Storage Unit Cleanout in Chicopee, MA

Almost every one of these calls starts the same way. Somebody worked out what the unit has cost since they rented it and the number was worse than they expected.

A ten by ten around here runs $100 to $175 a month. Four years of that is $5,000 to $8,000, sitting on furniture that would cost $1,500 to replace. The math almost never favors keeping it, and the reason people do is that emptying it requires a truck and a free day, which is exactly the thing they did not have when they rented it.

The work itself is easy. Ground floor drive up units are the simplest job in this trade. Flat concrete, a roll up door, and a truck parked at the opening. Most take under an hour and cost $200 to $600 depending on size.

Upper floors change it

A unit on the second or third floor of a climate controlled building means a corridor walk, an elevator, and a loading dock that other tenants are also using. That can double the time. Say which floor you are on and whether the elevator is any good, because it is the only real variable.

Two things about the facility

Check the hours before booking. Plenty of places gate access outside business hours, and some require the tenant present with their own code. If a hauler cannot get in, the visit is wasted and you may still owe for it. A quick call to the office settles it.

Then tell the office you are emptying it. Most want the unit swept, the lock removed and a written notice by a certain date, usually before the next billing cycle turns over. Clearing it out on the 2nd of the month and telling nobody means paying for that month anyway.

If the unit went to lien and was auctioned, the contents belong to whoever bought it, not to you. Buyers of auctioned units are actually a steady source of this call, because they only want a fraction of what is in there and need the rest gone within a day or two of the sale.

What is normally inside

Furniture from a move that never got finished, boxes nobody has opened in years, a mattress, exercise equipment, and a television. The usual restrictions apply: mattresses and electronics both carry fees in Massachusetts, and metal furniture goes to scrap. Damp is common in non climate units and ruins cardboard, which slows the load down.