How to price junk removal jobs

Most junk removal price pages are written for the homeowner: what will it cost to get rid of a couch. That is worth knowing, because it is what your customer has read before they call. But it does not tell you whether a quarter load across town makes you money. This guide prices junk removal from the hauler's side: what a load costs you, what the market charges, and how to set prices that hold up when the dump fee goes up or the job has three flights of stairs.

How junk removal is priced

• By truckload fraction. Minimum, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full. The customer sees the space their stuff takes in your truck. This is the most common way.
• By item. A flat price for a single couch, mattress, hot tub or appliance. Good for small pickups and for online quotes.
• By cubic yard. The same idea as truckload fractions, stated in volume. Useful for commercial and construction debris.
• By the hour or by weight. For cleanouts you cannot see ahead, or heavy debris like concrete and roofing, where weight drives the dump fee.

Whatever you show the customer, the number underneath should come from the same cost build-up.

What homeowners are told to expect

Sources: LawnStarter junk removal prices (updated December 27, 2025), Fixr junk removal cost (updated January 31, 2025) and Thumbtack junk removal cost (updated March 31, 2026), all checked October 8, 2026. LawnStarter's national average is $225 a load, with most jobs between $115 and $450. Fixr's average is $300, with most between $150 and $600, and it works out to $1.25 to $2.08 per cubic foot. Thumbtack says junk removal runs around $134 to $306, and most people pay around $199.

The sources do not agree on what a "load" holds. LawnStarter describes a full truck as up to 20 cubic yards; Fixr describes a full load as 350 to 475 cubic feet. Tell customers what your truck holds, in plain words, so they can compare.

What a load really costs you

• Crew labor. Loading time plus the drive there, to the dump and back, for everyone on the truck. BLS's May 2025 survey puts the national mean wage for hand laborers and material movers at $20.32 an hour, median $19.35, and for refuse and recyclable material collectors at $25.39, median $23.89 (BLS OEWS 53-7062 and 53-7081, checked October 8, 2026). Add payroll taxes and workers' comp on top: that is the burden.
• Dump fees. Your transfer station or landfill charges by weight or volume, often with extra fees for mattresses, tires, appliances with refrigerant and electronics. Use your own posted rates; they vary a lot from place to place.
• Truck. Fuel, tires, maintenance, insurance and payments. Divide the year's truck costs by the loads you haul in a year.
• Overhead. Phone, software, advertising, liability insurance, storage, your own office time.
• Profit. On top of all of it, so the business can replace the truck.

Thumbtack's guide names the same drivers: fuel, labor and the weight of what is removed, plus access and local dumping fees.

A worked example: a half load in a garage

These are example numbers to show the math. Put in your own.

• Assumptions: a two-person crew, 1.5 hours loading plus 0.5 hours of drive time each, so 2 hours each. Pay of $20 an hour plus 20% burden, so $24 an hour. A dump fee of $60 for the load. Truck costs of $30 for the trip. A target margin of 40% for overhead and profit.
• Labor: 2 people × 2 hours × $24 = $96.
• Dump: $60.
• Truck: $30.
• Job cost: $96 + $60 + $30 = $186.
• Price for a 40% margin: $186 ÷ (1 − 0.40) = $310.

$310 sits inside Fixr's half load range of $175 to $375 and under LawnStarter's $375. If your dump fee were $120 instead of $60, the job cost would be $246 and the same margin would need $410. That is why the dump fee belongs in every price, not in a guess.

Turn it into a price list

Once you know your cost for a full load, the fractions follow. Work out each fraction separately rather than just dividing the full price, because a small load still costs a full drive and a dump stop. A simple way:

1. Work out the fixed part of every job: drive time, the dump stop, and a minimum crew hour.
2. Work out the part that grows with volume: loading time and the dump fee for that much material.
3. Price each fraction as fixed part plus its share of the growing part, then apply your margin.

Then add the items that cost you extra as their own lines:

• Stairs and long carries. Thumbtack notes stairs add to the price.
• Heavy material. Concrete, dirt, roofing and tile hit weight limits before the truck is full. Price them by weight or by a smaller fraction.
• Items with dump surcharges. Mattresses, tires, electronics, refrigerators and freezers. Pass on the fee.
• Hazardous waste. Paint, chemicals and batteries often cannot go in your load at all. Say clearly what you will not take.

Set a minimum charge

A single chair across town still costs the drive, at least one crew hour and a dump stop. LawnStarter says small loads run around $90, and that some services charge for a minimum of 2 cubic yards or 1/8 to 1/4 of a truckload. Work out your own: the fixed part of a job from your build-up, plus margin. Show the minimum on your price list so a one-item customer is not surprised.

Quote it fast, from photos

Junk removal customers usually want a price before they book. Two habits help:

• Ask for photos and give a range by load fraction, with the final price confirmed on site before you load.
• Put single-item prices and load prices on your website so people can see a number at night.

Koira's Get a price button answers from your own price list, day or night, and anything not on the list comes to you as one question: what do you charge for this? With Koira's estimates, you can snap photos of the pile and Koira drafts the estimate from your price list.

Offer good, better and best

Three options give the customer a choice instead of a yes or no. For a garage cleanout, that might be:

• Good: haul away what is already piled up.
• Better: haul it away and sweep the space.
• Best: sort what can be donated, haul the rest, and sweep.

Koira estimates carry up to three options from your price list, and the customer picks one, signs and pays the deposit on the same page. Our guide to good, better, best estimates covers how to build them.

When to raise your prices

• When your dump or transfer station raises its rates. Update your build-up the same week.
• When fuel costs move enough to change the truck cost per trip.
• When you add a helper and your burden changes.
• When your calendar is booked out more than a week or two.

Raise list prices for new customers first. For repeat property managers, give notice before the change.

Get paid before the truck leaves

Junk removal is a same-day job, so collect the same day. Koira sends the invoice when you tap done and the customer can pay at the door by QR code, card or phone wallet. An hour after they pay, Koira asks for the review. See how a junk removal company runs on Koira and the plans; the free Office plan includes estimates, invoices and card payments.

Questions contractors ask