How to read these
Each job below lists the items, the per-item total, and the truck tier that job's volume actually needs — then compares them.
Two honesty notes. The job shapes are representative composites of what Boston books, not transcripts of anyone's invoice; we're not publishing a customer's job. The arithmetic is exact — every item price comes from the published Boston list and every total was recomputed rather than estimated.
And the truck tier is assigned by volume, not by whichever number happens to be lowest. A washer, dryer and a large pile do not fit in a quarter truck no matter how appealing the arithmetic would look. Full Boston price list.
Job 1: A September 1 room in Allston
The single most common job in the Boston calendar — one bedroom of a shared apartment, emptied against a lease deadline.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Mattress and box spring, as a set | $192 |
| Bed frame | $92 |
| Desk | $112 |
| Office chair | $82 |
| Bagged clothes and soft goods | $47 |
| Per-item total | $525 |
| Quarter truck instead | $325 |
Saved by the truck rate: $200. Note the mattress set — booked as two items it would have been $263 instead of $192, so the set alone saves $71 before the truck comparison even starts. The September 1 context · student cleanouts.
Job 2: A Cambridge grad student's one-bed
End of a programme, everything going, nothing worth shipping.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Futon | $150 |
| Coffee table | $90 |
| Bookshelf | $97 |
| Medium TV | $91 |
| Small loose pile | $110 |
| Per-item total | $521 |
| Quarter truck instead | $325 |
Saved: $196. The honest note on this one: the bookshelf and coffee table would very likely move on a gift network within a week, which would have cut the job further. Free collectors · Cambridge.
Job 3: A Back Bay walk-up living room
Replacing furniture in a period building with a staircase built before sofas were.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Sofa | $170 |
| Armchair | $104 |
| Coffee table | $90 |
| Large TV | $98 |
| Per-item total | $456 |
| Three-eighths truck instead | $455 |
Saved: $1 — effectively break-even, and the clearest illustration of the crossover: at four mid-sized items the two pricing models converge, so either choice costs the same. The bigger point is what isn't on this invoice: the staircase. A sofa down three flights of a Back Bay walk-up is the hardest part of the job and it costs nothing. Back Bay · couch removal.
Job 4: A Dorchester family basement
Twenty years of a three-decker basement, finally dealt with.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Washer | $179 |
| Dryer | $172 |
| Metal shelving | $95 |
| Large loose pile | $280 |
| Box of books | $60 |
| Per-item total | $773 |
| Half truck instead | $580 |
Saved: $193. Basements are where per-item pricing performs worst, because the loose accumulation is most of the volume and none of the itemisable pieces. Dorchester · appliance removal.
Job 5: A Somerville condo downsize
Moving to something smaller, and the formal furniture isn't coming.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Sofa | $170 |
| China cabinet | $215 |
| Small dining table | $138 |
| Dresser | $169 |
| Per-item total | $692 |
| Half truck instead | $580 |
Saved: $112. The genuinely better version of this job: the china cabinet, dining table and dresser are exactly what furniture banks want, and routing those to reuse would leave only the sofa — which has no free route. Somerville · furniture removal.
Job 6: A landlord turnover, one-bed left furnished
Tenant took what fit in the car. The rest is the landlord's problem and the clock is running.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Mattress and box spring, as a set | $192 |
| Bed frame | $92 |
| Dresser | $169 |
| Loveseat | $160 |
| Microwave | $40 |
| Per-item total | $621 |
| Half truck instead | $580 |
Saved: $41. For turnovers the invoice is part of the deliverable — itemised, with a unit reference, for the deposit file. Ask at booking. Turnover cleanouts.
Job 7: A West Roxbury estate, first pass
A house being cleared after a death. This is the first of what is usually several visits.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Upright piano | $490 |
| China cabinet | $215 |
| Large filing cabinet | $101 |
| Rolled carpet | $92 |
| Medium loose pile | $174 |
| Per-item total | $972 |
| Three-quarter truck instead | $790 |
Saved: $182. The piano is why this needs a three-quarter truck rather than something smaller — it's the volume, not the price, that sets the tier. Estate work also involves setting aside documents and valuables rather than loading them, which is included. Estate cleanouts · West Roxbury.
The rule all seven demonstrate
Every one of these jobs was cheaper on the truck rate — by $41 at the narrowest and $252 at the widest.
That isn't a discount and it isn't luck. Per-item pricing is built for short lists; truck pricing is built for volume — and almost every real job is volume. Per-item wins when you have one or two specific things: a single sofa, a mattress, an appliance. The moment a job becomes "this room," the unit changes.
The practical instruction: always ask for both numbers. We compute both and charge the lower automatically, but if you're comparing companies, a quote given in only one unit may not be the cheaper one.
What isn't on any of these invoices
Worth listing, because in Boston these are the costs people expect and don't get.
Stairs. Every one of these jobs except the basement involved carrying things down. None of them was charged for it.
Distance to the truck. Narrow streets and no parking outside the door are a Boston constant and not a line item.
Time. A job running long is absorbed. There's no hourly meter to watch.
Disposal fees. Inside the number, including the mattress recycling route required under the Massachusetts restriction. How that works.
Cheat sheet: find the job closest to yours
One room, one person moving out
$325 quarter truck. The Allston and Cambridge shapes.
A living room's furniture
$455 three-eighths. Four bulky pieces sits right at the crossover.
A basement or a furnished one-bed
$580 half truck. The Dorchester, Somerville and turnover shapes.
An estate first pass
$790 three-quarter, and expect more than one visit.
A whole apartment at once
$985 full truck, with additional trucks at the same flat rate rather than escalating.
One sofa, nothing else
$170 per item — this is where per-item genuinely wins.
A mattress and box spring
$192 as a set, never $263 as two items.
Two or three small things
$75 minimum — and honestly, consider a gift network or municipal collection instead.
Good furniture in any of the above
Split the job. Reuse routes for the pieces a furniture bank wants, a truck for the remainder. Cheaper and better.
The golden rule
Price the job by its shape, not by its list. Seven jobs, seven different rooms, and the truck rate won every time — because once a job is "a room" rather than "a sofa," per-item pricing is measuring the wrong thing. Ask both ways, book the mattress as a set, and pull the genuinely good furniture out to a reuse route before you book anything at all. That sequence is what actually produces the lowest number.
Same prices everywhere we serve
Frequently asked questions
What does junk removal actually cost in Boston?
For the seven representative jobs on this page, between $325 and $790. A single room clears at $325, a living room at $455, a basement or a furnished one-bedroom at $580, and an estate first pass at $790. A $75 minimum applies to smaller jobs. Those are truck-tier prices, and in all seven cases the truck tier came out cheaper than pricing the same items individually.
Why is the truck rate cheaper than paying per item?
Because per-item pricing is designed for short lists and truck pricing is designed for volume, and most real jobs are volume. A Sept 1 Allston room itemises to $580 but fits a quarter truck at $325. A Dorchester basement itemises to $773 and fits a half truck at $580. The saving isn't a discount — it's what happens when you price a job by the unit that matches its shape. We calculate both automatically and charge the lower one.
Does it cost more in Back Bay or Beacon Hill than in Dorchester?
No. Prices are published and flat across Greater Boston, and access doesn't change them — a third-floor walk-up with a turning staircase is priced the same as a ground-floor unit with a loading door. That matters here more than in most cities, because Boston's housing stock means access is genuinely harder on a large share of jobs.
Are these real prices or estimates?
Every line on this page comes from our published Boston price list, and every total was recomputed rather than estimated. The job shapes are representative composites of what the city actually books rather than transcripts of specific customers' invoices — we're not publishing anyone's job. What's exact is the arithmetic: each item price and each total is verifiable against the price list.
What would make my job cost more than these?
Volume, essentially — more than the truck tier shown. Multiple trucks price at the same flat rate each rather than escalating, so a three-truck estate is three times a truck rather than a penalty. What doesn't add cost: stairs, long carries, narrow streets, awkward items, or the crew taking longer than expected. Those are absorbed rather than billed.
Could any of these jobs have been done for free?
Parts of several. The Somerville downsize contained a china cabinet and dining table that a furniture bank would likely have taken, and the Cambridge one-bed's bookshelf and coffee table would move quickly on a gift network. What has no free route in any of them is the mattress, the appliances and the general remainder. Splitting a job — reuse routes for the good pieces, a truck for the rest — is genuinely cheaper and we'd rather you did it.