From rental courtyards near Glenferrie Road to big period gardens near the river, Ross clears Hawthorn's green waste by hand and takes it away.
Not a franchisee or a truck driver from a booking system. The bloke who quotes it is the bloke who loads it.
No bags to fill, no skip to load. Leave it in a pile and he loads it, sweeps up and takes it away.
Not a bin size. A heap beside the driveway and one at the bottom of a steep yard are different jobs and get different prices.
Standing tree, asbestos, or more rubbish than garden — he tells you before he starts, not after.
A pruning pile hauled away and a few bags of leaf litter collected is the usual combination on a Hawthorn block.
Piles of prunings, branches, hedge trimmings, leaves and weeds that won't fit in the green bin. Ross backs the trailer in, loads it himself and takes it away to be recycled — you don't lift a thing.
Courtyards, terraces and big period gardens.
Doing a big garden clean-up — overgrown beds, a back corner nobody has touched in years, a rental between tenants or a property being tidied for sale? Pile it all up and Ross collects the lot in one visit.
End-of-lease tidy-ups for rentals.
Fallen limbs, shed bark, leaf litter and dry prunings gathered up from around the house — the fine fuel that matters most in a grassfire or ember attack. Collected and taken away before the Fire Danger Period starts.
Summer clear-out of dead and dry growth.
A gum has dropped a limb across the driveway, or a windy night has left the yard covered. Ross collects what's come down and hauls it away. Standing trees and hung-up limbs are an arborist's job — once they've dropped it, Ross can take it away.
Branches down in yards and laneways.
Hawthorn is a suburb of contrasts. Along and around Glenferrie Road there are flats, terraces and student rentals with small courtyards. Closer to the Yarra and on the quieter streets there are large Victorian homes with established gardens and old trees.
Both produce green waste, just in different ways. A rental courtyard that hasn't been touched for a couple of years can be as much work as a pruning session in a big garden. Ross does green waste removal across Hawthorn, loading everything by hand and leaving the place clean.
A lot of Hawthorn's housing is rented, and gardens are often the first thing to slip. By the end of a lease there can be overgrown shrubs, weeds through the paving and a pile of cuttings in the corner.
Ross works with owners and property managers to get the garden back to a condition that's ready for the next tenant. Once the garden has been cut back, he clears out the green waste and takes it away in one visit.
Many Hawthorn terraces and semis have no side access at all. The only way from the back yard to the street is through the house, or via a rear laneway if you're lucky.
Ross is careful moving through homes — green waste goes in bags or on a tarp so nothing is dropped on floors. If there's a laneway gate, he'll use that instead.
The larger properties on Hawthorn's western side have deep, established gardens with tall trees, hedges and sweeping lawns. They generate bulk green waste after pruning and through the autumn.
For those, a trailer load or more at a time is normal, and regular collections a few times a year keep it manageable.
Hawthorn's rental turnover is heaviest around the start and end of the university year. If you manage a property with a lease ending in December, January or February, book the garden tidy-up early so it's done before the next tenant moves in.
Suburb, roughly how much there is, and what the access is like. A photo saves a lot of back and forth.
Ross comes back with a number. On big or awkward jobs he has a look first rather than guessing.
Loaded by hand, driveway swept, and off for proper green waste disposal.
Ross runs this on his own. He quotes the job, he turns up, he loads the trailer and he takes it away — the same bloke every visit. There is no office in between, no skip company, and no franchise cut coming out of what you pay.
It also means he will tell you when something isn't his job — a standing tree that needs an arborist, or a pile that is more rubbish than garden — rather than taking the money and leaving you with half a problem.
The suburb, roughly how much there is, and how easy it is to get a trailer to it is enough to work with. A photo of the pile gets you a price fastest.
Prefer to talk? Call or text Ross on 0416 030 925. Monday to Saturday, daylight hours — weather permitting.
Get a price on your pile. Takes a minute — Ross reads them himself.
Thanks — that's gone through to Ross. Spring is his busiest time, so if it's close to fire season he may take a day or two.
