How much does a storage unit cleanout cost?
By unit size and by how full the unit is, and both are on this page. A 10x10 packed wall to wall is $595; the same unit at waist height is $275. That is the whole pricing model, and it is published on purpose — no national junk-removal company publishes per-unit-size storage rates, which means every other quote in this market starts with a phone call and a site visit.
The reason the range within one unit size is so wide is that storage units are cubes and people fill them to wildly different heights. A 10x10 filled to the ceiling holds roughly twice what the same unit holds at chest height, so a single flat price per size would have to be set high enough to cover the worst case, which overcharges everyone else. Two numbers — size and fill — get to a fair price without anyone driving out to look.
Rates are set about 12 percent under the regional junk-removal benchmark, and stair, fuel and dump surcharges are waived on storage work, which is the part that usually inflates a competitor invoice after the fact. Material surcharges still apply: mattresses and box springs are +$25 each, refrigerant appliances +$40, tires +$8, and paint, electronics and regulated items are passed through at disposal cost with no markup.
Rate card — by unit size and fill level
- 5x5 — light $105 · standard $165 · packed $230
- 5x10 — light $170 · standard $265 · packed $370
- 10x10 — light $275 · standard $425 · packed $595
- 10x15 — light $350 · standard $535 · packed $750
- 10x20 — light $420 · standard $650 · packed $910
- 10x30 — light $750 · standard $1,150 · packed $1,610
What do light, standard and packed actually mean?
They are an eyeball test from the doorway, not a percentage anyone has to estimate. Light means you can step inside and the floor shows, with the contents waist high or lower. Standard means it is packed but the back wall is still visible and the stack is about chest high. Packed means wall to wall and floor to ceiling, and you cannot step in.
Those three descriptions were chosen because they are checkable from a single photo taken standing in the door, which is the only thing a facility manager or an out-of-state owner can reliably provide. There is no measuring, no cubic-yard estimate, and no argument about whether something is 60 or 70 percent full. If a unit sits genuinely between two tiers, the lower tier is what gets quoted.
A note on why this is not priced off the unit's cubic volume: a 10x10 is roughly 29.6 gross cubic yards, but the load that actually comes out of one is closer to 7 or 8 cubic yards on the trailer, because household goods are mostly air. Pricing off gross volume badly overquotes a real unit, which is one reason so few companies publish storage numbers at all.
Do you need me there to open the unit?
No, and most storage cleanouts run without the owner present. What is needed is gate access and lock authority — either the gate code and the unit unlocked, or a facility manager who can let the crew in. For a tenant clearing their own unit, leaving the lock off and texting the gate code is enough.
The price is confirmed in writing before anyone rolls, which is what makes remote work safe on both sides. Unit size plus one doorway photo goes out, the tier and the price come back in writing, and that number is what gets invoiced. Photos go out from the empty unit when the job is done, so the person who was never there can see the floor.
Payment is due when the unit is clear. Cash, check and Zelle carry no fee and cards add 3.5 percent, so remote jobs almost always settle by Zelle. For facilities running multiple units, there is a monthly invoice option covered further down.
Which items in a storage unit cost extra?
The same four categories that apply to any haul, and they are the ones that turn up in storage constantly. Mattresses and box springs are +$25 each, which matters because a unit that held a bedroom often holds two or three. Refrigerant appliances are +$40 each, covering fridges, freezers, window AC units and dehumidifiers. Tires are +$8 each. Paint, electronics and other regulated items go through at disposal cost with nothing added on top.
Those are not markups, they are pass-throughs on rules that apply to the disposal site rather than to the hauler. North Carolina bans televisions, computers, monitors, printers and most peripherals from landfills statewide, so a unit holding an old office setup routes to a registered electronics recycler. Scrap tires are banned from NC landfills too. Lithium-ion batteries join that list on December 1, 2026, which is worth knowing on any unit that has been sitting since a move.
What is not charged extra on storage work is as important. Stairs, fuel and dump surcharges are all waived, including on upper-floor units and units at the far end of a long corridor. Those are the standard places a competitor invoice grows after the quote, and removing them is the point.
- Mattress or box spring: +$25 each
- Refrigerant appliance (fridge, freezer, window AC, dehumidifier): +$40 each
- Tire: +$8 each
- Paint, electronics and regulated items: passed through at disposal cost, no markup
- Waived on storage work: stair fees, fuel surcharges, dump surcharges
- Never hauled at any price: fuel, motor oil, solvents, pesticides, propane and pressurized tanks, ammunition, asbestos, lead paint waste, medical or biohazard waste
Can you clear a unit before an auction or a lien deadline?
Yes, and that is a large share of this work. Auction week is the pressure point for every facility in the metro: units sell, buyers pull what they want, and what is left has to be out before the unit can be rented again. Same-day and next-day slots are held for auction weeks on facility accounts, and same-day or emergency scheduling on a one-off unit adds $40.
For a facility manager the practical version is that the unit number, the size and one doorway photo produce a written price, and the unit is empty and rentable rather than sitting through another cycle. For an auction buyer, the leftover half of a unit is usually a light or standard tier and prices accordingly — often $105 to $265 on the small sizes.
North Carolina self-storage lien law and the South Carolina equivalent both put the burden of clearing and re-renting on the facility after a sale, so speed is money on those units. Nothing here is legal advice on a lien process; it is only the removal side of it, done on a schedule that matches the sale.
Do you work with storage facility managers directly?
Yes, and there is a free facility account for it with no minimum and no contract. The part managers care about is standing authorization: any single unit up to $500 gets cleared on a text, with no separate approval, no purchase order and no waiting on a district manager.
The account also carries 10 percent off the card rates above from the first unit, held capacity during auction weeks, and one monthly invoice on Net 15 terms instead of a payment per unit. Photos, a broom sweep, a refrigerant statement and document shredding are included rather than line-itemed, which removes the four things that usually generate a follow-up email.
Volume is applied automatically on the monthly invoice, so there is nothing to negotiate: one to three units in a month takes 10 percent off, four to seven takes 15 percent, and eight or more takes 20 percent. Mount N Muscle is owner-operated out of Steele Creek and holds a 5.0 rating across 60+ Google reviews. To open an account, text 704-237-0164 with the facility name.
- No minimum, no contract, free to open
- Standing authorization on any single unit up to $500 — cleared on a text
- 10 percent off card rates from the first unit
- Auction-week capacity held
- One monthly invoice, Net 15
- Photos, broom sweep, refrigerant statement and document shredding included
- Automatic monthly volume tiers: 1–3 units 10 percent, 4–7 units 15 percent, 8+ units 20 percent
How do I get a price without meeting anyone?
Text the unit size and one photo taken from the doorway to 704-237-0164. A tier and a firm price come back in writing, usually within the hour, and that written number is what gets invoiced. No estimator appointment and no range that firms up later. It is an estimate until we are standing at the unit, and it becomes the quote the moment we confirm it there.
Travel is built into the number we quote — one price for the job, not a job price with a trip charge added on top. The price is confirmed before any work starts. Mount N Muscle serves all 16 cities across the Charlotte metro from a base in Steele Creek, so a unit at a facility on the far side of that footprint gets the same flat quote as one across town, with no separate mileage line to work out before the crew rolls.
If the job is smaller than a unit — a few items pulled out of a shared space, or one piece left behind after a sale — that is ordinary junk removal and starts at the $95 single-item price instead. Either way the quote is free and confirmed before anything moves.