Editors Note: This post was originally published in 2013 and has been completely updated and revamped for 2022.
JTR Team
How much does junk removal cost?
For most consumers, you'll be paying somewhere between $125 to $1599 for professional junk removal. For single item junk removal, you'll spend around $125. A medium to large junk removal job, say for a home or office will be closer to $249 to $499. Commercial junk removal, which includes bedload rates for extra heavy items (e.g., concrete, tile) typically starts at or around $499.
2022 Junk Removal Pricing
Most junk removal companies use dump trucks that hold about 12 to 30 cubic yards of junk. That's equal to 5 to 20 pickup truck loads.
For those of you that don't use cubic yard measurements daily, one cubic yard is equal to a standard size washing machine. Or put another way, one cubic yard is equal to 27 cubic feet.
JunkTrashRemoval Pricing for 2022
| Truck Load | Cubic Yards | Average Price |
| Minimum | 1 Cubic Yards (27 cubic feet) | $75 |
| 1/4 | 2.5 Cubic Yards | $147 |
| 1/2 | 5 Cubic Yards | $356 |
| 3/4 | 10 Cubic Yards | $675 |
| Full Load | 20 Cubic Yards | $956 |
| Bedload Rates | 4 Cubic Yards (up to 8000lbs) | $799 |
Try our new Junk Removal Pricing Calculator
How much should you charge as a junk remover?
Having worked in the junk removal business for the last 14 years, I’ve seen many different junk removal pricing plans. Since this is a topic that every junk removal business has to answer, we thought we would explore the topic and find out what factors you should consider when pricing your junk removal services. We’ve also compiled a list of junk removal prices from companies in the South Florida, Houston, TX, and San Diego, CA area.
But before getting into pricing, I wanted to explore the factors of how junk removal businesses price their services.
Factors to consider when pricing your junk removal services
There are a few standard pricing strategies when pricing any service or product. Since junk removal is a service-based business, pricing tends to be more subjective, thus leading to wildly different pricing models.
Below are a few ways to determine your pricing
- Cost Plus Pricing – By far, the most common type of pricing is Cost-plus pricing. Just like the term implies, cost-plus pricing seeks to determine how much the service you’re offering cost you, allowing you to determine how much more to charge so that you can profit. One catch is that you need to determine your direct cost as well as any indirect cost associated with your junk removal service. Direct cost would include items such as staff, supplies, and travel, whereas indirect cost would include items such as rent, utilities, and equipment.
- Price positioning strategy – If you start a junk removal business and fail to research what the others are charging in your area, you may be wildly off the mark when launching your service. That said, junk removal businesses that only compete on price are also destined to fail. Think about it. If your customer is using your service because you are the cheapest junk hauler in the area, what’s to stop him from using someone else who drops the price by another $20? Nothing. This is why it is essential to create a Unique Selling Proposition or USP. Making your service unique allows you to protect your pricing structure and charge more. Don’t believe me? Think Starbucks. They sell cups of coffee for close to $3.00, twice the price that everyone else does.
- Demand Curve – Simply put, what are people in your area willing to pay? If you price your hauling services too high, you may reduce all demand for your junk removal service; however, pricing too low can lead to a large influx of customers, which you may not be able to handle when starting out. This is where pricing your service becomes more of an art versus a science.
Next, we're going to look at what individual junk removal companies charge, how some of them structure the price, and other factors that influence pricing. Each company may offer slightly different amounts, but based on our experience most charge by the cubic yard. Other factors that may affect the price for junk removal services include:
- Size of the load – Will it require multiple loads or just one?
- The weight of the debris – Are there additional charges for heavy loads?
- Location – Do you charge more based on where the junk needs to be removed?
- Mileage – How far do you have to drive?
As I mentioned earlier pricing varies widely, but here are some junk removal prices from the most popular companies on the web today. The prices were taken directly from the junk removers websites.
| Comparison | Truck Size | Minimum Charge | 1/4 | 1/2 | 3/4 | Full Load |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-800-JunkUSA | N/A | $129 | $239 | $369 | $469 | $597 |
| 1-800-GotJunk | 15 Cubic Yards | $124 | $244 | $358 | $464 | $558 |
| Busby Junk Removal | 18 Cubic Yards | $87.50 | $180 | $300 | $360 | $480 |
| JunkTrashRemoval.com Curbside | 18 Cubic Yards | $125 | $149 | $249 | $349 | $395 |
| Ace Hauling | 20 Cubic Yards | N/A | $175 | $225 | $295 | $395 |
| Average | 17.2 Cubic Yards | $116 | $197 | $300 | $387.40 | $485 |
So how do you determine what to charge customers?
Do you use any of the pricing strategies above?
Or do you just have a feel for what people in your area are willing to pay?
Let us know in the comments section below and feel free to add any junk removal pricing tips we may have left out. Thanks and happy hauling!
nice stuff.
This is a nice write up you did here. Most companies I noticed charge by the size of the load. If you do that, you have to add a little extra for labor if the junk is far from where you can park the truck because that can be time consuming.
Nice Post, the comparison of Junk Removal Cost is great. Could you include our domain in the next post you do?
Nice Post. I like the title of your post…
Our company also includes the loading labor in the price and we stil require our employees to be polite and dress properly, we charge 15.00 per cu. yd or $300.00 for a 20 yard container, everything for one set price.
I’m impressed. I dont think Ive met anyone who knows as much about the junk removal subject as you do. You’re truly well informed and very good at explaining complex topics. You wrote the junk removal pricing article so that people could understand and made the subject intriguing. Really, great blog youve got here. Keep them coming!
Thanks Tomas
Thank you for the kind words. I’m currently working on a new post, but welcome any suggestions you may have. Stay tuned for the next post on how to optimize your junk removal business on Google +.
I agree. I find myself wondering why people still call 1-800 got junk when small time hauling companies will charge much less and even give better service.
I am happy to find much useful information in the post, good work i like it.
One thing to remember is that selling the junk is just as important as being paid to pick it up 😉
Hi Steve,
You’re absolutely right. When I first started JunkTrashRemoval.com we cleared out a storage unit for about $1500. The storage unit was filled with church chairs, Sunday school supplies, musical equipment and a piano. After removing the unwanted goods, we ended up selling the chairs and musical equipment on eBay for more that $1700. The junk removal took less than 6 hours and we had sold the chairs and equipment in less than 7 days. Total gross profit was $3200, not bad for a day of work:)
The work of removing the junk materials is really a tough job… as the person must have to be very much trained so that the junk can be removed easily & efficiently… While hiring any service provider we must compare all of them, according to the service they are providing with the cost they are demanding for that… your post going to helps us a lot in doing that…
It took years to find the perfect price point for our junk removal business in San Diego, once we established the “perfect price” we created a price list for our website and we find our customers like our posted per item or truck load price lists. No surprises or “driveway pricing”.
Excellent post on information regarding junk removal pricing. This is the best one I read regarding this matter. Thanks, keep on posting.
Thanks Raymond!
When hiring a junk removal service provider customers should ask for upfront rates. It is really a tough job to compare the price of different service provider and choose the best among them. You put some nice tips here.
Great stuff, need to elaborate a little.
Thanks for the complement. What area did you feel we needed to elaborate on? Was it too short? Or did you want to see additional pricing from other junk removal businesses?
I have started hauling scrap metal , do you think if I was to do standard junk removal, garage cleanouts etc… Should I charge for the scrap metal or return some of that price to the customer. I just want to be able to compete in todays economy without giving the service away but also not running off potential business. Thanks for any help.
Spot on with this write-up. I’ll probably be back again to read more, thanks for the info!
I have learned a lot from your article on junk removal pricing. I will definitely bookmark your site for revisiting. How much effort and time did it take to make your website?
Very informative!
Thank you for providing such great insight into the junk removal niche. I already bookmarked it and will be revisiting shortly. I really appreciate it.
thanks for sharing nice article with us. It gives and encouraging ideas to us.
This is vital!!!! I came across your website when I was looking for my own rubbish removal blog and thought I’d have a read of other peoples blogs to get some ideas for my own
Hope thats ok.
I did hauling on the side for a while and then was forced out due to not positioning my self as the “green hauler”. In the end, I did not become profitable. My customer service was great, and I had some repeat customers, but not a lot. My truck wasn’t the best and it eventually broke down, thus taking me out of the hauling business altogether. That said, I’m considering starting “anew” and buying a used truck. The way I used to do it was I’d place ads and people would reply inquiring about hauling their items. I would in turn ask how much stuff they had and then name a flat out price prior to even going out to the location. This saved me a lot of time. My main problem was going long distance sometimes up to an hour and a half a way for so little money. After paying dump fees, fuel and the helper it left very little in “profits”. I want to do a new twist on the hauling business, but it would cause a total change in the way run the business. I would be interested in any assistance with junk removal ideas or pointers to help me.
thanks michael.
Just recenly relocate business from Indiana to Georgia (personal move) How do we get started in a new market? We have a Chevy 3500HD dump truck ready to get on the road. How do we advertise in a new State?
Your info help’d me out alot so i just want to say thanks because im going be starting my own hauling busness i workd with my uncle for about 4 or 5 years doing hauling so i prety much know everything thier is to know about the hauling busness even how to run it i just need to learn how to charge but one thing i do know is that i need to know how much the job is going to cost me first, payng workers, gas, and dump fees the three main things, my uncle told me don’t be the cheepe’st be the best so i just want to be the best that i can be and anybody can run a busness but the thing is it’s how you run thank you!
You failed to point out the difference in the additional “direct cost” between companies that insure their service and pay Workers Comp vs those that don’t. Companies with cheaper prices may also mean they don’t’ insure their service or pay Workers Comp. These cheaper companies are willing to share the risk of damage and injury with their customers. So, for customers that go for cheap prices………have a good lawyer, you’ll probably need one.
Hello my loved one! I wish to say that this article is amazing, great written and come with approximately all significant infos.
I would like to see more posts like this .
Im starting a junk removal business my business name is going to be Camo Junk Removal i have partner i have truck to start the business but not sure about the pricing although i look up other companies for price comparison still need ideas thank you
Thanks for commenting Alfredo. We actually have an older blog post about pricing junk hauling services. Check it out and tell us what you think!
Just be fair and respectful and make sure u have a good partner have trust in yourself
Only you can make it happen take your time
How much to remove a couch
The junk removal services is critical to profitability and long-term success.
Cool write up here. I try my best to outprice other companies in my area. Our business is a lot more reasonably priced that the ones listed here. Granted the areas are likely different, mine being San Bernardino. My minimum price is $50 flat. That is for standard junk like a sofa and couch removal. My price goes up considerably from there but sometimes when you establish good customer relationships early they come back with bigger jobs in the future. That being said it is easy for me to only charge 50 for junk pick up because I am a local owner. Many of the companies you compared are large chain businesses and their costs reflex their large operating expenses.
Just my 2 cents but again thank you for the information and I look forward to using this as a reference from here on out.