Every moving truck charges by the load. The more you bring, the more you pay. Most people pack everything they own, move it to the new place, and then spend the first six months tripping over boxes they never open. A couch nobody sits on. A treadmill that became a clothes rack in 2021. Three boxes of kitchen gadgets still wrapped in newspaper from the last move.
The cheapest thing you can do before move day is get rid of the stuff that is not making the cut. Not after the move. Before. That way the movers handle less, the truck is lighter, and your new house does not start its life as a storage unit.
What to get rid of before a move
The rule of thumb is simple. If you have not used it in a year and it is not seasonal, sentimental, or essential, it goes. That covers more than most people think.
The usual list: furniture that does not fit the new layout. Appliances you are replacing anyway. Old paint cans from three renovations ago. The exercise bike. The broken patio set. The basement full of boxes from the last move that you never unpacked. Kids' toys they outgrew two years ago. The garage shelf full of things with dead batteries.
A customer in Billerica texted us photos of her basement on a Saturday morning. She was moving in two weeks and the basement had not been touched in four years. She had a flat quote back within the hour, and the whole thing was gone by Tuesday. The movers showed up to a clean house and a shorter list.
Why you clean out before the move, not after
Moving companies charge by weight and volume. A three-bedroom house with a basement full of junk costs more to move than the same house with the junk removed. The difference is not small. Moving a full truckload of stuff you are going to throw away anyway can add $500 to $1,500 to your moving bill, depending on distance and how much extra space it takes.
Then there is the time. Packing takes longer when you are wrapping things you do not want. Unpacking takes longer when you are sorting through boxes of stuff you should have tossed. And the new place starts cluttered from day one, which makes everything feel harder.
A pre-move cleanout flips that. The movers handle less. The truck is lighter. The new house starts clean. And you are not paying moving rates to transport a broken treadmill to a landfill.
How a pre-move junk removal works
Text a few photos of what needs to go to (978) 330-8980. Tell us your town and your move date. We send back a flat price within 24 hours. You pick a two-hour window before the movers arrive. The crew loads everything, sweeps up, and leaves.
Most pre-move jobs are booked within 24 to 48 hours. We work around your schedule, not the other way around. If the movers are coming Saturday, we come Thursday or Friday. If you need a few days between the cleanout and the move, that works too.
The stuff goes where it should. Usable furniture and appliances get donated — Goodwill, Savers, Habitat ReStore. Metal and electronics go to licensed recyclers. Only true waste heads to the transfer station. We do not dump everything in a landfill and call it a day.
What a moving cleanout costs
The price is based on how much space the job takes in the trailer. It is flat, all-in, and covers labor, loading, hauling, and disposal. No hourly meter. No surprise charges at the end.
Here are the base prices:
| Volume | Flat base price |
|---|---|
| 1–2 items | $90 |
| Truck load | $250 |
| Half trailer | $425 |
| Full trailer | $650 |
What affects the number
Weight and access adjust the base price. Heavy stuff — concrete, tile, dense furniture — gets a weight multiplier from 0.9 times for light loads to 1.45 times for very heavy ones. Stairs add $40 for one flight, $80 for two or more.
Most pre-move cleanouts land between $250 and $425. A single room of furniture and boxes is usually a truck load. A full basement or garage plus a few rooms of furniture is a half trailer. A whole house cleanout with everything left behind is a full trailer.
Quotes carry roughly plus or minus 15 percent until we see the job in person. We say that out loud instead of surprising you on the day. If the job is bigger than the photos suggested, we stop, re-quote, and wait for your yes.
When to schedule the cleanout
The sweet spot is one to two weeks before move day. That gives you time to sort what stays and what goes, and it gives us time to fit you into the schedule without rushing. If you are on a tighter timeline, we can often do same-day or next-day in Billerica and the surrounding towns.
Do not wait until the day before the movers arrive. That is the most stressful time to add another crew to the equation. Get the junk out first. Then pack what is left. The movers handle less and you start the new chapter without the baggage — literal and otherwise.
If you are selling the house and need it clean for showings, that is even more reason to do the cleanout early. An empty, clean house shows better than one full of stuff that is half-packed and half-abandoned.
What we cannot take
Hazardous materials are off the list. Wet paint, asbestos, chemicals, medical waste, propane tanks — those need a specialist, not us. We will point you in the right direction instead of pretending we can help.
Everything else is fair game. Furniture, appliances, boxes, bags, yard waste, electronics, old gym equipment, patio furniture, holiday decorations that have been in the attic since the Clinton administration. If it is not hazardous, we haul it.
When you should not hire us for this
If you have a pickup truck, a free Saturday, and one load of stuff, the transfer station is cheaper. Billerica, Chelmsford, and Tewksbury all take household junk for a small fee. That beats our $90, and we will tell you that on the phone.
If you are only getting rid of a couch and a mattress, most donation centers will pick those up for free. Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat ReStore — they all schedule pickups. No reason to pay us for something a charity will take.
We are the answer when the pile is too heavy, the stairs are too steep, the truck is not available, or you just do not want to spend your last weekend in the old house making dump runs. That is what the flat price is for.
How to book a pre-move cleanout
Text a few photos of what needs to go to (978) 330-8980. Include your town and your move date. We send back a flat price within 24 hours. You pick a two-hour window that works before the movers arrive.
Payment comes after the job, only when you are happy. Cash, check, Venmo, Zelle, or card. No deposit for standard residential work.
We service 16 towns around Billerica — Chelmsford, Tewksbury, Bedford, Burlington, Lowell, Wilmington, Lexington, Andover, Woburn, Westford, Reading, North Reading, Carlisle, Acton, and Concord. Most pre-move jobs are booked within 24 to 48 hours.