Junk Removal Pricing, Explained Without the Runaround

A single item — one couch, one mattress, one refrigerator sitting at the curb — starts at $149 flat. That's the floor of our pricing, and it covers the labor to load, haul, and dispose of one item properly, including sorting out anything recyclable or donatable.

Beyond a single item, pricing shifts to volume, because two items can vary wildly in size and weight. A loveseat and a king mattress aren't the same job as two nightstands, even though both are '2 items.'

Past the single-item minimum, we price by how much of our 20-yard dump trailer a load fills, in roughly eighth-trailer increments. Each eighth of the trailer adds to the total, scaling up to $1,299 for a completely full load. This is the same method used for garage cleanouts, furniture hauls, and full house cleanouts — it's consistent no matter what type of job it is.

Every job gets a price locked in before the crew touches anything. We do this either from photos you text us or from an in-person walkthrough, and the number we give you at that point is the number on the invoice — not a starting point that grows once the trailer's half full. If a job turns out to be more than expected once we're on-site, we'll tell you and get your approval before doing anything, not after.

A handful of specific things move a quote up from the base volume price, and they're the same across every job type: mattresses and box springs carry a disposal surcharge, Freon-containing appliances need certified handling, and anything hazardous like paint, chemicals, or propane gets routed to a separate facility rather than the trailer. Access also matters — a locked gate or a long carry from the house to the truck adds labor time.

There are a few things that shouldn't show up as a surprise line item after the job is quoted: a 'fuel surcharge,' a 'dump fee' on top of your quoted price, or a number that's suddenly higher once the truck is already loaded. Those are the classic signs of a lowball phone quote designed to get a truck in your driveway before the real number gets sprung on you. A legitimate flat-rate quote already accounts for disposal costs.

The fastest way to get a tight, accurate number is to text photos of the actual pile or room, not just describe it over the phone. A wide shot of the garage or room tells us more in five seconds than a five-minute phone description. If you can, include a sense of scale — a doorway or a car in the background helps us judge volume correctly the first time.