What a basement cleanout costs in Cleveland

The short answer

Basement cleanouts are priced by truck fill or by item. A corner of boxes and a few pieces is often a 1/4 truck ($241). A half-full basement is often a 1/2 truck ($431). A full basement in an older house can be a full truck ($732). Heavy single items have their own prices: chest freezer $146, cast iron radiator $123, washer $133. Crews carry everything up the stairs, with no stairs fee.

Why Cleveland is a basement city

Cleveland's homes are old and nearly all have basements. The city's median year built is 1941, and ten core ZIP codes sit at the Census floor: median year built 1939 or earlier.

The basement styles vary by era:

• Pre-war city houses and doubles in Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit–Shoreway, Old Brooklyn, Clark–Fulton, Slavic Village, Glenville and Collinwood: steep wooden stairs, low ceilings, sometimes shared between the two units of a double.
• Streetcar-suburb houses in Lakewood, Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights: big, deep basements under big houses.
• Postwar bungalows and ranches in Parma, Brook Park, Middleburg Heights, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Euclid and South Euclid: full basements, often finished as rec rooms in a past decade.

Price by basement size

These are typical. Your quote is based on photos of what is actually there.

Heavy basement items

Typical combinations:

• Chest freezer + dehumidifier + old washer: $146 + $77 + $133 = $356.
• Furnace + water heater after a replacement: $131 + $131 = $262.
• Rec room: sofa + pool table: $126 + $603 = $729.
• Two radiators left from a heating conversion: $123 + $123 = $246.

Three Cleveland basements, priced

Parma bungalow rec room

A 1950s rec room that hasn't been used since the kids left: a sofa, a recliner, a home gym and two units of metal shelving. $126 + $98 + $241 + $71 + $71 = $607. Add the boxes that lined the walls and it becomes a truck-fill job; a 3/4 truck is $587 and covers the furniture and boxes together, which is why the quote looks at everything at once.

Old Brooklyn double, shared basement

The owner downstairs and the tenant upstairs each have a corner. The tenant's side is a washer, a dryer and a dehumidifier: $133 + $128 + $77 = $338. The owner's side is boxes and old furniture, about a 1/4 truck at $241. Two separate orders keep the bills separate.

Cleveland Heights four-square, floor to ceiling

A deep basement under a big 1910s house, cleared before a sale: decades of storage, a workbench and a dead chest freezer. That is a full truck, $732. If it runs over, the next load is priced the same way.

Access: the stairs, the side door and the snow

Most Cleveland basements are reached by a steep inside stair off the kitchen or a side door at grade, and some older houses have an exterior bulkhead. A few things make the day go faster:

• Light the stairs. Many old basements have one bulb on a pull chain. A work light at the bottom helps.
• Clear the side path. In a double, the side door is often down a narrow walk between houses. Move the bikes and trash bins out of the way.
• Winter. Lake-effect snow runs from mid-November into late January or early February. Shovel and salt the side steps before the crew arrives, especially on the east side, where the Heights and Geauga get the heaviest snow.
• Shaker Heights. Trash there is collected from back and side yards, so many houses have a cleared back path already. The crew uses whichever door is shortest.

None of this changes the price. It changes how long you're standing in the doorway.

Spring thaw season

In Cleveland, basements get cleared in spring. Once the lake-effect season ends and the snow melts, roughly April to June, people go downstairs and find what winter did: a dead dehumidifier, a freezer that quit, boxes that got damp.

Water-damaged contents are heavier and should not sit. Get them out before mold settles in. Water-damaged boxes, carpet and furniture are priced the same way as dry ones.

What the City will and will not take from a basement

• Bulk week: up to three items per home, first full week of the month, carried to the tree lawn by you.
• Appliances must be drained of coolants and fluids.
• Renovation debris, such as old paneling, drop ceiling tiles and drywall from a past remodel, is not accepted.
• Electronics are drop-off only.

For a basement, the three-item cap and the stairs are usually what push people to book.

Paint, chemicals and booking

Old paint cans are common in Cleveland basements. Paint is accepted: $30 per 1-gallon can, $52 per 5-gallon bucket. Six old gallon cans: $30 + $30 + $30 + $30 + $30 + $30 = $180. Other chemicals, like solvents or pesticides, are case by case. Ask before you book.

To book, take photos from the bottom of the stairs in each direction, and one of the stairs themselves. Upload them to the instant quote. You see the price before booking, and it only changes if you approve. Pick a 2-hour window, 7 days a week, 8am to midnight. Same-day available when you book by 4 PM. We recycle whatever we can.

Frequently asked questions