What Cincinnati residents actually pay for junk removal

The short answer

Most Cincinnati junk removal jobs fall into one of four shapes: a single item, such as a $126 sofa; a short list, such as a $303 student move-out; a partial cleanout on a truck tier, such as a $431 half truck; and a whole-house job at $732 per full truck. The examples below use exact catalog prices, with the addition shown, for the kinds of homes this metro actually has.

Single items

The most common job is one large thing that will not fit the City's bulk rules or will not make it to the curb. A standard sofa from a second-floor Northside apartment is $126. A queen mattress is $103. A standard refrigerator from a kitchen in Price Hill is $164. A treadmill from a basement in College Hill is $115. A hot tub is the outlier at $390, because the City excludes hot tubs and the job takes real labor. Small single items, like a TV or a nightstand, fall below the $100 order minimum, so they are billed at $100 on their own. Most people in that position add another item they were planning to get rid of anyway, which costs little extra and clears two problems in one visit.

A short list of items

The next band is a short list, often a room or a move-out. A Clifton Heights student leaving an apartment with a full mattress, a standard desk and a dresser pays $94 + $83 + $126 = $303. Two roommates splitting one booking with two full mattresses and two desks pay $94 + $94 + $83 + $83 = $354. A Hyde Park living room replaced all at once, with a sofa, a loveseat and a coffee table, is $126 + $119 + $67 = $312. A Covington kitchen remodel with a standard fridge, an electric range and a dishwasher is $164 + $134 + $109 = $407. A Westwood laundry room with a washer and dryer is $133 + $128 = $261. Every one of those includes carrying everything out, any floor, and disposal.

Partial cleanouts on a truck tier

Once a job is mostly a pile of mixed stuff rather than a short list of big items, truck-fill tiers make more sense. A one-car garage in Anderson Township with boxes, old shelving and yard tools might be a quarter truck at $241. A basement in an early-1900s Westwood or Norwood house, holding decades of boxes, a broken couch and old paint, often runs a half truck at $431. A storage room in a Mount Washington home or a long-held attic could be three-eighths at $338 or five-eighths at $513. A two-car garage in West Chester or Mason with furniture from a move and a lawn tractor might be a three-quarter truck at $587. The quote tool estimates the tier from your photos, and the price only changes if you approve it.

Whole-house jobs: $732 per full truck

A full truck, about 16 cubic yards, is $732. That covers a lot: typically the contents of several rooms of furniture plus boxes. Estate cleanouts in long-held homes in College Hill, Fort Thomas or Anderson Township often fill one full truck and sometimes more. There are no volume discounts, so a two-truck house is $732 + $732 = $1,464, and a full truck plus a half truck is $732 + $431 = $1,163. That predictability is the point. You know the per-truck cost going in, and you can decide what to keep, sell or donate first to bring the volume down.

What does not change the price

A lot of the things people worry about in this city do not affect the number at all. Stairs are included: a third-floor walk-up in Over-the-Rhine costs the same as a ground-floor ranch in Delhi. Basements are included. Hillside steps from the front door to the street in Mount Adams or Price Hill are included. There is no same-day surcharge when you book by 4 PM. Crossing the river does not change the price; Newport and Florence pay the same as Clifton. Buildings that require a certificate of insurance get one emailed within one hour, at no extra cost. Parking on a tight street is our problem to solve, not a fee.

What does change the price

The price is set by what goes on the truck. More items, or more volume, means a higher price. Heavier versions of an item cost more because they are a different line item: a solid wood dresser is priced differently from a standard one, and a cast iron bathtub is $185 compared with $90 for fiberglass. Dense material like concrete is priced separately at $219 per quarter truck. If you add items once the crew is there, the price is updated and you approve the change before anything is loaded. That is the whole list. There is no fuel surcharge, no dump fee and no stairs fee.

How to get your own number

The fastest way is a photo. Take one wide shot of the room or pile, and closer shots of any large items, then upload them to the quote tool. Or pick items from the list if you know exactly what is going. Either way you see the price before you book. Choose a two-hour arrival window, seven days a week between 8am and midnight. If you book by 4 PM, same-day pickup is available. If you manage several rental properties around the city or across the river, an account can cover all of them.

Frequently asked questions