More than a day's work
Some Foxrock houses can't be cleared in a day or two, however big the crew. Five or six bedrooms, a drawing room and a dining room, a study, a utility, a double garage, a garden room and a long garden add up to several days on site, and that's before anyone has decided what the family is keeping.
For the basics of working in Foxrock, such as gates, alarms and Leopardstown race days, see our main Foxrock page. This page is about the biggest houses: how we plan a clearance over several days, and how we look after the good things while we do it.
The holding room
On a large house, the first thing we agree is a holding room. It's usually a dry room on the ground floor near the door, or the garage if it's clean. As we work through the house, anything the family might want, or might want valued, goes there instead of into the van.
What typically ends up in it:
- good furniture, such as dining tables, bureaus, wardrobes and sideboards
- pictures, mirrors and frames
- silver, china, glass and clocks
- rugs, lamps and anything that looks like part of a collection
- boxes of papers, photographs and jewellery
The family, a valuer or an auction house can then see everything in one place, in their own time. We don't value or buy contents, so arranging that is up to you. Whatever nobody claims is cleared on the last day.
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How a multi-day clearance runs
Every big house is different, but most follow the same shape:
- Price and plan. A fixed price from a full set of photos, or after a visit if the house is very large. The price covers every day on site.
- Upstairs and the attic. Bedrooms, bathrooms, the landing presses and the attic, with anything of interest moved to the holding room.
- A pause, if you want one. A few days or a week for the family, a valuer or an auctioneer to go through the holding room.
- The ground floor. Reception rooms, kitchen, utility and study.
- Outside. The garage, the garden buildings and the garden itself.
- The last sweep. The holding room's leftovers, a final walk-round with you or by WhatsApp photos, and the keys handed back.
The days don't have to run back to back. Two days at the start, a week's gap while the holding room is dealt with, and a final day at the end is a common pattern when an auction house is involved. On the days we are there, the crew is sized for the house and the van runs are planned in advance, so each one is a full working day rather than a stop-start one.
Between visits, we lock up, set the alarm the way you've asked and send a short update.
Clearing a big house in Foxrock? Send photos of every room, the attic, the garage and the garden buildings on WhatsApp. We'll come back with a fixed price and a day-by-day plan.
Gardens and outbuildings
A large Foxrock garden can hold as much as a small house. Greenhouses full of pots and canes, potting sheds, garden rooms, old timber, garden furniture, lawnmowers and strimmers all come out with the house, and the shed itself can be dismantled if it's had its day. Green waste and cuttings are covered by our garden clearance service.
Stone planters, garden statues and cast-iron benches are heavier than they look, so include them in your photos with a note on where they sit. We can't take petrol cans, oil, weedkiller or old chemicals, so a civic amenity site or hazardous waste collection is the place for those.
A family home, handled as one
Most big-house clearances follow a death or a parent's move into care, and there's usually a family behind the job with different views about what matters. We work at the pace you set and keep everyone informed. Our bereavement house clearance page explains our approach, and our page on bereavement clearances in Carrickmines, Cabinteely and Foxrock covers the local side.
When a large house has slowly filled up over the years, we clear it in stages, privately and without judgement; see hoarder clearance. Some families also have an apartment to empty, perhaps one a parent rented before moving into care, and apartment clearance explains how we deal with lifts and management companies.
Where the contents of a big house go
There's far more good furniture in a house like this, and it deserves better than a skip. Pieces that aren't going to family or to auction are set aside for reuse where possible, books are boxed for reuse, garden machinery, metals and electricals are recycled, and only what's left goes to licensed facilities.
Spotless is an authorised waste carrier, under permit NWCPO-25-13287-01, and fully insured on every job, which matters when a crew is in a house for days at a time. For clearances anywhere else in the county, see house clearance in Dublin.
