Yarraville's period homes come with hedges, climbers and established trees that need a real cut-back every year or two. Ross takes away what's left when the pruning is done.
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 Yarraville 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.
Hedge trimmings and cottage-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.
Pre-sale tidy-ups for period homes.
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.
Dead growth and dry litter cleared from yards.
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.
Limbs from big old garden trees after wind.
Yarraville has some of the best-kept period homes in the west: weatherboard and brick cottages, Edwardian villas and California bungalows, many with a proper front garden behind a picket fence. Those gardens are mostly hedges, roses, climbers and mature trees planted a long time ago.
That sort of garden needs regular work and it produces a steady stream of woody prunings. A hedge that has been let go for a couple of years can fill a trailer on its own. Ross handles the green waste pickup once you or your gardener have done the cutting, loading the lot and leaving the paths swept.
Front hedges are a big part of the look in Yarraville, and they are also one of the biggest sources of garden waste. Privet, box, lilly pilly and photinia all grow hard and need a serious trim more than once a year.
Climbers are the other one. Wisteria, ornamental grape, jasmine and ivy on verandahs and fences produce long tangled runners that are awkward to bag and quick to overflow a bin.
Buyers in Yarraville pay attention to the garden. An overgrown front yard hides the house, and a back yard full of old pruning piles doesn't photograph well. A clean-up before the photographer comes through makes a real difference.
Ross can clear out the old piles, take away whatever has been cut back and leave paths and paving swept. Give him a date for the photos and he'll work back from it.
Many Yarraville streets are narrow, with cars parked both sides and not much room to pull a trailer up. Some houses back onto laneways, which can be easier than the front.
It is rarely a problem, it just affects how long the job takes. A quick note about parking and access when you enquire helps Ross plan it properly.
Most Yarraville gardens get their big cut-back in late winter and early spring, and the deciduous trees and vines drop everything in autumn. Book the pickup a week or two ahead of when you plan to prune and you won't be left with a pile on the nature strip.
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.
