Garage & Basement Cleanout
Handis garage and basement cleanout is the residential service that turns the space that has not been used as a garage in three years (or the basement that filled itself across two ownership transitions) back into a usable room in a single day — from $500 for a single-bay garage half-day pickup up to $2,000 for a full basement reset with E-waste, mattress recycling, and a donation run. We walk the space with you first, sort into keep / donate / haul piles on the floor, run the donation drops with the tax receipt requested in your name, recycle E-waste at an E-Cycle Washington certified recycler (it is required by Washington law for monitors, printers, laptops, and televisions), recycle mattresses through the King County mattress recycling line where the foam, springs, and ticking are recycled separately, and haul the rest to a licensed Puget Sound transfer station. The single mistake to avoid on a garage cleanout is the indecisive sort — the pile that ends up half-on-the-truck-and-half-back-in-the-corner is the pile that is still there a year from now. We work fast on the sort and slow on the decisions you are still making.
Service
What Does a Garage or Basement Cleanout Visit Include?
Garage and basement cleanout is the full-room reset — the service that turns a space that has not been used for its actual purpose in years back into a usable room in a single day. Handis runs single-bay garage half-day pickups, two-bay garage full-day cleanouts, and full basement resets across two crew members and a truck (or two trucks for the larger jobs). From $500 for a single-bay garage half-day up to $2,000 for a full basement reset with E-waste, mattress recycling, and a donation run included.
The walk and the sort
We arrive and walk the space with you first — no boxes opened yet, no items moved, no decisions forced. You point to what stays and what goes; we identify the items that need special handling (refrigeration appliances need EPA Section 608 refrigerant recovery, E-waste needs the E-Cycle Washington recycler, mattresses need the King County mattress recycling line, hazardous waste is off our truck entirely). Then we sort onto a tarped staging area in the middle of the floor — four piles, labeled — keep, donate, E-waste, haul. The decisions you are still making get one corner of the keep pile and we leave them there.
Donation drops with tax receipts
Donation-ready items — furniture in salvageable condition, working small appliances, clean textiles, kitchenware, books, sporting goods, working tools, intact toys — route to Northwest Center, Goodwill, or a specialty drop appropriate to the item before we hit the transfer station. We request the donation receipt in your name (or the estate's name on an estate cleanout) and email it as part of the disposal manifest. Items not in donatable condition route to the appropriate disposal stream.
E-waste and mattress recycling
Monitors, CRT and LCD televisions, printers, laptops, tablets, and computer towers route to an E-Cycle Washington certified recycler — this is required by Washington state law (RCW 70.95N) and we follow it without exception. Mattresses and box springs route to the King County mattress recycling line where the foam, springs, and ticking are recycled separately rather than landfilled. Mixed metal (a broken yard tool, an old set of weights, a steel shelf frame) goes to scrap and credits against the disposal portion.
What we cannot haul
Hazardous waste is outside the Washington L&I handyman scope. Paint cans (oil-based regardless of state, latex if liquid), solvents, pesticides, herbicides, automotive fluids, fluorescent tubes, mercury thermostats, propane tanks (route to a propane refilling station or a King County Hazardous Waste facility), and asbestos-suspect materials from pre-1980s homes — we name these on arrival, separate them on the floor, and tell you which King County Hazardous Waste facility takes which stream. The Auburn, Factoria, and Argo Recycling facilities accept household hazardous waste from King County residents at no charge for residential quantities.
How a Cleanout Visit Works
Five sequential steps from the walk-through through the final disposal manifest — the actual sequence we follow on every Handis garage and basement cleanout.
Walk the Space With Homeowner First
We walk the garage or basement with you before any item moves. You point to what stays and what goes, we identify special-handling items (refrigeration appliances, E-waste, mattresses, hazardous waste). No decisions are forced. Items you are still deciding on get a hold corner of the keep pile.
Sort Onto a Tarped Staging Area
A drop cloth in the middle of the floor becomes the sort zone. Four labeled piles — keep, donate, E-waste, haul. The two-person crew works the perimeter shelves and stacks first and stages items into the right pile as it goes. You stay in the room and answer questions as they come up.
Refrigerant Recovery and Hazardous-Waste Separation
Any fridge, freezer, window AC, or dehumidifier gets its refrigerant recovered on the floor next to the unit by an EPA Section 608-certified tech before it moves. Hazardous-waste items (paint, solvents, fluorescent tubes, propane tanks, suspect-age materials) get separated on the floor with a note on which King County Hazardous Waste facility takes each stream — those do not load on our truck.
Load the Truck and Run the Donation Drops
Donation-ready items go to a Northwest Center or Goodwill drop on the route with the tax receipt requested in your name. E-waste goes to the E-Cycle Washington certified recycler. Mattresses go to the King County mattress recycling line. Mixed metal goes to a scrap yard for credit against the disposal portion.
Disposal at a Licensed Transfer Station + Manifest
The balance goes to the closest licensed Puget Sound transfer station (King County Bow Lake, Houghton, Factoria, Shoreline Recycling and Transfer, Algona; Snohomish County North Recycling and Transfer). The job ends with a written disposal manifest — what stream each portion went to, scale-ticket weights, donation drop receipts, and any EPA 608 recovery documentation for refrigeration appliances.
Cleanout Pricing
Final pricing depends on the square footage of the space, the volume of items, how much sort decision the homeowner needs to make in real time, refrigerant recovery on refrigeration appliances, stair carry-out from a basement, and the truckload count to the transfer station. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Send a photo of the space and we will quote the day, the truckloads, and the disposal streams.
Why Handis for Garage & Basement Cleanouts
Most garage and basement cleanouts stall on the same thing — not the lifting, not the sorting, but the decision. The pile that ends up half-on-the-truck-and-half-back-in-the-corner is the pile that is still there a year from now. We work the lifting fast and the decisions at your pace, with a hold corner of the keep pile for the items you are still deciding on. After a few hundred Seattle-area garage and basement cleanouts, the pattern is consistent — homeowners want the truck to leave with one decision per item and zero pressure on the ones not ready to be made.
The walk first, the sort second, the haul last
We do not start loading the truck on arrival. We walk the space with you first, identify the items that need special handling, set up the tarped sort zone in the middle of the floor, and only then start moving items. The walk-and-sort discipline is what makes the day feel calm instead of frantic — the difference between a cleanout that finishes by 3 PM and the same job that runs into the evening because everything was loaded first and then half of it had to come back off.
E-Cycle Washington for E-waste, not the curb
Monitors, televisions (CRT and LCD), printers, laptops, tablets, and computer towers route to an E-Cycle Washington certified recycler — required by Washington state law under RCW 70.95N. The certified recyclers handle the lead, mercury, and circuit-board components correctly; the curb does not. The E-waste pile lives in a labeled bin during the sort and rides to the recycler on the route to the transfer station.
King County mattress recycling, not landfill
Mattresses and box springs route to the King County mattress recycling line where the foam, springs, and ticking are recycled separately rather than landfilled. The line accepts mattresses in any state (stained, broken-frame, partially decomposed are all fine — clean enough for donation goes to the donation drop instead). On a basement cleanout with one or two old mattresses, the recycling portion adds about thirty minutes to the route and keeps a four-by-eight piece of foam out of the landfill.
EPA Section 608 refrigerant recovery on every refrigeration appliance
Every fridge, freezer, window AC, and dehumidifier in the cleanout gets its refrigerant recovered by an EPA Section 608-certified technician before the unit leaves the basement or the garage. Federal law under 40 CFR Part 82 Subpart F — not an upcharge, the only legal way to scrap a refrigeration appliance. The recovery happens on the floor next to the unit with a certified recovery machine and is documented on the disposal manifest with the tech's certification number.
Insured, background-checked, written manifest on every job
Every Handis crew member carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening before the first job — particularly load-bearing on the unattended portion of a cleanout when the homeowner leaves the crew alone with the space for a few hours. Every job ends with a written disposal manifest — what stream each portion went to, donation drop receipts, EPA 608 recovery documentation on refrigeration appliances, and scale-ticket weights. Nothing leaves your driveway without a paper trail.
Estimate
Tell us the space (single-bay garage, two-bay garage, partial basement, full basement, or both), the rough volume (mostly empty, half-full, full, packed), whether there are refrigeration appliances or mattresses in the load, whether stair carry-out is involved, and whether the cleanout is for a sale, an estate, a move, or just a reset. We send a clear estimate.
Customer Reviews
Recent garage and basement cleanout reviews from verified Seattle-area customers.
Single-bay garage in Greenwood that had become a storage unit since the pandemic. Two guys spent half a day, walked through every shelf with me first, sorted into four piles on a drop cloth, drove the donation pile to Northwest Center and brought back the receipt by email that afternoon, then took the rest to Houghton. I could walk in the garage again by 3 PM.
Full basement of a 1968 split-level we just bought. Previous owners left forty years of furniture, four mattresses, three TVs, a chest freezer, and a workshop bench. Handis ran a full day with two trucks. Refrigerant recovery on the freezer happened on the basement floor — the tech showed me his EPA card. Mattresses went to King County recycling, TVs to the E-waste recycler, donation furniture to Goodwill. Manifest emailed by 6 PM.
Two-car detached garage on a tear-down lot. We needed it cleared for the demo crew. Crew showed up at 8 AM, worked through lunch, had two truckloads to Bow Lake by 4. Pulled all the metal — old yard tools, a bike frame, a busted weight set — to scrap and credited it back on the invoice. Came back to a swept floor.
Partial basement cleanout — finished family room my brother-in-law had been storing his stuff in for three years before he moved out. Half-day, two guys, carry up the basement stairs, donation drop on the way out. The crew was patient with me on the items I was still deciding on; nothing pressured.
Garage and basement combined — selling the house in three weeks and needed both clear for staging. Day and a half. The crew walked both spaces with the agent and us first, sorted on the floors, donation drops mid-day. We were under the wire and they kept pace without rushing the decisions. House staged on schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Handis garage and basement cleanouts — pricing, sort process, donation drops, E-waste, mattress recycling, refrigerant recovery, and what we cannot haul.