Truganina is some of the newest housing in Melbourne's west. Ross clears the trimmings, weeds and landscaping waste from compact lots where there's no room to store a pile.
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 Truganina 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.
Trimmings from compact new-home 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.
Weed-choked beds cleared on small lots.
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 grass near homes on the estate fringe.
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.
Wind-damaged branches from young trees.
Truganina is mostly brand-new or near-new housing: double-storey homes and townhouses on small lots, with landscaping put in by the builder or done by the owners over the first year or two. Some parts are only a few years old, and new streets are still going in.
Small lots mean there's nowhere to hide a pile of garden waste. Once the hedges are trimmed or a garden bed is cleared, it's either the green bin or the side path, and the side path is where the bins live. Ross does the green waste collection that clears it out in one go.
On most Truganina blocks the house takes up most of the land. There might be a strip of garden out front, a narrow path down the side and a small back yard. Every bit of space is used, so a pile of prunings gets in the way fast.
Ross takes away what you've cut as soon as it suits you, so it doesn't sit around for weeks.
A lot of owners end up replacing the plants that came with the house. Some didn't suit the conditions, some grew too big, and some just aren't to the owner's taste.
Ross can take away the old plants and garden waste once they've been pulled out, leaving a clean slate for the new garden. He doesn't take soil, pavers or edging, only the green material.
Truganina sits on open, flat land and gets plenty of wind. Young trees and shrubs that haven't had time to establish can be damaged, and loose branches and leaves end up blown across yards.
If a branch or small tree has come down, Ross can load it up and take it away. Standing trees that are damaged or leaning need an arborist.
Weeds move fast in Truganina's open, sunny yards, especially in spring. Get the beds cleared and the waste taken away early in the season and it's much easier to keep on top of for the rest of the year.
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.
