Old town blocks, newer estates and larger properties on the outskirts — Lilydale gardens produce a lot of green waste, and Ross takes it away.
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 Lilydale 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.
Prunings from town and estate gardens.
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.
Older township blocks and outskirts properties.
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.
Dry growth cleared on the town’s rural edges.
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.
Branches brought down by storms off the ranges.
Lilydale is an old country town that the city has grown out to meet. The centre still has its historic main street and older homes on big blocks, while newer estates have spread out around it. The Olinda Creek runs through town and Lillydale Lake sits on the southern side, and it's the end of the train line and the start of the Warburton Highway into the Yarra Valley.
That mix makes for a lot of different green waste jobs. The old township houses often have mature gardens with big exotic trees and decades of planting. The estates have younger gardens with hedges and screens. On the rural fringes it's grass, old trees and piles that have built up for years.
The older Lilydale homes near the centre sit on generous blocks, many with elms, oaks, fruit trees and hedges that go back a long way. Those trees drop a huge volume of leaves in autumn and need regular pruning to keep them off roofs and power lines.
Ross clears the leaves, prunings and dropped branches, loads the trailer by hand and takes it away. For the bigger old gardens, a seasonal green waste collection is often easier than trying to stay ahead of it yourself.
The newer estate houses around Lilydale have smaller, more manageable gardens, but they are still well planted. Hedges and screening plants need a trim a couple of times a year, and the offcuts are too much for a single bin.
Those jobs are quick — a pile on the driveway, loaded, swept up and gone. Ross is happy to take small loads as well as big ones.
Around the edges of Lilydale there are larger properties that back onto open land, bush and the hills. The grass gets long, the trees drop limbs, and old prunings get stacked out the back. Yarra Ranges Council expects properties like that to be kept in a safe condition over summer.
Ross can clear the green waste in one visit. Getting the dry material off the property, rather than piled up somewhere, is what makes the difference.
Lilydale has two busy seasons. The big old trees in town drop their leaves in April and May, and the outskirts properties need clearing in spring before the fire season. Book either one early and you'll get the date you want.
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.
