Tradespeople removing rubbish

[cheezmonster]

I've just been quoted £150 for the guy replacing my kitchen floor tiles to take the rubbish away with him. It's a small kitchen, about 5 metres squared. He said it's because it's a commercial van and there is a fee.

Is this ridiculous? How can it possibly cost this much for him to take away a few bags of tiles?

Is it normal to be charged so much extra for this?

I'm pregnant and don't have a car so I can't exactly say no.

Where is he taking it to?

If he fly tips it down a quiet shady lane and you are in anyway linked to it (address on packaging for example) you could potentially get a big fine.

You'll probably see photos of your tiles on FB next week when they've been fly tipped

If youre going for the cheaper route check he's registered for disposal

This seems fairly normal around me. It’s cheaper than a skip and makes less mess of the driveway/ does not need a license to sit in the road.

DH & I have, in the past, hired a van privately and taken rubbish to the skip ourselves, when doing renovations, and that’s been cheaper, but clearly not an option for you at the minute.

Probably best to just do it yourself then. That's a car load at most.

I got left in the lurch by a contractor I had to fire, a whole seven car loads worth. Got it moved myself, I was pregnant so my neighbour helped me load and the staff at the council tip helped me unload.

If you're a resident it should be free.

If he charges £60 for the job when the tip charges him £100 for commercial license then you can look forward to seeing your tiles in a ditch next to your local park or a train station.

But OP doesn't have a car...

Thanks all. I will go with the local waste removal company which is fully licensed by the Environment Agency, which quoted £45.

At the end of the day, he's charging you for the convenience of getting rid of your waste at the end of the job and leaving you with a clean and tidy home - if you don't want to pay it, you don't have to.

I always ask tradesmen to include rubbish disposal in their overall quote.

It is a rip off! I got a guy from my local FB page to collect waste and he charged a fraction as he goes around the neighbourhood to fill his van!

Well yeah - he can charge a fraction as he's collecting loads of waste all at once and paying one disposal fee. A sole trader who has to clear his van ready for the next day can't do that.

Clearly the builder doesn’t want to deal with the waste and he will
be happy for you to have an alternative legitimate waste carrier.

I hate loading up waste, and I’ll charge you more for that than someone who deals with muck all day.

Totally normal. Put it a little bit at a time into your general waste bin.

Given, presumably, you are not OP having a momentary memory lapse and replying to yourself under a different username, how on EARTH do you know where her nearest site is and what it charges?

The nearest tip to me is less than 3 miles out of the city centre, and doesn't charge a fee for households, for example.

How do you know he will mot illegally dump it

Yea I think I always pay extra for significant rubbish removal. Last time, as I have no off street parking and no room for a skip, I paid £200 a time for the rubbish removal.

I can believe it- trade waste at ours is extremely expensive

If is just a few bags of tiles take a photo and look for a licenced waste carrier on a tradesperson site such as Checkatrade. I recently got a load of rubbish removed for £50. Or ask any salesperson if they have a waste license before hiring.

@cheezmonster £120-150 is about right for commercial waste. I live near to an open field and I see/report so many fly tippers so it would be an idea to check that your man with a van plans to dispose of it correctly!

A) The tradesman might not have a permit to dispose of waste at your local tip, and might have to use another one miles away.

B) A tradesmans hourly rate would be considerably higher than a waste disposal person, so the time it takes to dispose of that waste would cost him more

C) He just doesn't want to do it so will price high, hoping you'll get someone else to do it

Make sure you negotiate and agree ‘all waste removed, site left tidy’ when trades are doing work if you want that service. If not they’ll leave it on site or bill you extra.
Removing trade waste costs time and money. Taking it to the dump as a citizen is often free. So up to the client what they want.

I hope you checked that your dirt cheap man and van has a trade waste transfer licence and will in fact dispose of it properly rather than fly tip it down a quiet country lane!

I just had a fridge delivered, and on top of the £30 delivery cost I had to pay them another £30 to unpack the fridge and take the rubbish away. Quite standard nowadays - my builder charges for removing rubbish.

Check he has a waste licence. If he does not, then you can be fined if he fly tips your waste and it is traced back to you (him too, but you are liable!).

To get rid of waste commercially, a tradesperson needs a licence to do this and then pays a fee per load/weight. To keep costs down many are now not shifting the waste generated on jobs, and are taking that cost off what you pay them.

So yeah if you were round here, for a tradesperson without a licence to shift your waste they'd need a licence £154 and then pay for the load itself, plus their time and overheads.

The floor fitter is thinking in terms of his own hourly or day rate. He’s going to charge a premium because essentially he can earn more by just moving onto the next job not having his van filled with rubbish and using his time making a trip to the tip. He’s not going to charge you man with van rates because he would be reducing his earning potential. If you want the convenience of the tradesman clearing the waste then you have to accept that you will pay a premium.