The short answer
Apartment cleanouts price two ways and you take whichever fits. Under about a dozen items, you pay per item: a sofa is $126, a queen mattress is $103, a dresser is $126. Past that, you pay by how much of the truck it fills, starting at $241 for a quarter load and running to $732 for a full one.
In Raleigh, a lightly furnished studio downtown or in Glenwood South typically sits around the quarter-truck mark at $241. A two-bedroom near NC State at the end of a lease, with two beds, two desks and everything nobody wanted to move, is usually a half truck at $431. The per-visit minimum is $75.
Priced by item: a real one-bedroom
Say a one-bedroom in Midtown where the tenant took the good things and left the rest.
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Sofa / Couch | $126 |
| Mattress — Queen | $103 |
| Bed Frame (Standard / Metal / Platform) | $68 |
| Dresser (Standard) | $126 |
| Dining Table (2-4 Seat) | $103 |
| TV (42" to 65") | $68 |
That is $126 + $103 + $68 + $126 + $103 + $68 = $594. At that point the quarter-truck rate of $241 no longer applies — the volume is past it — but it is worth checking both numbers, and we will quote whichever is lower for what you actually have.
Priced by volume: whole units
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| 1/4 truck | $241 |
| 3/8 truck | $338 |
| 1/2 truck | $431 |
| 5/8 truck | $513 |
| 3/4 truck | $587 |
| 7/8 truck | $661 |
| Full truck | $732 |
Rough shape for the Raleigh market: an empty-ish studio with a bed and a couple of boxes sits near $241. A furnished one-bedroom lands around $338. A furnished two-bedroom is usually $431. A three-bedroom student house off Gorman Street at the end of May, where three tenants each left a bed, is frequently $587 or above.
The buildings, and what they change
Access does not change our price, but it changes how long you should allow.
- Downtown and Glenwood South high-rises often want a certificate of insurance on file, a booked freight elevator window and loading-dock access off the alley. Book the elevator when you book us.
- Garden-style complexes off Avent Ferry, Trailwood and Buck Jones are third-floor walk-ups with outdoor stairs. There is no stair charge — the price is the same as a ground-floor unit.
- North Hills and Brier Creek mid-rises usually have gated garages with a height bar. Tell us and we will park where the truck fits.
- RTP and Morrisville corporate rentals turn over on relocation timelines, not lease calendars, which means odd dates and often a fully furnished unit going out in one pass.
May in west Raleigh
NC State empties in about ten days every May and it is the single busiest stretch of the Raleigh year. Hillsborough Street, Avent Ferry, Gorman Street and the streets around Centennial Campus produce an extraordinary volume of abandoned twin beds, flat-pack desks and IKEA shelving in one compressed window.
Two consequences if you are a landlord or a parent. Dates go first — book a week or two out rather than the morning you need it. And a unit left for a week collects other people's furniture, because a pile on a student street attracts additions. Clearing it in one visit on a chosen date is cheaper than clearing it twice.
Bags, boxes and the leftover layer
Most cleanouts have a bagged layer under the furniture — kitchen contents, wardrobe, bathroom, the cupboard nobody opened. That has its own prices:
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| 10 Bags of Debris | $132 |
| 15 Bags of Debris | $196 |
| 20 Bags of Debris | $259 |
| Moving Box | $31 |
| Bag of Clothes | $35 |
A one-bedroom that is furniture plus fifteen bags is the furniture price plus $196. If the whole unit is going as volume, the bags are simply part of the load and the truck rate covers them.
Landlord turnovers and deposits
If you are turning a unit, the reason to do this on a fixed date rather than a best-effort one is that everything downstream of the cleanout — paint, carpet, photos, listing — is queued behind it. A Wake County rental sitting empty for an extra ten days because the old sofa is still in it costs more than the sofa removal did.
We quote from photos, so you can price a unit you have not walked yet. The number covers carrying everything out from wherever it sits, the transport and the disposal. There is no stair charge, no walk-up fee and no same-day surcharge.
How to get the number
Photograph each room from the doorway, plus the closets and the balcony, and send them. You get a flat total back before anyone is dispatched. If it is a single item — one queen mattress at $103, one sofa at $126 — you do not need a cleanout quote at all, just the item price, with the $75 minimum as the floor.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a studio cleanout in Raleigh?
A studio that is mostly bare with a bed and a few boxes usually prices as a 1/4 truck at $241. If it is genuinely one or two items — a queen mattress at $103, say — item pricing is lower and that is what you will be quoted. The per-visit minimum is $75.
Do you charge more for a third-floor walk-up?
No. There is no stair charge and no walk-up fee. A third-floor unit in a garden-style complex off Avent Ferry is priced exactly like a ground-floor one. Carrying it out is included in the item or truck-load price.
Can you work with my building's insurance requirements?
Yes. Downtown and Glenwood South buildings routinely ask for a certificate of insurance before a freight elevator is released. Tell us the building and the management contact when you book and we will get the paperwork over in advance rather than on the morning.
How far ahead should I book for May move-out?
A week or two, if you can. The stretch when NC State empties is the tightest window of the Raleigh year, and the dates near the end of leases go first. Outside that window, lead times are much shorter.
What if I do not know how much is in there?
Photos from the doorway of each room are enough. We quote from them. If the volume turns out to fall between two rungs of the ladder — say between a 3/8 truck at $338 and a 1/2 truck at $431 — you are quoted one of those numbers up front, not a range you find out about later.