Fresh Starts: How One New England Team Tackles the Toughest Cleanouts

In the quiet corners of New Hampshire, where rolling hills and small towns paint a picture of idyllic living, some homes hide stories that are anything but peaceful. Take Carly (we’ve changed her name to protect her privacy), a hardworking woman from the Upper Valley region who achieved the dream of homeownership on her own. It was a point of pride—until her live-in partner, struggling with mental illness, turned the place into a scene from a horror movie.

Carly’s partner didn’t just damage the house; he wrecked it. He cut the oil lines to the heating system, yanked out the oil tank, stuffed foam insulation into every vent, took an ax to the dishwasher, and messed with the electrical wiring, leaving dangerous exposed cords dangling like threats. Carly got a restraining order and kicked him out, but he kept showing up, adding to her fear. By the time the team from Unlocked Home Project arrived to help, the house was a heartbreaking mess: blood smeared on the kitchen wall, hundreds of trash bags piled up inside the house, in the garage, and scattered across the yard. Scrap metal, old appliances, and abandoned cars cluttered the property. And then there was the 22-foot camper out back—stuffed with garbage and riddled with holes, so no local towing company would touch it.

“It was clear this was going to be one of the toughest properties we’d ever dealt with,” recalls a member of the Unlocked team. Selling something in that state? A real challenge. But thankfully, when the ex-partner tried to return after the cleanout, he was arrested, giving Carly some much-needed peace.

Stories like Carly’s aren’t isolated incidents in New England. Just this year, the team handled another doozy in Wolfeboro, NH—a house that had sat vacant for years, becoming a haven for squatters and folks down on their luck. Trash covered every inch of the floor; you couldn’t walk without climbing over heaps of garbage. Black mold crept up the walls, massive holes gaped in the ceiling, and mushrooms—actual mushrooms—were sprouting from the carpet. The smell? Horrendous.

These kinds of situations pop up more often than you’d think: hoarders, squatters, criminals. The Unlocked crew has even dealt with homes where someone passed away, leaving behind lingering odors and biohazards. “It’s gross work, no doubt about it—not for the faint of heart,” the team admits. But someone’s got to step up, and that’s where they come in.

With a network of reliable junk removal crews and cleanout specialists, Unlocked handles the heavy lifting. For really tricky stuff like hazardous waste, they refer out to pros who know how to deal with it safely. The goal? To lift the massive burden off homeowners or their families, who are often already overwhelmed by the emotional toll.

For folks like Carly, learning that a team could swoop in and transform the chaos into something sellable is like a lifeline. “It’s an enormous relief,” says the team. They clear out the mess, make the property appealing enough for investors to take over, and suddenly, what was a site of tragedy becomes a blank slate. The before-and-after photos from some of these projects are jaw-dropping—the homes end up unrecognizable, ready for new families to make happy memories.

In the end, it’s about more than just cleaning up. It’s turning despair into hope, giving people a chance to move forward. As one homeowner put it after seeing their nightmare property revived: “What was once a place of pain is now set to be someone’s dream home.” In a region where housing challenges hit hard, teams like Unlocked are proving that even the worst situations can lead to brighter days. If you’re facing something similar, know you’re not alone—help is out there, ready to roll up its sleeves.