The short answer

Low headline numbers exist to get a truck to your address. They are attached to a volume so small that almost no real DC household job fits inside it, and the number you hear afterwards is the number that counts.

The honest version is boring: publish the price for every item, publish the volume ladder, and let people book without a conversation. A sofa is $126. A queen mattress is $103. A standard refrigerator is $164. Half a truck is $431. A full truck is $732. The minimum visit is $75.

Why DC is a bad city for a mystery price

In a lot of metros, the gap between a teaser number and the real one is annoying. Here it is worse, because the moment the crew is standing on your stoop, you have no leverage and no time.

DC jobs run on windows. A permit-parked block in Mount Pleasant or Capitol Hill gives a truck a limited stretch before it is in someone's way. A high-rise in Navy Yard or Rosslyn gives you a booked freight elevator with a hard end time. A property manager in Ballston gave you a walkthrough date. If the price is renegotiated at the door, you are negotiating against your own clock.

That is the structural reason to settle the number before dispatch, not at the curb.

What the headline number usually buys

Cheap lead prices typically cover one small item in an easy position -- ground floor, driveway, handed over. Which describes very little of the housing stock in this city.

  • Rowhouses across Shaw, Petworth, Bloomingdale, LeDroit Park and Hill East: eight to twelve steps up to the door, then a stair that turns at the landing.
  • English basements: below-grade units with their own exterior stair under the stoop, low headroom, and a hard turn at the bottom.
  • Walk-ups in Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights: three and four floors, no elevator.
  • High-rises in Navy Yard, NoMa, Ballston, Crystal City, Tysons and Bethesda: COI, freight elevator, loading dock, weekday-only windows.

Every one of those is where the second number arrives.

The add-ons that do not exist here

Be specific about what you are not being charged for, because these are the standard places a low quote inflates:

  • Stairs. No charge. A rowhouse stoop plus two internal flights is normal DC work.
  • Walk-ups. No charge. Fourth floor in Adams Morgan is the same as ground floor in Brookland.
  • Below grade. No charge. English basements, rowhouse cellars, Silver Spring split-level storage rooms.
  • Disposal. Included in the item price. Not added at the end.
  • Same day. No premium.
  • Insurance paperwork. The certificate a Bethesda or Rosslyn management office demands is produced at no charge.

What a real DC job costs, by shape

Four of the most common bookings in this market, priced from the published list:

  • Hill group house, one bedroom emptied -- queen set at $143 plus a metal frame at $68, so $143 + $68 = $211.
  • Georgetown student unit in May -- mini fridge at $115 and a twin mattress at $82, so $115 + $82 = $197.
  • Columbia Heights one-bedroom, everything -- half truck, $431.
  • Arlington basement gym -- treadmill at $115 and a weight set at $93, so $115 + $93 = $208.

None of those is $99, and none of them was ever going to be. The difference is whether you knew that before the truck was on your block.

How to read a quote in this metro

Three questions get you most of the way.

What is the price of my specific items? If the answer requires an on-site visit for a sofa and a mattress, that is a sales call, not an estimate.

Is the carry included from where the item actually is? Say the words English basement, or fourth-floor walk-up, or third bedroom in a rowhouse. If the price changes on hearing that, you have found the add-on early, which is the point.

Is disposal in the number? A quote that excludes the tipping cost is not a quote.

Why published pricing survives contact with DC

Flat item pricing works here because the variables that would normally justify an on-site estimate are variables we already assume. Narrow doors are assumed. Turning stairs are assumed. Alley access behind a Brookland rowhouse being blocked by a neighbor's contractor van is assumed. A 20-foot truck not fitting down a Georgetown carriage alley is assumed, so the crew carries to the street.

The one thing worth telling us in advance is the block. Rush restrictions on Connecticut Avenue, 16th Street and Wisconsin, plus permit parking almost everywhere residential, mean the arrival window is the thing we plan around -- not the price.

The bottom line

The $75 minimum is a real number and it is the floor, not a bait. Above it, every item has a published price and every volume has a published price. You will know your total before a truck is assigned, and it will be the same total when the crew leaves.

That is the whole pitch. There is no headline number underneath it doing something else.

Frequently asked questions

Is $99 junk removal real in DC?

Not as a price for a normal household job. Our published minimum is $75 for a visit, and real jobs price from the item list -- $126 for a sofa, $103 for a queen mattress, $431 for half a truck.

Will the price change when the crew sees the job?

No. The items you book are the items priced. If you add something at the door it is added at its published price, and you see that before it goes on the truck.

Do you charge extra for a fourth-floor walk-up in Adams Morgan?

No. There is no stair or walk-up charge anywhere in the metro. The carry is part of the job.

What is the cheapest possible DC job?

$75. That is the visit minimum, and it applies when your items total less than it -- a $36 lamp and a $33 vacuum, for example.

How do I get an accurate number without an on-site visit?

List the items, or send photos. You get a total before dispatch. For pile-shaped jobs the volume ladder does the work: $241 for a quarter truck, $431 for a half, $732 for a full.