Home & Estate Cleanouts in Milwaukee
Full-property cleanouts for estate executors, downsizing families, and homeowners getting a house ready to sell. Sorting, donation set-aside, hauling, and a clear empty house at the end. We handle the volume so you can focus on the listing date.
Free walk-throughs. Donation coordination included. We hand you the keys to a cleared house.
When People Call Us About a Home Cleanout
Most calls about a full-property cleanout sound about the same. Someone has a house — theirs, a parent's, an aunt's, a property they're now responsible for — and the house is full. Decades of accumulated stuff, sometimes generations of it, and a deadline. Closing date. Estate sale. Move-out. Listing photos. Whatever the timeline is, the contents have to be out before it.
That's the work. Walk through a house with the customer, figure out what's staying with them, what's going to donation, what's getting hauled, and what shape the house needs to be in when we leave. Then execute. Most full-property cleanouts wrap up in one to three days depending on size and access. The customer gets a cleared house and one final invoice.
We do this work in Milwaukee and across the surrounding suburbs every week. It's not a specialty job for us — it's regular work. The pricing is predictable, the process is straightforward, and we're not going to find anything in your basement that we haven't seen before.
Timeline-driven
We schedule against your listing date, closing date, or estate-sale window — not the other way around.
Donation-first sorting
Usable items go to donation. Recyclable materials get recycled. Disposal is the last option, not the first.
Licensed and insured
General liability and worker's comp on the crew. Certificate of insurance available for estate attorneys or real-estate agents who ask.
The Three Cleanouts We Do Most Often
Different situations, same work underneath. The crew, the trucks, and the disposal pipeline are identical. What changes is the timeline, the documentation, and how much sorting versus hauling is involved.
Estate cleanouts
A family member has passed and the house has to be cleared. Most estates have a real-estate timeline behind them — the property is going on the market, going to a relative, or going to an estate sale, and the contents have to come out either way. Often the executor lives out of state and is coordinating remotely.
We walk the house with whoever's local — sometimes that's the executor, sometimes a family member, sometimes the real-estate agent. We identify keepers, anything for donation, anything for an estate-sale company if one is involved, and then we clear the rest. Photo documentation of starting condition and completion. Final invoice itemized the way an estate file expects to see it.
Downsize and pre-sale cleanouts
Adult children helping a parent move into a smaller place. A homeowner getting a house ready to list. A couple finally tackling thirty years of garage and basement before retirement. The house isn't being abandoned — somebody's still living in it, or planning to — but the volume of stuff has gotten in the way of whatever the next step is.
These cleanouts run on the homeowner's pace. We start where they want to start (usually the basement, the garage, or the attic), keep what they want to keep, and clear the rest in stages or all at once depending on what works. For pre-sale cleanouts specifically, the goal is a house that photographs well and shows clean — empty closets, empty basement, garage you can park in, attic that doesn't sag with stored furniture.
Hoarding-recovery cleanouts
Sometimes accumulation has gone past "a lot of stuff" into something a single trip to Goodwill cannot fix. The house is full to the ceiling, the rooms have pathways instead of furniture arrangements, and whoever's calling has spent months trying to figure out where to even start. We get this call regularly, and we don't make it weird.
Hoarding-recovery cleanouts are usually multi-day and we work them in stages — clear, sort, document, clear again. We move at the homeowner's pace where there is one, and we work efficiently when there isn't. We don't show up with surprise on our faces, we don't take photos for our website, and we don't lecture. The same crew that handles routine estate cleanouts handles these. It's the same job.
How a Home Cleanout Actually Goes
The process is the same whether it's an estate, a downsize, or a hoarding-recovery cleanout. The volume changes; the steps don't.
Walk-through
Free, no commitment. We walk the property with you (or with whoever's local), look at every room, attic, basement, garage, and outbuilding, and get a real picture of the volume. For out-of-state executors, photos and a video walk-through often work just as well. We'll ask what's staying with the family, what should go to donation, and what shape you need the house in when we're done.
Quote
Itemized, written, on UJUNKY letterhead. Volume, condition, access, and any special items (refrigerators, mattresses, electronics, paint, hazardous waste) all show up as line items rather than buried in the price. Most quotes are returned within a day. We don't put generic price ranges on a website because every house is different — a clean two-bedroom downsize is a very different number than a hoarder cleanout in a four-bedroom split-level.
Schedule against your timeline
Closing date, listing date, estate sale, family-keepsakes pickup, dumpster delivery, paint crew arrival — whatever has to happen after the cleanout, we schedule the cleanout to land in front of it. For estates with a probate timeline, we can hold a date and confirm closer to it. For pre-sale cleanouts where the listing agent has a photo date, we work backward from that.
Sorting and donation set-aside
For most full-property cleanouts, the first pass is sorting. Furniture and household goods that are still usable go to donation — we coordinate with local donation pipelines (Goodwill, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Habitat ReStore, and others depending on what's available). Recyclable materials — appliances, metals, electronics — go to recycling. The rest gets hauled. We set aside any keepers you've flagged in a designated room or staged for pickup by family.
Clear, document, hand over the keys
We hand-load the truck, sweep up after, and take photo documentation when the house is empty. For out-of-state executors, photos and walk-through video go to you the same day. For local clients, we'll meet you at the property to walk it together if that's helpful, or just leave the house ready and notify you it's done.
What Drives the Cost of a Home or Estate Cleanout
Pricing is honest: it depends on the house. We don't put price ranges on a website because the same square footage can be a one-truck job or a five-truck job depending on what's inside. Every cleanout gets a written, itemized quote after the walk-through. Here's what moves the number:
Volume
How much truck space the house's contents take up. A downsize where most furniture is leaving with the homeowner is a partial truck. A full-house estate cleanout with decades of accumulation can be three to five loads.
Sorting depth
"Clear everything" is faster than "sort, set aside donations, flag keepers." Most home cleanouts include some sorting; estates with significant donation set-aside or hoarding cases with deep sorting take longer crew time.
Access
Three flights of stairs and a narrow hallway is a different job than a single-story house with a driveway at the door. Multi-floor walk-ups, narrow basement stairs, and cramped attics all add labor time.
Special items
Refrigerators, freezers, and AC units have refrigerant disposal requirements. Mattresses have per-piece fees at most facilities. Electronics, TVs, and appliances have e-waste handling. Paint, solvents, and household chemicals route to Milwaukee County's hazardous waste drop-off. These appear as line items on the quote, not surprise add-ons.
Condition
A house that's been lived in routinely and a house that hasn't been entered in years are very different operational pictures. Hoarding-recovery cleanouts and estate situations where the property has been vacant or neglected take longer and require more crew depth.
Walk-throughs are free. Send the address and a few photos if you have them, or call us and we'll schedule a visit.
Schedule Your Free Walk-Through
Send the address. We'll come out, walk the house, and have a written quote back to you within a day. No commitment. We do this work every week across Milwaukee and the suburbs — there's nothing in your house that's going to surprise us.
Common Questions About Home & Estate Cleanouts
Do I need to be at the house during the cleanout?▾
Not necessarily. For estate cleanouts where the executor is out of state, we routinely work from a key, lockbox, or coordination with the local real-estate agent. For pre-sale and downsize cleanouts where you've already walked the house with us and flagged what stays, you don't need to hover. We send photo documentation when the house is empty.
How fast can you do a full-house cleanout?▾
Most routine full-property cleanouts wrap up in one to three working days. Hoarding-recovery cleanouts can be longer — multi-day jobs are normal. From the first call to a cleared house, the typical timeline is one to two weeks: walk-through, quote, schedule, execute. If you're working against a closing date or a listing photo date, tell us the deadline and we'll tell you straight whether we can hit it.
What happens to the stuff after you haul it?▾
Donation first when items are usable — Goodwill, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Habitat ReStore, and other local pipelines depending on what fits. Recycling for appliances, metals, electronics, and clean construction debris. Disposal at licensed transfer stations and landfills for the rest. We don't dump and we don't dodge tipping fees. If donation receipts matter for an estate file, we can coordinate that with the donation pipeline.
Can you handle a hoarding cleanout?▾
Yes, regularly. We don't make hoarding cleanouts a special event — the same crew that handles routine estate work handles these. Most are multi-day jobs, and we work in stages so the homeowner or family member has time to flag anything important that surfaces during the work. We don't take photos for marketing, we don't post about jobs, and we don't make the customer feel judged for needing the help.
I'm the executor of an estate and I don't live in Wisconsin. Can you still help?▾
Yes, this is regular work for us. We can do walk-throughs with the local real-estate agent, a family member, or based on photos and video you send. Quotes come over email on UJUNKY letterhead — the format estate attorneys and probate files expect. We work from a lockbox or key drop and send photo documentation when the house is empty. Final invoice itemized for the estate file.
What if I want to keep some of the items? Can you help sort?▾
Yes. Most home and estate cleanouts include some sorting — keepers go in a designated room or staging area, donation items get separated, and the rest gets cleared. For estates with significant family-keepsake separation, we can work in phases: a first pass to identify, a hold for family pickup, and then a second pass to clear the rest.
Will you take items that need special disposal — appliances, mattresses, paint, electronics?▾
Most of them. Refrigerators, freezers, AC units, mattresses, electronics, and appliances are routine — these have per-item disposal fees at receiving facilities, which appear as line items on the quote. Paint, solvents, pool chemicals, and household hazardous chemicals route to Milwaukee County's hazardous waste drop-off and we coordinate that path. Asbestos and lead-paint debris in pre-1978 buildings need licensed abatement contractors before regular cleanout proceeds — we flag those scenarios during the walk-through.
Are you licensed and insured?▾
Yes. General liability and worker's comp on the crew. Most real-estate agents and estate attorneys ask for a certificate of insurance before work starts — we provide it on request. Properly insured cleanout vendors matter especially in estate situations where the executor is on the hook if something goes sideways.
What about basement, attic, or storage-unit cleanouts that aren't full-house?▾
We do those too. Basement cleanouts, garage and attic cleanouts, storage-unit cleanouts, and partial-property work all run on the same process — walk-through, quote, schedule, execute. Smaller jobs with single rooms or single areas are usually a single visit and don't require the same multi-day coordination as a full estate cleanout.
Why Families Choose UJUNKY
- No judgment, no surprise. We've seen it. Hoarding cases, decades of accumulation, vacant houses — it's regular work, not a story we're going to tell.
- Timeline-aware scheduling. Closing dates, listing photos, estate-sale windows — we plan around your deadline.
- Donation-first sorting. Usable furniture and household goods go to local donation pipelines, not the landfill.
- Licensed and insured. COI available for estate attorneys and real-estate agents who ask.
- Documentation for estate files. Photo records of starting condition and completion. Itemized invoice for probate.
- One vendor, one final invoice. No coordinating multiple haul-off services or sort-it-yourself dumpsters.
When the Cleanout Is Part of a Bigger Project
Sometimes the property needs more than a cleanout. The garage is structurally compromised and has to come down. The driveway is being replaced. The interior is being gutted before resale. UJUNKY is a licensed demolition contractor first — cleanouts are part of how we work, not the limit of it. If the cleanout is paired with structural removal, we handle both in coordinated scope.
Areas We Serve
Home and estate cleanout coverage across Milwaukee, the inner suburbs, and the broader Southeast Wisconsin metro. For estates and out-of-area properties, we travel.
Ready to Clear the House?
Send the address. We'll schedule a free walk-through and have a written quote back to you within a day. Most home cleanouts wrap up within one to two weeks of the first call — and the house is genuinely empty when we leave.
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