Short answer: a whole-house cleanout in St. Petersburg usually costs $399 to $1,260 if you rent a dumpster and load it yourself: one 20-yard container is from $399 with 1 ton of disposal included on our Light Load plan, or $530 with 3 tons on Standard; a 30-yard is from $459 with 1 ton, or $630 with 4 tons on Standard; and a packed house sometimes takes two. A full house usually weighs about 2.2 tons, so Standard is normally the better deal for this job. If you want us to do the carrying, full-service junk removal is $50 per cubic yard of truck space with a $150 minimum, so a house that fills 20 cubic yards is about $1,000 and one that fills 40 is about $2,000. Doing it entirely yourself is cheapest on paper: the Pinellas County Solid Waste Disposal Complex charges $63.57 per ton as of October 1, 2026, and the City of St. Petersburg hauls the first 3 cubic yards of furniture free. The catch is the trips, the lifting and the week it takes.
The price depends on how much is in the house, how heavy it is, and who does the carrying. Our prices below are our published flat rates, every county and city fee links to its official page, and the job figures come from our own records for January to October 2026.
What does a whole-house cleanout cost with a dumpster?
For most St. Petersburg houses the right container is a 20-yard dumpster: from $399 with 1 ton of disposal on our Light Load plan, or $530 with 3 tons on Standard, 18 by 7.5 by 5.5 feet, delivery and pickup included. It is also the size St. Pete homeowners order most: of the 180 rentals we started in St. Petersburg this year, 54 were 20-yards, ahead of the 30-yard (51), 10-yard (48) and 15-yard (27). The 30-yard is from $459 with 1 ton on Light Load, or $630 with 4 tons on Standard, and holds half again as much, so it fits a large house, a house plus a full garage and shed, or a home that has not been cleared in decades.
Two things can push the bill above the flat rate. Weight over the included tonnage is $95 per ton for homeowners, and extra days past the 2-day rental plus one free day are $25 per day. Neither comes up much on a household cleanout: in our own job records the average 20-yard load weighs about 2.2 tons, under the 3 tons included on Standard (and over the 1 ton on Light Load, which is why we point house cleanouts to Standard), and the typical rental this year lasted 4 days, with three out of four containers picked up within a week. Tile, pavers, roofing and books by the hundred do add weight, so tell us if the house has a lot of those.
If the house is truly full, plan on two loads. Two 20-yards run $1,060 and two 30-yards run $1,260, which is where the top of our range comes from. We run swaps, and delivery in St. Petersburg is usually within 24 hours and often the same afternoon.
What does it cost to have the junk loaded for you?
Our junk removal price is $50 per cubic yard of truck space, $150 minimum, and that includes the labor, the carry-out from anywhere in the house, taking apart anything that will not fit through a door, and the disposal fees. A cubic yard is roughly the size of a washing machine. A lightly furnished two-bedroom might be 10 to 15 cubic yards, so $500 to $750. A full three-bedroom with a garage is more often 20 to 30 cubic yards, so $1,000 to $1,500. A house that has not been emptied in 30 years can pass 40 cubic yards, and at that point a dumpster for the bulk plus a crew for the heavy pieces costs less than paying by the yard for everything.
People pay the extra for time. A crew usually clears a house in a day; a family doing it on weekends takes two or three. Usable furniture is donated first and metal, cardboard and electronics are pulled out for recycling before anything goes to the landfill.
What does it cost to do the whole thing yourself?
Less, if you have a truck, help and time. The Pinellas County Solid Waste Disposal Complex at 3095 114th Avenue North charges $63.57 per ton as of October 1, 2026, and a pickup truck or van load is a flat $11.75. It is open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday, and without an account you pay a 35 percent deposit on your loaded weight up front. Two tons of household junk would cost roughly $127 in fees, but a pickup bed holds only a few cubic yards, so a 20-cubic-yard house is many trips across town, each loaded and unloaded by hand.
St. Petersburg residents also have free options worth using first. The city’s special pickup takes up to 3 cubic yards of furniture, carpet and appliances at no charge, plus up to two doors, two windows, two kitchen cabinets, five tires and five car batteries, and charges $25.65 per cubic yard beyond that. Request it through SeeClickFix or call 727-893-7398. The city’s five brush and recycling sites accept yard waste, appliances and mixed metal from residents with a Florida license showing a city address, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. seven days a week. Our guide to what the city will and will not pick up walks through the limits. One special pickup clears a room’s big furniture, not a house, which is why the free route and a paid route usually work together.
What makes one cleanout cost twice as much as another?
Volume is the obvious one. Stairs and distance matter for junk removal because every piece is carried. Sorting matters for both routes: a house where the family has already pulled the keepsakes goes fast; one where every box has to be opened goes slowly. And hazardous items matter because neither we nor the county landfill will take them in a load.
That last group trips people up. Paint, solvents, fuel, pesticides, pool chemicals and propane tanks cannot go in a dumpster or on our truck. The county’s Household Hazardous Waste Center at 2855 109th Avenue North takes them free from Pinellas households, Tuesday through Friday and the first and third Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a limit of 20 one-gallon and 5 five-gallon paint containers per visit. The center does not take electronics; the county says non-rechargeable electronics may go in the regular garbage or to the disposal complex for a fee, but anything with a rechargeable battery must stay out of the trash. Our guide to what can and cannot go in a dumpster has the full list.
What about the garage, the attic and the storage unit?
A garage cleanout on its own is usually a 10- or 15-yard job, from $319 or $349 on Light Load, or $380 or $430 with 2 or 2.5 tons on Standard, because garages hold heavy things: tools, leftover tile, a dead water heater. As part of a whole-house cleanout, the garage is the reason to step up to a 30-yard. Load the heavy items first and spread them across the floor of the container.
An attic cleanout is the opposite problem: light but awkward. Everything comes down a ladder or pull-down stair, slow and hot in a St. Pete attic most of the year. On a junk removal job the crew does the ladder work; on a dumpster job, give yourself a cool morning and two people, one up and one down.
A storage unit cleanout is almost always a junk removal job, because storage facilities rarely allow a roll-off on the property. A 10 by 10 unit stacked halfway to the ceiling holds about 15 cubic yards, so at $50 per yard a unit that is a third to half full runs roughly $500 to $750 and takes a couple of hours.
What should come out of the house before anything is hauled?
Do this first and the cleanout gets cheaper whichever route you pick. Pull paperwork, photos, jewelry and medications, and check drawers and the backs of closets; cash and documents turn up inside furniture on estate cleanouts more often than you would think. Set aside furniture in good shape: Habitat for Humanity says most ReStores offer furniture pickup, and upholstered pieces must be free of tears, stains and pet damage, so call the local store before you count on it. Whatever is left is the real cleanout, and it is usually smaller than it looked on day one.
A foreclosure cleanout for a lender or a house you just bought skips the sorting step, so it becomes a straight volume question. A hoarding situation is the reverse, and we would rather walk it with you first than quote a number over the phone.
When is Elephants not the cheapest answer?
If the whole job fits in one city special pickup, use the city; it is free. Under about 7 cubic yards, our junk removal at $50 per yard beats a dumpster, but a friend with a truck and two trips to the county beats us both. If the house is mostly good furniture, an estate sale or a donation pickup may empty most of it at no cost. Where we win is the full house, the deadline, no truck, or a family that does not want to spend three weekends on it. For that house, one 20-yard dumpster (from $399 on Light Load, or $530 on Standard) is usually the cheapest complete answer in St. Petersburg, and a crew at $50 per yard is the fastest.
Want a number for your house?
Call or text 727-240-7033 and tell us the rooms, roughly how full they are, and whether there is a garage or shed. We will tell you which size, or whether a crew is the better buy. See dumpster rental in St. Petersburg for every size and flat price, junk removal in St. Petersburg if you want it loaded, or our house cleanout page for the full service.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to clean out a 3-bedroom house in St. Petersburg?
Most 3-bedroom houses fit one 20-yard dumpster, from $399 with 1 ton on our Light Load plan or $530 flat with 3 tons included on Standard; a packed house can need two Standard loads at $1,060. Loaded for you, a 3-bedroom is typically 20 to 30 cubic yards at $50 per yard, so $1,000 to $1,500.
Is it cheaper to rent a dumpster or hire junk removal for a house cleanout?
For a whole house, the dumpster is cheaper: from $399 for a 20-yard on Light Load ($530 on Standard) versus about $1,000 for the same 20 cubic yards loaded by a crew. Junk removal wins below about 7 cubic yards, or when you need the house empty in a day.
What does the Pinellas County dump charge for a household cleanout?
As of October 1, 2026, the Solid Waste Disposal Complex at 3095 114th Avenue North charges $63.57 per ton, or a flat $11.75 for a pickup truck or van load. Non-account customers pay a 35 percent deposit on the loaded weight and settle on the way out.
Will the City of St. Petersburg pick up furniture from a cleanout for free?
Yes, up to 3 cubic yards of furniture, carpet and appliances per special pickup, requested through SeeClickFix or 727-893-7398. Beyond that the city charges $25.65 per cubic yard, and building materials and brush are always charged.
What cannot go in the dumpster during a house cleanout?
Paint, solvents, fuel, pesticides, pool chemicals, propane tanks, asbestos and medical waste. Take paint and chemicals to the county’s Household Hazardous Waste Center at 2855 109th Avenue North, which is free for Pinellas households.
How long can I keep the dumpster for a cleanout?
The homeowner flat rate covers 2 days plus one free day, and 4-day and 7-day rentals are available. Extra days are $25 each. Across our jobs this year the typical rental ran 4 days.
