Kallista blocks sit under some of the tallest trees near Melbourne. Ross clears the bark, fronds and branches they drop and hauls it all out.
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 Kallista 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.
Bark ribbons and fronds under the mountain ash.
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.
Big, damp blocks reclaimed from the undergrowth.
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.
Heavy forest litter hauled away from around the home.
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.
Heavy limbs down after winter gales.
Kallista is deep in the forest. Mountain ash towers over the roads, tree ferns fill the gullies, and many homes are set on generous blocks with the bush running right up to the verandah. Sherbrooke Forest wraps around much of the area, and the lyrebirds and cockatoos at Grants Picnic Ground are a reminder of how wild it still is.
The trees that make Kallista special also make a serious amount of debris. Mountain ash sheds long ribbons of bark, branches come down in winter storms, and the wet climate means gardens grow fast. Ross handles the green waste removal Kallista properties need, loading by hand and taking everything away for disposal at a green waste facility.
Mountain ash drop bark in long strips that pile up on roofs, paths and garden beds. Add branches brought down by wind, fronds from the tree ferns, and the leaves from any exotic trees on the block, and the yard can fill quickly.
Ross clears all of that. He can collect from a single big heap or from several smaller piles around the block, and he'll load long pieces as they are, as long as one person can carry them.
Kallista properties are often larger than those in the neighbouring villages, and the house can be a long way from the gate. Some driveways are gravel, some are steep, and a few are shared with neighbours.
Tell Ross about the driveway before he arrives — whether a trailer can turn around, whether it's steep or soft after rain. He will plan the job so the trailer gets in and out safely, or carry to it if it has to stay near the road.
Forest this dense carries heavy fuel loads, and Kallista is among the more exposed communities in the Dandenong Ranges. Bark and leaves pile up against walls, in gutters and under decks, and that is exactly where embers settle during a fire.
Raking that material back from the house, sheds and water tanks, and then getting it off the property, is one of the most practical things you can do before summer. Ross can load the heaps, sweep up around the home and take it all away.
Kallista blocks can take longer to clean up than suburban ones, so leave plenty of time. Booking in early spring means the job is done well before the Fire Danger Period and the rush that comes with it.
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.
