Scrap metal from house refurb...worth anything?

[linspins]

We've stripped out all the copper pipe work, metal water tank, radiators, iron bath etc from the house we are renovating. There's a lots of it. I'm not sure what to do with it now. One of our builders says sell it cos it's worth a lot, another said you'd be lucky to get much for it as prices have dropped. I'd need to hire a huge van to take it anywhere, which may cancel out the money I'd get. Plus I can't lift most of it on my own, as the radiators are at least a two strong man job.
I called the local metal scrap place to ask their advice, but they were unhelpful as they couldn't tell me prices, just said bring it along. They will however come to collect it and take away for free, which might be the easier option.
Anyone got any advice?

[justwhatineeded]

They base their prices of the kind of metal and the weight of it.

Here is the price list of a place in London. You will have to ring places near you to get a better idea of a price. Just ask the price they are paying for the metals you have. You will get quoted a price per kg or per ton.

www.royaldocksmetals.com/who-we-buy-from/scrap-metal-prices

Copper is worth a lot at £2.8 per kilo
iron is £40 per ton which is 4pence per kilo.

I think it all depends on how much you have. Moving 1ton of iron in a van with 2 men is going to cost more than £40 to do. If you have a load of copper then it will probably be worth hiring someone to help you load it and take it there. One man and a luton van here would be £35 per hour with a min of £70 charge.

They will weigh it there and pay you depending on the weight

[linspins]

Thanks justwhatineeded, that's helpful. Sound like I ought to sell the copper, then call the general scrap metal people to come and take the rest away. Cheers. I need a man and van now!

[linspins]

UPDATE:
I thought I'd add this, in case anyone did a search and read it for info...
I took all the copper pipes in my car, to a scrap metal dealer, along with the copper water tank. All pipes from a four bed house just about fitted in a large estate car with all the seats down ( copper pipes are easy to bend in to smaller lengths). I got £291 for it, so it was worth the effort.
The metal dealer came the next day to pick up the rest of the metal...an old cooker, a washing machine, all the other pipes that weren't copper, a heavy old bath, two metal buckets and all the old radiators. He took them away for free, and hopefully will get a bit of money for it all.

[VulcanWoman]

Thanks for posting, Useful information.

[MumOnACornishFarm]

We found LOADS of scrap metal when we bought our farm. The old man who lived here was an industrial electrician and we found shed loads of huge electrical cables, not the stuff you have in a domestic setting. We also found sheet lead and all kinds of stuff. We got a lot of money for it, and also found out that you get more money from the scrap yard by stripping the casing from the copper electrical cables before you hand it in. We spent 3 evenings in front of the telly stripping cables. Who says romance is dead?

[linspins]

Oooh, I didn't think of cables...now I can't remember if they all went in one of the skips...or did the electrician have them?

[superwormissuperstrong]

Yep the key at the moment while general scrap prices are low is to separate yourself - so copper and aluminium separated will get you much more than lumping it all as general metal.
We let certain metals pile up and every so often get a 'bonus' of £75 weighing it in rather than just throwing away in the recycling... It all adds up!

[MumOnACornishFarm]

Tradesmen are quite good at taking stuff away and telling you they're doing you a favour. I know because my partner is an electrician & builder

[VulcanWoman]

Exactly, someone on another thread said the trades people cost it into the job, bollocks it's a bonus/perk end of.

[MumOnACornishFarm]

Yes, it is a perk. It makes a difference to the jobs that are barely profitable. We let metal build up and then weight it in every 3-4 months or so. But a tradesperson should always ask the property owner first; the metal in your house is your property. My advice would be to let them take any steel or iron; it's not worth much and it's a faff to shift by yourself. But keep any copper, aluminium, and obviously anything like lead.

[VulcanWoman]

The central heating engineer that was working on my mums house just took the large copper water tank out, didn't ask us.