Montrose climbs into the Dandenongs under heavy tree cover. Ross clears the bark, litter and branches that build up on its steep bush blocks.
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 Montrose 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.
Bark, bracken and bush-garden prunings.
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.
Steep, overgrown hillside gardens.
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.
Fuel reduction around the house before summer.
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.
Storm limbs cleared off drives and paths.
Montrose is a hills suburb. The village sits at the bottom, where Mount Dandenong Tourist Road starts its climb, and from there the streets rise into the slopes of the ranges. Houses are set among tall eucalypts on bush blocks, many of them steep, and the canopy closes over the road in places.
Living under that many trees means a never-ending supply of green waste. Bark strips off the gums, leaves and twigs rain down after every windy day, and bracken and understorey grow back quickly. Keeping it cleared from around the house isn't just about looks here — it's the main thing a household can do before bushfire season.
A Montrose block might have a dozen big gums on it, and each one is shedding something at any given time. The litter layer builds up on the ground, in the gutters and against the walls of the house faster than most people can rake it.
Ross clears it in bulk. He gathers up the loose litter, any understorey you've cut back and the fallen sticks and branches, and loads the lot for green waste disposal. It's heavy, dusty work and easier to hand to someone with a trailer.
The Dandenong Ranges are among the most bushfire-prone areas anywhere around Melbourne, and Montrose sits on their lower slopes. Yarra Ranges Council inspects properties and issues fire prevention notices, and the CFA declares a Fire Danger Period for the area each year.
The priority is fine fuel near the house — the leaves, bark and twigs embers land in. Clear it from under decks, along walls and from around sheds and gas bottles, and don't leave your prunings sitting in a pile. Ross takes it all away rather than moving it to the back of the block.
Some Montrose driveways are steep enough that a trailer can't safely go down them. In that case Ross parks at the top and carries everything up. It takes longer, which is reflected in the price, but it gets done.
When you send photos, include one of the driveway from the street. It saves guesswork and makes sure the right amount of time is set aside.
Once the Fire Danger Period is declared for the Yarra Ranges, burning off is out and every hills household wants its fuel cleared at the same moment. Book your Montrose clean-up for September through November and it's done while the ground is still damp and the days are mild.
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.
