Sacramento Junk Removal FAQ

A crew comes to your address with a truck, you point at what goes, and they carry it out, load it and dispose of it. With us it is three steps: a free estimate from a photo or at the door, a confirmed price, then the work. Most residential jobs take 30 minutes to 2 hours. You never load anything, which is the difference from a dumpster rental. Evenings and weekends count as normal hours for us.

$99 to $1,000, depending on how much of the truck you fill. A minimum load (a chair and a few boxes) is $99 to $150. A quarter truck is $180 to $280, a half truck $320 to $480. A full load is $850 in our 15-yard truck and $1,000 in the 20-yard. The number is confirmed before anything moves, and booking online takes $20 off. Every tier with examples is in the price guide.

Almost anything two people can carry that is not hazardous: furniture, refrigerators and washers, mattresses, TVs, exercise equipment, carpet, fencing, hot tubs, sheds, pianos and whole garages. For businesses, desks, shelving, pallets and retail fixtures through commercial junk removal. What we leave: paint, chemicals, asbestos, medical waste, mixed construction debris, and dirt or rock beyond a small amount with a regular load. See every way to get rid of old furniture for the most common item. If two people can carry it, we can take it.

Hazardous waste: paint, solvents, pesticides, motor oil, propane tanks, asbestos, batteries beyond a small handful, and anything biological or medical. Ammunition and explosives are out everywhere. Sacramento County takes most of that free at its household hazardous waste sites (4450 Roseville Road and 8491 Fruitridge Road). If we spot one of these in your photo, we say so before pickup day, not when the truck is loaded.

Often within a few hours. We run 7 days a week, 24 hours, and a photo texted to (916) 770-7619 before 10 AM usually gets an afternoon slot. Weekends and June through August fill first, so book as soon as you know. Details on same-day junk removal. It is realistic because the truck is based in West Sacramento, under an hour from anywhere in the metro.

Someone should be there at the start to point out what goes and approve the price. After that you can leave. For an outdoor pile that is clearly marked, or a vacant rental where a property manager leaves a lockbox code, we can work without you and text photos when done. For an interior cleanout, someone has to open the door and walk us through. Either way, the price is agreed before the first item moves.

Twenty minutes to two hours. A couch and two chairs from a ground-floor room is about 20 to 30 minutes. A packed single-car garage is one to two hours. Most residential jobs are done inside an hour. A full estate or warehouse can take half a day or a second trip, and we tell you that at the quote. Send a photo and we will tell you the hours, not just the price.

Add it up. A rental truck is $50 to $150, dump fees $30 to $80 per load, plus fuel and four to eight hours of your weekend, and the transfer station closes before you are done. A minimum load with us is $99 to $150 and takes under an hour, with the disposal rules handled. If you own a truck, have a helper and a free morning, self-hauling one load can still win.

Decide what goes and make sure we can reach it. You do not need to move anything outside or sort it. A clear path from the pile to the door speeds things up. Put anything you are unsure about in one spot so the decision takes ten seconds, not ten minutes. Our prep checklist covers the rest. Pets in another room and a parking spot for the truck help more than you would think.

Yes. Upstairs bedrooms, basements, attics, the back of the garage. That is the whole point compared with a dumpster, where you do the carrying. There is no extra charge for interior carries or stairs; they are part of the access we price up front. See what a garage full of clutter costs to remove.

Nothing is expected. The price covers the crew. If someone wants to hand over $10 to $20 after a third-floor sleeper sofa in July, nobody refuses, but it is never assumed. A cold bottle of water on a 100-degree day is appreciated more than you would think. The crew is paid by us, not by your tips.

We sort in the truck. Metal and appliances go to scrap and appliance recyclers, usable furniture to a Sacramento charity when we can, and the rest to the transfer station. How much is diverted depends on the load: a clean metal load recycles almost entirely, mixed household junk mostly does not. We do not promise a diversion rate. More in eco-friendly junk removal and charities that accept donations.

By truck space, not by item count or by the hour. The industry uses fractions: minimum (about an eighth), quarter, half and full truck. Our tiers are $99 to $150, $180 to $280, $320 to $480 and $850 to $1,000. Weight (concrete, solid wood), access (stairs, long carries) and item type can adjust it. We confirm the number before we start, and it does not move on the invoice.

Most residential jobs land between $180 and $480: a couch, a mattress and some boxes is a quarter truck at $180 to $280, a garage or a bedroom set is a half truck at $320 to $480. Full loads are $850 (15-yard) and $1,000 (20-yard). Summer moves and December cleanouts fill the calendar, so book early those months. The moving declutter checklist shows what people usually send with us. Book online and the tier drops by $20.

Yes, $99 to $150, and most Sacramento haulers charge $100 to $175. It covers about an eighth of the truck, enough for a chair and a few boxes, and includes labor, loading, hauling and the dump fee. Even one item costs the crew a trip and a disposal charge, which is why nobody prices below that line. Booking online brings the minimum down by $20.

Sometimes. A piano runs $250 to $500 and a hot tub $300 to $600 or more, because of the weight, the cutting and the disposal fee. Concrete, safes and solid oak armoires can nudge a tier up. Extra crew or equipment is built into the quote, so the number you hear first is the number you pay.

There should not be, and with us there are none: no fuel surcharge, no dump fee added later, no stair fee. The red flag elsewhere is a phone quote with no photo, followed by on-site add-ons for stairs, distance or weight. Ask one question before you book anyone: is the quote all-inclusive? Our price is confirmed before work starts and does not change at the door.

$320 to $1,000 for a single-car garage. A light one is a half truck, $320 to $480. A packed one fills the truck: $850 in the 15-yard, $1,000 in the 20-yard. A stuffed two-car garage can take two loads. The cheapest move you can make is pulling out the donate and sell piles first, because less volume is a lower tier. A photo of the garage from the driveway gets you the tier before we roll.

On paper a 10-yard dumpster is $300 to $500 for the week. Then you load it yourself over four to eight hours, pay overage if it is too heavy, and may need a street permit. A full 15-yard load with us is $850 with all labor, and smaller loads are priced by the fraction they fill. For a multi-week remodel, rent the box. For a one-day cleanout, the truck usually costs about the same and you lift nothing.

Volume, almost everywhere in the U.S., including here. A truck of light boxes costs about the same as a half-truck of heavy furniture. The exception is dense material: concrete, dirt, tile, safes. Those cost more at the transfer station, which weighs the truck, so they can add to the quote. We say so before we load, not after. A full 15-yard truck is $850 and a 20-yard is $1,000, whatever is in it, unless it is concrete or dirt.

$300 to $2,000 and up. A partial office clear is a few hundred; a mid-size office of 10 to 20 desks averages $500 to $1,000; a full warehouse cleanout passes $2,000 once it takes multiple loads. After-hours and weekend slots are available so the business keeps running. Recurring and multi-day jobs get volume pricing. See how office cleanouts work.

Four things: volume (the tier), weight (concrete versus cardboard), access (third floor, long carry, locked gate) and disposal type (a mattress or fridge costs more to process than a bookcase). Same-day urgency and distance to the edge of our 50-mile radius matter less but can count. A photo that shows the pile and the path out gets you an accurate number the first time. The same tiers apply across Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, El Dorado and Solano counties.

Sometimes. Clearing a rental, an office or a commercial space is usually a deductible business or maintenance expense. Items we drop at a charity may qualify for a donation deduction if you get the charity’s receipt. A personal garage cleanout generally is not deductible. Keep the invoice either way and ask your tax preparer.

Book online ($20 off). Put everything in one pickup instead of three: garage, attic and backyard together is one tier, not three minimums. Pull out what you can sell or donate first, since volume sets the price. Avoid June through August if you can. And send a photo so the quote is right before the truck rolls.

Everything has to go to a licensed facility, and dumping on public or private land is illegal, with fines from $1,000 for a first offense to $10,000 for repeats. Mattresses must be recycled, e-waste cannot go in the trash, and green waste, recycling and trash stay in their three bins. Our summaries: junk disposal laws in Sacramento and illegal dumping rules.

No. A couch at the curb is a code violation, and a pile at the curb tends to grow overnight as neighbors add to it. City of Sacramento trash customers can book a free bulky pickup by appointment, a few items at a time, and set them out only on the scheduled day. For anything bigger or sooner, that is us. We pick up from inside the house, so nothing ever sits at the curb.

Three places. The county household hazardous waste sites take paint, batteries and chemicals free. Goodwill, The Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity ReStore take clean, working items free. City trash customers get free appointment-based bulky pickups, with a wait of a week or more. Everything else costs money: the transfer stations charge by weight, and we charge by truck space, with the loading included. Some charities will collect large furniture themselves; call ahead.

A free service for residents with City of Sacramento trash collection. You schedule through 311, set up to about 3 to 5 items at the curb on the appointed day, and the city truck takes them. Residents get two pickups a year, and the wait runs one to three weeks. It is the right answer for one couch you can carry out yourself. It does not come inside, and it does not take everything.

$1,000 for a first offense, up to $10,000 or more for repeats, under county code and California Penal Code 374.3, plus possible community service, vehicle impound and a misdemeanor. The county runs cameras in known hotspots, including along the American River Parkway and in South Sacramento. A minimum load with us is $99 to $150, which is cheaper than the first ticket.

Natomas, Arden Arcade, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova and Carmichael send the most calls: growing families, remodels and rental turnover. Roseville and Folsom are close behind with move-in and move-out traffic. Estate cleanouts cluster in Fair Oaks and Orangevale, where long-time owners’ homes change hands. June through August is the peak everywhere. Natomas is also where our recurring warehouse pallet pickups run.

SB 1383 has required Sacramento homes and businesses to keep food scraps and yard trimmings out of the landfill since January 2022, through the green organics cart your waste hauler collects. It does not change what we do: we are a junk hauler, not an organics program, and we do not collect food waste or compostables. Branches and brush from a yard project are a different thing; send a photo and we will say whether we can haul them.

The county hazardous waste site at 8491 Fruitridge Road, Best Buy stores (most small electronics, free) and Goodwill’s e-waste program. TVs, monitors, laptops and many batteries are banned from the trash under state law. We take a few electronics along with a regular pickup and drop them at an e-waste recycler. A commercial-scale IT clearout needs a certified electronics recycler.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Goodwill, The Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul and Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services. All of them refuse stained upholstery, broken pieces, pet damage and most mattresses, and they turn away more than people expect. We drop clean pieces at a charity when we can but do not promise it on every load. If a particular piece matters, drive it there yourself or tell us before the job.

Construction and demolition debris has to go to a licensed facility, and most places want it separated: concrete with concrete, clean wood with wood, metal with metal. Drop-offs include Kiefer Landfill and the Sacramento Recycling & Transfer Station. We do not take mixed demolition loads. A single-material load (metal only, concrete only, clean wood only) we often can, so send a photo. For mixed debris, rent a dumpster or call a C&D hauler. Concrete is priced by weight because the facility weighs the truck.

Three legal routes. City trash customers can book the free bulky pickup through 311. Anyone can drop one at a transfer station for about $15 to $30, and the Bye Bye Mattress program takes dry, intact ones free at participating sites. Or we pick it up from the bedroom, $99 to $150 for one, and it is gone. About 85% of a mattress (steel, foam, fabric) is recoverable, which is why the state wants them recycled rather than buried.

Two. Sacramento County runs the North Area household hazardous waste center at 4450 Roseville Road and the South Area site at 8491 Fruitridge Road. Both take paint, batteries, motor oil, pesticides, cleaning chemicals and fluorescent bulbs from county residents at no charge; hours are on wmr.saccounty.gov. We will tell you which of your items belong there and haul the rest. See also our Roseville page for Placer County options.

Judge by three things: recent reviews, a quote you can hold them to, and proof of insurance. Our case: 5.0 stars across 255 Google reviews and 100 or more five-star Yelp reviews, BBB A+ accreditation, one owner-led crew based in West Sacramento since 2017, same-day most days, and no tips expected. We carry the license and the insurance. Read the reviews, including the few that are not five stars, then get a price from a photo and compare.

From June through September the afternoons pass 100 degrees, so we push the heavy jobs (garages, hot tubs, second-floor furniture) to 7 to 10 AM. Summer is also moving season, so the calendar is tightest then; booking two or three days ahead helps. If you can take a mid-week morning, you will get the best slot and the coolest crew. Water for the crew is welcome; a tip is not expected.

Make three piles if you have the energy: keep, donate, junk. Then point us at the junk pile. A single-car garage is $320 to $480 as a half truck or $850 to $1,000 if it fills the truck, and it takes us one to two hours. If you do not have the energy, skip the piles. We sort the obvious donations and metal in the truck, and you get your parking spot back the same afternoon. Booking online takes $20 off any of those tiers.

Every unwanted thing in every room: furniture, appliances, clothes, boxes, electronics, mattresses, the garage and the yard debris, carried out and hauled away. A three- or four-bedroom house takes four to eight hours and runs $1,000 to $3,000 or more, usually two or three truckloads. Estates, moves, foreclosures and hoarding situations are the usual reasons. Clean furniture goes to a charity when we can, metal to scrap, the rest to the transfer station.

One couch or recliner is a minimum load, $99 to $150, stairs included. A living room set (sofa, loveseat, table, chairs) is a quarter truck, $180 to $280. A whole bedroom with the mattress is a half truck, $320 to $480. Because the price follows truck space, adding the old TV and the broken patio set to the same trip barely moves it. Charities refuse stained or torn upholstery, which is why most couches we take are the ones nobody else wanted.

Yes: refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, ovens, microwaves and water heaters, from wherever they sit, once they are unplugged and the water or gas line is disconnected. A fridge or AC unit goes to a certified recycler that recovers the refrigerant, as federal and state rules require. Washers and dryers go to the scrap yard; a single unit is $99 to $150. We do not disconnect gas, water or hardwired lines; a plumber or electrician does that first.

Four options. We carry it out of the bedroom for $99 to $150, usually the same day. City of Sacramento trash customers can book a free bulky pickup through 311, with a one- to three-week wait. Transfer stations take mattresses for about $15 to $30. The Bye Bye Mattress program takes dry, intact ones free at participating drop-offs. Do not leave it at the curb or beside a dumpster; that is a fine.

Book us for the day or two before the movers. Walk each room first and tag what is not making the trip: the spare dresser, the dead treadmill, the boxes from the last move you never opened. We clear an average home’s discards in one to two hours, so the movers are not billing you to work around them. Same-day slots are usually available. Booking online saves $20 on the pre-move load.

The family takes the keepsakes, paperwork and valuables first. Then we clear what remains: furniture, clothing, kitchenware, the garage, the yard. A three-bedroom house is usually one day and $1,000 to $3,000 or more, depending on how full it is. We set aside clean, usable pieces for a Sacramento charity when we can, and we work at the pace the family needs, including pausing when someone finds a box of photos.

Clearing a home where years of accumulation have filled the rooms, often with the owner or an adult child making decisions as we go. We work room by room, do not rush anyone, and do not comment. Costs run $1,500 to $5,000 or more depending on the house and the depth. What a family might spend weeks on, a crew finishes in days, with everything going to a licensed facility rather than a pile at the curb.

Small amounts go in your green bin. More than that, a transfer station takes green waste by weight, or we haul it: branches, brush, old landscaping and storm debris. Dirt, sod, rock and concrete are different. We take them only in small amounts alongside a regular load, because the truck is priced by volume and those are priced by weight at the dump. A full load of fill needs a dump truck or a landscape hauler. A photo of the pile settles which one you have.

Yes, and it is one of our most common specialty jobs. We drain it, cut the acrylic or fiberglass shell into pieces that fit the truck, haul the frame, pump and cover, and sweep the pad. You need an electrician to disconnect the power first; we do not touch electrical. Most removals take one to three hours and cost $300 to $600 or more, by size and access. The steel frame and the motor go to scrap. The electrical disconnect is the only part we do not do.

$300 to $800 for a standard 8 by 10 or 10 by 12 shed, up to $1,200 or more for a big or awkward one. Wood sheds come down fastest; a metal shed is mostly unbolting; a concrete slab stays. Demolition, loading and hauling take two to four hours, and the metal roofing and hardware go to the scrap recycler. Details on shed removal. Ask any demolition crew for proof of insurance before they swing a hammer.

Not the trash: California bans TVs, monitors and laptops from landfills. Take them to the county hazardous waste sites, a Best Buy store, or Goodwill’s e-waste program, all free for household amounts. We take a few electronics along with a regular pickup and drop them at an e-waste recycler. A pallet of office monitors is beyond what we do; that goes to a certified electronics recycler.

Clearing unwanted furniture, fixtures, equipment and debris from a business property: offices, warehouses, stores, restaurants, industrial bays. The difference from a house is quantity: 30 desks instead of one, a wall of pallets, a stockroom of dead inventory. We schedule after hours and on weekends so the floor stays open, price by the truckload, and one call covers the whole job. Recurring pickups for docks and stockrooms get a standing slot and preferred pricing.

You send photos or we walk the suite, you get a price, and on the day the crew takes everything you have tagged: desks, chairs, cubicle panels, filing cabinets, printers, the break-room fridge. A mid-size office of 10 to 20 workstations is usually one day. A commercial quantity of monitors and computers should go straight to a certified e-waste recycler; we can take a handful. Evening slots keep the neighbors in the building happy.

$1,500 to $10,000 or more. A small bay of 2,000 to 5,000 square feet with moderate debris runs $1,500 to $3,000. A big facility is multiple truckloads over multiple days, priced per load with a volume rate. Metal racking and shelving go to a metal recycler when we can, and pallets go to a refurbisher or a clean-wood facility. Photos of each aisle get you a real number.

Find one hauler before you need one, because the need is always urgent: a turnover, an eviction, a mattress in the dumpster corral. The things that matter are same-day availability, a price that holds, insurance, and a crew that can work from a lockbox without you on site. We send photos of the empty unit when we are done. Here is what property managers have us remove every month. Most property-manager jobs are cleared the same day or the next.

After the sheriff completes the lockout, the tenant’s belongings are not yours to toss. Civil Code 1983 to 1984 requires storing abandoned property for at least 18 days after mailed notice, unless it is plainly trash. Once the clock runs out, we clear the unit, usually in a few hours. Eviction cleanouts run $400 to $1,500 depending on unit size and how much was left behind.

Clearing everything left in a property after foreclosure so it can be listed. The lender or REO holder that now owns it typically pays, as part of getting it market-ready. Jobs run $500 to $3,000 or more by size and condition. We work with asset managers and agents across the region, and we provide before-and-after photos and an invoice for the property file. See how we work with real estate and property management.

A single office suite of 1,000 to 3,000 square feet is four to eight hours. A large warehouse or retail floor is two to three days. We can usually start next day, and same-day when the schedule allows, which matters when a lease ends Friday and the landlord walks through Monday. Call (916) 770-7619 with the deadline and the square footage. We work evenings and weekends, so a Friday-night start is normal.

We clear everything the last tenant left (furniture, trash, belongings past the legal holding period) and leave the unit broom-clean for maintenance and showings. Most units are cleared the same day or next day after booking. A unit full of someone else’s couch cannot be painted, shown or rented, so the cleanout is the first job on the turnover list, not the last.

Yes. Desks, task chairs, cubicle systems, conference tables, filing cabinets and shelving. We take the cubicles apart on site and carry everything to the truck. Clean, matching sets go to a charity when we can; metal frames and cabinets go to the scrap recycler. It is faster than listing 40 chairs online during a lease-end week, which is when most of these calls come. A mid-size office is usually one day.

Speed, and keeping your staff off the lifting. A crew clears in hours what employees would spend days on, with no back injuries on your workers’ comp. Every load goes to a licensed facility, with a paper trail if anyone asks. For a property manager the win is turnover time; for a business it is that nobody on payroll is making dump runs instead of doing their job.

By shortening the gap between tenants. A unit full of abandoned belongings cannot be cleaned, repaired, shown or rented. We clear one in two to four hours, often the same day you call, so maintenance starts tomorrow instead of next week. On a $1,500-a-month rental, a week of vacancy costs about $375; a $300 to $500 cleanout that saves two weeks pays for itself.

Slowly, with the right gear. A piano weighs 300 to 1,200 pounds and will gouge a hardwood floor or a door frame if dragged. We use a piano dolly, moving blankets and straps, two or more people, and ramps where the stairs need them. Piano removal takes 30 to 60 minutes and costs $250 to $500 depending on type and stairs. If it still plays, we will tell you who might take it first.

Four steps: drain it, cut the shell into sections with a reciprocating saw, break down the wood or steel frame, and haul it all. You handle one thing first: an electrician disconnects the power, because we do not do electrical. The job takes one to three hours and runs $300 to $600 or more depending on size and how far it is from the truck. The frame, motor and pump go to the scrap recycler.

Yes. Swing sets, play towers, slides, climbing structures, trampolines and playhouses. We unbolt what unbolts, cut what does not, dig out the anchors and rake the spot. Most take one to three hours and cost $250 to $600, with concrete footings on the high end. Steel frames and chains go to scrap; treated lumber and plastic go to the transfer station. Book it the day before the new set or the patio crew arrives. A small plastic set is a $99 minimum load.

Drain it slowly onto landscaping or into a cleanout, never the storm drain, which the county prohibits. Then we take apart the frame, roll the liner, and haul the frame, liner, pump, filter and any decking. Two to four hours, $300 to $700 by pool size. The metal frame goes to scrap, and you are left with a bare circle of dirt ready for sod.

Call us once it is down, or have us pull it. Wood, chain-link, vinyl or wrought iron, posts included, in one visit, typically $200 to $500 by the length. Chain-link and iron go straight to the scrap recycler. Pressure-treated wood goes to the transfer station, since treated lumber cannot be composted. That beats three weekends of dump runs in a pickup. Posts set in concrete take longer to pull, so mention them in the photo.

Yes, as a single-material load: concrete, brick or pavers with nothing else mixed in. It is priced by weight as much as volume, because the facility weighs the truck, so expect $300 to $600 or more. Clean concrete goes to a recycler that crushes it into road base. Past one truckload, a dumpster is usually the cheaper route.

Pull the carpet and pad, roll them, and we haul the rolls: $150 to $300 for a typical 150 to 300 square foot room. Tile, laminate and mixed remodel debris are construction waste, which belongs with a licensed C&D hauler or in a dumpster; a single-material flooring load we can sometimes take, so ask. If you want the tear-out done too, a flooring contractor rips it and you book the pickup for the same afternoon.

De-manufacturing. A certified technician recovers the refrigerant from a fridge, freezer or AC unit, as California and the EPA require, and pulls mercury switches and capacitors. Then the shell is shredded and the steel, copper, aluminum, glass and plastic are sorted and sold. One refrigerator gives back about 120 pounds of steel. We deliver every refrigerant unit to a recycler that does this step.

No, and nobody without a hazmat license should. Paint, chemicals, asbestos, medical waste and the like go to licensed specialists; household amounts go free to Sacramento County’s hazardous waste sites. We take everything else from the property and flag the hazardous items in the photo stage. For an estate or hoarding cleanout that has both, we clear the bulk and you or a hazmat service handle the cans and bottles.

Through a certified appliance recycler, never a landfill. Under EPA Section 608 the refrigerant has to be captured by a certified technician before the unit is scrapped, because a vented charge is a potent greenhouse gas. We deliver every fridge, freezer and AC unit to a recycler that does the recovery and then reclaims the metal. That is also why curbside bulky pickup will not take a fridge.

They sort instead of dumping everything in one hole. Usable goods go to charities, metal and appliances to recyclers, e-waste to an e-waste recycler, and only the rest to the landfill. We sort in the truck and at the transfer station. How much gets diverted depends on the load: a garage of metal shelving nearly all of it, a bin of mixed household trash very little. Anyone quoting one diversion number for every load is guessing.

Nationally, the EPA puts recycling and composting at about 32% of all waste. For a single junk load it swings from near zero to near 100. Appliances, fencing and metal furniture recycle almost entirely. Mixed trash mostly does not. We pull out the metal, appliances and clean donations, but we do not disassemble a mixed load piece by piece; it goes to the transfer station. Ask any hauler where your load will go.

The honest ones say "when we can." Charities take clean, working pieces and refuse stained couches, broken dressers and most mattresses, which is a lot of what we carry. In busy months we do not always have the time or truck space to hold items back for a drop-off. If one piece matters to you, say so when you book, or drive it to the charity yourself; that is the only way to be certain. Clean pieces go to Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Goodwill, The Salvation Army, WEAVE or Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services.

Wish-cycling: tossing something in the blue bin and hoping. Plastic bags in curbside recycling, which jam the sorting line. Food on recyclables. Throwing away the things with real value, like scrap metal and electronics. And, since 2022, putting food scraps and yard trimmings in the landfill bin instead of the organics cart. When in doubt, ask your hauler; we will tell you what we can recycle and what goes to the transfer station.

At the transfer station it splits into metals (scrap), electronics (e-waste recycler), clean furniture and goods (charity), wood and green waste (chipping), and the rest (landfill). We do the first cut in the truck: metal to one side, obvious donations set aside when time allows, mixed junk together. From your driveway to final disposal is typically one to three days. Metal is the one thing that always gets pulled, because the scrap yard pays for it and the landfill charges.

Only if it is untreated. Cedar and redwood can be chipped or composted through green waste programs. Pressure-treated lumber (CCA or ACQ) is chemically preserved and has to go to the landfill. If you do not know whether yours is treated, assume the transfer station. We haul deck debris as it comes off the frame; we do not pull nails and screws from each board, which is not practical on a demolition job.

Mattresses, tires, electronics and chemicals leach into soil and groundwater and breed pests, and the county spends millions a year cleaning sites along the American River Parkway and in rural and lower-income neighborhoods. The fines start at $1,000 for a reason. A $99 to $150 minimum load with a licensed hauler costs less than the ticket and ends at a transfer station instead of a creek bank.

It means junk cannot all go to one place. SB 1383 keeps organics out of landfills, the Used Mattress Recovery Act requires mattresses to be recycled, and SB 20 sends TVs and monitors to e-waste recyclers. So a single pickup can end at three facilities. We use licensed transfer stations and recyclers, and if something you have belongs somewhere we do not go, we tell you before the truck is loaded.

Refrigerators, freezers, window and central air conditioners, dehumidifiers and some water coolers. Their CFC, HCFC or HFC charge is a potent greenhouse gas; one fridge vented is roughly a car driven for six months. Under EPA Section 608 a certified technician has to recover the gas before scrapping. We deliver every one of these to a recycler that does, and we never leave one at a curb.

Anything with refrigerant, electronics, batteries, paint and chemicals, tires, medical waste, asbestos and flammable liquids; in California most of these are illegal to landfill and draw fines when found in a bin. Mattresses are legal in a dumpster but are supposed to be recycled. Concrete and dirt blow past the weight limit and trigger overage charges. If sorting that out sounds tedious, that is the part we handle.

Three ways: book online at takecarejunk.com and save $20, call (916) 770-7619, or text a photo of the pile to the same number. Online takes about two minutes: pick a date and window, describe what goes, confirm. We text a price back, usually within the hour during business hours, confirm it at the door, and start. If the number is higher than you expected, you owe nothing. There is no fuel surcharge and no dump fee added later.

Usually. We run 7 days a week, 24 hours, and a text before 10 AM has the best odds of an afternoon slot. Same-day is what people need before a move, an inspection, a showing or a party. There is no same-day surcharge when the slot exists. Weekends and summer fill first, so the earlier in the day you ask, the better.

Most of ours happen by text: you send a photo, we reply with a price. At the door we check that the pile and the path match the photo and confirm the same number. That takes five minutes, covers labor, loading, hauling and disposal, and carries no obligation. If you say yes, we usually start right then. A phone quote with no photo is how surprise add-ons happen.

For a normal job, a day or three ahead is plenty, and same-day is usually possible if you text in the morning. June through August and the last two weeks of December are the crunch, so give those three to five days. A full estate, a warehouse or anything that needs multiple days is best booked a week or two out so the truck is yours for the whole stretch. Evenings are open every day of the week.

We do, Saturday and Sunday, at the same price as a Tuesday. There is no weekend surcharge. Saturday mornings go first, especially in summer, so if you need one, book it early in the week. Evenings work too.

Ours are Isuzu dump trucks, 15-yard and 20-yard. A full 15-yard load is $850 and a full 20-yard is $1,000; smaller loads are priced by the fraction they fill. One truck handles a garage, a bedroom set or a living room in a single trip. A whole-house cleanout usually takes two or three loads, and we say so at the quote.

Yes: second and third floors, attics, lofts, walk-ups with no elevator. Stairs are part of the access we price up front, and there is no separate stair fee. We use dollies, straps and blankets so the banister, the walls and the floor survive the trip. Tell us the floor when you text so the quote is right the first time. A third-floor walk-up sleeper sofa is a normal Tuesday for us.

No. Point at what goes and we load it. Sorting helps in two cases: pulling out things you want to keep or sell lowers the volume and the price, and setting a donation aside yourself is the only way to be sure it gets donated rather than hauled. If you just want it gone with zero effort, leave it where it is. Clean, working items are the only ones a charity will accept.

Call or text (916) 770-7619 and we move it, no penalty. A day’s notice is appreciated so the slot goes to someone else. Same-day cancellations are fine too; they just make the rebooking harder. If you are unsure about timing, get the price now from a photo and pick the date later.

Ask for the business license number and a certificate of liability insurance. A real company sends both in a minute. We are both, and BBB A+ accredited. The risk with an unlicensed hauler from a classifieds ad is that your junk ends up in a creek with your mail in it, and the dumping fine comes to you.

Dumpster for a project that makes debris over weeks: a remodel, a roof. Junk removal for a pile that exists today and should be gone today. A dumpster is $300 to $600 for the week, plus your labor, a permit if it sits on the street, and overage fees if it is heavy. A full 15-yard load with us is $850 with the labor included, and smaller loads scale down. For a one-day cleanout, the truck usually costs about the same and you do not lift.

A franchise runs on a corporate price book and a call center, with franchise fees and national marketing in the price. A local company is the owner on the phone, a schedule that bends, and a crew that knows which transfer station is faster at 3 PM on a Friday. Both should carry insurance; ask either for proof. The local owner’s name is on every review, which tends to keep the quotes honest.

Yes, for a small job you can wait on. City of Sacramento trash customers get free pickups by appointment, a few items at a time, twice a year, with a one- to three-week wait. You carry everything to the curb yourself, and the program skips construction debris, e-waste and hazardous items. For more than a few pieces, anything upstairs, or anything that needs to be gone this week, that is us. The city program also will not take a fridge or freezer, because of the refrigerant.

Good condition: list it first. Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist move decent pieces for $50 to $200 in Sacramento. No bites in a week: donate it to Habitat for Humanity ReStore or Goodwill, and get the receipt. Stained, broken or pet-damaged: nobody will buy it and no charity will take it, so junk it. That last pile is most of what we haul. We drop clean pieces at a charity when we can, but cannot promise it.

Both, in that order reversed. Movers take what you keep; we take what you do not. Book us a day or two before the movers so they are not billing $100 to $200 an hour to step around a dead couch. Movers do not dispose of anything, and we do not relocate anything. One truck each, one afternoon each, and the new place starts empty of junk. Book online and we take $20 off the junk half.

Labor. A hauling service brings a truck and a driver and expects the stuff at the curb or already loaded. Junk removal comes inside, carries from any floor, loads, hauls and sorts at the other end. We are the second kind: you point, we carry, the room is swept when we leave. If your pile is already on the driveway and you own a truck, hauling it yourself to Kiefer Landfill is the cheaper version.