Bed frame disposal in Boston: prices, stairs and disassembly

The short answer

Bed frames price by what they are made of, because that is what decides how much of a job they are.

The visit minimum is $75, so every frame on that list clears it on its own.

Why a bed frame is worse than a mattress

A mattress is heavy and awkward but it bends. A bed frame does neither. A solid queen frame comes out of the room as a headboard, a footboard, two side rails and a slat pack, and if it was assembled in the room ten years ago by someone who then lost the Allen wrench, it comes out however it can.

In a Boston triple-decker that matters more than it would elsewhere. Back stairs are narrow and enclosed and turn at every landing. A six-foot side rail does not go round a landing turn while it is still attached to anything. So the frame gets broken down where it stands, on the third floor, and carried out in pieces. That labor is inside the price. There is no disassembly fee.

Same story in a South End or Back Bay brownstone: stoop at the bottom, four flights above it, no elevator, and a staircase that was not designed with an upholstered king headboard in mind.

Flat-pack, solid wood, and why they are priced differently

Most of the frames in Boston's student-heavy neighborhoods are flat-pack. They came in a box, they were assembled with a hex key, and after two or three moves the particleboard around the cam locks has given up. Those go as the standard frame at $92.

Solid hardwood is a different object. A real oak or maple bed has weight in it, the joints are pinned rather than clipped, and it does not fold down as small. Upholstered and storage frames are in the same bracket — a storage bed has a whole plywood box under it and an upholstered one has a padded panel that is two people wide. That is the $169 tier for twin through queen and $205 for a king.

Nothing here requires you to guess correctly. Pick the closest description when you book and the price is the price.

Bunk beds, lofts and the student-apartment problem

Allston, Brighton, Mission Hill and the blocks around Tufts are full of bunks and loft beds, because that is how you get four people into a three-bedroom. They are also the single most annoying thing to get out of a triple-decker.

A metal bunk is $165. A solid wood bunk or a loft bed is $199. The reason for the gap is the same as everywhere else: a wooden loft frame is a genuinely large amount of lumber, usually bolted, usually assembled in the room, and usually pushed into a corner with a desk built under it.

If a whole student apartment is emptying at once, check the truck-fill price as well. Two bunks and two mattresses booked as items is $165 + $165 + $111 + $111 = $552. With the rest of the apartment's leftovers going too, a half truck at $580 or a five-eighths truck at $690 may cover the lot for less than pricing every piece. The booking screen shows both numbers side by side.

Waterbeds and Murphy beds

A waterbed is $225 and it has one rule: drain it first, completely, the day before. A full waterbed bladder is hundreds of gallons and nobody is carrying that down a wooden back porch staircase in Somerville. Drain it, let it sit overnight, and it becomes a manageable object.

A Murphy bed is $175, and the thing to know is that the mechanism is spring-loaded and the cabinet is usually bolted into the wall studs. That is fine — it comes out — but do not start unbolting it yourself the night before. A wall bed under tension is one of the few pieces of household furniture that can genuinely hurt someone. Leave it assembled and let the crew take it down.

Doing the whole bedroom in one visit

Most people are not removing a frame on its own. They are replacing a bed, which means the mattress, the box spring, the frame and usually a nightstand all go at once.

A common Boston booking: queen mattress and box spring as the set at $192, plus a solid queen frame at $169, plus a nightstand at $77. That is $192 + $169 + $77 = $438.

A simpler one: twin mattress at $111 and a metal frame at $92, which is $111 + $92 = $203.

If the bedroom is emptying entirely — dresser, bookcase, the lot — compare the item total against the truck ladder. A quarter truck is $325, three-eighths is $455, a half is $580.

September 1, and measuring before you book

Boston moves on one day. The week around September 1 is when every frame in Allston, Brighton and Fenway comes apart at once, and it is the week the calendar is tightest. Book before the last week of August. The May graduation move-out is the second peak.

Whatever the season, the one useful thing you can do in advance is measure the narrowest point on the route out. It is almost never the stairs themselves — it is a landing turn, a doorway at the bottom of the back stairs, or the gap between the stoop railing and a parked car. Knowing that number in advance decides whether the frame comes out whole or comes out in pieces, and saves the crew ten minutes of finding out the hard way.

What it does not cost

• No stair charge. Third floor of a triple-decker is the same price as the sidewalk.
• No disassembly fee. Taking the frame apart is the job.
• No disposal add-on. It is inside the quoted price.
• No same-day surcharge. The slot costs what the items cost.

You see the total before you book, and that is the total.

Frequently asked questions