Over the years I’ve had many different types of junk removal jobs, where I have removed all types of trash, furniture, clothing, kitchen ware, appliances, wood, concrete, asphalt, and many other types of debris. When I get to a job I never know what to expect, it could be a bed and dresser I was called to take away and end up removing sofas, boxes, clothing and carpet. If it’s a hoarding situation there could be almost anything, from refrigerators, stoves and recliner chairs, to desks, children’s toys, T.V.’s, all types of electronics and dining tables.
Often times storage sheds will need to be removed and demolished and the contents removed. I get a lot of calls to remove jacuzzis, which have to be cut into sections. I’ve taken away broken wooden fences, block and brick walls, and brick patio fireplaces. Occasionally I get a call to tear out a concrete patio or asphalt driveway. I remember I did an asphalt driveway in La Crescenta. We tore out and removed 27,000 LBS. in two days. Those are my favorite jobs.
One of the jobs I remember well was a junk removal job in Eco Park, in Los Angeles. We were removing all kinds of things from an old home. It was on a hill and it was about fifty yards to get to the sixty steps that led up to the street where my truck was parked. It was summer and during a heat wave. We carried all kinds of furniture, dining tables, end tables and coffee tables, wooden crates, boxes, cloths, electronics, chunks of cement, old bricks, plastic containers, tires, wood from a broken fence, and every other kind of debris you can think of up those stairs.
Another junk removal job that stands out was for a Dr.’s office near U.S.C. Medical center in Los Angeles. We took out medical examination chairs and tables, as well as desks, end tables, book cases and boxes. Over the years I’ve removed many record keeping cabinets, both metal and wood. Law offices are much the same in that I will be removing much of the same items. They tend to be more on the order of wood and metal file cabinets, credenzas, desks, coffee and end tables, chairs, both sectional and single piece desks, and book cases. Sometime a few couches are thrown in to be removed.
Another thing I am asked to remove from offices are the metal and fabric cubicles. There is a lot of time in disassembling them, but they stack well.
One of the factors in bidding office moves and clean-outs is the time spent in getting the furniture and other items to the truck. It is often a long carry through halls and waiting for elevators, while other are using them. There are always things that take time you don’t expect.
I get a large percentage of calls for the removal of boxes and the packing materials, such as paper and plastic bubble wrap, which are left over from a move. I break all the boxes down to flats and consolidate the packing materials into as few boxes as possible. It takes time but saves the customer money because they are paying for how much space is taken in the truck.
I’ll never forget the night I removed an iron railing on the coast in Malibu. I received a call around 4 in the afternoon on a Friday. An iron railing had disconnected from a home on the coast in Malibu, and washed in large sections down the beach about 100 yards. I was out there by 9 PM running my extension cords from the house over a cliff and wall down to the surf in order to cut the sections into manageable pieces to carry. It took several cuts with my Sawsall to bring the iron railing and bannister into several sections weighing about 100 LBS. each. The carry back to the house they had broken free from was difficult and dangerous due to having to walk on the stones and rocks of different shapes and sizes, with the tide coming in covering them, making it impossible to see where to step. Very easy to twist or break an ankle. When we got to the house there was a cliff and wall, the pieces of railing had to be lifted over, another difficult task given the weight of the steel and height to be lifted.