Everything people ask before booking across DC, Maryland and Virginia — what it actually costs, the tax difference across the state line, what the city will and won't take, scheduling, high-rise COI, stairs and donations. Real numbers, not ranges.
Send a photo and we'll answer with a flat price
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →We price flat from a photo or a quick walkthrough, and the number is committed before anyone drives out. The order minimum is $75. Single items have set prices — sofa $170, queen mattress $139, refrigerator $221, medium TV $91, treadmill $155 — and several pieces combine into one flat number rather than a stack of separate charges.
Bigger jobs price by truck-fill, across seven tiers rather than a vague "half load":
| Truck fill | Flat price |
|---|---|
| 2/8 of the truck | $325 |
| 3/8 | $455 |
| 4/8 (half truck) | $580 |
| 5/8 | $690 |
| 6/8 | $790 |
| 7/8 | $890 |
| Full truck (8/8) | $985 |
Labor, the stair carry and disposal are always included. A few pieces almost always price cheaper per item; past roughly a room's worth, the truck-fill ladder wins. We quote both and tell you which side of the line you're on — the full item-by-item list lives in the DMV cost guide.
It depends which side of the border you're on — this is the DC area's quirk. In the District of Columbia the service carries a 6.5% sales tax, so a $170 sofa lands around $181. In Maryland and Virginia the junk-removal service isn't taxed, so there's no sales-tax line at all. We show it (or its absence) on every quote instead of quietly padding the number — which means the identical job totals differently in Columbia Heights, Silver Spring and Arlington. Full detail in the cost guide.
Often yes, and with no same-day surcharge — send a photo and if we have a truck near you we can usually schedule same-day or next-day across DC, Montgomery and Prince George's, Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax. The one real exception is a high-rise: where the building requires its certificate of insurance on 48–72 hours notice, that clock belongs to the building rather than to us, so send the management contact as early as you can. More on that on the same-day page. Our coverage: General Liability $1M per occurrence · $2M aggregate; Umbrella/Excess $2M · $5M; Workers’ Compensation $1M each accident. Your building is added as additional insured, coverage is primary and non-contributory, and a waiver of subrogation applies.
Yes — and in the District it's more than a convenience. We file the certificate of insurance (COI) 48–72 hours ahead, naming your building's management company or association as additional insured, and reserve the freight elevator or loading dock before we arrive. That's standard for towers in Navy Yard, NoMa, West End, The Wharf, Rosslyn, Ballston, Tysons and downtown Silver Spring. There is no high-rise surcharge: the elevator carry and the long walk out to the dock are already inside the flat price. Our coverage: General Liability $1M per occurrence · $2M aggregate; Umbrella/Excess $2M · $5M; Workers’ Compensation $1M each accident. Your building is added as additional insured, coverage is primary and non-contributory, and a waiver of subrogation applies.
The structural bit worth knowing: DC DPW bulk trash serves single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer only. Condos, co-ops and buildings of four or more units are excluded outright, and District rules require those residents to have bulk items removed by a private, licensed hauler. If you live in one, hiring us isn't the convenient option — it's the required one, and the COI is exactly the paperwork your building is entitled to insist on.
Yes — narrow rowhouse stairs, fourth-floor walk-ups in Dupont, Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, English basements on Capitol Hill and in Petworth, and rear-alley carries in Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria are all routine. We pad the turns, protect the walls and treads, take a door off its hinges where that's the difference between fitting and not, and split sectionals at the seams — 2-piece $190, 3-piece $249, 4-piece $307, 5-piece $365, whichever floor it starts on. The stair-carry is included on any floor. There is no stair fee.
Donation is the first route we try, not a marketing line. Clean, undamaged furniture and household goods go to Goodwill of Greater Washington, the Salvation Army, a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, or A Wider Circle in Silver Spring, which furnishes homes for families leaving homelessness and issues a donation receipt on request.
Electronics go to the DC, Montgomery, Prince George's, Arlington and Fairfax e-waste drop-offs. Metal goes to scrap. Anything holding refrigerant — a refrigerator, a chest freezer, a window or portable AC — gets EPA-certified refrigerant recovery before disposal, which is a legal requirement rather than an upsell. What's genuinely waste tips at the Fairfax I-66 Transfer Station or the I-95 complex, or Montgomery County's Shady Grove facility. You don't need to sort anything first.
From some addresses, at the curb, on a date the city picks. DC DPW Bulk Trash Collection is requested through 311 or at dpw.dc.gov and serves single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer, up to 7 items per appointment, with no renovation or construction debris. Condos, co-ops and buildings of four or more units are excluded and must use a private, licensed hauler.
Two catches even when you do qualify: a 3-piece sectional counts as three of your seven items, and the program is curbside — DPW stops at the street, so getting the couch down from the third floor is still yours to solve. That carry is the job we actually do; see couch removal for the full seating ladder.
Each jurisdiction runs its own thing. Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County all operate their own scheduled or on-call bulk collection programs, each with its own item caps and exclusions — check your county or city directly rather than assuming the rules from your last address moved with you. What they have in common: all curbside, all scheduled rather than same-day, and none of them come inside for the carry. Our price and service are identical on all three sides of the border; only the tax line changes.
Mostly in when you learn the price. Franchise haulers price by how much of the truck you fill and confirm the number only after an on-site estimate: HomeGuide's 2026 pricing research puts 1-800-GOT-JUNK at roughly a $100–$150 minimum rising to $700–$1,000 for a full truck, and College HUNKS Hauling Junk starting around $150. We publish per-item prices and quote them from a photograph before anyone is dispatched — sofa $170, refrigerator $221, full truck $985 — with the carry-out included rather than treated as an add-on. No estimate visit, no hourly meter, no re-quote at the door.
Yes to both. We work in Spanish across Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Adams Morgan and Langley Park, and in Amharic around Shaw and U Street and in downtown Silver Spring — the heart of the largest Ethiopian community in the United States, and a language no franchise hauler in this metro markets at all. Say which you'd prefer when you send the photo and we'll book the crew accordingly.