What an estate cleanout costs in St. Louis

The short answer

Estate cleanouts are priced by truck-fill tier: quarter truck $241, half truck $431, 3/4 truck $587, full truck $732. A small apartment or one floor may fit a half truck. A whole St. Louis house with a basement and garage is often one full truck or more. Heavy single pieces like a piano or a pool table have their own prices. Every number is shown before you book, and carry-out from any floor, the basement included, is part of it.

Why St. Louis estates run large

A lot of St. Louis-area homes have had the same owners for decades, and the housing is built to store things.

• St. Louis Hills was built mostly in the 1930s to 1950s, and many brick homes there have long-tenured owners.
• Florissant added around 18,000 houses between 1947 and 1980; many first owners are now downsizing or their families are settling estates.
• Kirkwood, platted in 1852 as the first planned suburb west of the Mississippi, and Webster Groves, the "Queen of the Suburbs," have older homes with attics, basements and garages.
• The Hill has long-held family homes; Ladue has large estate lots.

Deep basements are the common thread. A basement collects forty years of holiday decorations, canning jars, tools, paint and furniture that "might be useful."

How the house itself changes the job

The price is set by volume, but the type of house decides how the day goes, so it is worth knowing what to expect.

• City brick homes and flats in St. Louis Hills, Carondelet or The Hill usually mean narrow interior stairs, a basement with a tight turn at the top, and loading from the alley. If the house is a two-family flat, the estate may cover one unit and a shared basement, so mark what belongs to whom.
• Postwar ranches in Florissant, Affton, Mehlville and Oakville are one main floor over a full basement, often with an attached garage that is as full as the basement.
• Older suburban houses in Kirkwood and Webster Groves often add a walk-up attic and a detached garage on a narrow driveway.
• Metro East homes range from Belleville's German brick cottages to Alton's Victorian Queen Anne houses on the bluffs, which can mean three floors plus a basement.

None of that adds a fee. It does mean photos of the attic, basement and garage are as important as photos of the living room.

Estate cleanout prices by size

A two-truck house is two full loads: $732 + $732 = $1464. A full truck plus a half: $732 + $431 = $1163.

Heavy items priced separately

A basement with a chest freezer and an old upright piano, plus a half truck of boxes, is $146 + $364 + $431 = $941.

Sorting before the crew arrives

The cleanout is the last step. Before it:

1. Pull documents and valuables. Check drawers, coat pockets, books, freezer bags and the back of closets. Families find cash, jewelry and papers in odd places.
2. Let family take what they want. Tag it or move it to one room.
3. Consider an estate sale if there is enough of value. Do the sale first, then clear what is left.
4. Mark what stays. Blue tape on anything not going.

We try to donate usable items when local charities accept them and recycle whatever we can, but we never promise donation. If something must go to a specific place, take it there yourself.

Things that need special handling

• Appliances go to recycling; Missouri bans them from landfills.
• Tires must be shredded or chipped before any landfill takes them, so they go to processing. A set of four is $87.
• Paint is accepted: $30 for a 1-gallon can, $52 for a 5-gallon bucket.
• Hazardous waste — pesticides, solvents, pool chemicals — is not standard. Tell us what you have and we will say case by case.
• Medical equipment like hospital beds and lift chairs is priced from the list.
• Electronics in Illinois homes: Illinois law bars covered electronics such as TVs, computers and monitors from regular trash, so Metro East estates should keep them out of the household bin.

A worked estate: a St. Louis Hills brick home

Here is how a typical estate adds up, using the published tiers and items.

• Main floor: living room, dining room and kitchen leftovers after family has taken what they want — about a 3/4 truck, $587.
• Bedrooms upstairs: two bedroom sets and closets — about a half truck, $431.
• Basement: shelving, boxes, a workbench and an old chest freezer — a half truck plus the freezer, $431 + $146 = $577.

Total: $587 + $431 + $577 = $1595. Every piece of that is carried from the floor it sits on, with no stairs fee for the second floor or the basement. If you prefer to do it in stages — one floor while the estate sale is planned, the rest after — each stage is priced on its own.

Families who are not local, and timing

Many St. Louis estates are handled by children living elsewhere. You can book online, send photos for the quote, choose a two-hour window, and have someone local give the crew access. If the home is in a condo or senior building, we email a certificate of insurance within one hour. If you are settling more than one property, property managers and executors can set up one account covering several.

On timing: winter is a good season for estate work, since indoor jobs are not slowed by heat and calendars are more open. If the house is going on the market in spring, clearing it in January or February leaves time for repairs and photos. Start with photos at the instant quote page.

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