Too much trash

Joined
Aug 19, 2010
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13,295
Location
Champlain/Hudson Valley
To jump start this brief instance, let me tell you I'm so happy the old folk two doors away have settled in nicely at the assisted living center a mere 8 miles away.
These were people I shopped for and for whom I sold their 2010 Honda after maintaining it for over 7 years.
Their daughter has a girlfriend who works in the real estate business and knew some guys to clear out some stuff in preparation for selling the house.
These guys piled cut-up carpeting, over a dozen large bags of trash and ten or so 12 foot long poles which had been awning ribs.
I knew this wasn't going to go smoothly.
Ohh....it rained last night so the carpeting was extra heavy; if it was going to be touched at all.

In short, it didn't. I saw the trashmen come round and watched as the driver (aka Chief) waved the crew away. The truck made a swing along a woodside road and I walked to catch 'em.

The driver knew what I was going to ask as he pointed to the house as I approached him. I must say the communication was direct and clear.

The funny development was that they drove the truck up to the pile and conferred with each other. The Chief took a snapshot; likely to cover his own neck.
I do not blame him.

I believe many if not all refuse companies and the municipalities which hire them require "tradesmen's garbage" to be removed by the tradesmen themselves.
Also, the size they cut the carpet into was in excess of what would be acceptable privately.
Also, I believe the dozen or so huge bags of trash were over a numerical limit.

The idea of peeling off some 10's or 20's crossed my mind but I decided against it. The retiree's daughter is something of a know-it-all and not the nicest person so, given the clean-up crew came from her friend's real estate contacts, I opted to report the condition and let them finish their own endeavor.

It is ironic that more time was spent discussing the trash than would've been needed to heave it into the truck. However, there was a lot of volume involved and the fellows who did the clearing made no attempt to 'play the game'.

It just bugged me that I had to call a pair of infirm 87 year olds. But, it's better to get the news accurately from a friend than to get whatever warning or summons a town might issue.

Bottom line: Shame on the crew which works for a real estate company. They should've known the score.
The husband of the real estate friend was in the kitchen listening to a football game while his monkeys were doing the work so my sympathy is limited.
 
Kudos for being a good neighbor for all those years. The real estate company and by proxy, the cleanup crew, are the weak links here and no doubt you don’t want those former neighbors to suffer any penalties for sloppy work work caused by the crew. Since the work was completed while they were still the owners, the crew, through the real estate company, was acting as an agent of your neighbors thereby making the neighbors responsible for any code violations, correct?

Yea, I’d be making a call to the real estate company posthaste.
 
I had a similar problem. The roofer put his trash from my roof in front of my house and my garbage men refused to take it. I told the roofer that they wouldn't take it and he needed to come take it away. The roofer called my township and got into an argument with the guy in charge of waste removal and the township guy told him to meet him at my house and discuss things man to man. Eventually, the roofer came to take the trash away.
 
Here the city won't pick up "extra" items unless you call and pay for a special pick-up. We have mostly one-man crews that use trucks with the articulating arm to pick up the cans as they go...they don't leave the cab and not having a partner would prevent a pick-up like this anyways. Unless I'm missing something I don't think they should be expected to pick up any of that given the magnitude.
 
I had a similar problem. The roofer put his trash from my roof in front of my house and my garbage men refused to take it. I told the roofer that they wouldn't take it and he needed to come take it away. The roofer called my township and got into an argument with the guy in charge of waste removal and the township guy told him to meet him at my house and discuss things man to man. Eventually, the roofer came to take the trash away.

You are supposed to not pay the roofer until they take away all their trash.
 
You are supposed to not pay the roofer until they take away all their trash.
I know. I paid a guy to do some tile work in my house and paid him even though the job isn't completed. He's a nice guy and all that but he needs to spend 15 minutes to finish grouting a few tiles and I've been waiting a week for him to come do it. He's supposed to come today. He's an honest guy, just not eager to finish the job off.
 
We had a hail storm several years ago, and many,many roofs were replaced. The roofing companies rent ten yard dumpsters from one of the garbage haulers. I thought that is how it worked in other places. Silly me. Never heard of placing old shingles at the curb to be picked up on the regular weekly service. Those shingles would be sitting at the curb for a long time.
 
I know. I paid a guy to do some tile work in my house and paid him even though the job isn't completed. He's a nice guy and all that but he needs to spend 15 minutes to finish grouting a few tiles and I've been waiting a week for him to come do it. He's supposed to come today. He's an honest guy, just not eager to finish the job off.

Did he show up?
 
Because he's my neighbor and friend and people here still communicate like civilized human beings.
I believe if I had thrown some lettuce (money) at the trashmen, they would've taken it.
Tossin some cabbage spins the globe!
 
We had a hail storm several years ago, and many,many roofs were replaced. The roofing companies rent ten yard dumpsters from one of the garbage haulers. I thought that is how it worked in other places. Silly me. Never heard of placing old shingles at the curb to be picked up on the regular weekly service. Those shingles would be sitting at the curb for a long time.
Might not be shingles..
Those have so many nails if someone put them on the curb they should be sued.. because I guarantee people got flat tires.
 
The roofer put his trash from my roof in front of my house and my garbage men refused to take it.
I thought that is how it worked in other places. Silly me. Never heard of placing old shingles at the curb to be picked up on the regular weekly service. Those shingles would be sitting at the curb for a long time.
I think it's pretty standard that the regular trash pick-up runs don't pick up "construction material". They'll only do it if you're able to hide it in your regular trash can (and if it fits there, it's not really that much....).

We have mostly one-man crews that use trucks with the articulating arm to pick up the cans as they go
Our recycling truck is a one-man/woman operation and they don't get out of the cab "for safety reasons". I found this out when I had a lot of extra cardboard that I set to the side of our recycling bin. The trash pick-up folks will end up taking that extra stuff so at least it's not left out (they run the same day and are usually later than the recycling truck).

I don't think they should be expected to pick up any of that given the magnitude.
Ours will empty (2) trash cans, either your own or the ones they provide (rent), as well as (6) pieces of bagged trash. I don't remember the # but it's a reasonable amount and what you might have after moving in, doing a big "spring cleaning", etc, etc. The average household won't have this much extra trash on a weekly basis either.
 
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If the truck gets full before reaching the end of its route, they have more than a $20 problem on their hands. But they should have taken a couple of bags or whatever the allowed amount is rather than leaving the whole pile.
 
$30 tarp dumpster from Waste Management at Home Depot, WM will pick it up for $220. Up to 3300 lbs allowed.

Should have even hired the husband and wife team in the picture below, sounds like they are smarter than the guys hired to do the job.


Disposable Dumpster.JPG
 
I know. I paid a guy to do some tile work in my house and paid him even though the job isn't completed. He's a nice guy and all that but he needs to spend 15 minutes to finish grouting a few tiles and I've been waiting a week for him to come do it. He's supposed to come today. He's an honest guy, just not eager to finish the job off.
So not that honest
 
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