Junk MattersYou Matter - We Matter - Junk MattersAt a glance
A storage unit cleanout in Nanaimo starts at $125, and a typical 10 by 10 unit runs $300 to $500 depending on how full it is. We clear the unit to the walls, sweep it out ready for the facility's final inspection, and haul everything the same visit, as soon as we have availability. Stop paying next month's rent on a unit full of stuff you do not want.
Three kinds of people, mostly. Tenants who did the math and realized the unit costs more per year than everything inside it is worth. Landlords and executors clearing a unit that came with an estate or a tenancy. And facility managers dealing with an abandoned unit that needs to be empty before it can rent again. All three get the same result: a bare, broom-swept unit, priced by the space the contents take in the trailer.
Storage units fill up faster than anyone expects. We clear them completely, sort for donation on the way out, and hand the empty unit back ready to close.


Storage units are strange time capsules: half genuine junk, half perfectly good furniture and household goods someone stopped needing. We sort as we load. Usable furniture, tools and housewares are offered to local charities, metals and electronics go to recycling, and only what cannot be recovered goes to the landfill. The landfill is the last stop, even for a unit nobody has opened in five years.
You pay for trailer space, not time. You get a free estimate before anything gets loaded, and the load price covers the lifting, hauling, disposal fees and a sweep up after. Final pricing is based on actual loaded volume, with weight, labour and applicable surcharges considered, and travel can apply the further out you are. Full details on the pricing page.
Based in Nanaimo, serving the mid Island. See all service areas.
Straight answers, the same ones we give on the phone.
It depends on the unit size and how tightly it is packed. A lightly loaded 5 by 5 is often our $125 minimum, a typical 10 by 10 runs $300 to $500, and a packed 10 by 20 can reach a full trailer load at $850 or more. Storage units are often denser than they look: boxes of books, files, tools, metal, tile or records can hit the trailer's weight limit before it is full by volume, which can mean a weight surcharge or a second load. Text us a photo of the open unit and you will have a number back quickly, estimated before we load anything. Depending on the items, their weight, the access and where you are, additional charges can apply. Tell us what you have and we will walk through your situation first.
Only long enough to get us in, and sometimes not even that. Many customers meet us to open the unit and then leave, others arrange access through the facility office or share a gate code. We send photos of the empty, swept unit when we are done, so you can close your rental without another trip.
Yes. We are open 7 days a week, 6am to 8pm, and we schedule within your facility's own access rules and hours. Tell us the facility's access window when you book and we schedule inside it, including the elevator and cart rules some indoor facilities have.
Yes, regularly. Once the lien process is done and the unit is legally yours to clear, we empty it to the walls, sweep it, and get it back into rentable condition, usually within a day or two of your call. You get an itemized invoice for your records, and we can set up repeat service if you manage multiple properties.
They get a second life where possible. Furniture, kitchenware, tools and clothing in good condition are offered to local Nanaimo charities before anything is disposed of, and recyclable material is separated out. You pay the same either way, it is just how we run every job.
Furniture, mattresses and box springs, appliances including fridges and freezers, electronics and TVs, hot tubs, pianos, yard waste and brush, renovation and demolition debris, scrap metal, carpet, garage, shed and storage-unit contents, and general household junk. We also demolish sheds, decks and fences and haul the debris away. If it can be handled and transported safely, it can go on the trailer, though some specialty and restricted items need separate handling and a few we cannot take at all. When in doubt, text a photo and ask.
Same-day or next-day service may be available depending on our schedule, your location and the size and scope of the job, so call or text and ask what we have open. Being based in Nanaimo rather than an hour down the highway helps. We are open 7 days a week, 6am to 8pm, and short-notice jobs are welcome.
Four steps. First the free estimate: call, text or send photos of the pile and we will come back to you with a number. Second, we arrive when we said we would. Third, the crew walks the job with you, goes over the estimate, and only then does every bit of the lifting and hauling from wherever the junk sits. Fourth, everything is sorted for donation, recycling or disposal, and the space gets swept before we leave. Final pricing is based on actual loaded volume, with weight, labour and applicable surcharges considered.
No. We take it from wherever it is sitting: upstairs rooms, basements, crawlspaces, the garage or the back of the yard. Nothing needs to be bagged, sorted or dragged to the curb beforehand, and you do not need to be able to lift. If piling it up makes you feel organised then go ahead, though the price follows the volume either way.
We prioritise reuse, donation and recycling wherever items are suitable, accepted and practical, and the landfill is the last stop rather than the first. Usable furniture, appliances and household goods can go to local charities, metal to the scrap yard, electronics to the proper depot, mattresses to a facility that strips them for materials, and clean green waste to composting. What each charity or facility will accept is their call rather than ours. Anything that genuinely cannot be reused or recycled is disposed of properly, and that sorting is part of the job.
Some items and materials carry an additional charge, because of disposal fees, weight, handling requirements or special recycling. These can include mattresses and box springs, tires, propane tanks, unusually heavy or dense materials, appliances that need special handling, and hazardous or contaminated material. Dense loads are worth flagging separately: soil, concrete, dense construction debris, scrap metal, tile, and boxes of books, files or tools can reach the trailer's weight limit before it is full by volume, which can mean a weight surcharge or a second load. Any surcharge that applies is identified before the job begins wherever the items and conditions are known.
The first hour of labour is included in the load price. Beyond that, additional labour is $100 per hour, per load. That comes up on jobs spread over several floors, long carries from the truck, or items that need heavy sorting or taking apart before they will move. Anything like that is talked through at the estimate where the conditions are known, and raised with you on the day if it only becomes clear once we are working. Depending on the items, their weight, the access and where you are, additional charges can apply. Tell us what you have and we will walk through your situation first.
Yes. Junk Matters is fully insured, registered and in good standing with WorkSafeBC, and a member of both the Recycling Council of British Columbia and the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce. We are rated 5.0 across 130+ Google reviews, and the crew works in your home and around your property to that standard.