It is mid-October and the garage door has not been fully open since June. The lawnmower lives behind three boxes marked "loft", a bag of offcuts from last year's decking job, a broken chair that is definitely going to get fixed one day, and a mountain of things that might be useful to someone — which is the polite way of saying clutter.
If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. And if you are a tradesperson reading this with a lock-up or a workshop in the same state — tools buried under old materials, offcuts from three jobs ago, a growing pile of "I will take that to the tip next week" — then you are doubly the person we wrote this for.
We clear garages and sheds in Cardiff and Newport week in, week out. Some are a single van load. Some take several. And the most consistent thing people tell us after we finish is not "that was cheap" — it is "I should have done that years ago." So let us talk about what fits, what it costs, and why this month is the best one to get it done.
How much garage rubbish fits in a van load?
Our vans are 16 cubic yards — about 1.5 times the size of a standard tipper. A single full van load absorbs roughly what a double garage holds when it is packed floor-to-ceiling with a mix of furniture, boxes, bags, timber and garden waste. If you have ever hired an 8-yard skip, that is half our van. One trip from us replaces two skips, with no permit and none of the lifting.
A quarter van load — £160 for general waste — handles a single-car garage that just needs a tidy, a workshop bench and the stuff around it, or one of those sheds that has been "about to collapse" for the last two years.
A half van load — £290 — is the sweet spot for a two-car garage that has been accumulating for a while, or a large garden shed with a concrete base that needs clearing before it gets demolished. We see this size more than any other: enough space to feel decisive, small enough that it fits a morning slot before lunch.
A full van — £450 — handles a packed double garage with furniture, old white goods (not fridges — we cannot take those), timber, boxes and years of accumulation. It also covers a small workshop or lock-up that a tradesperson needs emptied.
If the load is mostly garden waste — trimmings, old planters, broken pots — the green rates apply instead: £80 a quarter load, £140 a half, £250 a full van. We separate it on the van where we can, because it costs us less to dispose of, and that saving goes straight back to you.
What can we take from a garage or shed clearance?
We can't take fridges, freezers, asbestos, chemicals, oils, solvents, fuel, clinical waste, gas bottles or any other hazardous materials. If you're unsure about something, send a photo and we'll tell you straight away. Here is the list of what we actually loaded from garage and shed jobs last month:
- Old furniture — sofas, armchairs, table tops, broken drawers
- Timber offcuts, MDF, pallets, old fencing stored "just in case"
- Empty paint tins (tins with paint still in them need a different route)
- Carpet rolls, lino, underlay offcuts from a room that got re-done in 2022
- Old tools — broken power tools, rusty hand tools, a workbench that has seen better days
- Exercise equipment — the treadmill that became a clothes horse, the exercise bike that has not moved since 2021
- Garden equipment — broken lawnmowers, strimmers, old hoses, plant pots, bags of compost gone solid
- Decking boards, fence panels, old shed sections — dismantled on the spot
- Black bin bags of general household rubbish that never made it to the wheelie bin
If it is in a garage or shed and you want it gone, the only two answers we ever give are "yes" and "let me check the photo." We price it before we turn up, on a photo you send through WhatsApp, and the price does not change once we are there unless there is substantially more than the photo showed.
Can you mix different types of waste in one garage clearance?
Garages are never one type of waste. You might have a bag of hedge cuttings next to a broken desk next to three tins of old paint next to a pile of rubble from a path you lifted last spring.
We price mixed loads honestly by what is actually in them. If most of it is general household waste with a bit of garden mixed in, that is a general waste load. If it is genuinely mostly green waste — garden trimmings, old planters — we will quote it at the garden rate and absorb the bits of general that are mixed through it. Send a photo and we will tell you which it is before we load the van.
Why is autumn the best time for garage clearance in Cardiff?
There are practical reasons October is the best month for this job:
- Daylight. We work until the light goes, and autumn afternoons are shorter than summer ones. Booking earlier in the month means we get the full day for loading.
- Temperature. Loading a garage in July when it is 28 degrees and the space has no ventilation is a grim experience for everyone. October is cooler, the work is easier, and we are less rushed.
- Pre-winter reset. A cleared garage means the car actually fits. A cleared shed means the garden furniture has somewhere dry to go. And a cleared lock-up means a tradesperson starts winter with every tool visible and no dead materials taking up space.
- Shorter lead times. We are still busy, but autumn is less frantic than the spring clearance rush or the pre-Christmas push. Same-day or next-day availability is the norm now.
Do you dismantle garage shelving and workbenches?
A shed that has been there fifteen years is not walking itself into the van. We dismantle sheds on the spot — panels, felt roof, frame, whatever is holding it up — and load it all. Decking and fencing that is still in the ground? We pull the posts, concrete and all, and that goes in too. There is no extra charge for the dismantling within a van load. The only add-ons are £10 per flight of stairs and £30 for carries over 10 metres, and we tell you about those before we quote, not after the van arrives.
Quick answers
Can you clear a garage the same day I call?
Most of the time, yes, if we are not already on a full job. Send a photo on WhatsApp in the morning and we will usually have it loaded by the afternoon. We cover Cardiff, Newport and all surrounding areas same-day where we can.
Can you take asbestos from a garage or shed?
No — asbestos needs a specialist licensed carrier with separate handling and disposal routes. That is not something we are set up for, and we will tell you that on the photo before you book. Everything else in the garage, we take.
What about fridges and freezers?
Fridges and freezers need the gas circuit professionally removed before transport, which means a separate specialist run. We cannot take them. Washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers — those we can take, no problem.
Do I need to bag everything first?
Not at all. Loose, bagged, boxed — it all goes in the van the same way. If it is loose, we bag it as we load it. You do not need to lift a thing or prepare anything. That is the whole point of calling us rather than doing it yourself.
How do I know what size I need?
Send a photo on WhatsApp. We look at the pile — garage, shed, lock-up, workshop — and tell you whether it is a quarter, half or full load, along with the estimate. There is no obligation after the quote. If your garage is fuller than you think, we can always take two loads; we would rather quote conservatively and add a second trip than overcharge you for space you do not use.
One more thing
Every load from a garage or shed clearance goes to a licensed transfer station, sorted for recycling where possible, and we give you a receipt showing our Natural Resources Wales carrier registration — CBDU034669 — which satisfies your legal duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act. If that waste ever turned up dumped somewhere (which it will not, because we are a registered carrier who disposes of everything properly), the liability is on us, not you. That is the difference between booking a licensed operator and putting a Facebook post out for "man with a van."
Send a photo on WhatsApp — +44 7497 497223 — and we will quote it before we set off. If you would rather work the price out yourself first, the full price list is on our prices page.