How Much Does Junk Removal in Los Angeles Cost?

Determining Junk Removal Pricing Locally

“How much will junk removal cost me?” is a common question in our business. In fact it’s pretty much the only question (with few exceptions) that we get asked by customers or potential customers looking for a junk removal service in their area. Since we are physically located on the border of Burbank, CA, we get calls from people in that city as well as nearby areas. Answering that question, however, is not always as simple as you may imagine. Read on to find out why. Of course, for an immediate overview of our prices you can jump to our junk removal pricing page.

The way many junk removal companies set their pricing is by the amount of junk they pick up. As you can see on our pricing page, we divide our flatbed junk removal truck into four quarters and charge according to how much of the truck’s capacity is taken up by your junk (both in volume and weight). For some, a quarter of a truckload is sufficient. Others may take up the whole truck or require multiple loads. Yet even this is insufficient to determine how many cubic feet your junk will take up and it’s why we love to come to you to provide a FREE estimate.

Yes, an old refrigerator will take up a set amount of space (you can measure something like this by height, width and depth), but for other junk items, it may be possible to compress or compact them so that they take up little or almost no space. Think of a plastic laundry basket. Something like this can easily be cut down to size and lay pretty much flat on the truck bed floor or against a wall. Sometimes we won’t know exactly how much space your junk will take up until we see it with our own eyes but we always compact your junk when possible so that it takes up the least amount of room in our vehicles.

Cost To Remove Single Junk Item

You may need a single item removed. It may be something heavy or awkward like an old stove, a worn-out desk or chair or ancient mattress. Even though it may take up less than a quarter of our truck we still have to charge a minimum amount. As of this writing, we charge $149.99 for a single item. With us you know the price you’ll pay for a single item or a percentage of the truck we use. However, you should be aware that other junk removal companies in the greater Los Angeles area may provide seemingly lower prices on their websites but if you read the fine print you’ll see they increase their prices based on the distance driven from their office to your location. With us, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Burbank, Pasadena, Van Nuys or even Simi Valley. The price you see is the price you’ll pay for our junk removal services. There is a rather large exception to this, though. We offer a discount coupon through our website and the discount will depend on your junk load. In addition we’ll beat the junk removal price of any competitor (a recent quote, of course). With that said you’ll always know the maximum amount you’ll spend to have your junk picked up.

How Junk Hauling Costs Are Calculated

While the graphic of our junk truck on the pricing page may be a simplification of how we go about determining the cost, it’s not completely accurate. If you imagine trying to fit an old sofa into a flatbed truck you can easily see that it’s not going to take up a perfect ¼ of the bed. It will extend from the cab to the mid point of the truck bed if laid flat. It may take up less space if set on its side (standing vertically). We calculate cost based on square footage, taking the entire capacity of the truck which is 6 feet by 6 feet by 13 or 15 feet. So, by doing a bit of simple math we can see the junk area is 468 or 540 square feet. Of course if the old sofa is all that you’re disposing of you already know what they single item cost will be. However, if it’s just a part of your entire load of junk, we’ll take the dimensions of the sofa into account when calculating space used and make sure it uses the lease amount of space in our vehicles.

Another factor is weight. Hauling away heavier junk items takes more resources and energy and so it has to be taken into account. Imagine getting rid of an old safe. These types of items are extremely heavy and it will take longer to remove them (safely, of course) from you home or office. Just imagine negotiating a flight of stairs with something like this, then lifting it onto a truck. It’s obvious that something such as this will take more effort than several boxes of old clothes.

Our pricing is set so that we can cover our costs such as labor, insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc. and make money to continue to serve our customers as well as expand our service area over time and grow our company.

Competition Between Junk Removal Companies

Junk removal in Los Angeles is a competitive market. There are several junk hauling companies in the area as well as those like us at Bumblebee Junk whose service area spans many miles. Because of the amount of competition, junk removal prices tend to be as low as possible. Of course there is a lower limit since every company has to make a profit, but on the whole you’ll find junk pickup costs are pretty equal in the greater L.A. area.

What Keeps Junk Removal Prices Low?

A good (and busy) junk removal firm will always try to keep its overhead low. We chose Sun Valley, CA as our base of operations because it’s much less expensive to do business here than in other areas. We think you’d be hard-pressed to find a junk removal company in Beverly Hills. The price per square foot of office space would be too costly. That’s part of the cost equation. Another thing is scheduling junk pickups strategically. If we know we are going to be in one area of Burbank in the morning and in another in the afternoon, AND we’ve come to both locations to estimate the amount, weight and volume of junk we can use the same truck for both jobs. By making intelligent use of our time we can conserve energy (i.e., fuel) and time.

We service all areas of Los Angeles County and our range extends even to Simi Valley or Thousand Oaks. And while it takes a bit more resources to reach our customers in those areas we do not charge extra for distance. As we mentioned earlier, there are no hidden charges and the price you see on our website is the price you pay. However, because we are located in the Burbank area and perform many junk removal jobs for Burbank customers, the volume of work we do in our local area helps shoulder the costs for areas further away.

Augmenting the money that we make from hauling your junk is another method to keep costs down. Unlike other junk hauling firms, we partner with a local scrap metal recycling company so that when we collect your metal junk, if it can’t be donated or refurbished, we’ll sell it for scrap. In addition to a bit of extra income for us, we contribute to the local area economy and keep yet another item out of local landfills.

Lowering Junk Hauling Costs Through Word of Mouth

Junk haulers fit into different categories. Some are local junk firms like us while others may be part of a national franchise. The national companies have to spend more on advertising than a local company. Slick ads in print, television or YouTube cost several thousand dollars a piece to create and publish. As with any enterprise, marketing costs get passed on to the consumer—meaning you! A name brand product at the grocery store costs much more than a store brand precisely because of the money spent in promoting the brand name. The same concept applies to junk removal. Larger firms count on you recognizing their name or logo and picking up the phone to call, but they have to charge inflated prices to cover advertising costs.

Bumblebee Junk is a local firm. While our service area is fairly large, we certainly are not a nationwide business and we don’t rely on TV or print advertising to get customers. We rely primarily on our website and word of mouth. If a company spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to market itself but doesn’t provide superior junk pickup services, that marketing effort is meaningless. By relying on local Internet searches in the Burbank and San Fernando Valley areas we get our name and website in front of local customers. Frankly, our website even pops up in a search for “Simi Valley junk removal.” And, truth be told, the majority of people looking for junk removal services are going to search online first. Testimonials such as those they we’ve earned on our Google My Business page actually help more than a professionally produced video. People desire to see others’ experience with a company before making their decision to hire that company and thanks to our commitment to customer service, we’ve received several five star reviews from satisfied customers. In essence, quality service is worth more than national (or local) paid advertising. In the end, that’s what has allowed us to grow yet still offer lower junk removal pricing than our competitors.

Junk Removal Cost Versus Value

For anything, even trash pickup or junk hauling there is a price but there is also the value of that service. Oscar Wilde once said of someone that he was a man “who knows the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.” And with a nod to Mr. Wilde, we believe that we add additional value to the services we provide. One example is being on time for you junk removal appointment. We know you have better things to do than wait for a junk hauling team to show up to do the work. It’s also in our best interest to do the work quickly, first so we can be in and out of your home or office in a reasonable amount of time to let you get back to your life and second, so that we can schedule other junk pickup appointments efficiently which again helps us reduce our costs. Yet another example of value is the fact that we take the time to clean up your space once the junk has been removed from it. Sure, you can have your junk taken away and put onto the truck but to us the common courtesy of leaving the area in as spotless a condition as possible is just good business.

All of these are examples of customer service and it is the way we have done business from the very beginning. Yes, we try to keep our prices as low as possible and compete with other L.A. area junk hauling firms but we try to go the extra mile to give you more value for your junk pickup dollar with above and beyond customer service.

Our Junk Removal Service Area

Whether it’s a mattress disposal in Van Nuys, appliance disposal in Simi Valley or a garage cleanout in Burbank, Bumblebee Junk is situated freeway close to so many Los Angeles County locations. Our neighbors in Burbank are only a few minutes away but because we chose a location so close to Interstate 5 it allows us to efficiently serve a large area. Glendale or North Hollywood are only a few minutes away but we’re still close to Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley thanks to the 134 freeway. Our proximity to the 118 freeway means we can be at your door in Simi Valley quickly too.  The network of freeways in Southern California makes it easy for us to service a wide area. Shorter trips to cities like Burbank or our own Sun Valley reduce our fuel costs and allow us to extend our reach into more of Los Angeles County and the San Fernando Valley area.

There are fixed and variable costs to most businesses and through our efforts we continue to keep the variable costs as low as possible. There are things we can’t control, however, such as the price of gasoline. Fuel costs are a consideration for every junk removal firm in the area. Will rising fuel prices cause an upswing in junk removing costs? It’s a very real probability if rising prices are maintained for an extended period of time. You may see an increase in junk hauling pricing as a result. However, we don’t often or easily raise our prices because we want to offer the lowest cost option to our customers. As long as we maintain a steady throughput external factors will not play a role in our pricing for the foreseeable future.

Call For Junk Pickup Costs

For many things we may be able to provide a price quote over the phone or through our website. Based on prior experience we know how much, for example, mattress removal will cost or how much space will be required for a standard size oven or other appliance disposal. For some jobs we may need to view the junk on-site to give you an accurate estimate. We’ll know what items can be condensed or compacted so that your junk takes up the least amount of space possible in our trucks. There are some items that we cannot take such as hazardous materials so if you have any question as to whether or not it’s an item we can handle, simply give us a call and we’ll let you know. For items such as those, we’ll let you know how and where you can safely and legally dispose of it.

We’re pretty sure you didn’t need to know every last detail about what goes into our junk removal prices but we wanted to be very thorough so that you have sufficient information to make an informed decision as to which junk removal service you want to hire. If you’re one of our Burbank neighbors, we hope you’ll make the call to Bumblebee Junk, but we want to hear from you in Simi Valley, Pacoima, Canoga Park and Chatsworth, too! If you live or work in Los Angeles County, Bumblebee Junk is the company you need to call!