What a Garage Cleanout Costs in Los Angeles

Volume pricing, which is what garages want

Garages are almost never worth itemizing. There are too many small things and the small things are what fill the truck. Use the published volume ladder instead.

A quarter truck is $241, three-eighths is $338, a half is $431, five-eighths is $513, three-quarters is $587, seven-eighths is $661, and a full truck is $732. For smaller clears there are pile prices: a small junk pile is $82, a medium is $129, a large is $208. The visit minimum is $75.

What each LA garage type usually runs

A detached single garage behind a 1920s bungalow in Highland Park, Eagle Rock or Pasadena is typically a half truck at $431 to three-quarters at $587. These are small buildings but they are packed to the rafters, often literally — there is usually a plank loft under the roof that everyone forgot about.

An attached two-car garage on a Valley ranch in Reseda, Van Nuys or Woodland Hills is the big one: three-quarters at $587 to a full truck at $732, and sometimes more than one load. Twenty years in the same house and a two-car footprint is a lot of cubic feet.

A tuck-under dingbat garage stall in Palms or East Hollywood is smaller — commonly a large junk pile at $208 or a quarter truck at $241 — but it is also the one with the hardest access, because the truck cannot get under the clearance bar and everything walks out to the street.

The heat problem

This is the LA-specific part and it changes what is worth saving. A closed garage in Canoga Park or Northridge runs punishingly hot through the summer, every summer, for as long as your things have been in there.

What that does: upholstery foam dries out and crumbles when you lift it. Particleboard bookcases and flat-pack wardrobes delaminate at the edges and the glue in the joints gives up. Cardboard goes brittle and tape releases, so boxes fail when moved. Old paint separates. Aerosol and pressurized cans are a genuine hazard in that environment and should never be stored there.

On the coast — Venice, Playa del Rey, Mar Vista, El Segundo — the marine layer substitutes rust for heat. Metal shelving corrodes at the welds, tools pit, and bikes seize. Either way, plan on more of the garage being removal and less of it being donation than you assumed.

Clearing a garage to build an ADU

Garage conversions are one of the most common reasons anyone in Los Angeles books this job now. The sequence matters: the garage has to be completely empty before a contractor starts, and empty means the loft, the rafters, the shelving on the walls and whatever is behind the water heater.

Two things to plan for. First, the wall-mounted storage and the shelving are part of the job — metal shelving is $71 and a storage cabinet is $74. Second, if there was a water heater in there, a tank water heater is $131 and a tankless is $90. Get all of it out in one visit rather than discovering the leftovers after the framer arrives.

The items that show up in every LA garage

Fitness equipment, first. A treadmill is $115, a non-folding or commercial treadmill is $175, an elliptical is $97, an exercise bike is $72, a smart bike is $80, a weight bench is $69, a weight set is $93, a squat rack is $123 and a full home gym or multi-station is $241.

Then the outdoor layer: a lawn mower is $65, a propane grill is $71, a charcoal grill is $59, a fire pit is $56, a patio table is $89, a patio chair is $30, a patio umbrella with base is $53, a wheelbarrow is $37 and a yard or hand tool is $33. A kayak, canoe or paddleboard is $71 — this is a coastal city and there is one in half the garages on the Westside.

And the storage layer: a box of books is $45, a moving box is $31, a bag of clothes is $35, a suitcase is $30, metal shelving is $71, a rolling tool chest or workbench is $100.

Paint, propane and the things that need flagging

Nearly every LA garage has a shelf of leftover paint from a repaint. A one-gallon can is $30 and a five-gallon bucket is $52. A 20-pound propane tank from the grill is $33. A single tire is $22 and a set of four is $87 — and there is a set of four in more Valley garages than you would guess.

Tell us about these when you book. They get handled differently, and a crew that knows in advance loads them correctly instead of sorting it out in your driveway.

Access and parking

A detached bungalow garage usually opens onto an alley, which is ideal — the truck backs to the door and the carry is ten feet. A Valley attached garage opens onto a driveway, also ideal. A tuck-under dingbat stall is the hard case: low clearance, a shared driveway, and a walk to the street.

Hillside houses in Silver Lake and Mount Washington are the hardest, because the garage is often at street level and the house is not, or the reverse. Neither changes the price. Both change how long it takes, and both are worth mentioning at booking so the window is sized right.

A realistic plan

Pull everything you want to keep out first and put it on the driveway or in the house. Whatever is left in the garage is the load, which makes the volume easy to photograph and easy to quote before anyone arrives.

Then book a morning. Garage jobs run longer than people expect, LA traffic makes afternoon windows fragile, and an early start means the garage is empty the same day rather than mostly empty.

Frequently asked questions