What an apartment cleanout costs in Providence

The short answer

Apartment cleanouts are priced by how much of the truck the contents fill. In Providence, a lightly furnished studio is often around 3/8 of a truck at $338, a one-bedroom around half a truck at $431, a two-bedroom around three-quarters at $587, and a fully furnished triple-decker floor often a full truck at $732. Carry-out from any floor is included, with no stairs fee.

Truck-fill pricing

The tier is based on volume, so it is a better fit than item pricing once an apartment has more than a handful of pieces plus boxes and bags. Send photos of each room for an instant quote, and you see the tier and price before you book.

Why Providence apartments are a particular job

A large share of Providence apartments are floors of triple-deckers, mostly built between 1870 and 1920. Each floor is a full apartment, often with two or three bedrooms, a front parlor, a kitchen at the back and a rear porch. They hold more furniture than a modern one-bedroom, and everything has to come down a single staircase.

The rear stairs in these buildings are steep and turn at each porch landing. Front stairs may be wider but pass other tenants' doors. Either way, a cleanout from a third floor is a long series of carries, and that labor is the bulk of the job.

Elsewhere in the city, Downtown apartments and mill-loft conversions in Olneyville and the West End have elevators or long corridors, loading areas and building rules. Those buildings often ask for a certificate of insurance before a crew can work.

The city program and apartment cleanouts

Providence's free bulky-item pickup covers buildings of six or fewer units and takes furniture and large appliances set out the night before a scheduled collection. It is useful for a piece or two, but it is not built for a cleanout.

It does not take mattresses. It does not take TVs or other e-waste, which Rhode Island bans from the trash. It does not take the dozens of boxes and bags an apartment produces. And it does not come upstairs.

Buildings of seven or more units have no city trash service at all, so every cleanout in a larger building is a private job by default. For landlords, see landlord turnover cleanouts in Providence.

Worked examples

Studio near Johnson & Wales, Downtown. Bed, desk, a small sofa, a TV and a dozen boxes: often around 3/8 of a truck, $338.

Two-bedroom shared by Brown students, Fox Point. Two beds, two desks, a sofa, kitchen table and chairs, bags of odds and ends: often around three-quarters of a truck, $587.

Second floor of an Elmwood triple-decker after a long tenancy. Three furnished rooms, kitchen contents, a back-porch closet: often a full truck, $732.

Partial cleanout, items only. A tenant leaves behind a sofa, a queen set and a TV: $126 + $143 + $68 = $337. Here item pricing is lower than a half truck, and the quote would show that.

Doing it yourself: what it really takes

A cleanout can be done without a hauler, and it is worth costing out honestly. The pieces the city will take still have to reach the curb, so a third-floor triple-decker unit means two people, a dolly and many trips down the back stairs. Bulky pickup also runs on your trash day only, so the furniture may sit on the sidewalk overnight and the apartment is not empty until after collection.

Everything else needs a vehicle. Mattresses go to the DPW drop-off on Allens Avenue on Saturday mornings, two per visit with a Providence ID, or to the Central Landfill in Johnston. TVs and monitors need the Waste Management e-waste appointment or an RIRRC event. Boxes and bags go out with weekly trash a few at a time.

For a one-bedroom, that is often a weekend, a borrowed van and several separate errands. The flat price replaces all of it with one visit. A half-truck one-bedroom is $431, carried out from whatever floor it is on, with disposal included.

When a cleanout needs more than one truck

A large apartment with years of accumulation, or a unit plus its share of a basement and attic, can need more than one load. Each load is priced on the same tiers.

A full truck plus a quarter truck is $732 + $241 = $973. A full truck plus half a truck is $732 + $431 = $1,163.

There are no volume discounts. The truck tiers already price by space, so a bigger load costs more in proportion. If the second load is small, it is often worth checking whether a few large items can be priced individually instead.

Getting the apartment ready

• Separate what stays. Mark or move anything that is not going, especially landlord-owned appliances and furniture.
• Bag loose items. Clothes, kitchen items and papers are faster to load in bags or boxes.
• Check the building rules. Ask whether a COI is needed; JunkRabbit emails one within one hour of booking.
• Think about parking. On College Hill, Federal Hill and Fox Point, note any driveway or loading spot when you book.
• Book early in move-out weeks. Mid-May and late August are the busiest times around the colleges.

Same-day pickup is available when you book by 4 PM, and you choose a two-hour arrival window. The same pricing applies across the metro, from Pawtucket and Central Falls multi-families to Fall River and New Bedford triple-deckers on the Massachusetts side.

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