Cleanout guide

Apartment cleanout: what it costs and how fast it goes

By Tyler BornsteinJuly 21, 20267 min read
TL;DR

An apartment cleanout runs $250 to $650 depending on how much stuff is left behind. A one-bedroom with furniture and boxes is usually around $250 to $425. A two-bedroom that has not been touched in years is closer to $650. Text us photos and your town, get a flat price within 24 hours.

Apartments are smaller than houses, but the stuff inside them has a way of filling every corner anyway. The couch that did not fit through the door when you moved in. The bookshelf you are definitely not carrying down three flights of stairs. The kitchen drawers full of things you forgot you owned.

Tenants moving out, landlords turning a unit, property managers dealing with what someone left behind. The process is the same. You text us photos, we send back a flat price, and the crew handles the rest. No walkthroughs, no hourly meters, no surprises.

What an apartment cleanout actually costs

We price by volume, how much space the stuff takes in the trailer. A one-bedroom apartment with a couch, bed, dresser, and some boxes is usually a truck load at $250. A fuller apartment with multiple rooms of furniture, appliances, and accumulated belongings is a half trailer at $425. A two-bedroom that has been lived in for ten years without a purge is a full trailer at $650.

Those numbers include everything: the labor, the loading, the hauling, and the disposal. We do not charge by the hour. Hourly haulers are paid to be slow. A slow afternoon costs them, not you. With us, the price is set before we touch anything.

Quotes carry about plus or minus 15 percent until we see the job in person. We say that out loud instead of surprising you when the truck is already parked outside.

Apartment cleanout pricing, flat, volume-based, all-in
Apartment situationTypical volumeFlat price range
Studio or small one-bedroom, light stuff1–2 items$90
One-bedroom with furniture and boxesTruck load$250
One-bedroom, fully furnished, years of stuffHalf trailer$425
Two-bedroom, packed, nothing removedFull trailer$650

What makes apartment cleanouts different

Apartments have constraints that houses do not. Stairs, narrow hallways, tight corners, and building rules about elevator use and loading dock hours. We deal with all of that, but it affects the conversation when you text the photos.

Stairs add to the price. One flight of stairs adds $40. Two or more flights add $80. A ground-floor apartment with a door to the outside is the easiest job we do. Same pricing as a garage cleanout.

Building rules matter too. Some buildings require advance notice for moving trucks or limit elevator use to certain hours. If you know the rules, mention them when you text the photos. If you do not know, we will figure it out with the building manager.

What we take from an apartment

Almost everything. Furniture, mattresses, box springs, couches, tables, chairs, shelving units, electronics, appliances, boxes of stuff, and that exercise bike that became a clothes hanger somewhere around month three.

The only things we cannot take are hazardous materials: wet paint, asbestos, chemicals, medical waste, and propane tanks. If the apartment has those, we will tell you up front and point you to the right disposal option. Most towns in our service area have hazardous-waste collection days.

Old carpet and padding are fair game. If the landlord is replacing the floors, we can pull up the old carpet and haul it. Mention it when you text the photos so we can factor in the extra volume.

How the cleanout works

You text us photos of the apartment and your town. We send back one flat price within 24 hours. Once you say yes, you pick a two-hour window, same day or next.

When the crew arrives, here is what happens:

  • We confirm the price matches the photos. If the apartment is fuller or heavier than what the photos showed, we tell you before we touch it.
  • We load everything onto the trailer. Furniture gets broken down if needed to fit through doorways. Appliances get disconnected if you have not already done it.
  • We sweep the floors. The apartment should be cleaner than when we arrived.
  • Payment happens after the job, only when you are happy. Cash, check, Venmo, Zelle, or card. No deposit up front.

For landlords and property managers

If you are turning a unit between tenants, the timeline is usually tighter. We get that. Most landlord-turnover jobs are booked within 24 to 48 hours, and same-day is often available in Billerica and the surrounding towns.

The pricing is the same as any other apartment cleanout. Volume-based, flat, all-in. We do not charge a premium for urgency. A truck load of stuff from a one-bedroom is $250 whether the next tenant moves in Friday or next month.

A property manager in Billerica texted us photos of a unit on a Saturday morning. She had a flat quote back within the hour, and the whole thing was gone by Tuesday. The unit was ready for painters by Wednesday.

How fast can the apartment be empty

Most apartment cleanouts take the crew one to three hours on site. A studio or small one-bedroom is usually done in under an hour. A full two-bedroom with heavy furniture might take three hours.

Booking happens within 24 to 48 hours. Same-day is often available. You pick a two-hour window and we confirm a precise ETA the morning of.

That is what the timeline looks like for most jobs. Photos in, price back, gone by next week.

Should you do it yourself or call someone

An apartment cleanout is a DIY job if you have a vehicle, a free Saturday, and the energy for multiple trips to the dump. Most of our towns charge $20 to $50 per transfer-station visit depending on weight. If the apartment has only a few items and you have the transport, the dump fee beats our $90.

Here is where it gets harder: the stairs. Hauling a couch down three flights of stairs in a building with narrow hallways is the part nobody thinks about until the couch is wedged sideways on the landing. Our crew does it every day. They have the straps, the dollies, and the technique to get things out without marking the walls or the stair railings.

The other thing people do not think about is the timeline. If you are on a move-out deadline and the landlord needs the unit clean by Friday, a DIY cleanout with multiple dump runs can eat the whole week. We can have it done in a day.

When you should not call us

If the apartment has only a few items and you have a vehicle, the transfer station is cheaper. We will tell you that on the phone. We would rather lose the job than charge you for something you could do yourself on a Saturday morning.

If the items are in good shape and you just want them gone, try Facebook Marketplace or your town's Buy Nothing group first. Furniture, working appliances, and shelving units usually find a taker within a day or two in our area.

If the apartment has hazardous materials, asbestos, chemicals, or biohazard, that is a specialist, not a junk removal crew. We will point you in the right direction.

Get a flat price for your apartment cleanout

Text a few photos of the apartment and your town to (978) 330-8980. We send back one flat price within 24 hours. If a transfer-station run is cheaper, we will tell you that instead.

05 — FAQ

Straight
answers.

The questions people ask before they book. Can’t find yours? Text us a photo and ask.

An apartment cleanout runs $250 for a one-bedroom with furniture and boxes, $425 for a fuller apartment, and up to $650 for a two-bedroom that has been packed for years. Those prices are flat and all-in. Labor, loading, hauling, and disposal included. Quotes carry about plus or minus 15 percent until we see the job in person.
Most apartment cleanouts take one to three hours on site. A studio or small one-bedroom is usually done in under an hour. A full two-bedroom with heavy furniture might take three hours. Booking happens within 24 to 48 hours.
Yes. One flight of stairs adds $40 to the base price. Two or more flights add $80. A ground-floor apartment with a door to the outside has no stair charge. We include the stair cost in the quote you get from the photos. No surprise add-ons.
Yes. That is most of our landlord-turnover jobs. You text us photos of the unit, we send back a flat price, and the crew handles everything left behind. Furniture, appliances, boxes, trash, and whatever else is there. You do not need the tenant to be present.
Someone needs to be there to confirm the price and give us access. If you are a landlord or property manager, you can send a building super or maintenance person. Payment happens after the job. Cash, check, Venmo, Zelle, or card. No deposit up front.
Yes. We can pull up old carpet and padding and haul it away as part of the cleanout. Mention it when you text the photos so we can factor in the extra volume. If the carpet is glued down or has tack strips, the crew handles that too.
With a dumpster, you do the loading yourself. Including everything down the apartment stairs. With us, the crew does the loading, hauling, sorting, and disposal. A dumpster rental in our area runs $350 to $600 and you still have to fill it. Our apartment cleanout starts at $90 and you do not touch anything. For most people turning a unit on a deadline, the crew is the better deal.
That is fine. We sort everything as part of the job. Usable items get donated locally. Goodwill, Savers, Habitat ReStore. Metal and electronics go to licensed recyclers. Only true waste heads to the transfer station. You do not have to sort anything before we arrive.
04 — GET A QUOTE

Send photos.
Get a price.

The fastest way to book us. Upload photos of what needs to go, tell us where, and we'll reply with a flat quote — usually within a few hours.

01Flat, all-in pricing

Labor, loading, hauling, disposal — one number.

02Same-week scheduling

Most jobs booked within 48 hours. Emergencies welcome.

03Locally owned

You're hiring your neighbors. We answer the phone ourselves.

04We donate & recycle

Anything usable goes to local charities & recyclers.

REQUEST / v1STEP 1 / 1
Drop photos or click to browse
JPG · PNG · HEIC · up to 10 files
Rough estimate · $213–$288

Let's make a
statement.
Not a mess.

Photos in, price back same day. It'll be the easiest phone call you make this week.