What a garage cleanout costs in Metro Detroit

The short answer

Garage cleanouts are priced by truck volume. A quarter truck of about 4 cubic yards is $241, a 3/8 truck of about 6 cubic yards is $338, and a half truck of about 8 cubic yards is $431. A packed two-car garage can need a 3/4 truck ($587) or a full truck ($732). Single items like a set of four tires ($87) or a snow blower ($71) are priced from the list, with a $100 order minimum.

Two kinds of Metro Detroit garage

The detached garage off the alley. Common in Detroit's pre-war neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs like Ferndale, Royal Oak and Hamtramck. Usually one or one-and-a-half cars wide, often with a dirt or cracked concrete floor, a leaky roof and decades of storage. Access is from the alley or a long side drive.

The attached suburban garage. The two- and three-car garages of 1970s to 1990s colonials in Troy, Sterling Heights, Canton and Novi, and newer builds in Macomb Township. Bigger, cleaner, and often under HOA rules about what can sit in the driveway.

Both fill up the same way: what did not fit in the basement goes to the garage.

What is in a Detroit garage

• Tires. Winter and summer sets, swapped twice a year, and the old ones never leave. Detroit's bulk program excludes tires.
• Auto parts and fluids. Also excluded from city bulk. Fluids are hazardous; ask before including them.
• Snow blowers and shovels, including the one that has not started since the last big winter.
• Lawn equipment: mowers, trimmers, a rusted wheelbarrow.
• Returnable cans and bottles. Michigan's 10-cent deposit means bags of returnables pile up. Set them aside and return them.
• Paint. Accepted: $30 per gallon can, $52 per 5-gallon bucket.

Truck-fill tiers

Rough guide: the back half of a one-car garage, piled to shoulder height, is around a quarter truck. A one-car garage filled wall to wall is around a half truck. A two-car garage filled to the point that no car has been in it for years is often a 3/4 or full truck.

Garage item prices

A small clear-out of two sets of tires, a dead snow blower and a mower: $87 + $87 + $71 + $65 = $310.

Three garages, priced

• Hamtramck, detached one-car off the alley. Narrow lot, garage door that no longer opens, everything coming out the side door. Boxes, two old bikes, a set of tires and a broken grill, filling about a quarter of a truck: $241 for the tier, with the tires and grill counted inside it.
• Royal Oak, one-and-a-half-car with a loft. Paint cans, a workbench, shelving and lawn gear. The loft adds volume people forget about. Usually a 3/8 truck at $338 or a half truck at $431, depending on the loft.
• Troy, two-car attached. Fifteen years of a family's sports gear, a chest freezer, a riding mower and a dozen moving boxes from the last relocation. Often a 3/4 truck at $587.

Just a few heavy pieces instead? A riding mower, a chest freezer and a workbench are $152 + $146 + $100 = $398.

What the curb can and cannot do

The City of Detroit's weekly bulk pickup takes up to 2 cubic yards a week, about the size of two stoves, at the front curb by 7 a.m. It excludes tires, auto parts, fluids, concrete, brick, shingles, metal poles and pipes, and tree trunks. Outlier Media reported in 2022 that exceeding the limit can bring a $1,500 fine.

For an alley garage, that means carrying everything around the house to the front. A quarter truck, about 4 cubic yards, is twice the weekly curb allowance in one visit, loaded straight from the garage.

Warren residents also have the city recycling center, which takes furniture, appliances and limited construction debris. Dearborn residents can use the free DPW drop-off on the third Saturday of each month.

An hour of prep that keeps the price accurate

1. Pull the car out and open the door fully, so photos show the back wall.
2. Take four photos: each wall, plus the rafters or loft. Add close-ups of anything heavy like a freezer, safe or tool chest.
3. Bag the returnables and set aside anything you are keeping.
4. Group fluids separately. Gas cans, oil and antifreeze are handled case by case; paint is fine.
5. Clear the alley approach. In winter, shovel the apron so the crew can reach the door; in summer, check for overgrown brush.
6. Tell us about access. Alley-only, a side door, a locked gate or an HOA rule on parking.

When to do it

Spring thaw, April through June, is when Metro Detroit clears garages, and it is when you can see what the winter did. Late fall, before the snow blower needs to come out, is the second window. Same-day pickup is available when you book by 4 PM. Get a price from a photo. For timing, see the best time to schedule junk removal in Detroit.

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