Turnover has exactly one expensive variable, and it isn't the cost of the clear — it's how many days the unit sits empty. Here's the turnover as a clock: day by day from keys returned to re-listed, what each unit type costs to clear, and why the haul belongs on day two rather than day five.
Photos in, flat quote out — itemized invoice with a unit reference, COIs on request
Upload Photos & Get Quote →Every decision in a turnover is really a decision about vacancy days. A unit generates nothing while it's empty, and the fixed costs don't pause — so the question isn't whether a clear is worth $241 or $431, it's whether it takes three days off the calendar.
Do the math with your own rent, not a national average: one day of vacancy on your unit is your monthly rent divided by thirty. On most Austin rentals, compressing a turnover by two or three days pays for the clear outright, and everything after that is margin. That's the entire argument, and it's why the sequence below is ordered the way it is.
The moment you have possession, the meter is running. Two things happen today and neither costs money: walk the unit and photograph everything before anything moves.
That photo set is the most valuable five minutes of the whole turnover. It's the basis for any deposit deduction, the answer to any later dispute, and the thing everyone skips because the unit is a mess and they want to deal with it tomorrow.
Sort what remains into three buckets: trash, fixtures and appliances staying with the unit, and property that may still belong to the former tenant.
That third bucket is the one that needs care. Texas law addresses a landlord's obligations regarding a tenant's remaining property, and the right answer depends on how the tenancy ended, what your lease says, and the specifics of the situation. This is a question for your attorney or your management company's counsel — not for a hauling company and not for a blog post. What we can do is make sure whatever you decide is well documented.
Get that determination on day one, because it's the only thing that can legitimately hold up day two.
This is the pivot. Everything downstream waits on an empty unit, so the haul goes as early as the legal question allows.
Same-day is available when you book by the 4 PM cutoff and a slot is open; next-day is routine. Crews carry from any floor, so a third-floor walk-up doesn't change the price or the schedule. Photograph the empty rooms when it's done — that's the "after" half of your documentation.
What it costs by unit type:
| Unit | Typical clear |
|---|---|
| A few items left behind | $75 minimum |
| Studio, or a lightly-left one-bedroom | $241 |
| One-bedroom with some furniture | $338 |
| One or two-bedroom left furnished | $431 |
| Three-bedroom, or a heavy abandonment | $587 |
| House, or a long-tenure unit | $732 |
| Every additional truck | Same flat rate |
Now the trades can actually work. This is where clearing first pays for itself a second time: painters and carpet installers charge more and move slower around furniture, and some will decline the job rather than work around a unit that isn't empty.
If flooring is being replaced, old carpet prices at $68 a roll and can go in the same visit as the furniture. If there's genuine repair debris, that prices as construction debris at $120 per cubic yard. Construction debris removal.
Cleaners work fastest in an empty, repaired unit, and their result is what the listing photos capture. Booking a cleaner before the unit is clear is the second most common scheduling mistake in turnover, right after booking the painter too early.
Empty, repaired, clean, photographed, listed. A week is achievable on a normal turnover in this market, and the difference between a seven-day turn and a fifteen-day turn is almost entirely whether the clear happened on day two or got pushed to day five while someone waited on a decision.
If you're selling rather than re-renting, the room-by-room version is here: clear it before the listing photos.
They don't all run the same clock, and it's worth knowing which one you have on day zero.
The clean move-out. Tenant left properly, a few things behind. Often just the $75 minimum or a quarter truck at $241, and a genuinely fast turn.
The partial abandonment. The most common paid turnover — they took what fit in the car and left the rest. A studio's abandoned set of full mattress, box spring and sofa prices at $420 individually, which is more than the $241 quarter truck that holds it, so the truck rate wins. A one-bedroom's queen mattress, box spring, frame, dresser and sofa totals $694 against a $431 half truck — the truck saves $126.
The eviction. Legally the most sensitive, and the one where the day-one determination genuinely matters. Document heavily, get counsel's direction, then clear.
The long-tenure unit. Someone lived there eleven years. Expect a full truck at $732 or more, expect the closets and the patio to hold more than the rooms do, and schedule it as a planned job rather than a same-day one.
Turnover is the use case where per-item pricing most reliably loses. Both examples above go the same way — $420 against $241, $694 against $431 — because an abandoned unit is never just the three big items. It's the three big items plus the closet, plus the patio, plus whatever is under the sink.
The rule: if the tenant left furniture, quote the truck. Per-item pricing is right when you're removing two known things from an otherwise clean unit. We calculate both automatically and charge the lower one, but for turnover specifically the truck is usually it.
If any of this is coming out of a deposit, the paperwork is the difference between a deduction that holds and one that turns into a dispute.
Before photos, timestamped, taken on day zero before anything moves. An itemized third-party invoice — far stronger than a number you wrote yourself afterward. After photos of empty rooms. And a unit reference on the invoice, so the record ties to the right property when someone looks at it eight months later.
All of that is standard on our side and available on request. What the deduction itself may properly include is, again, a question for your lease and your counsel rather than for us.
Queen $103, full $94, box spring $68, frame $68. The single most-abandoned item in Austin rentals, and the one with no free route — donation centers refuse used mattresses and complex dumpsters charge back for them. Mattress removal.
Sofa $126, loveseat $95. Carried down from any floor at no change to the price. Couch removal.
Dresser $126, plus the frame and mattress above. Once you're at four pieces, you're past the truck crossover.
Small table $138, chairs $75 each. A table plus four chairs is $438 by the piece, against a $338 three-eighths truck — quote the truck.
Refrigerator $164 with EPA refrigerant recovery, washer $133, dryer $128, microwave $30. Confirm what belongs to the unit before anything leaves. Appliance removal.
Large TV $73, routed to certified e-waste processing rather than a landfill. TV & electronics removal.
Trash bags $35 each, ten-bag bundle $178, twenty-bag $348, moving boxes $31. The last-day category, and it fills more of a truck than anyone expects.
Medium loose pile $129, large $208. The balcony, the storage closet, and the corner of the parking space are all part of the unit.
Rolled carpet $68, repair debris at $120 per cubic yard. Bundle it with the furniture visit rather than booking twice.
Paint, solvents, pool chemicals and other household hazardous waste route through the city's HHW program. Biohazard conditions need a licensed remediation contractor, not a hauling crew — we'll tell you that on the phone rather than on site. When a unit is beyond a normal clear.
One scheduling reality specific to this market: the last week of July and the first week of August saturate every mover, truck rental and hauler in Austin simultaneously, because the student and general lease calendars collide.
If your units turn in that window — and in the student-adjacent corridors most of them do — book the block in advance rather than calling on the day. The UT lease cliff · the Riverside by-the-bed churn, which produces single-room turnovers all year rather than whole-unit ones.
Multi-unit blocks. Several units in one visit is more efficient, and invoices still split per unit for your books.
Certificates of insurance naming the building and management company are routine — send the requirements with the booking.
Standing arrangements. If you turn units regularly, you shouldn't be re-quoting every time.
Flat pricing survives the walkthrough. No hourly meter means a slow elevator or a stubborn sofa is our problem, not a line item you have to explain to an owner. Commercial and property services.
Clear on day two, not day five. Every trade in the turnover is waiting on an empty unit, so the haul isn't one task among six — it's the gate the other five sit behind. Move it early and a fifteen-day turn becomes a seven-day turn, which on any Austin rental is worth several times what the clear costs. The only thing that should ever delay it is the day-one legal determination about the tenant's property, and that's a phone call you can make on day zero.
Free photo quote — itemized invoice, unit reference, COIs on request
Upload Photos & Get Quote →By unit size, flat and quoted before the crew arrives. A studio or a lightly left one-bedroom is commonly a quarter truck at $241. A typical one or two-bedroom left furnished runs a half truck at $431. A three-bedroom house or a heavy abandonment runs $587 to $732, with additional trucks at the same flat rate rather than an escalating one. A few items left behind price individually against a $75 minimum.
Same-day when you book by the 4 PM cutoff and a slot is open, next-day routinely. The exception is the last week of July and the first week of August, when Austin's entire moving ecosystem is saturated at once — during those weeks book several days ahead and treat same-day as a bonus rather than a plan. Portfolio owners with multiple units turning the same week should schedule the block in advance.
Before, without exception. Painters, carpet installers and cleaners all work slower and charge more in a unit that still has furniture in it, and several will simply decline to work around it. Clearing first is what compresses the rest of the schedule — it is the step that every other step waits on, which is why it belongs on day two rather than day five.
That is a legal question rather than a hauling question, and it is the one place in a turnover where getting it wrong is genuinely expensive. Texas law addresses a landlord's obligations regarding a tenant's remaining property, and the correct answer depends on how the tenancy ended, what your lease says, and the specific circumstances. Talk to your attorney or your property-management counsel before disposing of anything that may still belong to a former tenant. What we can do is document thoroughly — photograph everything before it moves and provide an itemized receipt — so whatever you decide is supported by a record.
Yes, and it is worth asking for every time. Every job produces an itemized receipt, rooms are photographed before and after on request, and the invoice can carry a unit reference for your accounting. An itemized third-party invoice is a far stronger basis for a deduction than an estimate written after the fact, and it is the same paperwork your accountant wants anyway.
Yes — running several units in one visit is more efficient for everyone, and per-unit invoicing can still be split for your books. For owners and managers turning units regularly, a standing arrangement avoids re-quoting each time. Certificates of insurance for buildings that require them are routine, not a special request.