How Much Does an Estate Clean-Out Cost in 2025?
The average cost of an estate clean-out is $1,250
The average estate clean-out cost is $1,250, with a range from $50 to $6,000.
Costs depend on location, number of items, time needed to sort, accessibility, and who you hire.
Estate clean-out services include sorting paperwork, identifying assets, removing junk, and selling or donating items.
Hiring a professional clean-out company ensures the process is handled efficiently and safely.
This article was updated using automation technology and thoroughly reviewed for accuracy by HomeAdvisor Editor Ryan Noonan.
Estate clean-out costs average $1,250, with most people spending between $275 and $4,000. Your total project cost depends on location, the number of items, time needed to sort, accessibility, and who you hire. Handling an estate clean-out can be overwhelming, but hiring a professional can make the process more efficient and less stressful. Use this guide to break down the average costs to help you plan for your estate clean-out.
What Is an Estate Clean-Out?
An estate clean-out usually happens when a loved one dies, leaving their relatives to manage the estate. This process can involve handling the home, vehicles, and important paperwork, identifying assets, removing junk, and deciding what to sell or donate. Hiring a professional estate clean-out service can help you sort, organize, and remove the estate's contents efficiently, easing the burden during a difficult time.
Estate Clean-Out Cost Factors
When doing an estate clean-out, your total cost depends on factors such as your location, the number of items, local labor costs, and the company you hire.
Location
You can expect to pay more for estate clean-out costs if you live in a large metropolitan area versus a small rural town. It comes down to the cost of living in your area, with higher living costs resulting in higher fuel costs, junk removal fees, and disposal costs.
Labor
Labor costs to hire movers range from $25 to $50 per hour. Factors affecting labor costs include the accessibility of items—heavy items on upper levels will cost more to remove. Additionally, an estate with many items will increase labor costs, as movers will spend more time removing and hauling belongings.
Pre-Clean-Out Prep Work
When doing an estate clean-out, you’ll also need to budget for prep work such as cleaning and organizing. This includes sorting, organizing, and packing items in the home. Additionally, taking donations to charitable organizations and hauling junk to a local landfill yourself can save you money.
Company
Estate clean-out costs vary between companies. It's best to contact at least three estate clean-out professionals—both national brands and local companies—to find the best fit for your needs. Your total cost will depend on your selected services and whether the company charges hourly or fixed rates.
Time
Depending on the size of the estate, clean-outs can take as little as one day or as many as several days, especially if the estate includes several areas, such as barns, garages, and large backyards. The more time a job takes to complete, the more expensive it’ll be.
Move-Out Cleanup
Move-out cleaning costs an average of $360. After the junk is removed, many estate clean-out professionals can arrange for a move-out cleaner to thoroughly clean the kitchen, bathrooms, floors, baseboards, and areas behind appliances. Move-out cleaning is crucial if you plan to sell the estate.
Estate Clean-Out Cost by Type
Estate clean-out costs run from $50 to $6,000 or more, depending on the type of service you need. The most common estate clean-out services include sorting estate paperwork, identifying assets, removing junk, and selling or donating unwanted items. Additional fees include junk removal costs, which run between $60 and $700.
| Estate Clean-Out Service | Average Price |
|---|---|
| Estate paperwork | $50–$500 |
| Identifying assets | $2,000–$6,000 |
| Removing junk | $60–$700 |
| Selling items | 35%–40% commission from gross proceeds |
| Donating items | $100 pickup fee |
Estate Paperwork
Finding, sorting through, and disposing of important estate paperwork costs between $50 and $500. Estate paperwork includes deeds, wills, insurance policies, car titles, social security numbers, birth and death certificates, and any household or medical bills. Estate clean-out service pros will provide essential documents to the estate executor and dispose of all unnecessary documents by shredding or recycling old computers and hard drives.
Identifying Assets
You can expect to pay between $2,000 and $6,000 to have a clean-out pro correctly identify the estate’s assets. Identifying assets includes:
Taking inventory of all estate assets
Assigning assets to beneficiaries and heirs of the estate
Organizing all other assets into categories to keep, sell, or donate
Bringing in experts to price valuable items
Larger homes with many items that need to be tagged, assigned, and organized will ultimately cost more than smaller estates with fewer items.
Removing Junk
The cost of junk removal ranges from $60 to $700, depending on how much junk you have, if you need to remove hazardous materials, where you live, and how accessible the items are. For example, removing mattresses and furniture costs an average of $180 per item. If you have a lot of junk, you should also factor in the cost to rent a dumpster, which ranges between $290 and $480.
Selling Items
You can expect an estate clean-out professional to charge between 35% and 40% commission out of the gross proceeds of your estate sale. When selling your items, a pro will organize, sort, price, professionally display, and take care of the public sale.
Additional services and fees for unsold items include packing and removing excess items via donation or junk removal and taking higher-tier items to another location for sale.
Donating Items
If you choose to donate large items, such as furniture, you can expect to pay $100 for a charity to pick them up. Otherwise, you can expect to pay an hourly fee for an estate clean-out pro to pack your items and transport them to a donation center.
Estate Clean-Out Cost by Item
On average, you can expect to pay between $60 and $7forave a junk removal servito ce remove your items. Your estate clean-out costs will rise if you have items upstairs or in hard-to-reach places. Large, bulky items that require equipment, additional labor, and special packing materials will also increase your junk removal and clean-out costs.
Piano
The average cost to move a piano is $400. Ultimately, the total price you’ll pay depends on the piano's location, height, and weight. If your piano is upstairs, you can expect junk removal pros to charge extra per step or staircase. Other cost additions include equipment rentals, such as dollies or cranes (up to $2,000), and special packaging materials.
Refrigerator
You can expect to pay between $50 and $150 to remove large appliances like refrigerators and freezers. Because these items include ozone-depleting freon gases, they require special hazardous waste pickup and recycling.
Furniture and Mattress
Removing mattresses and furniture costs around $180 per item. Items that are heavy, bulky, or located up flights of stairs will cost more. For this task, hire a furniture removal specialist near you to ensure your items are removed and disposed of properly.
Yard Debris
Your estate clean-out service costs will rise by $200 to $550 if you need to haul yard waste away. The size of your yard, the amount of debris, how much labor is required, and whether a junk removal company can get their truck near the waste will all factor into the total cost of yard cleanup.
Electronic and Hazardous Waste
You can expect to pay between $50 and $500 for electronic and hazardous waste removal. Many junk removal companies charge extra to remove and properly recycle electronics, latex paint, fluorescent light bulbs, televisions, and computers.
Prices for these items depend on the location within your estate, how many things you have, and how heavy the items are. Expect to incur more charges for additional labor, staircases, special equipment, and any other specialty disposal fees for chemicals.
DIY Estate Clean-Out vs. Hiring a Pro
If you have the time and patience, you can handle an estate clean-out yourself. The process involves managing all assets, paperwork, junk removal, donations, selling items, and performing the move-out cleaning. Alternatively, hiring an estate clean-out professional—costing between $500 and $2,000 on average—helps simplify the process. You might also consider hiring a junk removal service, which costs $60 to $370. Having a professional handle, the clean-out can save you time and ensure the job is done efficiently. Consider hiring a professional estate clean-out service to handle the process safely and effectively.
How HomeAdvisor Gets Its Cost Data
No place is more important than your home, which is why HomeAdvisor connects homeowners with local pros to transform their houses into homes they love. To help homeowners prepare for their next project, HomeAdvisor provides readers with accurate cost data and follows strict editorial guidelines. After a project is complete, we survey real customers about the costs to develop the pricing data you see, so you can make the best decisions for you and your home. We pair this data with research from reputable sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic journals, market studies, and interviews with industry experts—all to ensure our prices reflect real-world projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
When cleaning out an estate, identify all vital documents and possessions. Consult with family members to determine which items you want to keep. Forward mail, replace locks, and create an inventory to ensure nothing essential is overlooked. Next, create a detailed plan and timeline for sorting, donating, or discarding items. Finally, perform a thorough deep clean to prepare the property for sale or continued use.
The four-box method for decluttering involves dividing items into four categories: discard, donate, keep, and relocate. When cleaning out the estate, set up four clearly labeled boxes to sort through all belongings. This organized system reduces work later, cuts labor costs, and ensures each item is handled efficiently before any professional intervention.
You should declutter the estate before hiring a professional service to ensure an efficient estate clean-out. Remove all unwanted items and organize valuables before beginning any cleaning. Once everything is sorted and either relocated or discarded, a professional move-out cleaner can perform a thorough deep clean that enhances the property's appeal.
Estate clean-out services are priced based on the items' volume and handling requirements, not per square foot. Costs increase when there are more items to process, especially bulky ones that demand extra labor and specialized equipment. Larger properties with many possessions incur higher prices because every item is carefully evaluated and removed according to service protocols.
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