Chevy Chase, Maryland — 20815. Older estate houses on close-set lots, full basements, finished attics, and families who have been on the same street for generations. Whole-house clears done quietly, by unmarked crews, at a flat photo-quoted price from $75, donation-routed with documentation — and no sales tax on the service in Maryland.
Send photos or book a walkthrough — one flat price back
Upload Photos & Get Quote →People outside Montgomery County file Chevy Chase next to Bethesda and Potomac and assume the work is the same. It isn't. Bethesda has a downtown — condo towers, management companies, freight elevators, COIs. Potomac has acreage, long driveways and outbuildings. Chevy Chase MD (20815) has neither. What it has is older estate housing stock packed onto smaller, close-set lots, with no high-rise core to speak of and no room to stage anything outdoors. The houses were built tall rather than wide, which is why the storage in this neighbourhood went vertical: a full basement underneath and a finished or half-finished attic above, and a family that has occupied both since long before anyone thought to sort them.
The second thing that shapes the work here is social, not structural. This is old-money, long-established Chevy Chase — households that have held the same address for two, three, sometimes four generations, on streets where everyone genuinely knows everyone. That changes what a good job looks like. A truck parked out front for three days with a company name on the side, furniture stacked on the verge, crews calling to each other across the yard: on this street, that is a public announcement about a private family matter. So the default here is a lead crew, unmarked vehicles, and a quiet in-and-out, with nothing left at the curb between visits.
And the practical part: Maryland does not tax junk removal as a service. There is no sales-tax line on your bill and no percentage added at the end — the flat quote is the total. On a single sofa that is a footnote. On a four-truck house clear it is not. The identical job a mile and a half south, across Western Avenue in the District, is taxed. (Of the three DMV jurisdictions, only DC taxes this service.)
Not the pieces — the rooms, the basement, the attic. A flat price comes back in seconds. No estimator walking a family's house before anyone has decided anything.
Tell us what's donated, what's disposed, and what nobody has decided on yet. We can work over several days if the family needs the time, and hold back anything unresolved.
Unmarked vehicles, insured crew, basement to attic, sorted as we go. Usable goods routed to donation with documentation back to you. No tax line at the end.
Flat and photo-quoted. One piece prices per item; a room, a basement, an attic or a whole house prices as truck-fill, because that is the honest unit for this kind of work. Carrying it up from the cellar and down from the attic, the sorting, the donation routing and the disposal are all inside the number, and there is no Maryland sales tax on the service.
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Box of books | $47 |
| Area rug (large) | $92 |
| Sideboard | $165 |
| Sofa / couch | $170 |
| Chest freezer | $196 |
| Dresser (large) | $199 |
| Riding mower | $205 |
| China cabinet | $215 |
| Dining table (large) | $220 |
| Refrigerator (large) | $246 |
| Sectional — 3-piece | $249 |
| Safe (large) | $273 |
| Upright piano | $390 |
| Grand piano | $590 |
Whole-house, basement and attic clears — the truck-fill ladder
| 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 |
Storage units — priced whole
| Unit size | Flat price |
|---|---|
| 10x10 | $790 |
| 10x20 | $1,580 |
$75 order minimum. A Chevy Chase house clear is normally several truckloads across more than one day, quoted up front as such — you see the whole figure before we start, not a first truck followed by a conversation. Photograph the space, not the contents: a full room priced as truck-fill lands well below the same contents added up piece by piece. No Maryland sales tax on the service.
For an outside reference: on HomeGuide's 2026 figures, a franchise half truck runs about $400–$600 nationally and a full one about $700–$1,000 — volume-based numbers that generally land only once an estimator has walked the property — which on a multi-truck estate is uncertainty stacked on uncertainty. And disposal genuinely costs money in this county: Montgomery County's Shady Grove Processing Facility & Transfer Station in Derwood charges collectors per ton at the scale. Every hauler working 20815 pays it. Ours is already inside the flat number.
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery County bulk collection | Free / county program | Scheduled or on-call | Item caps and exclusions apply (confirm with MoCo DEP). Counts items you've already carried to the curb — and everything waits out front, in full view of the street, until the truck comes |
| Donate it yourself | Free | Days–weeks | Partners take only what's clean and resellable, pickup slots book out, and the attic and basement are still full afterward |
| Estate sale, then clear the rest | Commission | Weeks | Moves the valuable fraction and brings strangers through the house; the remainder — most of it — is still there on Monday |
| Franchise hauler | ≈$400–$600 half truck, $700–$1,000 full (HomeGuide 2026) | 1–3 days | Volume-priced, branded trucks on your street, and the figure usually lands only after an on-site estimate |
| JunkRabbit | From $75 · truck-fill $325–$985 · no MD tax | Same day / same week | None — flat photo price for the whole clear, unmarked crews, basement and attic included, donation-routed with documentation |
It does — the county runs its own scheduled and on-call bulk collection, and if you have a handful of items and no deadline, that is a perfectly sensible way to handle it. We would rather say so than pretend the free option isn't there. What we won't do is quote you a cap we can't stand behind: like every county program in this region it carries item caps and exclusions, and those change. Confirm the current limits and accepted materials with the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection before you plan a house around them.
Where it stops being useful is the point most Chevy Chase callers have already reached, and it comes down to a mismatch of units. A county bulk appointment is denominated in items. An estate clear is denominated in truckloads. Those are not two sizes of the same thing. A generational house in 20815 — full basement, finished attic, four bedrooms of furniture, a dining room of formal pieces, a garage, and the paper archive of a long life — is not a list you can write down at the curb. And there is a second problem that is specific to this neighbourhood: the program requires everything to be carried out by you and left at the front of the property. On lots this close together, on streets where the families have known one another for decades, staging a parent's household on the verge over a run of consecutive weeks is a very public way to conduct a very private matter. That alone is why most of these calls come to us.
The third thing worth knowing is where it all ends up, because it explains the price. Material collected in this county tips at the Shady Grove Processing Facility & Transfer Station in Derwood, which charges collectors by the ton. That is a genuine cost sitting behind every quote in Montgomery County, ours included — the difference is that ours is inside the flat number you were given rather than a line that appears when the truck is already loaded. It is also exactly why we sort at your house instead of at the scale: every piece that goes to a donation partner is a piece nobody pays to bury.
A house that a family has held for generations is not full of rubbish. It is full of things that were bought well and looked after — a dining suite, a bedroom set, lamps, linens, kitchenware, books by the metre, a sofa that has outlasted three sofas bought since. Sending that to a transfer station is a waste, and for a family clearing a parent's home it is a small additional grief. So we photograph it and route what a partner will actually take.
A Wider Circle in Silver Spring is the first call, and the reason is specific: they furnish homes for families leaving homelessness — a bed, a table, chairs, a dresser, the objects that turn an empty apartment into a place someone can live — and they issue donation documentation. There is a real difference between being told a house was emptied and being told where your mother's dining table went, with paperwork. Beyond them we route to Habitat for Humanity ReStore (furniture, fixtures, appliances, building materials), Goodwill of Greater Washington and the Salvation Army.
The remainder is handled properly rather than tipped wholesale. Metal goes to scrap. Televisions, monitors and computers go to Montgomery County's e-waste recycling. Refrigerators, freezers and window air conditioners get EPA-certified refrigerant recovery first. Paint and household chemicals are separated for the county's household-hazardous-waste channels instead of riding in the back of a truck. Only what is genuinely finished tips at Shady Grove — and after a real sort, that load is smaller than anyone expects.
The physical constraints in 20815 are the opposite of Potomac's. There is no long driveway to stage on and no acre of lawn to work across — the lots are close-set and the houses sit near the street, so the truck goes in one place, once, and everything moves through the front or the side door. We protect what we walk past: floors, stair treads, banisters, door frames and the planting beds along the path.
Inside, the difficulty is vertical. Basement stairs in these houses are steep and usually turn at a landing, which means a safe, a chest freezer or an upright piano coming up is a planned lift with a blanketed pivot, not an improvised one. Attic stairs are narrower still, sometimes with headroom that puts a grown adult at a permanent stoop, and everything up there has to come down a run designed for a suitcase. We take doors off hinges where we have to and break large pieces down in place where the turn won't take them. There is no stair fee, no separate attic charge, and no surcharge for a basement carry.
And discretion runs through all of it, because in this neighbourhood it is a service feature rather than a nicety. Unmarked vehicles. No container left parked on the block overnight. Nothing stacked at the curb between visits. Crews that talk to each other at conversational volume and keep the street passable for the neighbours. If the family hasn't decided about something, it gets set aside — we don't make that decision on their behalf.
"Whole home including basement and attic, cleared over three days. Careful with the antiques, donation-routed. No sales tax in Maryland."
"Downsizing after decades here — kept what we marked, cleared the rest, donation-routed. Careful and discreet."
"Discreet, careful with the good furniture, realtor-ready. One fair flat price, no tax line. Highly recommend."
How much does it cost in Chevy Chase?
Flat, photo-quoted: box of books $47, large area rug $92, sideboard $165, sofa $170, chest freezer $196, large dresser $199, riding mower $205, china cabinet $215, large dining table $220, large refrigerator $246, 3-piece sectional $249, large safe $273, upright piano $390, grand piano $590. A whole house runs the truck-fill ladder — $325 at 2/8 up to $985 for a full truck, usually across several loads; storage units $790 (10x10) and $1,580 (10x20). $75 order minimum, no Maryland sales tax on the service.
Is there sales tax?
No. Maryland doesn't tax the junk-removal service, so there's no tax line on a Chevy Chase bill. The same clear a mile and a half south, over Western Avenue in DC, is taxed.
Won't the county take it for free?
For a few items, quite possibly — Montgomery County runs scheduled and on-call bulk collection with item caps and exclusions; confirm the current rules with MoCo DEP. But that program counts items you've already carried to the curb, and a generational house clear is measured in truckloads, staged nowhere near the street.
Will the neighbours know?
Not from us. Unmarked vehicles, quiet crews, no container parked on the block, nothing left at the curb between visits.
Do you do the attic as well as the basement?
Both, in the same flat price, carried by us up the cellar stairs and down the attic stairs. No stair fee.
Can you take the piano and the safe?
Yes — upright $390, grand $590, large safe $273. Planned lifts, blanketed, broken down in place where a stairwell won't turn.
Do I get donation paperwork?
Yes. A Wider Circle in Silver Spring furnishes homes for families leaving homelessness and issues documentation; we also route to Habitat ReStore, Goodwill of Greater Washington and the Salvation Army.
How does that compare to a franchise?
HomeGuide's 2026 research puts franchises around $400–$600 for a half truck and $700–$1,000 for a full one, by volume and confirmed on site. Ours is quoted from photographs before we drive out, includes the sorting and donation routing, and carries no MD tax.
Flat and photo-quoted. Single pieces: books box $47, large area rug $92, sideboard $165, sofa $170, chest freezer $196, large dresser $199, riding mower $205, china cabinet $215, large dining table $220, large refrigerator $246, 3-piece sectional $249, large safe $273, upright piano $390, grand piano $590. A whole house is not an item list, so it prices as truck-fill: 2/8 of the truck $325, 3/8 $455, 4/8 $580, 5/8 $690, 6/8 $790, 7/8 $890, a full truck $985, and most Chevy Chase estates run several truckloads across more than one day. A storage unit is $790 for a 10x10 and $1,580 for a 10x20. The order minimum is $75 and there is no Maryland sales tax on the service.
No. Maryland does not tax junk removal as a service, so there is no sales-tax line on your Chevy Chase bill — the flat quote is the total you pay. This matters more than it sounds on a multi-truck estate clear: the same work a mile and a half south, across Western Avenue in the District, is taxed.
Yes, and in 20815 that is usually the first question we are asked. Crews arrive in unmarked vehicles, work without shouting across the yard, keep the driveway and the street clear so the block is not blocked, do not park a container out front for days, and leave no signage on the step. Nothing is stacked at the curb waiting for a truck. Whatever the household is going through, it stays inside the property line.
That is the actual job here almost every time. Chevy Chase houses are older and built tall on close-set lots, so the storage went vertical: a full basement below and a finished or half-finished attic above, neither opened properly since the 1980s. Both are included in the truck-fill price, both get carried by us — up the basement stairs, down the attic stairs — and there is no stair fee and no separate charge for the attic.
Yes. We photograph and route usable furnishings to A Wider Circle in Silver Spring, which furnishes homes for families leaving homelessness and issues donation documentation, and also to Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Goodwill of Greater Washington and the Salvation Army. On a generational house that is often the part the family cares about most — a dining set that fed people for fifty years going to a household that has nothing, with paperwork to show for it.
Yes, and these houses are full of them. Upright piano $390, grand piano $590, large safe $273, china cabinet $215, sideboard $165, large dining table $220. Heavy and awkward pieces are planned lifts — blanketed, doors off the hinges where needed, broken down in place if the stairwell will not turn — not a surcharge added on the day.
HomeGuide's 2026 cost research puts national franchise junk removal at roughly $400 to $600 for a half truck and $700 to $1,000 for a full truck, priced by volume and normally confirmed only once an estimator has walked the property. On a multi-truck estate clear that uncertainty compounds. Our number comes back from photographs before anyone drives to Chevy Chase, it covers the carry, the sorting and the disposal, and it carries no Maryland sales tax. Disposal is a real line behind it: Montgomery County's Shady Grove Processing Facility and Transfer Station in Derwood charges collectors by the ton, and that cost is already inside the flat price instead of appearing on arrival.