Three rooms, three different jobs
A garage is mostly weight — old mowers, tires, workbenches, the shelving unit that came with the house, lumber offcuts somebody meant to use. It is easy to reach and hard to lift, so it usually goes quickly once the crew is in.
A basement is mostly access. Everything comes up one staircase, often a steep one with a turn at the bottom, and damp cardboard falls apart in your hands. An attic is the slowest of the three: a pull-down ladder or a narrow hatch, heat in summer, and every box handed down one at a time. We price each of those honestly, which is why we ask which room it is when you send photos.
Tell us what stays, and we work around it
Almost nobody wants the whole garage emptied. There is a toolbox that stays, a bike that stays, the holiday decorations that stay. The easy way is to put a strip of tape on anything that is staying, or pile it in one corner — and if you will not be home, send a photo with notes and we will work from that.
If you find yourself stuck on a box you cannot decide about, set it to one side and deal with it later. We would rather leave you three boxes to think about than haul something you wanted.
What usually turns up down there
Old paint cans are the big one. Latex or water-based paint can go once it is completely dried and hardened — kitty litter, sand, sawdust or a paint hardener speeds that up. Wet paint, oil-based and solvent-based paint, solvents and other chemicals are on the short list of things we cannot haul, so set those aside for your county’s household hazardous waste drop-off. Everything else — exercise equipment, dehumidifiers, broken furniture, water-damaged boxes, old carpet — goes in the truck.
Tires are fine too, up to five per pickup, with or without rims. They are quoted separately from the load-size rates, so say how many are in there when you send photos and the number comes back with the rest of the job.
