Fairmount / Art Museum
Basement Cleanout in
Fairmount / Art Museum
Thirty years of the cellar — the replaced sofa, the dead washer, the damp boxes stacked to the joists, the paint cans and holiday bins nobody wants to touch. In a 19130 rowhouse there's no driveway and no easy way out, just a narrow set of stairs and the front door. We go down, carry it all up, and load it to a curbside truck for one flat price from $241 you approve from a photo. No stairs surcharge, no PA sales tax on the service.
How a Fairmount basement cleanout works
1 · Photograph the basement
Stand at the bottom of the stairs and send a couple of wide shots. You don't have to move a thing or guess what's down there — the pile in the corner counts too.
2 · Get a flat truck-fill price
We scope it to a quarter, half, three-quarter or full truck and send back one flat number — the carry-up, the drive and disposal all inside it. No walkthrough, no hourly meter.
3 · We empty it in a visit
A vetted, insured crew takes the cellar stairs, carries everything up and out the front, donates what's usable and recycles the metal. You've got your basement back by the afternoon.
How much does a basement cleanout cost in Fairmount?
A basement is priced by how much of the truck it fills, quoted flat from your photos before anyone shows up. For a benchmark, Homeyou pegs the average Philadelphia junk-removal job around $231–$242 — a single-item number; a full cellar is a truck-fill job, and the ladder below is the real price. Labor, the carry-up those brutal stairs, the drive and the dump fees are all already in it.
| Load | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Quarter truck — a corner of the cellar | $241 |
| Half truck — a typical cleared basement | $431 |
| Three-quarter truck — basement + attic | $587 |
| Full truck — whole-home / deep cellar | $732 |
Single pieces, if that's all you've got:
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Sofa / couch | $126 |
| Sleeper sofa | $149 |
| Dresser | $126 |
| Refrigerator | $164 |
| Washer or dryer | $128–$133 |
| Queen mattress | $103 |
$75 minimum. Basement stairs and no-driveway front-door carries are included — no surcharge. Clearing the attic in the same trip? Send a photo of both and we'll price the lot as one load. No PA sales tax on the service.
4 ways to clear a Fairmount basement
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| City curbside bulk (trash day) | Free | Weeks — two items at a time | Two-item limit per collection; you haul every piece up your own stairs and ration it out over many trash days |
| Rent a truck & self-haul to a convenience center | Van rental + fuel | A weekend | Philly residents only, proof required; you do all the lifting, loading and the two trips |
| Traditional full-service hauler | $400–800+ | 2–3 days out | In-home estimate, a wide arrival window, and you have to be home |
| JunkRabbit | From $241 flat | Same day | None — photo quote, we carry it up, you do nothing |
Does the City of Philadelphia clear out a basement?
No — and this is exactly where Fairmount homeowners get stuck. The city collects bulk at the curb on your regular trash day, but there's a hard two-item limit per collection, and large appliances need a separate appointment through Philly 311 (dial 3-1-1, or 215-686-8686) — six-unit-or-smaller homes only, up to four items, scheduled days out and curbside. A basement holding decades of accumulation is neither two items nor a curb job. You'd be carrying every box, chair and dead appliance up your own cellar stairs, rationing it two pieces a week for a month, and living with a sidewalk pile in between. The city's six sanitation convenience centers are drop-off only, resident-hauled — no help getting anything out of the house.
Our lane is precisely what that program isn't: same-day, inside-the-home, multi-item, one visit. We do the stairs, we do the loading, and it's gone the same trip — no two-item rationing, no month-long sidewalk vigil, no rented van in front of a rowhouse with nowhere to park it.
What comes out of a Fairmount cellar
- The old furniture — the sofa that got replaced, a broken recliner, the dresser and bed frame that migrated downstairs years ago.
- Dead appliances — a retired washer, dryer, freezer or fridge that's been humming (or not) in the corner; refrigerant units have the freon recovered before disposal.
- Damp boxes & stored goods — water-stained cardboard, musty holiday bins, old paperwork and the accumulation of a house held for decades.
- Workshop & hobby leftovers — a workbench, tools, scrap lumber, half-used paint cans and the project that never happened.
- The attic too — while the crew's in the house, the top-floor storage comes down and out on the same load.
Where it goes after it leaves the basement
A basement clear-out is rarely all trash. Furniture and household goods still in usable shape are routed to Philadelphia donation partners — Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, the Salvation Army and Vietnam Veterans of America — so a decent dresser or a working appliance furnishes another home instead of a landfill, and you can get a donation receipt. Old televisions, monitors and computers are diverted to e-waste recycling as Pennsylvania's Covered Device Recycling Act requires — they can't go in the trash. Metal is recycled, and only the true remainder is disposed. Disposal is already inside your flat price, with no separate dump fee and no PA sales tax on top.
The narrow-stair carry, handled
A Fairmount basement cleanout is a carrying job, not a curb grab, and that's the whole reason curbside services and the city's two-item program leave you stranded. These are two- and three-story brick rows off the Ben Franklin Parkway with steep, tight-turn cellar stairs, a full basement below grade, and no driveway or rear alley — the only exit is up and out the front. Our crews bring the muscle and the technique to walk a sleeper sofa or a dead washer up a Philly cellar staircase, work the scarce, permit-parked side streets so the truck is staged and the carry stays short, and keep drop cloths on the floors on the way through. Damp, mildewed or heavy doesn't change the price — the hard part is exactly what the flat quote already covers.
When Fairmount calls for a basement cleanout
- Finally reclaiming the cellar — years of "we'll deal with it later," done in an afternoon.
- Selling or settling a parent's rowhouse — basement to attic emptied before it lists, good pieces donated.
- A new buyer inheriting the last owner's junk — the previous life of the house, gone before you move in.
- Renovation prep — the basement has to be empty before the contractor or the waterproofer starts.
- An upgrade with a heavy leftover — a new appliance lands and the old one has to come up from below grade the same day.
Why Fairmount chooses JunkRabbit
- Flat price from a photo — the truck-fill number you approve is the number you pay; no in-home estimate, no PA sales tax.
- We carry it up — full-service from the cellar, not curbside; you don't touch the stairs.
- Built for the rowhouse — narrow interior stairs, no driveway, permit-parked blocks all handled.
- Same-day when a slot's open, with donation and recycling included.
What Fairmount customers say
"Our basement off Fairmount Ave hadn't been touched since we bought the house — damp boxes, a dead freezer, furniture piled to the ceiling. They carried every bit up those tight cellar stairs and out the front. No driveway, no problem. One flat price, gone by mid-afternoon."
"We were selling my mom's rowhouse near the Art Museum and needed the whole cellar and attic cleared before the listing. They scoped it from photos, filled the truck, and donated the good furniture. Respectful, quick, and no sales tax on the bill."
"Just wanted an old washer and a mildewed sofa gone from the basement. Priced it from a photo, showed up on time, walked both up the stairs without scuffing a wall. Didn't lift a finger."
Fairmount basement cleanout questions, answered
How much does a basement cleanout cost in Fairmount?
It's truck-fill priced and quoted flat from photos: quarter load $241, half $431, three-quarter $587, full truck $732. Single pieces have their own price (sofa $126, fridge $164, dresser $126). $75 minimum, disposal included, no PA sales tax.
Do you carry it up the stairs?
Yes — that's the job. The crew takes the narrow cellar stairs, carries everything up, and out the front. No stairs surcharge; it's in the flat price.
There's no driveway on my block — is that a problem?
Not at all. Almost no Fairmount row has one. Everything comes out the front to a truck on the street, and we handle the parking.
The boxes are damp and some things are mildewed — will you still take it?
Yes. Old cardboard, water-stained furniture and musty stored goods are normal for a Philly cellar. We bag and haul it — no sorting or drying out first.
Does the city clear out a basement?
No — the two-item curbside limit and the 311 appliance appointment are curbside, per-item and days-out. We're the same-day, inside-the-home, one-visit alternative.
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