Bungalows and Craftsman homes ringing the lake (98103, 98115), with basements, detached garages and sheds behind them — plus the apartment buildings that turn over all year. Flat photo price from a $95 minimum, sofa $170, truck-fill $325–$985. We load from the house, so nothing sits on a curb that a few thousand people walk past every day.
Snap a photo — flat price back in seconds
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →The basement from the bottom of the stairs, the back half of the garage, the deck furniture that didn't survive the winter. An exact flat price comes back in seconds — no walkthrough, no hourly meter.
Same-day is often open across Green Lake, Wallingford and Wedgwood. Tell us if there's an alley behind the house, a shared driveway, or a block where parking is hopeless — we plan around it.
Up from the basement, out of the shed, down from a lakeside unit. Donation, metal and e-waste split at the truck, floor swept, sidewalk left exactly as we found it.
Flat and photo-quoted. A few things price per item; a basement, a garage, a shed or an apartment prices as truck-fill — how much of the truck your load actually fills. The carry, the drive and the tip fee are already inside both numbers.
| Item / volume | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Sofa / couch | $170 |
| Refrigerator | $221 |
| Queen mattress | $139 |
| Patio table | $120 |
| Propane grill | $95 |
| Treadmill | $155 |
| Contractor bags — 10 | $178 |
| Truck-fill — 2/8 (quarter) | $325 |
| Truck-fill — 3/8 | $455 |
| Truck-fill — 4/8 (half) | $580 |
| Truck-fill — 5/8 | $690 |
| Truck-fill — 6/8 | $790 |
| Truck-fill — 7/8 | $890 |
| Truck-fill — 8/8 (full truck) | $985 |
$95 minimum on any job. Loading, the stair carry and disposal are included, and there's no stair, floor or long-carry fee. A one-bedroom apartment's leftovers usually land at 2/8 ($325) to 4/8 ($580); a bungalow basement or a detached garage is more often 4/8 ($580) to 7/8 ($890); a whole deck refresh — table, chairs, umbrella, grill — is typically cheaper as a 2/8 ($325) than as a list of individual pieces. Send one wide photo and we'll price it both ways and charge the lower one. Washington does not charge retail sales tax on this service; the 3.6% state refuse tax applies to disposal and is shown in your total.
Outside context: Homeyou and Yelp Costs put the average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253–$325. Third-party figures, cited so you can check ours against the market rather than take our word for it. See the full Seattle price guide →
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch by the lake |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPU special-items pickup | $30 per item | Next garbage day | Curbside-only, by appointment — dozens of fees for a basement, and the sofa sits out front for days on a street everyone walks |
| Self-haul to SPU North station (Wallingford, N 34th St) | ~$35 min/trip ≤420 lb · ~$165/ton | Same day, per trip | Close by, but a basement or garage is several trips — plus a truck, a tarp, and the stairs at the start of each |
| Donation pickup (Goodwill, ReStore, Salvation Army) | Free | Days to weeks | Resellable pieces only, judged at the door; crews collect from the ground floor, not the basement or a third-floor unit |
| JunkRabbit | From $95 · truck-fill $325–$985 | Often same day | None — flat photo price, loaded from the house, donation and free E-Cycle routed |
Municipal figures are Seattle Public Utilities' published rates; SPU's self-haul rate page is dated 4/1/2023 — confirm before you load. Ours are flat and photo-quoted with disposal included.
Yes, in the narrow way the program is designed for. Seattle Public Utilities collects "special items" at a published $30 per item, by appointment, scheduled to your next regular garbage day, and curbside only. You book it at seattle.gov/specialitems. One dead armchair, one appointment, thirty dollars — take that deal.
Two things make it a poor fit for most Green Lake calls. The first is volume: a bungalow basement or a packed detached garage is dozens of items, which means dozens of $30 charges, and because SPU's crew works from the street, you carry every one of those pieces up the basement stairs and out to the curb before the truck comes. The program was built for a single object, not a room.
The second is specific to this neighborhood, and people underestimate it until they've done it. Green Lake's three-mile loop path carries a steady stream of runners, walkers, strollers and cyclists past these houses every single day, and the streets ringing the lake are already tight enough on parking that neighbors notice what's on the verge. "Curbside only, on your next garbage day" means a sofa, a mattress and a broken bookcase sitting out front for several days in the wettest city in the country, in full view of the whole neighborhood — where it gets rained into a heavier, soggier version of itself and picked over in the meantime. That's not a rule violation, it's just a genuinely unpleasant plan. We do the opposite: we come inside, carry it out, and the sidewalk looks the same when we leave as it did before we arrived.
Self-haul is a fair alternative here, and we'll say so plainly: SPU's North Recycling & Disposal Station is a few minutes away in Wallingford on N 34th St, published at roughly $35 minimum per trip (up to 420 lb) and about $165 a ton — that page is dated 4/1/2023, so check it first. One light load you can lift alone? Drive it over. A basement, a garage, or a mixed pile is a different animal: it's several trips, it needs a truck and a tarp, and under SMC 21.36 a mixed load can't simply go in the garbage anyway — the city bans recyclables, yard waste and food-soiled paper from it, and over roughly 10% contamination earns a violation tag instead of a collection.
Sorting is what makes a flat price sustainable in a market where the county tips garbage at a published $243.38 a ton, clean wood and yard waste run about $115, and electronics cost nothing at all. So the truck is split at the tailgate before it goes anywhere.
Green Lake is really two neighborhoods sharing a shoreline, and the jobs split along that line. The houses — Craftsman and bungalow stock, mostly 98103 rolling into 98115 on the northeast side — come with full basements, detached garages off the alley and often a garden shed as well. Three storage spaces per household, all of them slowly filling for thirty years, which is why the signature call here is a clear-out rather than a single pickup, and why the hard part is always the stairs rather than the truck.
The apartment buildings nearer the water and along the arterials turn over constantly — students, young professionals, families in transition. Those are move-out and turnover jobs against a lease date, and we load from inside the unit with no stair or floor surcharge, because the alternative the city offers is asking a tenant to park a mattress on the sidewalk for three days.
What both share is the loop. The path around the lake is one of the busiest recreational corridors in Seattle, and its side effect is that street parking is tight and the sidewalk in front of your house is genuinely public space. We plan around that rather than complain about it: we use the alley or the driveway when there is one, keep the truck out of the bike lane, stage nothing on the sidewalk, and if the block is full we park where we legally can and carry it the rest of the way — with no long-carry surcharge, because that's a Green Lake condition, not an upcharge opportunity.
"Basement and attic cleared, carried up and out, swept clean. Flat price from a photo. Didn't lift a thing."
"Old couch and a treadmill up from the basement. Fair flat quote, same-day. Easy."
"Cleared the house before listing — donation-routed, broom-clean, realtor-ready. Professional."
How much does it cost in Green Lake?
From a $95 minimum. Sofa $170, refrigerator $221, queen mattress $139, patio table $120, propane grill $95, treadmill $155, 10 contractor bags $178. Basements, garages, sheds and apartments as truck-fill: 2/8 $325, 3/8 $455, 4/8 $580, 5/8 $690, 6/8 $790, 7/8 $890, 8/8 $985.
Why not use the $30-per-item city pickup?
Use it for one item. It's curbside-only, by appointment, on your next garbage day — so a basement becomes dozens of $30s you carry up yourself, and the pile sits out front for days on a street thousands of people walk past.
Where's the nearest self-haul?
The SPU North station in Wallingford on N 34th St — roughly $35 minimum per trip up to 420 lb, about $165 a ton as published (page dated 4/1/2023). Fine for one load; several trips for a garage.
Do you do apartment move-outs?
Yes — loaded from inside the unit, no stair or floor surcharge, and we can work to a lease-end deadline.
Do you take patio furniture and grills?
Yes: patio table $120, chairs $40 each, umbrella $71, lounge $82, propane grill $95 with the tank removed. A whole deck set is usually cheaper as one truck-fill tier.
What if there's nowhere to park?
We use the alley or driveway where there is one, otherwise we park where we legally can and carry it — no long-carry surcharge, and nothing gets staged on the sidewalk.
Where does everything end up?
Donation first (Evergreen Goodwill, Salvation Army 1-800-SA-TRUCK, Habitat ReStore), clean wood and yard waste separated at roughly $115/ton against $243/ton garbage, metal to scrap, TVs and computers to free WA E-Cycle, remainder tipped.
Is there sales tax on this?
Not on the service — Washington doesn't apply its ~10.35% retail sales tax here. A 3.6% state refuse tax applies to the disposal portion and appears in your total.
For a single item, yes. Seattle Public Utilities collects special items at $30 each, by appointment, scheduled to your next regular garbage day, and curbside only — booking is at seattle.gov/specialitems. Two things make it awkward here. A bungalow basement is dozens of items, so it becomes dozens of $30 charges that you carry up the stairs and out yourself, since SPU crews work from the street. And the curbside part is a real problem on streets ringing the lake, where parking is tight and thousands of people walk and run past your house every day — a sofa parked at the curb for several days is a genuine neighborhood nuisance.
SPU's North Recycling and Disposal Station in Wallingford on N 34th St is the nearest gate, published at roughly $35 minimum per trip up to 420 pounds and about $165 per ton. SPU's rate page is dated 4/1/2023, so confirm before you load. For one light load it is a reasonable option; for a basement or a garage it is several trips, each one loaded by you, and you will need to tarp the load.
Yes, constantly. The apartment buildings around the lake turn over year-round, and we load from inside the unit — down the stairs or the elevator — rather than asking anyone to stage a mattress and a sofa on a sidewalk that half the neighborhood jogs along. There is no stair or floor surcharge, and we can work to a lease-end deadline.
Yes — it is one of the seasonal Green Lake jobs. A patio table is $120, patio chairs $40 each, an umbrella $71, an outdoor lounge $82 and a propane grill $95, with the tank removed for safe handling. A full deck refresh usually prices lower as one truck-fill tier than as a list of individual pieces, so send one wide photo and we will quote it both ways.
Usually — and when the block is full, we park where we legally can and carry it the rest of the way. There is no long-carry surcharge. Working with the loop traffic rather than against it is part of the job here: we keep the truck out of the bike lane, load from the driveway or alley where one exists, and leave nothing on the sidewalk.
Donation first — Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army at 1-800-SA-TRUCK and Habitat for Humanity ReStore all take resellable furniture and household goods, and we can request a receipt. Clean wood and yard waste are separated because King County tips those at about $115 a ton against $243.38 for garbage. Televisions, monitors, laptops and desktops go to WA E-Cycle free, since they are banned from Washington garbage. Metal is scrapped, and only the remainder is tipped.
It is fixed before dispatch, which usually means cheaper on a mixed load and always means predictable. Third-party cost trackers Homeyou and Yelp Costs put a typical Seattle job at roughly $253 to $325, generally confirmed only once a crew is on site. Ours comes back from a photo and already includes the carry-out and the disposal.