The short answer
Book the haul-away for the afternoon of your move-out day or the morning after. By then you know exactly what is staying behind, because it is the only thing left in the house.
Prices: quarter truckload $241, half $431, full $732. Or itemize: sofa $126, mattress and box spring set $143, dresser $126, desk $83, TV (42" to 65") $68, large junk pile $208. Visit minimum $75.
The mistake almost everyone makes is booking it for the same hour as the movers. Two trucks, one driveway, and half the junk still buried behind boxes you have not loaded yet.
Columbus moving seasons, and why they matter
This metro moves on two clocks, and both of them create a crunch.
Mid-August. Off-campus leases in the University District, Old North and Weinland Park roll over in the same handful of days. Tens of thousands of people change address at once. Every truck in the county is booked, every tree lawn on Chittenden and Norwich is loaded, and the streets around campus are effectively one lane.
Late spring through summer. The family move season, driven by the school calendar and by the suburbs. Houses in Dublin, Westerville, Hilliard and New Albany close and turn over from May through July.
The quiet windows are January through March and the back half of the fall. If your move date is flexible at all, those are the easy months in Columbus for both movers and haulers.
The three piles
Do this a week out, with tape and a marker, and moving day stops being an argument.
- Going. Tape a green mark on it. The movers take this.
- Donating or selling. Out the door before move week, not during it. The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio and the metro's ReStore locations both have real conditions and real calendars, so call early.
- Going on the truck. Everything else. This is what you price.
The single biggest saving available is not making the third pile bigger than it has to be. The second biggest is not paying to move something to Powell that you will throw away in November.
What Columbus houses hide until the last day
Every seller in this city underestimates the same three places.
The basement. Full, dug, and used since whenever the house was built. Shelving, paint cans, a rolled carpet, a dehumidifier, the previous owner's stuff in a Clintonville century home that you inherited in 2011 and never touched.
The garage. Especially the detached alley garages in the older neighborhoods and the attached three-cars in the newer suburbs. Winter overflow, the lawn mower at $65, patio furniture, a chest freezer at $146.
The attic or the third floor. In the University District and Victorian Village a lot of houses have a converted third story up a steep narrow flight. Whatever is up there has been up there since you moved in, because getting it down is exactly the problem.
All three are in the flat price. No stair charge, no basement fee.
Sellers: this is also staging
If the house is on the market, a cleanout is not overhead, it is presentation. Central Ohio buyers walk basements and open garage doors. A cleared basement with a visible floor drain and sump crock reads as a dry basement. A basement with a path through storage reads as a risk, whether or not it is one.
Same with the garage. An empty two-car bay in Gahanna photographs. A two-car bay with a wall of bins does not.
Doing it before the listing photos rather than after the inspection is the cheaper order.
Renters: the deposit math
Anything you leave behind, your landlord removes and bills you for, usually at a rate you do not get to shop. On a campus-area double where four people are splitting it, the arithmetic is straightforward: a queen mattress set at $143 across four people is cheaper than a disposal line item on a deposit deduction.
Two practical notes for University District tenants. First, do not stack furniture on the tree lawn days early; it sits, it soaks, and the neighbor complaint lands on the lease. Second, book before the first week of August. During the turnover two weeks every hauler in Franklin County is running full.
Worked totals
| Scenario | Math |
|---|---|
| Suburban ranch, garage and one sofa | $431 (half load) + $126 = $557 |
| Two-bed apartment, two mattress sets | $143 + $143 = $286 |
| Campus double, full house left loaded | $732 (full load) |
| Condo, one sofa and one TV | $126 + $68 = $194 |
| Basement and garage together | $732 (full load) |
Price the list both ways before booking. If your item total is above the next rung on the ladder, book the ladder.
Timing the day
Movers in the morning, haul in the afternoon. That is the whole trick. If the closing is the same day, book the haul for the day before the final walkthrough instead, so you have a buffer.
Same-day is often available across Franklin County if something goes wrong. The one predictable Columbus scheduling problem is a home football Saturday, which turns everything inside 315 into a parking exercise all morning. Pick a Sunday or a weekday for anything near campus in the fall.
Frequently asked questions
When should I book the cleanout relative to the movers?
After them. Same-day afternoon or the next morning. Booking both for the same hour means two trucks in one driveway and half the junk still buried.
Do you charge extra for a third-floor or basement carry?
No. Carry-out from any floor is in the flat price, including converted third floors in the University District and full basements in Clintonville century homes.
How much for a whole house left loaded?
A full truckload is $732. Larger houses run to two loads. Price the heavy individual items separately and compare.
Can you come while I am already out of state?
Yes. Leave a lockbox code in the booking notes and get photos afterward. The price is fixed before dispatch.
What is the busiest time in Columbus?
Mid-August, when the campus-area leases all roll over at once, and May through July for family moves in the suburbs. January through March is the easy window.