What it costs to clear out what you are not taking with you in Richmond

The short answer

Every move produces a residue: the sofa that will not fit the new place, the mattress you have been meaning to replace anyway, the boxes in the basement you have not opened since the last move, and a pile of bagged material at the end.

That residue is priced either by item or by truck tier, whichever is lower. Quarter truck $241, three-eighths $338, half $431, five-eighths $513, three-quarters $587, seven-eighths $661, full truck $732. Minimum $75.

Most Richmond moves leave a quarter to a half truck behind. Whole-house moves out of a West End or Ginter Park home routinely leave a full one.

Book it for the day after, not the same day

This is the single most useful piece of scheduling advice for a Richmond move.

On moving day you do not yet know what is staying. The movers have the truck, the stairs, the door and your attention, and you will not have time to decide whether the bookcase is coming. The leftover pile does not exist as a pile until the movers have gone.

Book the removal for the following morning. You walk the empty rooms, you find the things that were behind the furniture, you make one decision about all of it, and the truck takes it. Same-day double-booking in a Fan rowhouse with one staircase and one legal parking spot is a recipe for two crews waiting on each other.

Richmond's moving calendar

The metro has two real crunches and a long quiet stretch.

Late July into mid-August is the big one. Student and young-professional leases around VCU, Oregon Hill, the Fan and Carytown roll at the same time, and the suburbs move before the school year starts. Trucks, elevators and crews are all tight in that two weeks.

The end of May is the second, right after graduation, when a wave of rentals empties at once.

Everything else — autumn, winter, early spring — is easy scheduling, and considerably more pleasant work. A Richmond August move at a heat index in the high nineties, up and down a rowhouse staircase, is genuinely brutal; if you have any flexibility in a closing date, use it.

What the leftovers usually cost

A one-bedroom Fan flat, tenant leaving: sofa $126 + coffee table $67 + mattress + box spring set $143 + large area rug $68. The addition: $126 + $67 + $143 + $68 = $404. A three-eighths truck is $338, so if it fits that tier the quote is $338.

A Southside house, family moving up: sectional (3-piece) $185 + dining table (2-4 seat) $103 + four dining chairs at $45 each = $180 + bookshelf $72 + fifteen bags of debris $196. The addition: $185 + $103 + $180 + $72 + $196 = $736. A full truck is $732, so the truck tier is marginally cheaper and that is the quote.

A Short Pump garage-and-basement residue: treadmill $115 + lawn mower $65 + chest freezer $146 + ten bags of debris $132. The addition: $115 + $65 + $146 + $132 = $458. A half truck is $431, so $431 is the quote if it fits.

Access problems that change the plan, not the price

The price is fixed. What varies is how the day has to be arranged.

• Fan and Museum District. One staircase, a landing that turns, and street parking that is full from early morning. Tell us whether there is a rear alley and whether it takes a truck.
• Church Hill and Union Hill. Long exterior steps up from the sidewalk, and hills that make a loaded dolly a two-person job.
• Scott's Addition and Manchester lofts. Freight elevator with a booking window and a building manager who wants notice.
• Oregon Hill. Narrow blocks, tight doorways, and a lot of houses subdivided into rentals.
• Henrico and Chesterfield. Driveway, garage, side door. The easy end.

None of this costs extra. There is no stair charge and no walk-up fee anywhere in the pricing.

Selling and donating before you go

Worth trying, with a realistic clock on it. Richmond has an active resale market for solid wood, mid-century and period pieces, and the August turnover means there are always people furnishing a first apartment. Carytown and the shops along Broad move good condition goods.

What will not sell: flat-pack furniture with a move already on it, upholstered pieces with pet odour, anything that has spent a Richmond summer in a damp basement, large sectionals, and mattresses. Do not spend the last week before a closing date trying.

Give donation a firm deadline — say, five days before the move — and whatever has not gone by then goes on the truck. Otherwise the pile follows you to the new house.

If you are the landlord or the seller

For a rental turnover, the flat price means you can quote the clear-out cost from inspection photographs the same day, before the unit is even vacant. You do not need to be on site; a lockbox or the leasing office is enough.

For a sale, clear before the photographer. Richmond houses sell on their rooms — the proportions in a Fan rowhouse, the light in a Museum District front room, the basement space in a Northside colonial. A half-cleared room photographs as a small room.

Disposal is inside every price, so there is one invoice and no gate receipts to reconcile.

A short pre-move checklist

• Walk every room, closet, attic hatch and basement corner before the movers, and mark what is not coming.
• Set aside hazardous material — paint, solvents, fuel, propane cylinders — for household hazardous waste channels. It does not go on the truck.
• Defrost the fridge and drain the washer if appliances are being left.
• Book the removal for the morning after the move.
• Confirm parking and, in a loft building, the elevator window.

Do that and the leftovers are one number, one visit, and one less thing between you and the new address.

Frequently asked questions