What Does an Estate Cleanout Cost in Chicago and the Suburbs?
By Hoverla Junk Removal teamUpdated 6 min read
An estate cleanout is priced the same way as any other cleanout: by how much truck space the contents fill. The difference is scale. A house someone lived in for decades holds far more than it looks like from the front hall, so a full house often takes more than one load.
This guide explains how the number is built, so you can read our quote line by line and know what each part pays for. It's written for the people who usually call us about an estate: adult children, executors, and the realtors and attorneys working with them.
What an estate cleanout involves
Hauling is only part of it. A typical estate cleanout runs in this order:
- A quote, from photos or an on-site walkthrough.
- The family takes what they want to keep, ideally before the crew arrives.
- The crew works room by room. Anything that looks personal, valuable or important, like documents, photos, jewelry, cash or collections, is set aside and brought to your attention before anything is removed.
- Everything else is carried out and loaded. Usable items are donated and materials are recycled when possible.
- The house is left broom-clean, ready for the next step: sale, rental or family use.
The spaces people forget to count are usually the ones that drive the price: basement storage rooms, the attic, crawlspaces, a detached garage or shed, kitchen cabinets and the pantry, and the shelves above every closet rod.
How the price is built: truck space
You pay for the share of the truck the contents fill. These are the same prices we use for every junk removal job:
| Load size | Approx. volume | Price | Typical job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum (smaller than a quarter) | under ~4.5 cu yd | $150 | One sofa, a fridge or a few bags |
| 1/4 load | ~4.5 cu yd | from $275 | A few items or a small room |
| 1/2 load | ~9 cu yd | from $425 | A room or a section of the garage |
| 3/4 load | ~13.5 cu yd | from $575 | Large cleanouts |
| Full load | ~19 cu yd | from $780 | The biggest single-load jobs; whole houses take several |
A whole house adds up in loads. These are the rough reference points we publish. They are starting points, not quotes, because two houses with the same floor plan can be packed very differently:
- One parking space packed floor to ceiling: about one full load.
- A two-car garage with both spaces full: often two loads, sometimes a load and a quarter.
- A basement: anywhere from half a truck to two trucks, depending on the house.
- The furniture in a furnished house: one truck for beds and dressers, two if there is a lot of large furniture.
Add up the spaces in the house you're dealing with and you'll have a fair idea of the range before anyone comes out. For a longer explanation of load sizes, see how much junk removal costs.
Crew time on whole-house jobs
Most jobs are priced on truck space only. If one or two of us can handle it, there's no separate labor charge.
Clearing an entire house is different. A job that would take one person three days can be done in a day by a larger crew, and families working toward a listing or a closing date usually want the faster option. For those jobs we bill crew time at $35 per hour, per person, on top of truck space. The quote shows both parts separately.
Our estimates are deliberately generous, and then you're billed for what actually happened. If we budgeted ten crew hours and the job took eight, you pay for eight. If we quoted five loads and it fit in four, you pay for four.
What raises or lowers the bill
Things that raise it
- Volume, above all. Decades of basement storage is the most common surprise.
- Big, bulky furniture: sectionals, china cabinets, bedroom sets, old entertainment centers.
- Outbuildings: a detached garage, a shed, a second storage room.
- A lot of sorting on site. Going through drawers of paperwork takes crew time on whole-house jobs.
- Hoarded conditions, which mean more volume and slower, more careful work.
Things that don't raise it
- Stairs, basements and second floors.
- Heavy or awkward items.
- Bagging. We bring our own bags; if it is in a closet, we bag it and it goes.
Things that lower it
- Family members taking what they want before the cleanout, so it never goes on the truck.
- Holding an estate sale first, if there is enough to sell, and clearing only what is left.
- Selling or giving away the largest pieces yourself if you have the time.
- Making decisions before the crew arrives. On a whole-house job, waiting while the family decides is crew time.
- Pointing out stray items at the first walkthrough, so they ride on the last truck instead of needing a return trip.
If something is left over after the last full truck, the small return trip is $150, not another full load.
How long an estate cleanout takes
Most estate cleanouts take one to three days. The size of the house matters, but so does how much sorting the family wants done on site and whether someone is there to answer questions. A house where the family has already taken what they want and marked the rest moves quickly.
If you're working toward a listing or closing date, tell us that date on the first call. We schedule around it, and a whole house is easier to fit in when we know early.
Sorting keepsakes and documents
Families worry about something important getting thrown out, and it's a fair worry. Our crew sets aside anything that looks valuable, personal or important and shows it to you before removal. That includes papers, photographs, jewelry, cash, and anything that looks like a collection.
It helps to give the crew a short list of what you're looking for: a missing ring, the car title, a folder of insurance papers, the family photo albums. We don't appraise or price items. Final decisions on every belonging stay with the family or the estate representative.
Where the contents go
Usable furniture and household goods are donated when possible. Metal and other materials are recycled when possible. The rest is disposed of.
We can't take hazardous materials, medical waste or prescription medications. The crew points them out and sets them aside in one place so nothing gets mixed into a load. For old prescriptions, ask your pharmacy or local police about drug take-back.
After the cleanout: broom-clean or a real cleaning
A cleanout ends broom-clean: floors swept, nothing left behind. That's enough for many sales and for handing the house to a contractor. If the house is going on the market, most realtors want it properly cleaned before listing photos.
We also do house cleaning, so the cleaning can be booked right after the cleanout, with one company and one phone number.
Getting a written quote
- Send photos of every room, including closets, basement, attic and garage. Text them to (224) 220-1777 and we reply with a written quote.
- If you prefer, book a free on-site estimate through our contact page.
- Your written quote shows the number of loads and, for whole-house jobs, the crew time, so you know exactly what each part pays for.
- Stairs, sorting and bagging are never billed on top, and nothing is added that was not on the quote.
- The invoice can go to whoever is paying, including the executor, for the estate records.
If you're handling the house from another state, read our guide to an estate cleanout from out of state. For the service itself, see our estate cleanout page.