After a death
You are being asked to clear a house you can still barely stand in, by people who need it done, while you are still deciding what to keep and, sometimes, whether to accept the estate at all.
Nothing about the house has to be decided this week.
Before anyone empties anything, there is one thing to settle. In Belgium, clearing the home of someone who has died can count as tacit acceptance of their estate — including its debts — and that acceptance cannot be withdrawn. If you are not certain what the estate contains, speak to the notary first. That applies to us as much as to anyone else: we will not start until you have decided, and we will tell you so before we quote.
When you are ready, it goes like this. You call. We come and look — every room, the cellar, the attic, the garage, and behind every door that is closed. We photograph what is there and go through it with you, so that what we are pricing and what you think we are pricing are the same thing. You get one written offer, and it holds.
Papers, photographs, letters and albums are set aside as they turn up and handed back to you. Take out whatever you want to keep first, in your own time; we work around what is left. You can be there for all of it, or for none of it.
There is no urgency coming from us, and nobody will ask you to sign anything at the kitchen table.
What we commit to here
One fixed price, agreed before anything is touched, on one invoice from one company.
The price is set at the visit and written down. It is not an estimate, a starting point or a range, and it is not recalculated once the work is done.
If the job turns out heavier than it looked, that is our problem and not your bill.
The price moves only if what is actually in the building is materially different from what was recorded and agreed at the visit.
Every room, cellar, attic, garage and closed door is photographed and confirmed with you before the price is set.
The record is what the price is fixed against. You see it, you correct it, and you agree it before you agree the price. Nothing is discovered later that you did not know about.
The visit is free and carries no obligation.
A building cannot be priced from a phone call or a photograph. The visit is how the price becomes fixed, and you owe nothing if you walk away after it.
Unmarked vehicles, no signage, and nothing on the street that announces what is happening inside.
Neighbours, tenants and passers-by learn nothing from us.
Anything you have not clearly written off is set aside and shown to you before it goes.
Where there is doubt, the answer is to ask, not to assume. That costs a few minutes and it cannot be undone afterwards.
One call, and you stop being the project manager.
You are not the one deciding who does what, in what order, on which day, and you are not the one chasing it. You make one call, you meet one person, and one person owns the outcome.
Personal papers and photographs are set aside and returned to you, not thrown out with the rest.
Identity documents, deeds, insurance and bank correspondence, letters, albums and loose photographs are collected as they are found and handed back.
You take out whatever you want to keep first, in your own time, and we work around what is left.
No deadline for that part comes from us.
Nobody asks you to sign anything at the kitchen table.
The offer arrives afterwards, in writing. You can read it with whoever you want to read it with.
You can be present for all of it, some of it, or none of it.
Some families want to see the house one more time. Some cannot face it. Both are normal and neither changes what we do.
The visit is the only route to a fixed price
It costs nothing, it commits you to nothing, and the written offer follows within 48 hours. Bring whoever you want to have in the room.