Minneapolis
Basement Cleanout in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city of full basements — the thing the coastal-city haulers can't market — and after a few decades under a bungalow or four-square, that basement fills up. We clear the whole thing, plus the attic and the detached garage, and carry every bit up the narrow stairs ourselves, damp spring-melt boxes and all. One flat, photo-quoted price with the ~9.025% Minnesota sales tax already inside it, no stair surcharge, donation-routed to Bridging, scheduled the same week. Truck-fill from $241.
Insured, vetted local haulers · Minneapolis & the West Metro · Truck-fill flat price · Carried up the stairs, no surcharge · Donation-routed to Bridging · MN sales tax included
The Minnesota basement — a lifetime of "store it for winter"
Ask anyone who grew up here: the basement is where things go to wait. The 1900–1930 bungalow and four-square housing stock that fills Fulton, Longfellow, Nokomis, Kingfield and Nordeast almost all sits on a full basement, and a long Minnesota winter trains a household to keep everything — the storm windows, the holiday bins, the kids' furniture, the exercise bike, the tools, the paint, the boxes that came downstairs during one remodel and never went back up. Give it thirty or forty years in the same house and the basement quietly fills to the joists. The attic under the roofline and the detached alley garage add two more decades of the same.
Clearing all of it is the single most common job we do in this city. We send a crew that empties the whole basement, the attic and the garage, carries every piece up the steep interior stairs and out to the truck, and hands you one flat number that already covers the labor, the disposal, the drive and Minnesota sales tax. No hourly meter, no "call for a quote," and no re-price when they see how full it really got.
Up the narrow stairs — the part other haulers charge for
The whole difficulty of a Minneapolis basement is the staircase: steep, narrow interior stairs, often with a turn at the bottom and a low header to duck under. That's precisely where a lot of companies start tacking on a "basement fee" or nudging the price up at the door. We don't. The crew brings it all up those stairs — the dressers, the dead chest freezer, the shelving, the hundred soft boxes — and the flat quote never moves because of the stairs.
Two seasonal Minneapolis realities we take in stride: damp, musty spring-melt boxes, because the moment the frost leaves the ground the low corner of a lot of these basements weeps a little and the cardboard goes soft — completely fine, we bag it and carry it — and winter access, a snow-packed driveway and an icy garage apron, which we work at the same flat price with no winter surcharge.
What a basement cleanout covers
- Full basement clear — the entire basement carried up the stairs: boxes, old furniture, tools, shelving, damp storage, the workbench.
- Attic clear-out — decades of bins and stored goods brought down from under the roofline.
- Detached garage — the alley garage emptied, usually on the same visit as the basement.
- Appliances & exercise gear — an old washer ($133), dryer ($128), refrigerator ($164) or chest freezer ($146) with freon recovered, a treadmill ($115) or home gym ($240) hauled up and out.
- Downsizing & pre-listing (TISH) clears — a long-held home made broom-clean before a move or the city's required Truth-in-Sale-of-Housing evaluation.
Basement cleanout pricing in Minneapolis
Priced flat as truck-fill — by how much actually comes out — photo-quoted before we roll. The basement carry-up, the disposal, the donation routing and Minnesota sales tax are all in it.
| Volume | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Truck-fill (1/4) — a corner of the basement | $241 |
| Truck-fill (3/8) | $338 |
| Truck-fill (1/2) — a packed basement | $431 |
| Truck-fill (5/8) | $513 |
| Truck-fill (3/4) — basement + garage | $587 |
| Truck-fill (7/8) | $661 |
| Full truck — big basement + attic + garage | $732 |
$75 minimum covers a small load or a single piece. Single items are flat too — a washer or dryer $128–$133, a refrigerator $164, a chest freezer $146, a treadmill $115. Carry-up, disposal, donation routing and MN sales tax are all included; the photo quote is the final number.
Why the city's bulk pickup won't clear a basement
You can lean on the City program for a piece or two, but it was never built to empty a basement. The City of Minneapolis Large Item Collection gives municipal garbage customers one free bulk pickup a year, then $30 per item, and crews take up to two large items a week if you set them at the curb by 6 a.m. on your pickup day (schedule at 612-673-2917). For a forty-year basement of soft boxes and old furniture — none of which you're carrying up those stairs and out to the alley two pieces at a time, for weeks — the math simply doesn't work. Our lane is the opposite: same-week, full-service, inside the home, carried up from the basement, as many items as it takes, one flat price with the tax already inside.
We donate first, then dispose
A basement's worth of decent furniture shouldn't go straight to the transfer station, and we don't send it there by default. Usable furniture and household goods go to Bridging — the Twin Cities furniture bank that gives them to families setting up a home after a shelter or a crisis — plus Goodwill–Easter Seals, the Salvation Army and Arc's Value Village. Metal, e-waste and appliances are diverted properly through the Hennepin County system rather than dumped. It keeps good pieces in circulation, trims the disposal side of the job, and on a downsizing or pre-listing clear it comes with a donation receipt for your records.
Selling the house? The pre-listing (TISH) clear
Minneapolis is one of the few cities that requires a Truth-in-Sale-of-Housing (TISH) evaluation by a city-licensed evaluator before a home can be listed, advertised, or shown. A basement and garage buried under decades of storage make that walk-through harder and show the house at its worst. Clearing the whole property broom-clean first — basement, attic and garage in one truck-fill — is a recurring job across the bungalow belt, and we schedule it around your evaluator and listing date. See our before-you-list cleanout guide for how it fits the TISH timeline.
What Minneapolis customers say
"Forty years in the same Nokomis bungalow and the basement proved it — boxes soft after the thaw, a workbench, an old freezer. They carried every bit up those tight stairs and did the alley garage the same day. Flat price from a photo, never moved."
"Cleared my dad's Kingfield basement and attic before we listed. One truckload, careful on the stairs, and most of the furniture went to Bridging with a receipt. Scheduled it the same week we called."
"Audubon Park basement packed to the joists plus the garage. Hauled it all up and out, no stair fee, and they worked around the snow in the alley without complaint. One flat number with the tax in it."
Basement cleanout questions, answered
Will you carry a full basement up the stairs?
Yes — the whole basement, up the narrow stairs, no surcharge; it's in the flat price.
Basement, attic and garage in one visit?
Yes, all three in one truck-fill for a single flat photo-quoted price.
Are damp or musty spring-melt boxes a problem?
No — that's normal down there, and it's the job. We bag and haul it either way.
Where does the usable stuff go?
To Bridging, Goodwill and the Salvation Army; metal, e-waste and appliances are diverted properly, with a donation receipt on request.
How much for a whole basement?
Truck-fill — a quarter $241, a half $431, three-quarters $587, a full truck $732 — with single pieces flat.
How soon, and is MN sales tax extra?
Same-week is normal, often sooner — and no, the ~9.025% tax is already inside your flat quote.
Basement cleanouts by neighborhood
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