What an estate clean-out actually is
A clean-out is the job of taking everything out of a house that is not staying, and leaving the rooms in a state the next person can use. After an estate sale that means the unsold items, the things nobody was ever going to buy, the contents of the attic and the garage, and the ordinary rubbish a house accumulates. It ends, in most contracts, at "broom-clean": floors swept, surfaces cleared, nothing left behind, but not scrubbed and not repaired.
Three kinds of business offer it. An estate sale company may include a clean-out in its commission, offer it as a priced extra, or not offer it at all. A junk removal or haul-away company does clean-outs as its main trade and will take a house at any stage, sale or no sale. And a charity will often collect furniture and household goods for free, on its own schedule, and will take only what it can sell.
The right combination depends on what is left and how fast the house has to be empty. The mistake is not choosing the wrong one; it is choosing before you know what will be in the house when the sale is over, or paying one business for work another business has already done.
What is usually included, and what is not
"Clean-out" is not a defined term, and two quotes using the word can describe very different jobs. Before you compare prices, confirm which of the following each one covers.
Commonly included
- Removal of all remaining furniture, household goods, clothing and boxes from the living areas
- Clearing the garage, basement and attic, though these are sometimes priced separately because of the volume
- Sorting what is left into donate, recycle and dispose, and taking each to the right place
- A donation run to a charity, with a receipt passed on to you
- Bagging and removing ordinary household rubbish
- A broom-clean finish: floors swept or vacuumed, counters cleared, nothing left in cupboards
Often excluded or charged separately
- Hazardous items: paint, solvents, chemicals, propane tanks, fluorescent tubes, old fuel
- Appliances, mattresses, tires and electronics, which many landfills charge a fee to accept
- Pianos, safes, hot tubs and anything else that needs special equipment or extra crew
- Deep cleaning: scrubbed bathrooms, cleaned ovens, washed walls, carpet cleaning
- Removing carpet, fixtures, sheds or anything attached to the house
- Yard clearance and outdoor items
- Anything above a stated volume: "up to two truckloads" is a common way a quote is capped
A quote that lists its exclusions is not a worse quote than one that does not; it is a more honest one. Ask every company for its list, and if a company says "everything", ask about the paint cans and the freezer in the garage and see whether the answer changes.
How clean-outs are priced
There are four common ways to price the job, and each suits a different kind of house. The guide to estate sale fees covers where these sit among the other charges; here is how each works on its own.
| Pricing method | How it works | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| By the load | A set price per truckload or per fraction of one, sometimes by cubic yard | A house with a known, moderate amount left | What counts as a load; whether the truck is full or "full enough" |
| By the hour | An hourly rate per crew member, plus disposal fees at cost | An unpredictable job: a hoarded home, a large garage | Crew size, travel time, and whether disposal fees are capped |
| Flat fee for the house | One price after a walk-through, with stated exclusions | A family that needs a certain figure | Exclusions, and what happens if the sale leaves more than expected |
| Folded into commission | The estate sale company includes it in its percentage | A sale where the company expects little to be left | Whether "included" has a volume cap, and what the extra charge is beyond it |
Disposal fees sit under all four. Landfills and transfer stations charge by weight or by item, and a company either builds an estimate into its price or passes the fees through at cost. A pass-through is fine if the receipts come with the invoice; an estimate is fine if it is a fixed figure. "Disposal extra" with no number is neither.
A dumpster is the other route. Renting a container for a week and filling it with your own labor or a hired crew is often cheaper per cubic yard than a haul-away, but the rental has a weight limit and an overage charge, some cities need a permit for a container on the street, and everything in it goes to landfill rather than to a charity. It suits a house with a great deal of genuine rubbish and a family with the time and the backs to fill it.
What pushes the price up
Two houses of the same size can cost very different amounts to clear, and the reasons are mostly physical. A company that has walked the house will have priced these in; a company quoting over the phone has guessed.
- Volume. The single biggest factor. A house where the sale went well and the buyers took the furniture is a day's work; a house where the sale never happened is three.
- Stairs and distance to the truck. A third-floor walk-up, a long driveway, a basement with a narrow stair or a condo with an elevator booking all add crew hours. The guide to condos and apartments covers the building-rules side.
- Heavy and awkward items. Pianos, safes, treadmills, sleeper sofas, cast-iron tubs. Each needs more hands or equipment.
- Items with a disposal fee. Appliances with refrigerant, mattresses, tires, televisions and paint. A house with an old refrigerator in the garage and two in the basement carries three fees before anything else is touched.
- Hazardous materials. Many haulers will not take them at all, and the ones that do charge for a separate run to a facility that accepts them.
- Condition. A hoarded home, an animal problem, mold or water damage changes the job entirely: more crew, protective equipment, and a different price. The guide to hoarded homes goes through what to expect.
- Deadline. A clean-out that has to be finished by Friday because the closing is Monday costs more than one that can wait for a gap in the schedule.
Donation runs and the receipt
A clean-out done well sends a good part of the house to charity rather than to landfill, and that is worth asking about for its own sake and for the receipt. Most haul-away companies will make a donation run as part of the job; some will do it only if asked, and some will "donate" by leaving items at a drop-off and never getting a receipt at all.
Ask three things. Which charities the company uses, because some accept furniture and some do not. Whether it brings back an itemized receipt, or at least one naming the charity and the date. And whether the company keeps anything it judges sellable for itself, which some haulers do as a matter of course and which is fine if it is stated and reflected in the price. The guide to donating unsold items explains what the receipt needs to say and what a donation is realistically worth.
If time allows, a charity pick-up before the paid clean-out can shrink the paid job considerably. The furniture goes free; the hauler takes what is left. Charities schedule pick-ups days or weeks out and take only what they can sell, so this only works when the house does not have to be empty by the weekend.
How families pay for a clean-out twice
This is the section to read if you read nothing else. The same work gets paid for twice in three common ways, and each is avoidable with one question asked at the right time.
The clean-out happens before the sale. A family, overwhelmed, hires a hauler in the first week to "get the junk out". The hauler takes the junk, and also the boxes in the garage, the tools, the contents of the linen closet and the lamps, all of which an estate sale would have sold. The family then pays an estate sale company to sell what is left, which is less, and may still need a second clean-out at the end. The order is sale first, then donation, then haul-away. The guide to what not to do before an estate sale puts this at the top of its list for a reason.
The commission "includes" a clean-out that has a cap. The contract folds a clean-out into the rate, the family assumes the house will be empty, and at settlement there is a charge for "excess removal" because more was left than the company allows for. Ask, before signing, what "included" means in truckloads or hours and what the rate is beyond it. The contract checklist shows where that clause belongs.
Two businesses are paid for the same house. The estate sale company charges for a clean-out, leaves items it did not consider its responsibility (the paint, the freezer, the shed), and the family hires a hauler for the rest, who charges a minimum call-out that would have covered half the original job. Get the exclusions of the first quote and hand them to the second business before either does any work, so each is priced for what the other will not do.
A free clean-out is a buyout with the price hidden
A company that offers to clear the house "for free, we just keep what we take" is buying the contents for the cost of its labor. That can be a fair trade for a house of genuine leftovers and a poor one for a house that has not been through a sale. Read the guide to buyouts versus estate sales before you agree, and never accept one before the good pieces have been sold or removed.
When to book it, and what to have ready
Book the clean-out after the sale is scheduled and before it starts, for a date a few days after the last sale day. That leaves room for buyers to collect large pieces they paid for and for the company to hand back the house, and it means the hauler is pricing the job for what will actually be there. If the estate sale company includes a clean-out, confirm the date it will happen and the date the house will be handed back broom-clean; those are the dates the real estate side needs. The guide to selling the house afterward explains how the two schedules fit together.
Before the crew arrives, walk the house once more. Anything the family wants has to be out; a clean-out crew will not stop to ask whether a box of photographs matters. Check the pockets of coats, the backs of drawers and the freezer, which is where cash and documents turn up. Then leave the crew to it. Watching a house you grew up in go into a truck is hard, and there is no reason to do it.
Ask for the exclusions in writing before the walk-through ends
The walk-through is the only time the company sees the house before it prices the job. Ask it to name, in writing, what it will not take and what it charges beyond its base. A company that has done this a hundred times will have the list ready. If the answer is "we'll figure it out on the day", you will be the one figuring it out.
What to do next
Decide the order first: sale, then donation, then haul-away. Then ask every estate sale company you speak to whether a clean-out is included, capped or separate, and what happens to what does not sell; the guide to the things nobody wants covers the options for that last category. Two quotes with the same commission can differ by a thousand dollars once the house has to be emptied, so compare the whole job.
When you are ready to hear from companies, describe the estate once and local companies will reach out to you, free. Say in the description that you need the house cleared, and the companies that offer it will tell you how they price it.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an estate clean-out cost?
It depends on how much is left, how hard it is to get out, and what is in it. A clean-out is priced by the load, by the hour, as a flat fee after a walk-through, or folded into an estate sale company's commission, and disposal fees for appliances, mattresses and hazardous items sit on top. A house that has been through a good sale costs a fraction of one that has not. Get a written quote after a walk-through, with exclusions listed.
Does an estate sale company clean out the house after the sale?
Some include it in their commission, some offer it as a priced extra, and some do not offer it at all. Even where it is included, there is often a cap in truckloads or hours with a charge beyond it. Ask before you sign, and get the answer in the contract.
What does broom-clean mean?
Broom-clean means the house is empty and swept: floors cleared and swept or vacuumed, surfaces and cupboards cleared, nothing left behind. It does not mean scrubbed, and it does not include cleaning ovens, bathrooms or carpets. That deeper cleaning is a separate job, and a separate quote.
Should I get a dumpster or hire a junk removal company?
A dumpster is often cheaper per cubic yard if you have people to fill it and the house is mostly genuine rubbish, but it has a weight limit, may need a street permit, and sends everything to landfill. A junk removal company brings the labor, sorts for donation and handles disposal fees, and costs more for it. Many families use a charity pick-up first and then whichever of the two suits what is left.
Will a junk removal company take paint, chemicals or appliances?
Many will not take paint, solvents or other hazardous materials at all, and most charge a per-item fee for appliances, mattresses, tires and televisions because the landfill charges them. Ask for the exclusion list in writing. For hazardous items, your county or city usually runs a household hazardous waste drop-off, and that is often the cheapest route.