Short answer: a junk removal price sheet is charging you for the room your junk takes up in the truck, and an honest one already includes the labor, the loading and the dump fee. On ours, a single item starts at $70, half a truck at $279 and a full truck at $450. The rest of this page is what sits behind those numbers, what should never be added on top of them, and how to check a quote from anyone, us included.
How to read a junk removal price sheet
Price lists in this business look different, but almost all of them use one of three methods. Once you know which one you are looking at, the numbers make sense.
By the item
One couch, one fridge, one treadmill. Each piece has its own starting price. This is the cheapest way to pay when the job is one or two things, because you are not paying for an empty truck to drive to your house.
By the truckload
Once a pile has more than a few pieces, it is priced by how much of the truck it fills: half of it, or all of it. A garage, a basement or an estate is almost always a volume job.
By weight
Dirt, concrete, brick and shingles are the exception. A small pile of them can weigh more than a truckload of furniture, so those loads are priced by weight instead of by space.
What you want to avoid is a fourth method that sometimes hides behind the other three: the hourly clock. An hourly rate rewards a slow crew. Paying for the space you fill means a fast job costs you less, not more.
Our published prices, line by line
These are the starting prices on our junk removal cost page, and they are the same in every town we serve. Each one includes the labor, the loading and the landfill fee.
| What you have | Starts at | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Appliances | $70 | Fridge, washer, dryer, stove, water heater |
| Electronics | $70 | TV, monitor, printer, computer tower |
| Furniture | $85 | Couch, recliner, dresser, bed frame, table |
| Mattress or box spring | $85 | Taken to a recycling facility, not a landfill |
| Exercise equipment | $105 | Treadmill, weight bench, elliptical |
| Bulky single pieces | $130 | Oversized items that fill a big part of the truck on their own |
| Hot tub | $130 | A standard tub, drained, cut down in the yard and carried out in pieces |
| Half a truck | $279 | A full garage, a finished basement, a small construction pile |
| Full truck | $450 | A whole-house cleanout, an estate, a big demo pile |
| Small shed, 8×10 or smaller | $300–$625 | Teardown, floor, contents and haul |
| Medium shed, 10×12 to 12×16 | $600–$950 | Teardown, floor, contents and haul |
| Large shed, 12×16 or bigger | $1,200+ | Larger outbuildings and heavy timber |
Sheds sit on their own scale because they are priced by the size of the structure, not by truck space: the walls, the roof, the floor and whatever is still inside come out together. The details are on the shed removal page.
Where the money actually goes
Why does hauling away an old couch cost $85 when the couch is worth nothing? Because the price is not paying for the item. It pays for four things.
Labor and loading
Somebody carries it out of the room it is in, down the stairs, around the tight corner and onto the truck without marking your walls. That is the part of the job you are really hiring. It is also why we promise to fix anything we damage on the way out, at our own cost.
The truck and the trip
Every load drives from your house to a transfer station, a recycler or a donation drop. The truck, the fuel and the time on the road are our cost, not a line on your bill.
The disposal fee
Transfer stations and recyclers charge to take what we bring them. That fee is inside every number on our list. When another quote shows it as its own line, ask for the total with it included, because that total is the only number you can compare.
Sorting
Not everything goes to the same place. Metal goes to scrap, reusable pieces go to donation, and a mattress goes to a recycler, since Massachusetts took mattresses out of the trash in 2022 (here is how that works town by town). When the job is done, you get a short report of what was donated, recycled or thrown away.
What never changes the price
This is the part most price lists leave vague, so here it is plainly.
- Stairs. A third-floor walk-up costs the same as a garage at street level. There is no stair fee.
- A long carry. If the truck cannot get close, we carry it further by hand. That is the job, not a surcharge.
- Which town you live in. There is no travel fee between Danvers, Lynn, Salem, Beverly, Peabody, Saugus, Woburn, Gloucester, Marblehead, North Andover, Revere, Malden and Medford. A Gloucester garage costs what a Danvers garage costs. The full list is on our service area page.
- Fuel. There is no fuel charge.
- The estimate. It is free. Text a photo, and if we come out and you do not like the number, we leave and you owe nothing.
And one thing that lowers it: you get a two-hour arrival window and a text 15 minutes before we pull up. If we are late, you get 10% off.
What does change the price
Two things, and only two. The first is space: how much of the truck your load fills. A recliner takes more room than a microwave, and a basement takes more than a bedroom. The second is weight, and only when the load is dirt, concrete, brick or shingles, which are heavy for their size and price by weight instead.
The line items to question on any quote
Price lists from national chains and app-based haulers often put extras under the base price. None of them is wrong in itself, but every one of them belongs inside the number you are quoted, not on the receipt at the end. Before you book with anyone, ask about these:
- A stair fee, or a charge per flight.
- A “heavy item” surcharge on something the list already prices.
- A disassembly fee for a bed frame, a crib or a swing set.
- A fuel, trip or “area service” fee added to every order.
- The dump fee listed on its own line, or “disposal billed at cost.”
- A minimum charge that is higher than the single-item price on the same list.
- An hourly rate with no cap.
The most useful question is also the shortest: “Is the number you just gave me the number I pay?” If the answer has a “but” in it, get the rest in writing before the truck comes.
Doing it yourself: the town price list
Every North Shore town publishes its own fees, and for one or two pieces at the curb they can beat any hauler. Here is what that looks like in two of them, as the towns publish it today.
- Danvers charges a $20 sticker per bulky item: upholstered or wood furniture, white goods such as a washer or a water heater, refrigerators and air conditioners, a TV, a computer monitor. You buy it at Town Hall or online, call the number on the sticker the day before your trash day, and have the item at the curb by 7am. Metal and rigid plastics are not picked up at the curb and go to the Transfer Station instead, construction and demolition material is not collected at the curb at all, and mattresses are no longer part of the program.
- Salem charges $20 per bulk item or white good, booked with Waste Management. Furniture, carpet and doors go out on your recycling day. White goods, which in Salem now include refrigerators, TVs, monitors and air conditioners, are collected only once a month, on a set day.
Do the math honestly. One dresser that is already at the curb in Danvers is $20 and a phone call. That wins. Four pieces in a basement are $80 in stickers, four trips up the stairs and a morning waiting for trash day, against one visit. And a mixed pile with a mattress, a rusted bike and old deck boards does not fit the town program at all, because none of those three is allowed at the curb.
The other towns we serve each have their own rules and fees, and every one of our town pages lists them. If you want the routes that cost nothing at all, read who picks up junk for free in Massachusetts.
What stays off every price list
Five things cannot go on a junk truck at any price: paint, chemicals and solvents, tires, propane tanks, and anything with asbestos. They go to your town’s hazardous-waste collection or a licensed facility. Set them aside before we arrive. Everything else on the list, we take. Not sure about something? Text a photo and we will tell you straight.
How to get your exact number
A price list gives you a starting point. The exact number comes from a photo. Text it to (978) 788-0354, or use the quote form, and you get a price back in minutes. That price is what you pay: labor, loading, the sweep-up and the dump fee included, and nothing added once the truck is loaded.
We work Monday to Friday from 8 to 5 and Saturday from 8 to 3, and we load and haul the same day. You pay when the job is done, by cash, check or bank transfer. For a bigger job, like a garage cleanout, an estate or a renovation pile, text a photo of each room and you get the exact price for the whole thing.
Sources
- Town of Danvers — bulky item pickup and sticker
- Town of Danvers — Transfer Station
- City of Salem — bulk items and white goods
Town fees change, so check the number with the town before you carry anything to the curb.
Junk removal price questions
What should a junk removal price list include?
The labor, the loading, the trip and the disposal fee, all inside one number. If any of those shows up as a separate line, the starting price is not the real price. Ours includes all four.
Do you charge extra for stairs or a long carry?
No. Stairs and a long carry do not change the price. A third-floor walk-up costs the same as a garage at street level, and if the truck cannot get close, carrying it further is part of the job.
Why do dirt and concrete cost more than furniture?
Weight. Dirt, concrete, brick and shingles are heavy for their size, so they are priced by weight instead of by the space they take in the truck.
Is there a travel fee to Gloucester or Medford?
No. The price is the same in all thirteen towns we serve, from Gloucester to Medford. A job in Revere costs what the same job costs in Danvers.
Is it cheaper to buy a town sticker?
For one or two items you can carry to the curb yourself, often yes: Danvers and Salem charge $20 an item. For a room full of things, a mattress, metal or construction debris, the town program either takes more trips or does not take it at all.