What an apartment cleanout costs in Milwaukee

The short answer

Two ways to price an apartment cleanout, and you pick whichever is cheaper.

By volume: a quarter truck is $241, three-eighths is $338, a half truck is $431, five-eighths is $513, three-quarters is $587, seven-eighths is $661, and a full truck is $732.

By item: every piece has a published flat price — $126 a sofa, $103 a queen mattress, $126 a dresser — and if your list is short, itemizing usually wins.

Rough guide from Milwaukee jobs: a studio on the Lower East Side is often a quarter truck. A furnished one-bedroom is usually somewhere between a quarter and a half. A two-bedroom upper in Bay View or Riverwest with a basement storage locker tends to be a half to three-quarters. The minimum per visit is $75.

Milwaukee's apartments are mostly stairs

This is the thing that makes local apartment cleanouts different from a newer-build city, and it is why we do not charge for stairs — if we did, it would apply to nearly every job we run.

• Upper units of two-flats and duplexes. The bulk of rental stock in Bay View, Riverwest, Harambee, Lincoln Village and Washington Heights. One enclosed rear staircase, a ninety-degree turn on the landing, and a front stair that is usually narrower still.
• Three-story walk-ups on the Lower East Side. Farwell, Oakland, Prospect, Brady Street. No elevator, and the stairwells were laid out before anyone owned a sectional.
• Polish flats. The lower unit is half a flight down from grade, the upper is up an exterior stoop. Both are awkward and both are normal here.
• Third Ward and Walker's Point loft conversions. These do have freight elevators — with reserved time slots, a building manager, and often an insurance certificate required before anyone moves anything.
• No driveway. Street parking and an alley behind. The truck sits where it can and the crew walks.

None of it is billed as an extra. The flat price is the flat price.

The Milwaukee turnover calendar

Book early if your cleanout falls in one of these windows, because they are the busiest weeks of our year:

• May. UWM and Marquette let out, and the East Side and Avenues West empty at once. Student flats produce an extraordinary quantity of particleboard furniture, futons and mini fridges.
• End of August into the first days of September. The big lease-turnover window across the city. Landlords have days, not weeks, to clear and re-let.
• Late spring generally. Everybody who put off a move through a Wisconsin winter does it the moment the ground thaws.

Outside those windows, same-day and next-day slots are usually open.

Worked example: a one-bedroom upper in Bay View

Tenant left the furniture behind, which is the most common version of this call.

• Sofa — $126
• Mattress + box spring set (queen) — $143
• Bed frame (standard metal) — $68
• Dresser (standard) — $126
• Dining table (2-4 seat) — $103
• Dining chairs, 2 at $45 each — $90
• TV (42" to 65") — $68
• Medium junk pile (kitchen contents, bags, odds and ends) — $129

Itemized total: $126 + $143 + $68 + $126 + $103 + $90 + $68 + $129 = $853.

That volume is roughly a three-quarter truck, which is $587. So for this job, truck-fill pricing is the cheaper route — and that is exactly the kind of crossover the online quote checks for you automatically.

Worked example: a student studio on the Lower East Side

May move-out, third floor, no elevator.

• Futon — $111
• Mattress — twin — $82
• Desk (standard) — $83
• Office chair — $61
• Mini fridge — $115

$111 + $82 + $83 + $61 + $115 = $452. A quarter truck is $241 and three-eighths is $338, so if it genuinely all fits in three-eighths of a truck, volume pricing wins here too. Put the real list in and the quote will tell you which side you are on.

When itemizing is the cheaper option

Volume pricing is not always better. The crossover is roughly this: if you have four or fewer substantial items, itemize. Above that, check both.

Example — a tenant took everything except the bed and the couch:

• Sofa — $126
• Mattress + box spring set (queen) — $143

$126 + $143 = $269. A quarter truck is $241, so in this case the truck-fill price is the better one by a small margin. Two items, and it is already close. This is the entire reason we show you both.

For landlords and property managers

A few things that come up constantly with Milwaukee rental stock:

• Basement storage lockers. Almost every older multi-unit here has them, and departing tenants almost never empty them. Check before you book, because it changes the volume.
• The shared staircase. In a two-flat, clearing the upper means carrying everything past the lower tenant's door. Give the downstairs unit notice and the job goes faster.
• Damp. Anything stored in a basement locker near the lake will be musty. It is still removable, it is just not donatable.
• You do not need to be there. If we have access arranged, we can clear and send photos. Useful when you are turning several units in the same week.
• No surcharge for same-day. If you have a Monday showing and a Friday clear-out, the price does not change for the short notice.

Booking

Put the list into the online quote — or describe the volume if it is easier — and you get the total on screen before you commit. Book a slot, and the price you saw is the price you pay. No estimate on the day, no stair charge, no separate disposal bill.

Frequently asked questions