Reservoir still has plenty of the big postwar back yards, and big yards make big piles. Ross loads it by hand and takes it off for recycling.
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 Reservoir 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.
Big yards with a lot of pruning to shift.
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.
Rentals, sales and subdivisions cleared.
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.
Cut grass and dry cuttings taken away.
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.
Old gums and pines dropping limbs.
Reservoir is one of the largest suburbs in Melbourne’s north, and most of it was built after the Second World War — rows of weatherboard and cream-brick houses on generous blocks, many of them with the original back yard still intact. Others have been split, with a unit or two squeezed in behind the front house.
Either way, there is a lot of garden. Old fruit trees, overgrown shrubs along the fences, lawns that go to seed and the odd pine or gum that has grown far bigger than anyone planned. When it is time to clear it, green waste removal in Reservoir is usually more than the council bin can handle, and that is what Ross is for.
On a Reservoir block there is room to let things go. A few years of not quite getting to the back fence, and there are shrubs grown into small trees, a lemon the size of the shed and a mat of weeds and couch through the lot.
When someone finally tackles it, it turns into bulk green waste — several bin loads at least, sometimes a full trailer. Ross loads it, takes it away and leaves the yard swept.
Many Reservoir blocks are being sold for development or split into units. Before a sale, an overgrown yard makes the place look worse than it is; before building, the site generally has to be cleared of vegetation.
Ross handles the garden side: shrubs, prunings, vines and weeds loaded and taken away. Standing trees are a different matter — they need an arborist, and many need a permit from Darebin City Council, so check that first. Once they are down, he can take the branches.
Some of the older Reservoir blocks and streets have big pines, cypresses and gums that were planted decades ago. They drop limbs in wind, and it is often a big one across the fence or the carport.
Ross collects what has come down and takes it away. He won’t climb, lop or fell a standing tree; if something is hung up or looks unsafe, get an arborist in first.
Spring is when Reservoir yards get away from people — the grass shoots up, weeds flower and set seed, and the shrubs grow a metre. A clean-up in late winter or early spring stops the seed spreading and means the mower can actually get through by November.
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.
