What Seattle residents actually pay for junk removal

The honest starting point

Most people arrive at this question having been quoted a range by somebody who has not seen their house. That is not useful, so here are the real shapes instead.

Everything below is built from published flat prices. The minimum visit in the Seattle market is $95. Below that number a truck cannot come out; above it you pay for what is on the list, not for how long the crew takes or how many stairs they climb.

Jobs in this city cluster into about six shapes. Yours is almost certainly one of them.

One item: $95 to $185

The single most common booking in Seattle is one piece of furniture out of a flat.

• Armchair $77, so this one meets the $95 minimum.
• Recliner $98. Loveseat $119. Sofa $126.
• Queen mattress $103. King mattress $114.
• Standard dresser $126. Three-piece sectional $185.

This is the Capitol Hill, Belltown and U District booking: a one-bed or a micro-unit, a lease ending, one item too big for a car and no realistic way down a stairwell alone. The item is on the truck within ten minutes of the crew reaching the door — everything slow about these jobs happens on the street outside, not inside the flat.

A bedroom or a living room: $229 to a $431 half truck

Two to four pieces, one room.

• A bedroom cleared — dresser and queen mattress: $126 + $103 = $229.
• A living room — couch, armchair and coffee table: $126 + $77 + $67 = $270.
• A main bedroom done properly — solid queen frame, mattress set and standard dresser: $126 + $143 + $126 = $395.

This is the typical Seattle relocation job. Somebody who came here for a job three years ago is moving back, or moving to the Eastside, and the furniture that was bought for the lease is not worth shipping. The good pieces go to a Buy Nothing group; this is everything that did not.

The Craftsman basement: usually $431

The most characteristic job in this city, and the one people most underestimate.

A 1910s or 1920s bungalow in Wallingford, Phinney Ridge, Mount Baker or Columbia City has a real basement, reached by a narrow stair with a turn at the bottom. Because it is dry-ish and out of sight, it accumulates for decades — often across more than one set of owners. Paint tins, a disassembled bed, boxes that were never unpacked from the last move, a chest freezer that stopped working, exercise equipment, and a layer of things nobody can identify.

That is a half truck, $431, more often than any other single answer. Lighter ones come in at three-eighths, $338. Ones that have been running since the 1970s go to three-quarters, $587.

What makes the basement job worth buying rather than doing is not the disposal. It is the stairs, and the fact that half of what is down there has absorbed moisture and is heavier than it looks.

The garage or the ADU conversion: $587 to $732

Two variants, same price band.

The garage that never held a car. Common in Wedgwood, View Ridge, Greenwood and across West Seattle. Bikes, camping gear, a kayak, paint, a lawnmower, shelving, and the patio furniture that has been rotting quietly under a tarp since 2019. Three quarters of a truck at $587 is typical; a full truck is $732.

Clearing for a conversion. Seattle has built a great many basement and garage ADUs, and every one of them starts with emptying a space that has been a dumping ground for twenty years. That is the same job with a deadline attached, because a contractor is booked.

For the conversion case the useful detail is that construction debris and household items can go on the same truck. Construction debris is $120, drywall $37 a sheet or small bundle, lumber scrap $41 a bundle.

The whole house: $732 and up

Estate clearances and pre-sale clearouts are the big end. A family house in Magnolia, Laurelhurst or Seward Park that has been lived in for forty years is more than one truck, and it is usually more than one day.

The way to buy it is to price the heavy named items separately and the rest by volume. Upright piano $290. Hot tub $322. Home gym or multi-station $241. Treadmill $115. Standard fridge $164. Washer $133 and dryer $128, so a laundry pair is $133 + $128 = $261.

Then the volume on top. A full truck is $732. Most whole-house jobs land somewhere between one and three of those, plus the named items.

The appliance and one-off jobs

A kitchen refresh where the old fridge and range go out together is $164 + $134 = $298 for a standard fridge and an electric range.

What is not on the bill

Worth stating plainly, because it is where quoted ranges usually hide their real number.

• No stair charge. Not for a third-floor walk-up, not for a basement, not for the long exterior stair run from the sidewalk up to a Queen Anne or Beacon Hill front door.
• No walk-up or long-carry fee for the blocks in Ballard, Fremont and Capitol Hill where the truck has to park down the street.
• No disposal fee added at the end. It is in the price.
• No same-day surcharge.

You see the price before anyone is dispatched, and it is the price.

Frequently asked questions