How is an estate cleanout priced?
Estate cleanouts are priced one of five ways: by the truckload (or fraction of one), by the cubic yard, by the room, by a flat bid after a walkthrough, or by the hour plus disposal. Most experienced companies quote a flat bid built from the other four, because families and executors want one number they can approve.
The method you show the client matters less than the method you use to build the number. A flat bid that ignores sorting time loses money on a house full of paperwork; a per-load price that ignores weight loses money on a basement full of books. Pick a structure that fits the job, then check it against your costs.
| Method | How it works | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per truckload or fraction | Price per eighth, quarter, half or full truck | Clear-only jobs where the family has already taken what they want | Heavy loads (books, tools, wet basements) that fill the weight limit before the box |
| Per cubic yard | A rate per yard, measured in the truck | Repeat clients such as property managers who compare bids | Arguments about how full the truck was; take photos of every load |
| Per room | A set price for each bedroom, kitchen, garage | Phone and web quotes, marketing price lists | Rooms vary enormously; publish “starting at” and confirm on site |
| Flat bid after a walkthrough | One price for the whole scope, in writing | Most estates, especially with an executor or out-of-town family | Scope creep: hidden rooms, sheds, crawl spaces |
| Hourly plus disposal | Crew hours plus dump receipts at cost | Hoarded or unknown homes, sorting-heavy jobs | Clients dislike open-ended bills; give a not-to-exceed figure |
For the business side (who hires you, how to set up disposal accounts, how to sort), see how to start an estate cleanout business. This page is the price sheet.
What do estate cleanout prices look like per load and per room?
Start from what the market already pays for hauling, then add the work hauling companies do not do. Thumbtack’s junk removal cost data gives a national average of $138 to $308 per job, from $80 at the low end to $599 at the high end, and these volume averages:
| Volume | National average (Thumbtack) |
|---|---|
| Half a pickup truck | $97 to $201 |
| One pickup truck | $132 to $273 |
| Two pickup trucks | $190 to $393 |
| Three pickup trucks | $249 to $514 |
| Four or more pickup trucks | $377 to $779 |
A furnished house is many pickup loads, plus hours of sorting that a junk hauler never does. That is why estate cleanout prices sit well above a junk pickup even when the volume is similar. For load-based price lists in detail, see junk removal price lists by truck load.
A room-by-room planning table (hypothetical starting assumptions)
Use a table like this on the walkthrough to estimate volume and labor, then replace the numbers with your own job logs after ten jobs. These are planning guesses, not market data.
| Room | Volume (cubic yards) | Labor hours to sort, pack and load |
|---|---|---|
| Furnished bedroom | 3 to 5 | 2 to 4 |
| Living room | 3 to 5 | 2 to 3 |
| Kitchen with full cabinets | 2 to 4 | 3 to 5 (many small items) |
| Bathroom | 0.5 to 1 | 0.5 to 1 |
| Home office with files | 2 to 3 | 3 to 6 (paper sorting is slow) |
| One-car garage, full | 6 to 12 | 4 to 8 |
| Full basement or attic | 8 to 15 | 6 to 12 |
If you sell by the cubic yard, the conversion is simple: a full 15-yard load priced at $600 is $40 a yard. Publish a minimum (one quarter load, for example) so a single recliner still pays for the trip.
How much do dump, mattress and appliance fees add?
Disposal usually adds a few hundred dollars to a house, and it is the one cost you cannot negotiate. Look up your local transfer station’s rate sheet before you quote; fees are set by weight with per-item surcharges, and they change every year.
Two published 2026 rate sheets show the range:
| Item | Devlin Road Transfer Station, Napa, CA (from July 1, 2026) | Gunnison County Landfill, CO (from January 1, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed household waste | $91 per ton; $48 minimum up to 1,000 lb | $87 per ton loose, $63 compacted; $16 minimum |
| Mattress or box spring | Two alone at no charge; mixed into a load, by weight | $33 each plus scale weight |
| Refrigerator, freezer, air conditioner | $29 per unit freon removal | $33 each (freon appliance) |
| Other appliances (washer, stove, water heater) | $29 per appliance | $17 each |
| Passenger tire | $20 (16 inches or less) | $14, or $20 with rim |
| Latex paint | Free, up to 5 gallons | Not listed |
| Asbestos | Not listed | $326 per ton (special waste rules apply) |
Sources: the Devlin Road price sheet and the Gunnison County landfill rates. Your county will differ, so keep its sheet in your quoting folder and update the numbers each January.
Why refrigerators cost extra
Under the EPA’s safe disposal rules for appliances such as household refrigerators, freezers and window air conditioners, the final person in the disposal chain (a scrap recycler or landfill) must make sure the refrigerant is recovered, and must keep a signed statement if the appliance arrives already empty. That is why landfills charge a freon fee or ask for paperwork. Put each refrigerant appliance on the quote as its own line.
Donation and recycling are not free either
Donation runs cost truck time and labor, charities refuse stained or broken furniture, and scrap metal has to be separated. Price a donation run like a half load of hauling, and tell the family up front that the charity, not you, decides what it accepts.
When a roll-off dumpster is cheaper
For a big house where the crew will spend two or three days sorting, a roll-off parked in the driveway can beat repeated dump runs. Thumbtack’s dumpster rental data puts the national average at $350 to $564, with 20-, 30- and 40-yard averages of $390, $401 and $421, and a 10-yard dump trailer example at $320 for a weekend with a one-ton limit. Weight overages are billed on top, so check the limit before you load it with books and tile.
How many labor hours does an estate cleanout take?
Plan for sorting to take longer than loading. In an estate, every drawer has to be opened, papers checked, and items split into keep, sell, donate, recycle, hazardous and trash. A crew that loads 15 yards of junk in an hour may need a full day to sort the same house.
What drives the hours
- Paper. Executors often want bank statements, titles, tax records and photos set aside. Searching files is the slowest work in the house.
- Small items. Kitchens, craft rooms and workshops are thousands of small objects. Volume is low, hours are high.
- Access. Stairs, long carries and no parking near the door. Thumbtack’s junk data shows the effect even on simple jobs: an average of $176 with an elevator, $188 with no stairs and $197 with stairs.
- Family on site. A relative who wants to look at every box doubles the sort time. Price it in, or schedule a family walkthrough before your crew arrives.
- Condition. Pests, mold, odors or hoarding change the job and the protective gear. Those homes are quoted separately; see what hoarding cleanups cost.
Turning hours into a labor price
Bill labor at your loaded hourly cost (wage plus payroll taxes and workers’ compensation) divided by the share of revenue labor should take. If a crew member costs you $24 an hour fully loaded and you want labor at about 45% of the price, you bill roughly $53 per person-hour. Then compare the total with what a flat bid would look like; if they disagree, the hours are usually right.
Sale first or clear only: how does it change the price?
An estate sale before the cleanout usually shrinks your job to what did not sell, so the price drops and the timeline gets tighter. A clear-only job means you handle everything, so you charge for the full sort and every load.
| Clear only | After an estate sale | |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | Everything in the house | Leftovers: often bulky, unsold furniture and boxed small items |
| Sorting | Full sort, papers and valuables protocol | Light; the sale company has already pulled what sells |
| Timing | Flexible | Usually the day after the sale ends, with a closing date behind it |
| How to quote | Flat bid after a walkthrough | Not-to-exceed price, confirmed on the morning after the sale |
Credit for resale value
Some cleanout companies take sellable items and credit their estimated value against the fee. If you do this, list each item and the credit in writing, keep the family in control of anything with sentimental or real value, and send anything that looks valuable (jewelry, art, coins, collections) to an appraiser rather than pricing it yourself. A written credit list protects you when a sibling asks later where the piano went.
Partner with estate sale companies
Estate sale companies need someone who can clear the house on a fixed day after the sale. Give them a simple after-sale price card (per load, with your minimum) so they can quote the family on your behalf, and you get a steady stream of short, predictable jobs.
Which items cost extra or need special handling?
Anything that cannot go in a regular load gets its own line on the quote: hazardous products, refrigerant appliances, mattresses, tires and electronics. Some items you should not handle at all.
The EPA describes household hazardous waste as leftover products that can catch fire, react or explode, or that are corrosive or toxic, and names paints, cleaners, oils, batteries and pesticides as examples. Most counties run a drop-off site or collection days; some accept household quantities only from residents, so check before you load the garage shelves.
| Item | How to handle it | How to price it |
|---|---|---|
| Paint, solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals | Separate, keep in original containers, take to the county site | Flat fee per trip or per box, plus any county charge |
| Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners | Refrigerant must be recovered before disposal | Landfill fee plus handling, per unit |
| Mattresses and box springs | Some states run mattress recycling; otherwise landfill surcharge | Per piece |
| TVs, computers, electronics | Many states ban them from landfills; use an e-waste recycler | Per piece, by size for TVs |
| Tires | Tire recycler or landfill tire fee | Per tire |
| Firearms, ammunition, prescription drugs | Do not take them; the family or executor arranges transfer or a take-back program | Exclude in writing |
| Suspected asbestos (old pipe wrap, floor tile) | Do not disturb; licensed abatement only | Exclude in writing |
Never mix leftover chemicals to consolidate containers, and do not pour anything down a drain. Rules differ by state and county, so check yours; this is not legal advice.
A worked estate cleanout quote (hypothetical numbers)
Here is a clear-only quote for a two-bedroom ranch of about 1,200 square feet with a one-car garage. The family has already taken keepsakes. Every number is hypothetical; replace them with your own wages, truck costs and the rate sheet from your transfer station.
What the walkthrough found
- Living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, bathroom and a full garage: about 28 cubic yards, so two loads in a 15-yard box.
- One refrigerator, a washer and a dryer, two mattresses, four gallons of latex paint, a shelf of garage chemicals.
- One donation run to a charity three miles away.
Direct cost
| Line | How it is worked out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Crew labor | 3 people × 7 hours × $24 loaded cost | $504 |
| Tipping fees | 2 loads × about 1.25 tons × $91 a ton | $228 |
| Appliance fees | Refrigerator freon $29, washer and dryer $29 each | $87 |
| Vehicle | 78 miles (job, two dump runs, donation run) × $0.80 your cost per mile | $62 |
| Supplies | Contractor bags, boxes, gloves, masks | $40 |
| Hazardous drop-off | Latex paint free at this site; one county drop-off trip for chemicals, labor included above | $0 |
| Total direct cost | $921 |
Two ways to quote it
- All-inclusive: with 25% overhead and 20% profit, direct cost is 55% of the price. $921 ÷ 0.55 = $1,675. Quote $1,695, and you carry the risk that the loads weigh more than you guessed.
- Itemized for an executor: mark up only your own costs ($606 ÷ 0.55 = $1,102) and pass disposal through at the receipts. Quote $1,125 plus disposal at cost, estimated $315, not to exceed $400. Executors who must account for every estate dollar often prefer this.
A final clean of the empty house is a separate line, quoted like a move-out clean; the move-out cleaning checklist covers the scope. If the same house had an estate sale first and only one load of leftovers remained, the same math (two people for five hours, one load, no appliances) comes to about $745.
How to present an estate cleanout quote to a family or executor
Send a written quote within a day of the walkthrough, with the scope room by room, what is excluded, how valuables and papers are handled, and when you need to be paid. Families compare you on trust as much as on price.
- Walk every space and photograph it. Sheds, crawl spaces and the attic hatch are where scope creep hides. Attach the photos to the quote.
- List the scope by room and say what “empty” means: broom clean, or a full clean as an extra line.
- Write the valuables protocol. Cash, jewelry, documents and photos found during the sort are bagged, logged and handed to the named contact.
- State the exclusions: firearms, medications, suspected asbestos, biohazard, anything the family marked to keep.
- Explain disposal charges and whether they are included or billed at receipts with a cap.
- Set payment terms. A deposit to book the date and the balance on completion is common; executors may need an itemized invoice to pay from the estate account.
- Give a change-order rule. If the job grows (a second storage unit, a locked room), you quote the addition before you do it.
The cleaning estimate template gives you the format, and quoting software such as Broombook keeps the quote, the booking and the invoice for the final clean in one place. See pricing for the plans.