weekly general auction also runs a monthly antiques and collectables auction. I went to one, it lasted 8 hours and had 1100 lots. I would say they cleared £30,000 approx. I also went to the house of a house clearance business owner. He had a large house, I would estimate £400k and 4 average cars outside. He had 10 antique violins and 6 oboes from the day before, he said he would expect to get £1500.00 for. He also had stacks of nice paintings around. There is also a house clearance company near me that runs a large shop. They have some nice stuff in like furniture that sells for £500.00 a piece and an antique cash register selling for £400.00. From what I’ve seen there seems to be good money in it.

 

[Newchodge]

I think it will depend, greatly, on the part of the country you are in. In the stockbroker belt you might get several houses with very valuable contents, and a few with very little. Up here in the north east I would expect the reverse, serveral with very little and very few with valuable contents.

 

[garethp1]

Thanks, my plan is to generate leads and sell them to help learn about the industry. Do you think this is a good idea. Should be a learning curve of sorts.

 

[ethical PR]

Why not just look for work in the industry?

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Fisicx is spot on.

Some companies just clear and resell, some auction, some rework, some do all!

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Go for it, first problem is getting the work!

If you can get jobs off solicitors where the family is not involved then yes i am sure you will get something. All our work is direct for the customer so they will cherry pick through ( which i would expect them to ) and leave with junk which we will clear.

Good luck in your venture.

Ben.

 

[stender]

I agree it depends where the jobs are coming from. Most people are pretty clued up on whether something might be worth a few quid and have ebay etc as a reference. I would think even having a contract with a council you wouldn't be the first to cherry pick.
I used a house clearance company once and they wanted to charge me to take away good furniture I knew they could sell. They wanted the best of both worlds. Pick and choose what they took.

How do you know the auction items you spoke of are from clearence and haven't been entered by sellers?

 

[garethp1]

Because they don't accept submissions and they have vans turn up with house clearance written on. They just start everything at £1 and go for volume. Some items do sell for £100+ but most selling for a few pounds.

The guys house and the shop I went to had good stuff.

 

[Kelley_Hedley2]

House cleances for letting agents are meant to dispose of everything, but some sell it on as you've seen.

Hi,

I have been attending a weekly general auction run by a house clearance company. Most of it is junk but they claim to own all the stock and each auction generates around £4000 a week. However I have also seen charities promoting free house clearances so I puzzled as to how they actually operate and what a house clearance business doe

 

[DontAsk]

House cleances for letting agents are meant to dispose of everything, but some sell it on as you've seen.

His is a ten year old thread! but selling IS disposing.