Junk Removal in
First Hill

Pill Hill runs on start dates. Residents, travelling staff and students arrive and leave on the hospital calendar, and the furniture has to move with them. Mid-rise apartments and condos on a steep grade (98104, 98122) — COI filed, service elevator booked, carried down the hill at a flat photo-quoted price from $95, sofa $170.

Get your First Hill quote — from $95

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Free · No login · COI filed · No stair fee, no hill fee
Insured, vetted crews COI naming management, filed same day Flat photo-quoted price Same-day, built around start dates Nothing staged at the curb

How junk removal works on First Hill

1 · Send a photo

Photograph the room or the pile. An exact flat number comes back in seconds — useful when your window to deal with this is one post-call afternoon.

2 · Name your building

If management wants a COI on file before anyone touches the service elevator, we file it and reserve the elevator. If there's no elevator at all, we plan the stair route instead.

3 · We carry it out & haul

Crew comes to the unit, down the stairs or the elevator, out to the truck. Usable furniture is donated, electronics recycled free. Nothing waits on the sidewalk.

How much does junk removal cost on First Hill?

Flat and photo-quoted. The carry, the stairs, the hill, the COI and the disposal are already inside the number — none of them are surcharges here.

Item / volumeFlat price
Sofa / couch$170
Dresser$169
Mini fridge$155
Queen mattress$139
Box spring$124
Twin mattress$111
Truck-fill — quarter load$325
Truck-fill — half load$580
Truck-fill — full truck$985

$95 minimum. Loading, stair-carry, COI and disposal are included. Items ride together at one flat price — a queen at $139, a box spring at $124 and a dresser at $169 is one job, not three — and once a furnished studio or one-bedroom is emptying out, truck-fill from $325 is normally the cheaper route. Washington's 3.6% state refuse tax on disposal is shown in the quote; the roughly 10.35% retail sales rate doesn't apply to this service.

Third-party context: consumer cost trackers including Homeyou and the Yelp Costs guides put a typical Seattle-area junk removal job at around $253–$325. A single item here prices well under that, and either way you get the number before we drive up the hill rather than after the truck is loaded.

5 ways to clear a First Hill apartment

OptionCostSpeedCatch
SPU special-items pickup$30/itemYour next garbage day, by appointmentCurbside only — and on these blocks there's often nowhere legal to stage it
Donate (charity pickup)FreeDays to weeksClean, resellable pieces only; scheduled on their route, not your start date
Self-haul to an SPU transfer station~$35 min/trip as publishedAn afternoonNeeds a truck, straps and a tarp — plus getting it down the hill yourself first
Traditional full-service hauler~$150–$600+1–3 daysPriced by truck volume, usually confirmed on site; COI often an afterthought
JunkRabbitFrom $95 flat · sofa $170Same dayNone — flat photo price, COI filed, we carry it out, donation-routed

Does Seattle pick up couches and mattresses on First Hill?

Seattle Public Utilities does run a bulky pickup — special items at $30 apiece, booked by appointment and collected on your next scheduled garbage day (seattle.gov/specialitems). Three details in that sentence decide whether it's useful to you, and on First Hill they usually decide against it.

First, it is curbside only. Second, it runs on the building's garbage day, not yours — so the sofa sits somewhere for days. Third, and most specific to this neighborhood: there often isn't a curb to use. First Hill is steep and tightly built; mid-rise apartment buildings sit flush against the sidewalk with no setback, no driveway and no service alley, and the sidewalk itself is on a grade. A mattress and a dresser parked on a narrow uphill sidewalk for three days is a hazard, a complaint and frequently a violation. Add the fourth wrinkle — plenty of buildings here are COI buildings, requiring a certificate of insurance naming management, commonly $1 million or more in general liability per occurrence, before a vendor may use the service elevator — and the curbside program simply doesn't reach the problem.

And First Hill's calendar makes the timing worse. A resident finishing a rotation, a travelling nurse whose contract ends, a student between quarters — these are fixed dates, often with a flight or a start date on the other side. Waiting for the next garbage day isn't a plan. We come to the unit, handle the building paperwork, carry it out and haul it the same day, so nothing ever sits on that sidewalk.

What we take on First Hill

What happens to it after pickup

A lot of what leaves First Hill is only a year or two old — furniture bought for a rotation and abandoned at the end of it. Anything clean and resellable goes to donation first: Evergreen Goodwill and the Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK) both take usable furniture in Seattle, and we'll get you a receipt on request, which matters when the load is part of an estate or a downsizing.

Electronics never go in the truck's landfill pile: Washington bans TVs, monitors, computers and laptops from the garbage, and the state's manufacturer-funded E-Cycle program takes them free (ecyclewa.org / 1-800-RECYCLE). Metal, clean wood and cardboard are separated out too — Seattle's ban on recyclables and food waste in the garbage means a mixed load isn't compliant anyway, and a sorted load tips cheaper. That's how the flat price survives Seattle's disposal costs without a fuel-and-dump surcharge appearing at the end.

Pill Hill buildings: the grade, the elevator, the paperwork

First Hill earned its nickname from the hospitals — Swedish and Virginia Mason on the hill, Harborview just off it — and the housing follows the work: dense mid-rise apartments and condos built for people who need to be within a few minutes' walk of a shift. It also happens to be one of Seattle's steeper neighborhoods, and the two facts collide in the same job. The building is six or eight storeys with a single small elevator that may or may not be a service car. The street outside is on a grade with metered parking and a bus route. And management wants a COI naming them as additional insured before your hauler is allowed to use the elevator at all.

We plan all three before the crew leaves the yard: the COI filed, the elevator reserved where the building requires it, and a stair route mapped for the older walk-up stock that has no elevator. The load goes straight from your door to the truck — nothing gets staged on the sidewalk, which is both the neighbourhood's real constraint and the thing the city's curbside program can't get around. Stairs and the hill are in the flat price. There is no stair fee, no hill fee and no high-rise fee.

When First Hill calls us

Why First Hill chooses JunkRabbit

What First Hill residents say

★★★★★

"High-rise needed a COI and elevator reservation. Filed both, hauled the sectional out clean. Flat price."

— Marcus P., First Hill
★★★★★

"Walk-up move-out, couch and mattress down and out same-day. No stair fee. Perfect."

— Priya R., First Hill
★★★★★

"Sold the condo — cleared it within our elevator window, COI on file. Professional and fast."

— Elena R., First Hill

First Hill junk removal questions, answered

How much does it cost on First Hill?

Flat and photo-quoted with a $95 minimum: sofa $170, dresser $169, mini fridge $155, queen mattress $139, box spring $124, twin $111. Whole units run truck-fill, $325 quarter load to $985 full. Carry, COI and disposal included; the 3.6% state refuse tax on disposal is shown in the quote.

Will the city take my couch?

SPU's special-items pickup is $30 per item, by appointment, curbside only, on your next garbage day (seattle.gov/specialitems). On First Hill there's frequently nowhere legal to stage a sofa at the curb, and it doesn't get it out of your unit either.

Do you provide the COI?

Yes — naming your building's management as additional insured, commonly $1M+ general liability per occurrence, on file before the crew arrives. Included in the flat price.

Can you work to a residency or contract start date?

That's the neighborhood's whole rhythm and we schedule for it, same-day where it's open. Photos in, flat price back, slot locked to your date.

Is there a stair or hill surcharge?

No. Steep street, six flights, no elevator — all inside the flat photo price.

Mattress and dresser in one trip?

Yes, and cheaper that way: queen $139 + box spring $124 + dresser $169 on one truck at one price. Past a few big pieces, truck-fill from $325 usually wins and we'll say so.

Is there sales tax on the service?

Not the ~10.35% retail rate — Washington doesn't tax junk removal that way. The 3.6% state refuse tax applies to disposal and is shown up front.

Cheaper than a traditional full-service hauler?

Ours is fixed from a photo before we arrive; volume-priced haulers commonly run roughly $150 to $600+ and confirm on site. Our number includes the carry-out, the COI and the disposal.

More around First Hill

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

Does Seattle pick up furniture on First Hill?

Only in theory for most First Hill addresses. Seattle Public Utilities runs an appointment-only special-items pickup at $30 per item, collected on your next scheduled garbage day and strictly curbside — see seattle.gov/specialitems. First Hill is steep and dense, mid-rise buildings sit right on the sidewalk, and there is frequently nowhere legal to stage a sofa at the curb for days. Many buildings also require a certificate of insurance before a vendor uses the service elevator, which a curbside program does not address.

Do you provide a COI for my First Hill building?

Yes. Mid-rise apartments and condos around the hospitals commonly require a Certificate of Insurance naming building management as additional insured, typically at least $1 million general liability per occurrence, before a vendor may use the service elevator. We file it, and it is included in the flat price.

Can you clear a unit fast for a residency or fellowship start date?

Yes — turnover on fixed dates is the rhythm of this neighborhood. Send photos, get an exact flat price, and we schedule to your date, including same-day when it is open. Medical residents, travelling staff and students move on the calendar their program sets, not the one their landlord prefers.

Is there a surcharge for stairs or the hill?

No. First Hill is one of the steeper carries in Seattle and plenty of the older buildings have no elevator at all. Stair-carries and hill carries are inside the flat photo price — no stair fee, no hill fee, no high-rise fee.

Can you take a mattress and a dresser in the same trip?

Yes, and it is cheaper that way. A queen mattress at $139, a box spring at $124 and a dresser at $169 all ride on one truck at one flat price. Once a furnished unit's worth of furniture is going out, truck-fill from $325 is usually the better number and we will tell you so before booking.

Is there sales tax on junk removal in Seattle?

Not the roughly 10.35% retail sales rate — Washington does not tax the junk-removal service that way. The 3.6% state refuse tax applies to disposal, and it is shown in your quote rather than added at the end.

Is it cheaper than a traditional full-service hauler?

Ours is fixed from a photo before we arrive. Volume-priced full-service haulers commonly land between roughly $150 and $600 or more for a comparable load and often confirm only on site, after you have already blocked out the afternoon. Our number includes the carry-out, the COI and the disposal.