1. Are You Licensed and Insured?

Every business needs to have a business license. This is a simple bar to pass. If a junk removal company isn’t license than may advice is to stay away from that junk removal company. You also need to verify that your junk removal company is insured. Insurance protects you against legal actions in case a worker is harmed during a junk removal on your property. Insurance also protects your property from damage by the junk removal service.

2. Will You Haul Away All My Junk?

Many junk removal services have limits on what types of junk they will haul away. For instance paint and cleaners are almost always verboten. But many junk removal services also won’t haul away electronics like televisions and computer monitors. Some junk removal companies have even more esoteric limits on what they won’t haul away. One major junk removal company for instance won’t haul away pianos. 

So make sure the junk removal company you’ve chosen will haul way the junk you want hauled away.

3. How Much Do You Charge and Does that Price Cover the Cost of Labor?

As a general rule of thumb junk removal services price their services one of two ways: a flat rate per load, or by how full you fill the truck. Regardless of which pricing structure they use make sure the price you are quoted includes labor. Quite often junk removal companies will give you an estimate that does not include labor. If a junk removal company charges for labor ask them how much extra they charge.

If you ask these three questions you’ll be better informed and be able to make a smarter choice when it comes time to choose a junk removal company. 

So which should you do?

The decision largely comes down to a question of speed vs. budget. When I was in film school we often  talk about a triangle. On the right side of the triangle was written the term Cheap, on the left side of the triangle was written the term Good, on the top of the triangle was written Fast. You could only choose two. In other words, you could have something that was good and fast, but it wouldn’t be cheap. You could do something fast and cheap but it wouldn’t be good. Etc. 

This paradigm applies to whether you need to rent a dumpster or hire a hauling service. 

Junk removal services often provide an all in one solution for hauling away junk and trash. It is also a fast solution. Most junk removal services will handle everything for you. They’ll bring a truck, typically two guys, and do everything for you. They’ll haul away what you tell them to haul away and some junk removal services even do a bit of light cleaning. 

But junk removal services tend to be a bit pricey. If you have a large load or multiple loads of junk its not uncommon to spend as much as $1,000 on a junk removal. Perhaps more.

Dumpster rental is cheaper than junk removal, but when you rent a dumpster all you get is a dumpster. You’ll have to supply the labor and the manpower. You’ll also have to spend a significant amount of time cleaning or supervising a clean out. 

So which is best? That’s completely subjective to your situation. You can achieve your goal using either a dumpster or a junk removal service. It just depends on which of you choose. Good. Fast. Cheap.

1. Bring Everything Downstairs

A lot of junk removal services will charge extra if they have to go up and down stairs. A lot of junk removal companies simply don’t like cleaning out second floor or third floor rooms, so make it easy for them. The day before your junk removal company is scheduled to arrive bring all your junk down from the second and/or third floor and put them in a central location near an easily access door.

2. Label All Your Hazardous Materials and Bag Them Up

Some junk removal services take hazardous materials, some don’t, so check with your junk removal service first … but if they are expected to haul away your household hazardous materials make sure you wrap all your hazardous materials in plastic bags (for easy disposal) and label those bags clearly. Make sure you keep everything grouped together. Paints with paints, etc.

3. Sort Your Junk 

Try to pre-sort as much of your junk as possible. Make three piles, or find three plastic bins. One for items to keep, one for donation, one for for the junk removal company. Since the objective here is to declutter make sure your donate and throw away piles larger than your keep pile.

Doing some of the work of a junk removal service before them will make your junk removal run faster and smoother. 

Step 1. Make a Plan of Attack 

Figure out how much junk you have and how much stuff you need to get rid of … You can accomplish this by just doing a simple walkthrough of a house and assessing where you need to clean. Also plan how and where your going to get rid of your junk. A lot of landfills aren’t open to the public (you need to be a licensed waste management company to dump in a landfill) so you may need to dispose of some of your trash in the normal curbside trash pick up, rent a dumpster to dispose of the large trash, and donate the unwanted stuff that still works to a charity or thrift shop of your choice.

Step 2. Rent a Truck

If you need to get rid of an old appliance or piece of furniture you will want to rent a truck and a heavy dolly so you can haul away your bulky item. You can either find a charity that accepts appliances or furniture, or take them to a scrap recycler.

Step 3. Pick a Weekend and Take the Time to Do It Right

Pick a weekend to clean up and stick to it. Remember you may need the entire weekend to clean up. Junk wasn’t accumulated in a day and may not be cleaned up in a day. 

If you use these tips you’ll be hauling away junk like the pros. 

1. Organize and Install Shelving

You can clean out your garage a lot of times without ever throwing anything out. Organize first. Install some shelving solutions to get boxes and crates of stuff off the floor. Label each box so you know where everything is and where to find it. If you have tools stored in your garage consider installing a pegboard to arrange your tools. Also tools neatly hung on a wall above a workbench makes for an excellent little show piece for your garage.

2. Don’t Store Hazardous Materials in Your Garage

People often store paint, automotive fluids, and cleaners in your garage. While its tempting to store all the chemicals, fluids, and paints you aren’t using in your garage we strongly advise against this. Instead take unused and unwanted hazardous chemicals to a drop-off center that handles household hazardous materials. Most cities have them.

3. Donate, Recycle, and Throw Away

Many of the things in your garage are things you’ll never use again. It is doubtful that your Thirty year old son will ever need or want his rocking horse. But that same rocking horse could make a child’s day when donated to charity. So when you are cleaning out your garage make donation to charities and thrift shop your first avenue of disposal.

Recycle as much as you can. You’d be surprised at what can be recycled. From boxes to yard waste most everything can be recycled. 

For items that are simply trash that can’t be recycle, well, throw them away. If you’ve got a fairly full garage or a large garage you may want to consider renting a dumpster for a weekend so you can get rid of all the trash stored in your garage in one fell swoop.

These are some Power Garage clean out tips. The biggest thing when it comes to garage cleans out is to just do it and once you’ve done it keep your garage clean so you won’t have to do it again.

1. I made a plan and stuck to it

Eventually. Like everyone else I procrastinated cleaning out my garage for about six months. I didn’t want to think about it. I avoided doing anything about it. Until I needed to find my set of golf clubs for a business trip to Las Vegas. After four hours I found my golf clubs, lost my mind, and said I’ve got to clean out my garage. So a couple of weeks later I took my two week summer vacation and said, “On Saturday I am doing a garage clean out…” and did it.

2. I rented a dumpster

I knew I had a lot of trash — particular old, empty moving boxes — stacked up in the garage. Instead of hauling them to a landfill (which is problematic in Los Angeles because most landfills are in places like Calabasas) I rented a dumpster and had it dropped in my driveway. So when I started my garage clean out I could just toss trash straight into the dumpster. When I was finished I just called the dumpster company and had it hauled away.

3. I sorted my chemicals and took them to a disposal facility

I couldn’t put the paint I had stored in my garage in the dumpster or the regular trash. So I collected all my paint, boxed it up, and took it to a collection facility in the San Fernando Valley. The city of Los Angeles runs these collection centers and generally has them open every Saturday.

4. I donated a lot of stuff and did it immediately

As I got deeper into the garage clean out I started to really pile up a lot of stuff I wanted to donate to Goodwill. So instead of waiting I made periodic runs to the local Goodwill collection point in my neighborhood in Los Angeles. This minimized the risk of the stuff going back into the garage.

5. I bought shelves to organize my remaining stuff

I bought shelves and pegboards for my tools to organize my garage and keep boxes off the ground. 

Ultimately my garage clean took a weekend but it was totally worth it. Now I have more space and I can put my car in my garage. Yeehaw!

1. Walk through your rental unit

After your tenant has vacated the unit and turned the keys over to you do a walk through the unit. You’ll want to bring with you a notepad and a cameras to document any damage, repairs to be made, or junk to be removed.

2. Hire a Junk Removal Service

Chances are your tenant left a few things behind he or she didn’t want or need anymore. These items could be old furniture, appliances, or anything else that your tenant didn’t want. Hire a junk removal service to come in and haul away whatever you need haul away.

3. Hire a Contractor or Handyman

Next up is to hire either a contractor or a skilled handyman to make any repairs needed to the unit. In most cases you won’t need a contractor. You’ll need a skilled handyman and a few laborers to make needed repairs and repaint.

4. Hire a Maid Service

Final step is to hire a maid service to clean up the unit from top to bottom. You can also save a bit of money and do this yourself.

This is some fairly standard advice. Following this walkthrough will help you keep your unit ready to rent.

Step 1. Do a walk through and see how bad the damage is … 

Foreclosed homes come in all states of disrepair. You’ll find recently foreclosed homes in fairly good shape most of the time. Homes that have stood empty longer will be in a greater state of decrepitude. If you end up dealing with a foreclosure that has stood empty since the start of the housing crisis in 2007 you may have your work cut off out for you. Many banks foreclosed on homes and, as the housing crisis deepened in 2008, let those homes stand empty and un-maintainted. 

So your first step is to walk through the house, the entire house, and assess it for damage, and repairs and improvements needed.

Step 2. Hire a Junk Removal Company in Encino to Clean Out …

Unless you hit the real estate agent jack pot I can guarantee you that you’ll have a ton of junk to clean out of any foreclosure. I’ve sold three foreclosed homes in the Encino area and I’ve had to have all of them cleaned out. Typically you’ll find the backyard littered with downed yard debris and leftover construction material. Interior you will probably find junk leftover from the previous owner. If you are particularly unlucky you may also find junk and trash left behind by squatters. 

You are going to be faced with a clean up project, so hire a professional junk removal company to do it. You may wish to find a junk removal company with a history of cleaning up foreclosures or one that specializes in foreclosure trash outs.

Step 3. Hire a Contractor

Find a good contractor in the Encino area to make whatever repairs you need. Repairs could be as simple as minor hole patches to something as extensive as replacing all or most of the copper piping in a house. You may also want to have your home repainted. A fresh coat of interior paint can do wonders for a film.

Step 4. Hire a Maid Service

Once a contractor is done, send in a maid service to clean everything from stem to stern. Leave no room unscrubed.

Step 5. Rent Furniture

Furniture helps gives the house a lived in appearance and allows your prospective buyers to imagine themselves in the house. You don’t have to fill every room with furniture. But giving a living room, kitchen, and master bedroom a lived in look.

Top Five Clean Out Services in Northridge:

1. Garage Clean Out Services

No one likes cleaning out a garage. It is one task everyone puts off until the last minute, or puts off indefinitely. That is why junk removal companies off garage clean out services. A junk removal company in Northridge comes to your garage, pulls everything out, gets rid of all your junk, and leaves you with a cleaned out garage.

2. Backyard Clean Out Services

Backyards just seem to accumulate junk. You always end up storing scrape lumber, old toys, bicycles, and on and on. What should be a great little gathering area turns into a holding area for junk. Junk removal companies in Northridge come to your house and haul away debris and junk that has been haunting your backyard.

3. Storage Unit Clean Out Services

Storage Units are notoriously hard to clean out once they’ve been packed with stuff. Storage Unit Facilities often charge hefty fees for the use of their own dumpster. Junk removal services in Northridge provide a alternate method of cleaning out storage units. A junk removal company brings  a truck and empties out a storage unit, then hauls away the contents.

4. Office Clean Out Services

When a company moves from office to office they’ll need to get rid of old office equipment and furniture. They may need to completely breakdown an office and remove shelving and lighting as well. Junk removal services in Northridge provide office clean out services to help companies clean out offices and move from location to location.

5. Foreclosure Clean Out

This is sometimes referred to as a foreclosure trash out. This service basically removes any left behind junk and trash from a foreclosed home or building, and gets a home ready to show. Many junk removal companies in Northridge, California do a brisk business in foreclosure trash outs and clean outs.  

First forget about call a Pacific Palisades’ junk removal company. Junk removal companies make most of their money off of junk removal. So forget about calling a junk removal company. There are easier solutions.

Charitable organizations … If your junk is still useful and/or working you can donate it to one of many charitable organizations that take in used items. Goodwill is a popular destination. As is Salvation Army and Out of the Closet. You can also find other charitable organizations that cater more towards your interest, for instance second hand stores who’s proceeds go to a specific type of cancer treatment.

Craig’s List … Craig’s List has a “Free” section where people frequently list items they don’t want or need anymore. Most of the time you won’t even have to deliver your item. You can advertise an item for free, just needs to be hauled away.

Bulky Item Pick Up … the City of Los Angeles has its own bulky item pick up for large appliances and large items. This service can take a bit of time but its either free or low cost in most cases.

These are a few of the free junk removal alternatives available to the residents of Pacific Palisades. If you get creative there are numerous ways for you to reuse or recycle old junk without having to pay to have it hauled away.