The short answer
Apartment cleanouts are priced one of two ways, and you pick whichever is cheaper.
Per item, if you can list what is left: sofa $126, queen mattress $103, dresser $126, dining table $103, TV $68.
By truck fill, if it is more of a wall than a list: quarter $241, three-eighths $338, half $431, five-eighths $513, three-quarters $587, seven-eighths $661, full $732.
Rough shapes from real jobs in this city: a stripped studio in Ocean Beach lands around a quarter truck ($241), a furnished one-bedroom in Hillcrest or North Park around a half ($431), a full two-bedroom in Mira Mesa or Chula Vista around three-quarters ($587). Minimum for any visit is $75.
Why San Diego apartments fill up differently
There are no basements here and very little attic storage in the apartment stock. Whatever a tenant accumulated in three years lives in the unit, in a tandem parking space, or in a five-by-five storage locker in the garage under the building. All three of those have to be cleared, and the locker is the one everybody forgets until the walkthrough.
The other San Diego pattern is patio overflow. Year-round outdoor living means most units have something on the balcony - a small table, two chairs, a grill, a dead planter. Those are items too: a patio table is $89, a patio chair is $30 each, a charcoal grill $59, a propane grill $71.
The access reality by neighborhood
- Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Mission Beach: 1960s and 70s buildings, three stories, exterior stairwells, no elevator, tuck-under carports. In Mission Beach the only truck access is often the alley, and it is tight.
- North Park, University Heights, Normal Heights: converted houses and small courtyard buildings on alley-loaded blocks. The loading point is behind the building, past the detached garages.
- Downtown, East Village, Little Italy: high-rises with reserved freight elevators, dock height limits and a strict move window. Book the elevator when you book the truck.
- Mission Valley: big garden complexes with long interior corridors - the carry from a back unit to the truck can be a couple hundred feet.
- City Heights and Linda Vista: older walk-ups with narrow stairwells and shared landings.
None of that is a surcharge. There is no stair fee, no walk-up fee, no long-carry fee. It is the same published price on the third floor as on the first.
Priced by item, a typical one-bedroom
A Hillcrest one-bedroom left partly furnished:
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Sofa | $126 |
| Queen mattress and box spring set | $143 |
| Bed frame, standard | $68 |
| Dresser, standard | $126 |
| Dining table, 2-4 seat | $103 |
| Dining chair x2 ($45 + $45) | $90 |
| TV, 42 to 65 inch | $68 |
| Medium junk pile | $129 |
| Total | $853 |
Written out, that is $126 + $143 + $68 + $126 + $103 + $90 + $68 + $129 = $853. At that point the half-truck tier at $431 is obviously the better buy, and so is three-quarters at $587. That is the whole reason both ladders are published - you are allowed to pick.
Move-out timing in this city
San Diego has three overlapping rushes, and they all land in the same stretch of the year.
Students. SDSU and the College Area empty out in May. UCSD and the University City rentals follow. Anything within walking distance of either campus turns over in a two-week window.
Military. PCS season clusters in summer around Coronado, Point Loma, Murphy Canyon and the Miramar corridor, and those moves are date-driven - the orders do not care about your schedule.
Beach leases. PB, OB and Mission Beach turn over on a handful of common dates, and the whole zip code moves at once.
If your move-out is in June, book the pickup the week you give notice, not the week you leave.
What the deposit actually turns on
Landlords and property managers here deduct for the same three things over and over:
- Anything left in the unit. Including the stuff you thought was a gift to the next tenant. It is not a gift, it is a disposal cost, and it comes out of your deposit at the manager's rate, not yours.
- Anything left in the garage locker or tandem space. See above.
- Anything left in the alley. This is the expensive one. Leaving a sofa in a PB alley can land as an illegal dumping issue against the address, and the building will pass it to you.
Booking a pickup for the morning before your walkthrough removes all three at once.
Landlord and property-manager cleanouts
Different job, same prices. When a tenant leaves a unit behind, the load tends to be heavier and messier than a planned move: a sofa that will not be donated, a mattress that has to go, a kitchen full of miscellany, a balcony of sun-wrecked furniture.
Typical abandoned-unit clear in a Clairemont or Linda Vista fourplex: half truck $431, or itemized if it is thin. Debris-bag pricing helps when it is mostly loose material rather than furniture - 10 bags $132, 15 bags $196, 20 bags $259, 25 bags $322.
Photos before and after, one invoice, one visit. If you are turning several units in a building, book them on the same day and the crew works straight through.
How to get the cheapest honest number
Three steps, in this order:
- List the big things. Sofa, mattress, dresser, table, TV, appliances. Add them up from the published prices.
- Look at the ladder. If your item total is over $241, check whether the pile actually fits in a quarter truck. If your total is over $431, check the half.
- Book the lower one. Then add anything you forgot on the day at its published item price.
And clear the storage locker before you estimate. It is always more than you remember.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be there?
No, as long as the crew can get in. Plenty of San Diego jobs run with a lockbox code or a building manager letting us in, especially for PCS moves where the tenant has already flown out.
My building has an elevator reservation system. Is that a problem?
No, it is normal downtown and in Mission Valley. Book your window with the building and give us the time. There is no charge for working inside a reserved window.
Is there an extra charge for a third-floor walk-up in Pacific Beach?
No. Carry-out from any floor is included in the published price.
What if I am under the minimum?
The minimum per visit is $75. If your remaining items add to less than that, you pay $75.
Can you take everything except the appliances, which the landlord owns?
Yes. You list what goes; anything not on the list stays. That is easier with per-item pricing than with a volume estimate.