By Ben, EZ Haulaway · Published · Updated
Apartment Cleanout Cost: What to Expect in 2026
Most apartment cleanouts cost between a few hundred and about a thousand dollars, and the number depends on one thing above all: how much space your stuff fills in a truck or trailer. Square footage matters far less. In the Denver area, EZ Haulaway prices by trailer load, from $120 for a minimum load to $840 for a full trailer, and you can send a photo to get a quote before anyone drives out.
This guide covers what drives the price, what typical studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom jobs look like, what an eviction cleanout adds, and what Denver tenants and property managers should sort out before the crew arrives.
TL;DR
- Cleanouts are priced by volume (how many truckloads or trailer fractions), not by the size of the apartment. A packed one-bedroom can cost more than a sparse two-bedroom.
- Our published rates run from $120 for a minimum load to $840 for a full trailer, with set prices for mattresses, appliances, couches and other bulky items.
- Eviction cleanouts commonly run from a few hundred dollars for a studio to well over $1,000 for larger units, and heavy hoarding or biohazard conditions can add 50 to 100 percent.
- Booking at least two to three days ahead usually avoids rush surcharges, and a photo quote tells you the price before the crew shows up.
Table of Contents
- How much does an apartment cleanout cost?
- Why volume beats square footage
- Items priced individually
- What pushes an apartment cleanout price up
- What an eviction cleanout costs
- Denver rules and scheduling to plan around
- How to keep your cleanout cost down
- Property managers and landlords: turnovers at scale
- Get a price for your apartment
- FAQ
- Sources
How much does an apartment cleanout cost?
For a standard apartment with furniture, boxes and household junk, plan on roughly a quarter to a full trailer load. At our published rates that is $275 to $800. A small job, such as a few bags, a chair and a bookcase, can fall under the $120 minimum or the $175 one-eighth trailer tier.
The national picture is similar. One industry data roundup, drawing on Angi’s 2026 estate cleanout figures, puts a quarter truckload at $150 to $275, a half truckload at $250 to $400 and a full truckload at $600 to $800, with a single-item minimum of $70 to $150. Those are national ranges. Denver-area labor, fuel and disposal costs can sit higher, which is why a local rate card is more useful than a national average.
Here is our trailer pricing as published in 2026:
| Load size | Price |
|---|---|
| Minimum / small load | $120 |
| 1/8 trailer | $120 |
| 1/4 trailer | $240 |
| 3/8 trailer | $360 |
| 1/2 trailer | $420 |
| 5/8 trailer | $540 |
| 3/4 trailer | $660 |
| 7/8 trailer | $780 |
| Full trailer | $840 |
Labor, loading, haul-away and cleanup are part of the load price. You can see the full list on our junk removal pricing page.
Why volume beats square footage
Cleaning companies price move-out cleans by the square foot or the hour. Junk removal works differently. A cleanout crew needs to know how much material has to leave the unit, so the estimate counts truckloads or containers. According to a 2026 estate cleanout pricing guide, a sparse 3,000-square-foot home can cost less to clear than a packed 1,500-square-foot apartment for exactly this reason.
That is good news if you have been quoted a per-square-foot figure that looks high. The same one-bedroom apartment can be a $150 job when a tenant took most of their belongings, or an $800 job when a departed roommate left a full living room, a bedroom set and a closet of boxes.
What a load looks like
These are illustrations of how our trailer tiers map to typical contents. Every apartment is different, so treat them as a starting point, not a promise:
- Under a quarter trailer: a mattress and box spring, a desk chair and a few bags of trash.
- Quarter to half trailer: a couch, a coffee table, a dresser and several boxes.
- Half to three-quarter trailer: the contents of a furnished one-bedroom, including a bed frame, a sofa, a TV stand and kitchen items.
- Three-quarter to full trailer: a furnished two-bedroom, or a one-bedroom that has been lived in for years without clearing anything out.
The quickest way to find your tier is to take photos of every room and closet and send them in. Our instant online quote works from photos of what needs to go.
Items priced individually
Some things are cheaper to price as single items than as a share of a trailer, and a few need special handling. These are our published prices:
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Mattress | $150 |
| Couch | $150 for a 2–3 seat couch, $250 for a sleeper, and $350 for a large sectional |
| Refrigerator | $150 |
| Washer or dryer | $100 each |
| Treadmill | $150 |
| Piano | starting at $375 |
| Hot tub | $400 flat rate for a small tub, $500 flat rate for a standard spa (4–6 people), and $700 flat rate for a large spa or swim spa |
Appliances that contain refrigerant carry a Freon handling fee of $100 per unit. If a job needs extra hands beyond what the load covers, additional labor is $50 per hour per crew member. Our appliance removal page has the details on refrigerators, and our What We Take page lists what we haul.
What pushes an apartment cleanout price up
Volume sets the base. Five other things move the final number.
Same-day or after-hours scheduling
Urgency costs money across the industry. A 2026 analysis found that same-day junk removal adds an average of $80 to $400 to a typical job, and the same piece describes a Denver basement cleanout that costs $335 booked five days ahead and $510 booked the same day. The practical takeaway: when you can, book at least 48 to 72 hours out.
Move-outs rarely feel flexible, because the lease ends on a fixed day. Start calling as soon as you know your move-out date, even if the packing is not done.
Stairs and long carries
An apartment on the third floor with no elevator is more work than a ground-floor unit with a parking spot at the door. Some pricing sheets in the industry add a fee per flight of stairs and a fee for carries over about 50 feet from the truck. Tell us about stairs, elevators, loading docks and where a trailer can park when you send your photos, so the quote reflects the real job.
Heavy, bulky or specialty items
Sleeper sofas, pianos, treadmills and appliances are the items that slow a crew down. That is why they have their own prices instead of being estimated by eye. If your cleanout includes a refrigerator, air conditioner or freezer, factor in the Freon handling fee.
Condition of the unit
A unit with ordinary leftover furniture is a routine haul. A unit with trash piled to knee height, food waste or pet damage takes more labor. One industry guide says severe conditions such as hoarding or biohazard add 50 to 100 percent to an eviction cleanout. If the apartment is in that state, send honest photos. Our team handles hoarder cleanouts in Parker and Denver, and an accurate photo quote avoids a changed price on arrival.
Extra labor
If the apartment needs sorting, for example separating items to donate from items to haul, the time adds up. Our additional labor rate is $50 per hour per crew member, so a pre-sorted pile is always cheaper than a crew sorting through a closet.
What an eviction cleanout costs
An eviction cleanout is a cleanout where the previous tenant left most of their belongings behind and the landlord has to clear the unit before re-renting. The cost follows the same logic as any cleanout, with more variation.
One 2026 industry guide reports that most eviction cleanouts cost $300 to $1,200, with studios and one-bedrooms at $300 to $800, two-bedrooms at $500 to $1,200, and three-bedroom homes or larger at $1,000 to $3,000 or more. Another source reports that national one-bedroom averages sit around $350 to $600, with hazardous-material removal adding $150 to $500.
Those are national figures. The same source notes that location can push costs up as much as 40 percent in high-priced metros, through higher labor rates and local disposal fees. Denver is one of those metros, so a national average is best read as a floor.
As an example using our published rates, a one-bedroom where the tenant left a mattress, a sofa with three cushions, a dresser and a dozen bags would involve the $100 mattress price, $180 for the couch, and a small trailer share for the rest. Your actual price depends on the photos, which is why we ask for them.
What owners and managers should know first
A legal eviction is a court process, and what happens to a former tenant’s belongings afterward is governed by Colorado law. A summary from a Denver property manager explains that belongings are treated as abandoned only in specific circumstances, and that landlords need to follow set steps before removing them. Before you schedule a crew, confirm with your attorney or property manager that the unit is legally cleared for removal. Once it is, the haul itself is the straightforward part, and we handle the loading, haul-away and cleanup.
Denver rules and scheduling to plan around
Denver’s free city bulky-item collection exists, but it has limits. Denver’s large item pickup is described as covering single-family homes and small residential buildings, runs on a fixed rotation tied to your trash day and excludes appliances, electronics and construction materials. That makes it a poor fit for a move-out deadline. Larger apartment buildings usually have their own private hauler, so check with the property manager about what the building allows and where bulky items can be staged.
Other Denver-area scheduling points:
- Ask your building whether you need to reserve the elevator or loading dock for the crew.
- Confirm where a trailer can park, and whether a visitor permit is needed.
- Keep hallways and stairwells clear, and remove any items you are keeping from the pile before the crew arrives.
- If you are in Aurora, Lone Tree or Littleton rather than Denver proper, we serve those areas too, including Aurora and Lone Tree.
How to keep your cleanout cost down
- Book early. Same-day work is the most avoidable surcharge in the industry.
- Separate what you are keeping. Set aside or move out the things you are keeping before the quote, so the load is only what leaves.
- Send complete photos. Include closets, balcony, storage cage and garage space. Missing rooms are the main reason a quote changes on arrival.
- Group everything in one visit. A second trip costs more than adding to one load.
- Donate what is still good. We include donation and recycling efforts in how we handle loads, and usable furniture does not need to end up in a landfill.
- Tell us about access. Stairs, long carries and parking affect labor, so share them upfront.
Property managers and landlords: turnovers at scale
If you manage several units, a cleanout is a recurring cost, not a one-off. Our apartment make-ready junk removal service is built for turnovers, so a unit can be cleared and made ready for the next tenant. For larger properties, our commercial junk removal service covers bigger volumes and recurring work.
Our view on apartment cleanout pricing
Most people we talk to expect a cleanout to cost what a cleaning service charges. It does not. A cleaner measures your walls, and a hauler has to move your belongings. That is why we price by the trailer load and by the item, and why we publish the numbers instead of making you wait for a callback.
We built our process around a photo. You send pictures, and you get a quote you can plan around. We are a family-owned crew from Parker, not a franchise or a call center, so the person who answers is part of the team that shows up.
For a move-out or a turnover, our advice is simple: book as early as the date allows, send photos of every room, and let the crew do the lifting. Loading, haul-away and cleanup are in the price, and we treat the property with care, because a clean handover is the point of the job.
Ben
Get a price for your apartment
If you have an apartment to clear in the Denver area, send us photos and we will quote the job by trailer load, with labor, loading, haul-away and cleanup included. Our quotes are transparent, with no surprise fees.
Start with the instant online quote, or see every rate on our pricing page. For whole-home jobs, our house and estate cleanout service handles larger clears.
FAQ
How much does it cost to clean out a one-bedroom apartment?
It depends on how much is inside, not on the size of the unit. A lightly furnished one-bedroom often falls in the quarter to half trailer range, which is $240 to $420 at our published rates. A fully furnished unit with years of accumulated belongings can need three-quarters of a trailer or more, which is $650 and up.
How much does an eviction cleanout cost in Denver?
National guides put most eviction cleanouts at roughly $300 to $1,200, and Denver’s labor and disposal costs make the higher end more likely. At our rates the job is priced by trailer load, from $120 to $840 per full trailer, plus item fees for things like mattresses and appliances. Send photos for a quote on your specific unit.
Can I avoid same-day surcharges?
Booking at least 48 to 72 hours in advance is the most reliable way, because most companies waive urgency fees for jobs booked more than two days out. If your lease ends soon, request a quote as soon as you know the date.
Does the price include loading and cleanup?
Yes. Our trailer-load prices include labor, loading, haul-away and cleanup. Freon handling for appliances is $100 per unit, and additional labor is $50 per hour per crew member.
Who pays for a move-out cleanout in an apartment?
That depends on your lease and on Colorado law, so check the lease first. For an eviction, the landlord or property manager needs to confirm the legal steps with an attorney before any belongings are removed.
Sources
- Whole Home Cleanout Cost: 2026 Data
- Estate Cleanout Services: Complete Pricing Guide
- Junk removal fees surge for same-day service
- Eviction Cleanout Pricing & Workflow Guide
- How Much Do Eviction Clean Outs And Services Cost?
- Handling Abandoned Personal Property After an Eviction for Denver Landlords
- Denver Large Item Pickup