Between the 2 rooms of carpet I tore up a couple weeks ago and Saturday’s flooring fest, we have a huge amount of debris in the form of carpet, carpet tiles, and laminate “wood” flooring. Of course there were also 7 black trash bags in the basement that the garbage men refused to take because they were full of “renovation material.” Apparently the great city of Newark wants nothing to do with your renovation trash. They’ll either ignore the bags and leave them sitting on the curb or – worse – write you a citation. Luckily (I guess) they decided to just ignore the 5 bags of drywall from our kitchen wall demo. While I was slightly annoyed they weren’t picked up, it was certainly better than getting a ticket.

We basically had 2 options; rent a dumpster or call a junk removal place. After doing a little price comparison, junk removal won. Even for a full load, it wasn’t much more than renting a 10-15yard dumpster. Plus they came, loaded it up, and hauled it away – no lifting or permits required.

I called several places Monday morning but got mostly voicemail. I described our debris to the one place that did answer their phone and they quoted me $580 total (including tax) and could come Tuesday. To put that quote into some perspective, the one dumpster rental place I called quoted me at $625 for a 15 yard dumpster.

None of the other 4 junk removal places I called answered their phone or returned my called. Perhaps they’ll get back to me eventually but we really wanted this stuff gone TODAY (well, Monday). Snooze you loose, bud.

After getting the $580 quote, we decided to go with 1-800-Got-Junk. They are franchised across the country and seem to get rave reviews online. Their prices started at $136 and maxed out at $678 for a full load. I wasn’t sure what percentage of a trunkload we had but I was pretty sure it wasn’t a full load and most likely less than a 3/4 load ($576). It was therefore the cheapest and, perhaps more importantly, they could be there TODAY! Their website as a pretty nifty load calculator thing; check it out.

Now for the review:

At 12:15pm, I booked online for pick-up between 4-6pm, their latest time slot. After filling out all the other information, I submitted my request and got a confirmation email back. The confirmation email said the truck team “will call you 15 to 30 minutes before this two-hour promise window to confirm their arrival time.” Sure enough, at 3:33pm my phone rang. He said they were running early and could actually be there 10-15 min before the schedule appointment time, if that was alright. It wasn’t a problem, so I headed over to the house.

The truck arrived about 3:50pm; the gentleman introduced themselves. They were wearing the uniforms you see in all advertisements and both guys were pleasant and courteous.

(Please excuse the less than stellar pics. I forgot to grab the real camera before leaving home today and had to make due with my trusty iPhone.)

We did a quick walk through; I showed them the goods.

Drywall from the kitchen:

Trash that wasn’t picked up (for the 2nd time) by the city:

The laminate from the living & dining rooms:

And lots of carpet:

After the walk-through, I was told we had at least 1/3rd ($339) of a trunk load but no more than 3/8ths ($386) (plus tax). I was comfortable with paying for 3/8ths, so I told them to load it up and get it gone.

For the next 25-30 minutes, I stood on the sidewalk and chatted with our neighbor while the 2 guys hauled stuff out the front door:

And tossed out of the 2nd & 3rd story windows (with my permission) & squarely into the truck:

Checked to make sure no one was on the sidewalk.

WOUND UP!

And OUT the window it came!

Directly into the truck.

At about 2/3rd’s complete:

Less than a half hour later, the truck was loaded.

I was told we really had 3/8th of a load but he’d only charge me for 1/3rd. Most excellent.

I gave them my credit card number (they took everything but Discover) and was given a receipt, plus some coupons for $10 off future services.

Sure, it’d be awesome if the city would take that kind of trash for free but they don’t. Kinda a bummer but this was the next best thing.

In total, we spent $339 + $23.73 tax = $362.73. MUCH cheaper than renting a dumpster or the other debris removal guy and I didn’t have to go deal with getting a permit. It was a very quick and enjoyable experience. PLUS!! I didn’t have to lift a finger. I would totally use them again and recommend them to others.

1-800-Got-Junk?

WE HAVE A DEBRIS FREE HOUSE!!!! You have no idea how exciting that is.

(And you wanna hear a secret?? The floor refinisher has been selected and he starts Wednesday morning! Shhhh!!!)