Return the garage to the household.

What does a garage cleanout involve?

The crew works from the door inward, pulling items out in the order they come, sorting as they go: donation, recycling, disposal, and a fourth pile for anything you have asked us to leave. You do not need to pre-stage anything on the driveway — moving everything twice is the part that makes people put the job off for another year.

What comes out of a North Shore garage is remarkably consistent: patio furniture from two houses ago, a mountain bike nobody has ridden since the kids left, paint cans from a renovation in the previous decade, camping gear, broken yard tools, the boxes that were carried in on moving day and never opened. The garage cleanout cost guide walks through a real one, item by item.

How much does a garage cleanout cost?

By volume, like every other load. A single garage that is full but walkable is usually a half truck, roughly $269–319. One packed to the door, where nothing has come out in a decade, reaches three-quarters, roughly $369–439. A double garage cleared completely is often a full truck, roughly $449–549. Shelving and workbenches that have to be dismantled add crew time; a floor of loose boxes does not.

Photos are what make that number firm before anyone arrives — a wide shot from the open door plus a close-up of anything heavy. The cost guide prices a typical North Vancouver garage end to end, and the general price breakdown shows how the fractions compare.

How long does a garage cleanout take?

Two to four hours for most single garages, half a day for a packed double. The variable is almost never the volume — it is the sorting. A garage where you already know what stays takes the low end; a garage where every box has to be opened and asked about takes the high end. If you can spare twenty minutes at the start to point at what is definitely going, the rest moves fast.

What should I sort before you arrive?

Nothing, strictly speaking. But three things are worth pulling aside if you have an evening free, because each one genuinely lowers the bill or the risk:

• Anything sellable or donatable you want to handle yourself — working power tools, decent bikes, unused camping gear. Items that leave the load shrink the truck fraction you are paying for.
• Paint, solvents, fuel, propane cylinders and pool chemicals. These need dedicated depots and cannot go in the truck; set them in one corner and we will tell you which depot takes them.
• Documents and anything personal. Garages hide old tax files and photographs in boxes that look like nothing, and once a load is on the truck it is gone.

What happens to what comes out?

Reuse and recycle first, landfill last. Usable tools, bikes, sporting goods and furniture go to local charities and thrift partners when condition allows. Scrap metal, which garages produce more of than anything, recycles free and is separated out. Wood, cardboard and electronics go to their own streams. What is genuinely finished goes to the North Shore Recycling & Waste Centre, where it is weighed and charged by the tonne — and that fee is already inside the quote.

Clearing more than the garage in one visit is almost always cheaper than two separate ones: if the basement or the shed is on the list too, say so and it is quoted as one load. See junk removal for a mixed-space clear, or the North Vancouver page for how we handle access on this side of the water.