Renovation debris removal in San Francisco

Why San Francisco debris is heavier than it looks

If your building is pre-war — and most of the housing stock west of the Financial District is — the walls are lath and plaster, not drywall. That single fact changes the whole job.

Drywall comes off in sheets and stacks flat. Lath and plaster comes off as a dense, dusty mix of horsehair plaster, thin timber lath and a very large number of old cut nails. It is substantially heavier per volume than a drywall demo of the same room, it does not stack, and it fills a truck faster than anybody expects. A single Victorian bedroom taken back to studs produces a genuinely surprising quantity of material.

Two other pre-war specifics worth flagging:

• Cast iron. Old radiators and cast iron bathtubs are still common here, and they are extremely heavy. A cast iron tub is $185 and a cast iron radiator is $123 — both include getting them down your stairs, which is the entire difficulty.
• Original timber. Douglas fir framing and trim from this era is dense, long and full of nails. It goes to wood recovery, but it needs handling rather than tipping.

The container problem

In most cities the default answer to renovation debris is a roll-off container in the driveway. San Francisco largely does not have driveways, and where it does they lead into a garage that is the width of one car.

So the container goes on the street, and that means: a permit from the city, a legal space on a block that may be one-way and permit-zoned, a street-cleaning window to work around, and a grade that in parts of Bernal Heights, Potrero Hill or the upper Castro makes placement genuinely awkward. It also means occupying parking your neighbors were using, for however many days the job runs.

Check the current permit requirements with the city before you order anything. We are not going to quote you fees or durations that change.

The alternative is scheduled removal: the debris accumulates inside the property, and a truck comes when there is enough to be worth a trip. On a narrow street with nowhere to stand a container, that is frequently the only workable plan — and it is why so much of our work here is repeat visits across a build rather than one big clear at the end.

What it costs

By item, where the job is defined:

• Construction Debris: $120
• Drywall (per sheet / small bundle): $37  |  Lumber / Wood Scrap (bundle): $41
• Tile / Flooring (per box or bundle): $33  |  Hardwood / Laminate Flooring (bundle): $41
• Concrete / Masonry Debris (per 1/4 truck): $219
• Carpet — Removal (per room): $71  |  Carpet (rolled): $68
• Kitchen Cabinet — Base (per unit): $67  |  Upper (per unit): $48  |  Full Kitchen Cabinet Set (rip-out): $293
• Countertop — Laminate (per section): $56  |  Stone / Granite (per section): $111
• Bathroom Vanity: $69  |  Sink (Kitchen / Utility): $61  |  Medicine Cabinet: $41
• Toilet (Detached): $64  |  Toilet (Attached / Needs Disassembly): $192
• Bathtub (fiberglass): $90  |  Bathtub (cast iron): $185
• Shower Door / Glass Enclosure: $71  |  Shower Stall / Kit: $115
• Interior Door: $41  |  Exterior Door (Solid / Steel): $63  |  Window (Single Unit): $33  |  Sliding / Patio Door: $82
• Cast Iron Radiator: $123  |  Roofing Shingles (per bundle): $48
• Contractor Bag: $41  |  10 Bags of Debris: $132  |  20 Bags: $259  |  30 Bags: $385

By truck fill, where it is not: $241 quarter, $338 three-eighths, $431 half, $513 five-eighths, $587 three-quarters, $661 seven-eighths, $732 full. The visit minimum is $95.

Worked San Francisco jobs

• Noe Valley kitchen rip-out. Full cabinet set, two stone countertop sections and the old sink: $293 + $111 + $111 + $61 = $576.
• Inner Richmond bathroom, cast iron tub. Cast iron bathtub, detached toilet, vanity and shower door: $185 + $64 + $69 + $71 = $389.
• Mission flat, one room back to studs. Half truck at $431 covered the lath, plaster and lumber in one load.
• Sunset garage conversion, first phase. Construction debris, four drywall bundles and a lumber bundle: $120 + $37 + $37 + $37 + $37 + $41 = $309.
• Bernal Heights floor replacement. Carpet removal from two rooms plus three flooring bundles: $71 + $71 + $41 + $41 + $41 = $265.
• Potrero Hill whole-flat gut. Two full truck loads at $732 + $732 = $1,464.

Every one of those totals includes the carry down from whatever floor the work is on, and the disposal sorting afterwards. No stair charge, no walk-up fee, no separate tip fee.

Garage conversions and in-law units

A large and growing share of San Francisco remodels are ground-floor conversions: turning the garage under the living space into an in-law unit, an accessory dwelling, an office or a studio.

These generate debris in two distinct waves, and it is cheaper to treat them as two jobs.

Wave one — the contents. Before any trade arrives, the garage has to be emptied of twenty years of boxes, shelving, bikes, paint and the old fridge. That is an ordinary cleanout: a half truck at $431 or three-quarters at $587 covers most of them, or item pricing if it can be listed.

Wave two — the build debris. Old framing, the roll-up door if it is being replaced, concrete if the slab is being cut for drainage, plasterboard offcuts, packaging. Concrete is $219 per quarter truck and it fills a truck by weight long before it fills it by volume.

The advantage of a conversion over an upper-floor remodel is obvious once you have done one: everything is at street level, behind a roll-up door. It is the easiest access we get in this city.

Sequencing it so nobody waits

Debris removal is almost always on somebody's critical path, and it is usually the cheapest thing to get right.

1. Clear the contents before the trades start. A room full of furniture slows demolition and risks damage to things you are keeping.
2. Book removal at the end of demolition, not at the end of the project. Demo debris in a hallway is a trip hazard for every trade behind it, and in a flat with one stair it is in the way of everything.
3. Second visit after first fix. Packaging, offcuts, old fittings pulled during the rough-in.
4. Final visit before handover. Packaging from appliances and fixtures, protective sheeting, leftovers.

Three modest visits almost always beat one enormous one, and each is priced on its own truck fill so splitting it costs nothing per load.

What we cannot take

Be straight about this before the skip-load arrives at the pavement.

• Asbestos. Pre-war San Francisco buildings can contain asbestos in pipe lagging, old floor tiles, mastic and some textured finishes. If it is suspected, it must be assessed and abated by a licensed contractor. We will not knowingly move it, and you should not let anybody else either.
• Lead paint debris. Common in buildings of this age. Handling is regulated; ask your contractor.
• Hazardous liquids and chemicals beyond household paint. Paint itself we take: $30 a one-gallon can, $52 a five-gallon bucket.

Everything else from an ordinary remodel is standard work.

Street logistics for a build

Debris jobs are longer than furniture jobs, which makes the parking side of it matter more. Tell us at booking: the cross street, whether the block is one-way, how steep the grade is, when street cleaning runs on your side, and whether there is a garage roll-up we can load from.

On an upper-floor remodel, the carry is down the same stair everyone else is using, so morning slots are better — the crew is out before the rest of the trades need the stairwell. On a garage conversion, almost any time works.

None of it changes the price. It changes the slot, and on a narrow San Francisco block that is the difference between a smooth two hours and a difficult three.

Frequently asked questions