What a garage cleanout costs in San Jose

The short answer

Garage cleanouts are priced by how much of the truck they fill. A corner of boxes and old furniture is often a quarter truck at $241. A one-car garage that is reasonably full is often a half truck at $431. A packed two-car garage is often a full truck at $732, and an overflowing one can be $732 + $241 = $973. The price is set from photos before you book.

Why San Jose garages fill up

Most San José homes sit on concrete slabs with no basement, and many ranch houses and Eichlers have no real attic storage. The garage becomes the basement, the attic and the spare room all at once.

In the 1960s and 70s tracts of Cambrian, Blossom Valley, Santa Teresa and Westgate, the cars live in the driveway and the garage holds everything else. Boxes from previous moves, kids' bikes, a workbench, holiday decorations, old paint, a second fridge and furniture waiting to be fixed.

Out in Evergreen, Silver Creek and the newer subdivisions in Morgan Hill and Gilroy, the garages are bigger and so are the piles. Many of those neighborhoods also have HOAs that frown on curb piles, which makes the free City route harder.

The newest driver is the ADU. Homeowners converting a garage into a rentable unit have to empty it completely before the contractor can start.

Cost by garage size

A truck tier is a volume. Think of a quarter truck as about the size of a pickup bed piled high, and a full truck as a large room packed tightly.

Heavy items that change the math

Some garage items are heavy or awkward enough that they are better priced individually.

A half truck of boxes plus the old garage fridge and a treadmill is $431 + $164 + $115 = $710. Paint is accepted, which matters because garages are where old paint ends up. Other hazardous products, such as pool chemicals and pesticides, are handled case by case.

City options and their limits

San José's Junk Pickup is free for owners and renters and takes up to 12 items per request at the curb on your garbage day. For a garage with a few large items, that can be enough.

For a full garage it usually is not. Twelve items does not go far when the garage holds forty boxes, and the program does not carry anything from inside. You set items out on the street no more than 24 hours before the appointment, away from red zones, hydrants and parked cars.

In Mountain View, each of the two yearly Recology cleanups covers a pile up to 4 by 4 by 8 feet plus three bulky items. Santa Clara's spring campaign gives one cubic yard of bagged debris free and then charges $25 per cubic yard.

For a full cleanout, the flat price usually wins on time, and nothing has to sit at the curb.

How to photograph a garage for a quote

The quote is only as good as the photos, and garages are hard to photograph because everything is stacked.

• Stand at the open garage door and take one wide shot of the whole space.
• Take one from each back corner looking toward the door, so the depth is visible.
• Open the tops of shelving units and photograph anything stored above head height.
• Shoot the side yard if anything there is going too, such as old fencing, a broken grill or a shed.
• Note anything heavy, like a gun safe, a workbench or a chest freezer.

Upload the photos on the instant quote page. The price is set before you book and only changes if you approve a change.

Booking the cleanout

Pull out anything you are keeping and stack it in one marked area, or tape it. The crew takes everything else.

If the garage is being cleared for an ADU, a remodel or a home sale, book it a few days before the contractor or the photographer arrives. Crews work seven days a week from 8am to midnight in two-hour windows, and booking by 4 PM usually means same-day pickup.

Vetted, insured local haulers do the loading, so you do not need to drag anything to the driveway first. We try to donate usable items when local charities accept them, and we recycle whatever we can, including metal shelving and old bikes.

Frequently asked questions