Half a van in Cardiff
£120 to £200
Most jobs of this size settle around £160. A room cleared, a shed emptied or a garden lot after a weekend of work.
How it compares to a skip
A skip looks cheaper until you add what comes with it. On most Cardiff streets a skip on the road needs a council permit, it needs somewhere legal to sit, it sits there for days, and you do all the loading yourself. For a lot of terraced streets in Roath, Cathays and Canton there is simply nowhere to put one.
A van and two people turn up, load it themselves and leave, usually inside a couple of hours. For anything under a full skip's worth it is normally the cheaper option once your own time is counted, and there is no permit to arrange.
The council route, and when it is better
Cardiff Council runs a bulky household waste collection and there are household waste recycling centres at Lamby Way and Bessemer Close. If you have a small number of large items, no rush, and a way to get things to the kerb yourself, the council route is genuinely cheaper and we will say so.
Where we are worth paying for is speed, the carrying, and the mixed loads the council will not take in one go. If it has to be gone this week, if it is coming out of a first floor flat, or if it is a bit of everything, that is our job rather than theirs.
Where it goes afterwards
What can be reused or recycled is separated out, and the rest goes to a licensed waste site. This matters to you and not just to us: household waste that is fly tipped and traced back lands the householder with the fine, not whoever loaded the van.
Ask for the disposal paperwork whenever you use anyone to take waste away, including us. Anyone unwilling to provide it is telling you something.
How it sits against the other load sizes
Waste work is priced by how much of the van you fill, so it is worth seeing where your job falls.
| Job | What it covers | Indicative price |
|---|---|---|
| Small load | A mattress, a couple of appliances or a garage corner. Roughly a quarter of the van. | £70 to £120 |
| Half a van | A room cleared, a shed emptied or a garden lot after a weekend of work. | £120 to £200 |
| Full van | Everything from a flat clearance or a big decluttering job, loaded to the back doors. | £200 to £320 |
| One to two bed clearance | A whole property emptied, sorted for reuse and recycling as it goes. | £350 to £700 |
| Three bed clearance | A full house including loft, garage and garden, usually across more than one day. | £550 to £1,000 |
What the price includes
- The van, the fuel and the driver
- A driver who carries, loads and stacks rather than watching you do it
- Blankets, straps and trolley to protect what is being moved
- Loading and unloading at both ends, including stairs
- The parking sorted before the day rather than argued about on it
What moves the number
- Floor and lift access. A third floor walk up in Cathays takes longer than a ground floor flat in Rhiwbina, and time is what the price is made of.
- Where the van can stop. A bay outside is one price, a hundred metre carry from the nearest legal loading point in the city centre is another.
- How much there actually is. Lofts, garages and sheds are where quotes go wrong, so count them in when you tell us.
- Whether it needs two people. Wardrobes, sofa beds, American fridge freezers and pianos usually do.
- Dismantling and reassembly, if flat pack furniture has to come apart to get out of the room.
These are indicative ranges for planning, not quotes. The figure we give you is fixed before we start and does not change on the day. See all man and van prices in Cardiff.
Related services
Other cost guides
Covered across Cardiff
The same prices apply across Cardiff City Centre, Cathays, Roath, Canton, Grangetown, Splott. See all areas.
Get a figure for your job
Send us the details and we will come back within the hour with one fixed price, agreed before we start.