What an apartment cleanout costs in Tampa

The short answer

Two ways to buy it. Name the items, or buy a fraction of the truck.

Minimum visit is $75. If the unit is nearly empty and it is just a sofa at $126 and a queen mattress at $103, itemize instead — that is $126 + $103 = $229, which beats a quarter truck.

The crossover point

Count your named items. If the total of the individual prices is under $241, itemize. If it is over, buy the truck fraction.

A realistic Westshore one-bedroom: sofa $126, queen mattress $103, box spring $92, bed frame $68, coffee table $67, TV stand $96, office chair $61. Itemized that is $126 + $103 + $92 + $68 + $67 + $96 + $61 = $613. A three-quarter truck is $587 and a half truck is $431. If it all actually fits in half a truck — and a one-bedroom's furniture usually does — you save real money by buying the fraction.

This is the single most useful thing to understand about apartment pricing. The item list is for small jobs. The ladder is for whole units.

The USF and Fowler Avenue problem

The student complexes around Fowler Avenue, in Temple Terrace and across New Tampa run on a hard calendar. Leases end on the same day. The complex dumpsters are posted against bulky items and the management team is watching them at exactly the moment four hundred people want to use them.

What actually happens: a mattress appears beside the dumpster, the complex charges someone for it, and the roommates argue about who. A twin is $82 and a full is $94 on our list, so pricing it properly is cheaper than an improper-disposal fee you did not budget for.

Book the window early in move-out week. The last two days before a lease-end Friday are the worst time to try to get anything done anywhere near Fowler Avenue.

Third-floor walk-ups and garden apartments

South Tampa, Carrollwood and Town 'n' Country are full of two- and three-story garden-apartment complexes from the sixties and seventies with exterior stairs, no elevator, and an open breezeway. Those stairs are typically a straight run with a landing, which is actually fine for furniture, but there is no shelter — if it is raining you are carrying wet.

There is no stair charge. A sofa from a third-floor walk-up is the same $126 as one in a ground-floor unit. We priced the item.

What does help: clear the breezeway and the stairwell of bikes and planters before the crew arrives, and tell us at booking which floor you are on so the right number of people show up.

Towers, loading docks and service elevators

If your apartment is in a tower — downtown, the Channel District, Harbor Island, Water Street, the Westshore corridor, or across the bay in downtown St. Pete or on Clearwater Beach — the building sets the terms.

Expect: a required certificate of insurance naming the association or management company, a reserved service-elevator window, loading-dock access instead of the main entrance, and often a rule that moves cannot happen on weekends or after a certain hour.

Request the COI and the elevator slot before you book the pickup, not after. In the busier downtown Tampa buildings the elevator booking runs several days out. We provide the insurance documentation buildings ask for; what we cannot do is conjure an elevator slot on the morning of.

The balcony and lanai load

Almost every Tampa apartment has outdoor space, and almost every outdoor space has furniture that has been sitting in the sun, the salt air and the summer rain for three years.

Patio table $89. Patio chairs $30 each. Charcoal grill $59, propane grill $71. A small area rug $33, a large one $68. A four-chair balcony set is $89 + $30 + $30 + $30 + $30 = $209.

Do not assume the next tenant wants it. Sun-bleached resin furniture that has been through three Tampa summers is not a gift, it is a chore you are handing to somebody else. And if you are leaving in hurricane season, loose balcony furniture is exactly what building management will send you a letter about.

Seasonal and short-term rental turnovers

A large share of Bay area apartment cleanouts are not people moving — they are units turning over between seasonal tenants, especially the April wave when winter residents head north.

Those are usually partial clear-outs: the mattress and box spring set at $143, a loveseat at $119, a dining table for two to four at $103 and four dining chairs at $45 each. That comes to $143 + $119 + $103 + $45 + $45 + $45 + $45 = $545, against a three-quarter truck at $587 and a five-eighths at $513. On that list, the five-eighths truck is the better buy if it fits.

If you are a property manager and not on site, tell us at booking and we will coordinate access through the building or the lockbox.

What to do before the truck arrives

Four things, none of them heavy lifting.

• Separate what stays. Put keeps in one room with the door shut. Crews clear what they are shown.
• Empty the appliances. A mini fridge is $115 and it should not be full when it leaves.
• Check the lease. Some Tampa complexes require you to notify the office before any removal vehicle uses the loading zone.
• Book the elevator. If you are in a tower, this is the long-lead item, not the truck.

Then the visit itself is straightforward. You point, it goes, you pay the number you already saw.

Frequently asked questions