How to pick a junk hauler in St. Louis

The short answer

Pick a hauler that gives you a firm price before booking, is insured and can send a certificate of insurance, carries from anywhere in the home without extra fees, includes disposal, and routes appliances and tires the way Missouri law requires. Anyone who cannot answer those questions clearly is a risk, however cheap they sound.

1. A real price before they come

Ask for the price of your exact job: describe it or send photos. Watch for answers like "it depends" or "from $X" with no follow-up. There are two honest pricing models in St. Louis: volume-based (by fraction of a truck) and item-based. Either is fine if you get a clear number.

Our model: flat published prices per item, and truck-fill tiers for piles. A sofa is $126, a queen mattress $103, a quarter truck $241. The price is shown before booking and only changes if you approve.

2. Insurance you can verify

Carrying a solid oak dresser down the narrow stairs of a South City flat is how banisters, plaster and door frames get damaged. An uninsured hauler leaves you holding that bill. Ask whether they are insured, and ask for a certificate of insurance.

Many St. Louis buildings require one anyway: CWE high-rises like Park East Tower, Clayton condo towers, Downtown lofts on Washington Avenue. We use vetted, insured local haulers on every job and email a COI to your building within one hour.

3. No surprise access charges

St. Louis housing makes access a real factor: deep basements, two- and three-story brick flats, alley loading, West County garages with long driveways. Ask directly:

• Is there a stairs fee or a walk-up fee?
• Is carrying from the basement extra?
• Is there a charge for alley vs street loading?
• Is there a same-day or evening surcharge?

Our answers are no, no, no and no. Carry-out from any floor is included.

4. Where your stuff goes

Missouri bans major appliances, waste oil and lead-acid batteries from landfills (RSMo 260.250) and requires scrap tires to be cut, chipped or shredded before landfilling (RSMo 260.270). Yard waste is banned from landfills too. On the Illinois side, covered electronics like TVs and computers cannot go in the trash.

Ask where appliances, tires and electronics go. If your load ends up dumped on a vacant lot, that is illegal dumping under RSMo 577.070 — and it started at your house. In a City with a lot of vacant property, especially in North City, that is not a hypothetical. We recycle whatever we can and try to donate usable items when local charities accept them.

5. Do they know City vs County rules?

A hauler who works here regularly should know the difference between the City and the County without looking it up. The City's bulky pickup is monthly, up to three items, nothing over 100 lbs or 6 ft, set out in the alley or at the curb by 6:00 am on the Monday of your collection week. St. Louis County is a patchwork of municipalities and unincorporated trash districts, each with its own rules, and the Metro East towns set their own too.

Why it matters: a hauler who suggests leaving overflow in your alley for the City to collect, or piling extra items at a County curb, is setting you up for a skipped pickup or a notice. The right answer is that the hauler takes everything on the truck, and nothing is left behind at your property.

6. Scheduling and service area

A hauler that gives you a four-hour window on weekdays only is hard to work with. Ask about arrival windows, evenings and weekends, and same-day. We are open seven days, 8am to midnight; you pick a two-hour arrival window, and same-day pickup works when you book by 4 PM.

The St. Louis metro spans two states and dozens of municipalities, so confirm the hauler serves your address. We cover the City of St. Louis, all of St. Louis County — Clayton, Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Florissant, Chesterfield, Oakville and the rest — and the Illinois Metro East, including Belleville, O'Fallon, Edwardsville, Granite City and Alton. Same flat prices on both sides of the river.

7. Questions for the hard jobs

Some St. Louis jobs need a more specific answer than "yes, we take that."

• Pianos. Ask for the price in writing and whether the crew handles the stair. Our upright piano price is $364.
• Hot tubs. Ask whether cutting it apart is included and what you need to do first (power off by an electrician, water drained). Ours is $390 for a standard tub.
• Storm debris. After spring storms like the May 2025 tornado, ask whether branches, roofing and damaged contents are priced separately. Yard waste is $88 on our list; roofing shingles are $48 per bundle.
• Building jobs. Ask how fast they can send a COI. Ours goes out within one hour.

Compare two quotes the right way

Put the quotes side by side for the same job, and check each line:

• Is the number for your exact items or a starting point?
• Does it include carry-out from the basement or the third floor?
• Does it include disposal, including appliances and tires?
• Is the arrival window two hours or half a day?
• What happens if you add an item on the day?

An example with our list: a Tower Grove South flat with a sofa, a dresser and a washer in the basement is $126 + $126 + $133 = $385, carried out, hauled and disposed of, with the washer going to recycling. Whatever quote you compare it with, check that it covers every one of those lines.

Red flags

• Cash only, no written price.
• No insurance, or "we've never needed it."
• A price that drops sharply when you push back, then reappears on site.
• Vague about where the load goes.
• No name, no website, no way to reach them after the job.

Compare any quote line by line with ours at the instant quote page, and read more about us on the about page.

Frequently asked questions