The short answer
Garages price on volume, so the truck-fill ladder is usually the right tool: a quarter truck is $241, three-eighths $338, a half $431, five-eighths $513, three-quarters $587, seven-eighths $661 and a full truck $732.
Where that tends to land in this county:
- A corner, a wall of shelving, or one bay of a two-car garage: a quarter at $241 or three-eighths at $338.
- A two-car garage in Kendall or Westchester where the cars have not fitted for years: a half at $431 or three-quarters at $587.
- A garage plus a carport plus the side of the house: the full $732.
If you can name what is going, item pricing may be lower — a chest freezer at $146, a treadmill at $115, a set of four tires at $87. The minimum visit is $75.
In Miami the garage is the basement
This is the thing that makes Florida garages different from garages anywhere with a cellar. There are no basements here — the water table sees to that — so everything a house in a colder state would put underground goes in the garage, the carport, or a shed at the back.
That means the Miami garage holds the whole archive: the boxes from the last move, the kids' outgrown equipment, holiday decorations, the spare fridge, the tools, the paint, and the hurricane kit. It also means it is the only unconditioned storage space in the house, in a climate that is hostile to almost everything stored in it.
Which is why the contents of a Miami garage are usually further gone than the owner expects. Cardboard collapses. Photographs and paper go soft and speckled. Upholstered furniture parked out there for a season is not coming back. Anything with steel in it — shelving, tools, bicycle chains, patio frames, the legs of a weight bench — has rust on it, faster the closer you are to the water.
The hurricane layer
Nearly every garage cleanout in this metro has a storm stratum in it, and it is worth pulling out deliberately because most of it is genuinely finished.
The usual finds: a portable generator that has not started in three seasons, at $71. Plywood cut for windows that were replaced with impact glass years ago, priced as lumber and wood scrap bundles at $41 each. Old panel shutters for a frame nobody still owns. Cases of water past date. Fuel cans. A chest freezer bought for one storm that has been running empty ever since, at $146.
Clearing that layer before the start of the season is not tidiness; it is the difference between having somewhere to put the patio furniture when a cone appears and not having it. A garage you cannot walk into is a garage you cannot use as shelter for anything.
What comes out of a Miami garage, and what it costs
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Small Junk Pile | $82 |
| Medium Junk Pile | $129 |
| Large Junk Pile | $208 |
| Metal Shelving | $71 |
| Rolling Tool Chest / Workbench | $100 |
| Freezer (Chest) | $146 |
| Refrigerator (Standard) | $164 |
| Washer | $133 |
| Dryer | $128 |
| Treadmill | $115 |
| Home Gym / Multi-Station | $241 |
| Weight Set / Free Weights | $93 |
| Bicycle | $37 |
| Lawn Mower | $65 |
| Generator (Portable) | $71 |
| Ladder | $33 |
| Tires (set of 4) | $87 |
| Paint (1-Gallon Can) | $30 |
| Paint (5-Gallon Bucket) | $52 |
| Lumber / Wood Scrap (bundle) | $41 |
| 10 Bags of Debris | $132 |
| 20 Bags of Debris | $259 |
Two real garages
A single-story house in Hialeah, laundry corner and the spare fridge. A washer at $133, a dryer at $128 and a standard refrigerator at $164 is $133 + $128 + $164 = $425. That sits just under a half truck at $431, so it prices per item.
A Kendall two-car garage, gym end. A treadmill at $115, a weight set at $93 and a run of metal shelving at $71 is $115 + $93 + $71 = $279.
Once you cross into everything-against-that-wall territory, stop counting and use the ladder. It is almost always the lower number, and it is faster to quote.
The things a garage cleanout will not take
Worth separating out before the crew arrives so nothing holds up the visit.
- Liquid paint. Cans priced on the list are for dried or solidified paint. Wet paint has its own disposal route through the county's household chemical program — check the current drop-off details on your municipality's page.
- Fuel, solvents, pool chemicals and pesticides. All household hazardous waste, all common in a Miami garage, none of it going on a junk truck.
- Full propane tanks. An empty 20 lb tank is $33 on the list; a full one is an exchange, not a disposal.
- Car batteries. Retailers that sell them normally take the old one back.
Everything else — including the rusted shelving, the swollen particleboard, the dead generator and the boxes that have gone soft — is a normal load.
Access, which is easier here than most places
One genuine advantage of the single-story housing stock across Hialeah, Kendall, Westchester, Richmond Heights and the older parts of Miami Springs: garage cleanouts here are driveway jobs. The truck parks on your apron, the crew walks ten feet, and the load goes straight on. No lift, no lobby, no COI, no booked window.
Two local caveats. HOA neighborhoods out in Doral, Weston, Parkland and the newer Kendall subdivisions restrict how long anything may sit at a curb, so plan to have the pile leave the same day rather than staging it overnight. And schedule the morning if you can — a garage with the door open at two in the afternoon in August is a hostile working environment for everyone, including you.
Getting a number
Open the door, stand at the apron and take three photographs: left wall, right wall, back wall. That is enough to place the load on the ladder and quote it.
If you would rather itemize, send the list. Either way you have the total before anything is scheduled, disposal included, with no charge for the crew sorting, stacking or carrying. Quotes and crews work in Spanish across the county.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to clean out a two-car garage in Miami?
Most full two-car garages fall between a half truck at $431 and a full truck at $732, with three-quarters at $587 the most common landing spot. A single bay or one wall is usually a quarter at $241 or three-eighths at $338.
Why is my garage the worst room in the house?
Because Florida houses have no basements, so the garage absorbs everything a cellar would hold — and it is the only unconditioned space in the house. Humidity, salt air and heat go through cardboard, paper, upholstery and anything steel far faster than owners expect.
Will you take old paint and fuel cans?
Dried or solidified paint is on the list at $30 a gallon can and $52 a five-gallon bucket. Liquid paint, fuel, solvents, pool chemicals and pesticides are household hazardous waste and go through your municipality's chemical drop-off instead. Set them aside before the visit.
Do you take the old hurricane supplies?
Yes — plywood, panel shutters, a dead portable generator at $71, a chest freezer at $146, collapsed storage bins and the rest of it. Clearing that layer before June is the point of the exercise for most people.
Do I have to move everything to the driveway first?
No. The crew carries it out. There is no charge for sorting, stacking or carrying, and no charge for distance from the curb.