Floating Home Cleanout Seattle
Floating Home & Houseboat Cleanouts
in Seattle
We carry it down the dock, because the truck can't get to your door. Whole-home clear-outs on the Eastlake, Westlake, Northlake and Portage Bay docks price as truck-fill — $241 for a quarter truck to $732 for a full one — or piece by piece, sofa $126, queen mattress $103, fridge $164. The long hand-carry along the dock is in the flat price, not on top of it.
How a floating-home cleanout works
1 · Send photos, and tell us the dock
Photos of what's going, plus three things only you know: which dock you're on, roughly how far your berth is from the street, and whether there's a gangway or a step-down at the water. An exact flat price comes back in seconds.
2 · We plan the carry, not a surcharge
Dock length decides how many crew we send and where the truck stages at the head of the dock — it doesn't change your number. If your dock or co-op has moorage rules about hours or staging, tell us and we work to them.
3 · Carried out, hand over hand
Everything goes out the door, along the walkway, up the gangway and down the dock to the truck — protected surfaces, neighbours' walkways kept clear. Resellable pieces are routed to donation; e-waste goes to WA E-Cycle.
How much does a floating home cleanout cost in Seattle?
Almost every floating-home job prices by volume — how much of the truck it fills — because it's rarely one item. Single pieces price on their own if that's all you have.
| Job size | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Quarter truck — a closet, a small deck clear-out, a few pieces | $241 |
| Three-eighths truck | $338 |
| Half truck — a room, or a serious declutter | $431 |
| Five-eighths truck | $513 |
| Three-quarters truck | $587 |
| Seven-eighths truck | $661 |
| Full truck — a whole-home or estate clear-out | $732 |
| Single item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Queen mattress | $103 |
| Sofa / couch (standard) | $126 |
| Medium loose pile | $129 |
| 10 bags of household clear-out | $132 |
| Refrigerator | $164 |
About the $100 minimum: $100 is the floor for dispatching a truck and a crew anywhere in the metro. Every line above clears it comfortably; on a floating-home job it effectively never comes up. Bigger than a full truck? We bring a second load and price it at the same tiers — no surprise multiplier for the dock.
Third-party context. Cost guides from Homeyou and Yelp Costs put an average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253–$325. Our quarter truck sits right in that band — and it includes the part that makes this address different, which is walking every item the length of a dock. Nobody prices that separately here because nobody else markets to these homes at all.
On tax. Washington does not apply its retail sales tax — roughly 10.35% in Seattle — to junk-removal service. The 3.6% state refuse and solid-waste collection tax (RCW 82.18) does apply, on the disposal portion of the job. Small, real, and named correctly.
4 ways to clear out a floating home
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPU special-items pickup | $30 per item | Next garbage day | Curbside only — and you have no curb. Most berths have no street frontage at all; there is nowhere to legally stage a sofa |
| Donation pickup | Free | Days to weeks | Resellable condition only, and most charity trucks won't walk a long dock — several ask that items be brought to the street |
| Self-haul to the transfer station | SPU North station ~$35 min/trip (≤420 lb), ~$165/ton as published | Several trips | You carry every piece down the dock to a vehicle parked where parking is scarce — which was the whole problem |
| JunkRabbit | $241–$732 truck-fill, flat | Usually same or next day | None — we do the dock carry, at the price quoted from your photos |
The pattern is worth naming: every cheaper option ends with the words "you carry it down the dock." That's not a pricing difference, it's a physical one, and it's the reason this page exists.
Does Seattle pick up from a floating home?
Not in any way that helps. Seattle Public Utilities runs a genuinely good special-items pickup for bulky household goods at $30 per item, booked by appointment and scheduled onto your next regular garbage day (seattle.gov/specialitems). For a Wallingford bungalow it's the cheapest answer in the city and we say so on every page we write. But the program is curbside-only, and a floating home has no curb — in most cases no street frontage at all. The address is a berth partway down a shared dock. There is no legal, sensible place to set a sofa outside your door and wait for a truck, and even if there were, the truck can't reach it.
So the constraint isn't bureaucratic, it's physical. The question for a floating-home owner was never "will the city take this?" It was always "how does a queen mattress get from the water to the street?"
The self-haul route runs into the same wall. You'd carry every item the length of the dock to a vehicle parked at the head of it — and street parking around the Lake Union docks is severely limited, which is the daily reality of living there — then drive to a transfer station. The nearest is SPU's North Recycling & Disposal Station on N 34th St in Wallingford, only minutes from the docks, where the published self-haul rate is about a $35 minimum per trip (up to 420 lb) and roughly $165 per ton beyond that. Those are modest numbers. The gate fee was never the expensive part of this job.
And no franchise markets to these addresses. Seattle's floating homes are a legally capped stock — roughly 507 homes on about 70 docks, with no new permits being issued — which is far too small a market for a national brand to write a page about, and far too specific for a generic quote to be accurate. That's why owners here mostly end up doing it themselves. They shouldn't have to.
What we take out of a floating home
- Furniture — sofas, beds, dressers, dining sets and the built-for-the-space pieces that won't fit anywhere on land.
- Mattresses & box springs — awkward, heavy and completely unmanageable alone on a narrow dock.
- Appliances — refrigerators, washers, dryers and dishwashers, disconnected and carried out. Refrigerant units are handled with proper recovery.
- Whole-home and estate contents — decades of a life on the water, cleared room by room over one or two truckloads.
- Damp and mildewed goods — the boxes under the bed, the closet against the waterline, the deck furniture that lost its argument with a Seattle winter. Living on the lake is hard on textiles and cardboard.
- Deck & dock-side items — planters, weathered outdoor furniture, kayaks, boat gear and the grill that rusted through.
- Remodel debris — the old cabinets, fixtures and flooring from a refit, carried out the same way everything else goes: by hand, down the dock.
What happens to it after we carry it off
Donation first, where it's genuinely resellable. Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK) and Habitat for Humanity ReStore all take usable furniture and household goods across King County, and with lead time several of them run their own free home pickup — though realistically, a charity truck is not going to walk your dock. We'll tell you honestly when a piece will be accepted and when it won't: stained, torn or mildewed upholstery is declined, and a lot of what comes off the water is exactly that.
Metal goes to scrap — bed frames, appliance shells, railings, boat hardware. Electronics go to WA E-Cycle, which recycles monitors, laptops, desktops and TVs free statewide (ecyclewa.org · 1-800-RECYCLE) and where they legally have to go, because they're banned from Washington garbage.
What's left is separated before it's tipped. Seattle's SMC 21.36 rules ban recyclables from the garbage and tag loads arriving more than 10% contaminated, so clean wood, cardboard and metal come out of the pile. It's also the cheaper path — and because the 3.6% Washington refuse tax is calculated on disposal, diverted material sits outside that tax base too. Which is a large part of how we hold a flat price on a job with this much labour in it.
The docks — Eastlake, Portage Bay, Westlake, Northlake
Seattle has roughly 507 floating homes on about 70 docks, a stock that is legally capped with no new permits — which is why the community is tight, the homes commonly run $1M–$2.5M+, and everybody on your dock will notice how a crew behaves. The ZIPs are 98102, 98109 and 98103.
Eastlake & Fairview — the largest cluster, running down the east shore of Lake Union, and the docks here are roughly twice as long as elsewhere. That is the longest hand-carry in the city, and it is quoted at the same flat price as anywhere else.
Portage Bay — about 131 homes across 33 docks, largely co-op owned, which means the dock itself is collectively governed and the rules about staging, hours and vehicle access are real rules with neighbours attached. Tell us yours.
Westlake — the west-shore docks, including the famous Sleepless in Seattle float at 2460 Westlake. Street access here is a working commercial strip, and parking at the head of the dock is the first thing we plan.
Northlake — the smaller north-shore group near Gas Works Park, minutes from SPU's North transfer station on N 34th St, which makes turnaround on a multi-load job quick.
What "access" actually means here. There is no vehicle access to your door, full stop. Every item is hand-carried along a long, narrow, sometimes-floating communal dock or gangway. There is a water-level step-down onto the dock that varies with the lake and with the season, and the walkway is shared — your neighbours use it while we're working. Street parking at the head of the dock is severely limited. And many docks have moorage or HOA rules governing timing and staging. None of that changes the price. All of it changes the plan, which is why we ask about it before we come rather than discovering it on arrival.
When floating-home owners call us
- Selling or listing. These homes photograph small and show best empty — clearing decades of storage before the listing shoot is the most common call we get from the docks.
- Downsizing off the water. Moving to a condo or the Eastside after years on Lake Union, with more possessions than the new place will hold.
- Estate settlement. A family home on a co-op dock, cleared discreetly by an executor who often lives out of state. Donation receipts on request.
- A remodel or refit. Old cabinets, fixtures and flooring out before the new ones can come down the same dock.
- Moisture and mildew damage. The lake is patient and the PNW is wet — soaked storage, mildewed textiles, a closet that quietly went bad.
- Aging in place. The dock stops being walkable with an armload long before it stops being home. Carrying things off is exactly what we're for.
Why the docks choose JunkRabbit
- The carry is in the price — no dock surcharge, no long-carry fee, no renegotiation when the crew sees how far the berth is. The same promise we make about Capitol Hill's stairs and Queen Anne's grade.
- A flat number from photos — quoted before anyone is dispatched, so nobody is standing on your dock discussing money.
- We plan around your dock — moorage rules, hours, staging and where the truck sits at the head of the dock, agreed in advance.
- Careful on a shared walkway — dock surface protected, neighbours' paths kept clear, nothing set down where someone has to climb over it.
- Insured, vetted crews — and a certificate for your dock association if it asks for one.
- Donation-routed and honest about tax — usable goods to Goodwill, Salvation Army or ReStore; e-waste to WA E-Cycle; the 3.6% refuse tax named for what it is.
What a dock job usually looks like
Eastlake, pre-listing clear-out
A long dock, a berth near the end, and twenty years of storage coming out before the photographer arrives. Sofa, bed, dressers and a dozen bags, carried the full length. Priced as half truck-fill, $431 flat.
Portage Bay, one appliance
A dead refrigerator on a co-op dock with rules about weekday hours. Scheduled to the dock's window, disconnected, walked out on a dolly, shell to scrap. $164 flat — the carry included.
Westlake, estate settlement
Whole-home contents for an out-of-state executor: furniture, mattresses, kitchen, deck. Two loads over one day, donation receipts issued for what qualified. Full truck-fill $732, then a second load at its own tier.
Representative job types and real prices from our Seattle list — not customer testimonials. We publish star ratings only when they come from a verified Google Business Profile.
Floating-home cleanout questions, answered
How much does a floating home cleanout cost in Seattle?
Truck-fill: quarter $241, three-eighths $338, half $431, five-eighths $513, three-quarters $587, seven-eighths $661, full $732. Single pieces: sofa $126, queen mattress $103, fridge $164, ten bags $132, medium loose pile $129. $100 minimum, dock carry and disposal included.
Is there a surcharge for the dock carry?
No. The long hand-carry is inside the flat price — the same way stairs and hills are on every other Seattle page we write. Dock length changes how many crew we bring, not your number.
Can I just use SPU's $30 special-items pickup?
Not really — it's curbside-only (seattle.gov/specialitems) and a floating home has no curb, and usually no street frontage. Getting the item to the street was the whole job.
What would self-haul cost?
SPU's North station on N 34th St in Wallingford is minutes away: about a $35 minimum per trip (≤420 lb) and roughly $165/ton as published. Cheap at the gate — but you're carrying everything down the dock to a vehicle parked where parking is scarce.
Will you follow our dock's moorage rules?
Yes. Many docks have them, and Portage Bay's are largely co-op governed. Tell us the hours, the staging rules and where we can park, and we'll work to them.
Which docks do you serve?
All of them — Eastlake/Fairview (the largest cluster, longest docks), Portage Bay (~131 homes on 33 docks), Westlake and Northlake. ZIPs 98102, 98109, 98103.
Where does everything end up?
Donation first if it's resellable (Evergreen Goodwill, Salvation Army 1-800-SA-TRUCK, Habitat ReStore); metal to scrap; monitors, laptops and TVs to WA E-Cycle, free and legally required; the rest separated per SMC 21.36 before disposal.
Is there sales tax on this?
Washington's retail sales tax (~10.35% in Seattle) does not apply to junk-removal service. The 3.6% state refuse tax (RCW 82.18) applies to the disposal portion. Not "no tax" — the right tax, named correctly.
Around Lake Union
Frequently asked questions
Do you charge extra for carrying everything down the dock?
No. There is no dock-carry surcharge, and we are not going to invent one. It is the same promise we make about Capitol Hill's no-elevator stairs and Queen Anne's grade — the hard carry is inside the flat price, not added at the door. What we do ask is that you tell us the dock length and whether there is a gangway or a step-down at the water, because that changes how many crew we send, not what you pay.
Can a floating home use Seattle's $30 special-items pickup?
In practice, no. SPU's special-items pickup is $30 per item and it is curbside-only, collected from the curb on your next regular garbage day (seattle.gov/specialitems). A floating home has no curb, and in most cases no street frontage at all — the address is a berth at the end of a shared dock. That is not a rhetorical flourish, it is the literal service constraint: there is nowhere for you to legally set a sofa down for the truck to find it, and getting a mattress from the water to the street is the entire job in the first place.
What is the self-haul alternative?
Carry everything down the dock yourself to a vehicle parked at the head of it — where street parking around the Lake Union docks is severely limited — and drive it to a transfer station. The closest is SPU's North Recycling and Disposal Station on N 34th St in Wallingford, minutes from the Lake Union docks, where the published self-haul rate is around a $35 minimum per trip (up to 420 lb) and roughly $165 per ton beyond it. The gate fee is honestly not the hard part. The dock is.
What happens to everything after you take it?
Donation first where the item is genuinely resellable — Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK) and Habitat for Humanity ReStore all take usable furniture and household goods across King County. Metal goes to scrap. Monitors, laptops, desktops and TVs go to WA E-Cycle, which recycles them free statewide and where they legally have to go, since they are banned from the garbage. What is left is disposed, and clean wood is separated from garbage because Seattle's SMC 21.36 rules require it.
Do you charge Washington sales tax?
Washington does not apply its retail sales tax, roughly 10.35% in Seattle, to junk-removal service. The 3.6% state refuse and solid-waste collection tax under RCW 82.18 does apply, on the disposal portion of the job. Small, real, and named correctly rather than described as no tax at all.
Ready to Clear the Houseboat?
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