How we calculate

Written by Taro Schenker. Prices last verified August 2026.

How this research was done

On 24 August 2026 I pulled the UK house clearance cost guides that rank on page one, put their figures for the same property side by side, and tried to reconcile them. It did not reconcile. The worked example below is the whole reason this site exists, so here is exactly how it was gathered and where it fell short.

• Four sources were read in full, figure by figure, rather than summarised from each other. Where a guide published two tables, both were recorded — which is how the contradiction inside MyJobQuote’s own page came to light.
• The base rates come from an operator, not a guide. The one genuinely useful source was a clearance firm’s live published price list: volume bands in cubic yards, a stated labour allowance per band, and per-item surcharges. Everything else in the field is an estimate of an estimate.
• Two sources resisted, and are therefore missing. Checkatrade and MyBuilder both return HTTP 403 to automated requests, so their figures are not in the comparison. They are worth a manual read and are on the list; until then, this comparison covers four guides, not six.
• One contradiction is unresolved. Published hazardous-waste charges differ by more than tenfold between two of the sources. Rather than average two numbers that cannot both be right, the model leaves the item out and this page says so.

None of that is field experience with a van and a team, and this site does not claim any. What it claims is that the numbers were gathered first-hand, from named sources, on a stated date, and that the gaps are published alongside them.

Why published guides disagree

We compared the four most-read UK house clearance cost guides. For the same three-bedroom house they quote anywhere between £275 and £1,200. One of them contradicts itself between two tables on its own page.

They are not really contradicting each other. They are pricing two different products under one keyword. The low numbers describe waste removal: you have already emptied the cupboards, bagged what is going and stacked it by the door, and a van takes the pile. The high numbers describe full-service clearance: a team sorts every drawer, routes items to charity, auction or the tip, clears the lot and sweeps up.

That is why our calculator asks which of the two you need before it asks how many bedrooms you have. It moves the price more than property size does, and it is the question the other guides skip.

What the model is built from

The base rates come from an operator’s live published price list rather than from other cost guides — a real volume-priced rate card, charged in cubic yards, with the labour allowance stated per band and surcharges listed per item. Building up from what a firm actually charges is the only way to avoid averaging four estimates that were themselves estimates.

On top of that base we apply, in the order they move the price:

1. Service type. Removal versus full clearance. A 2-3x swing, and the input nobody else asks for.
2. Volume. Cubic yards. Property size is only a proxy — a decluttered four-bed can hold less than a full one-bed.
3. Clutter and hoarding. Drives volume and labour-hours at once, which is why it compounds rather than adds.
4. Region. London runs roughly 1.65x the rest of the UK.
5. Access. Floor level, lifts, stairs and parking distance, because every trip is repeated dozens of times.
6. Specialist items. Pianos, safes, fridges and hazardous waste carry their own charges.

Landfill Tax, the one figure that changes on a schedule

Disposal cost is driven by UK Landfill Tax, which HMRC resets every 1 April. It is the reason clearance prices drift upward each year regardless of anything else, and it is the only genuinely dynamic input in the model. We refresh it annually by hand from the government’s own publications rather than estimating it.

Where our numbers are weakest

A method page that only lists strengths is marketing. These are the real limits, and we would rather you knew them before relying on a figure:

• Cubic yards per property size is the biggest assumption in the model. It is a reasoned estimate, not a measured one. If your property is unusually full or unusually bare, adjust the clutter setting and trust that over the property-size default.
• Only the London multiplier is sourced. We do not publish separate regional figures for the rest of the UK because we do not yet have the data points to justify them.
• Published hazardous-waste charges contradict each other by more than 10x across our sources. We treat both ends as unreliable and say so rather than picking one.
• Our model currently prices above the published guides. That is a deliberate consequence of building up from an operator’s rate card instead of from content-marketing estimates, but it does mean you may be quoted less than we suggest.
• An estimate is not a quote. Volume is what firms actually price on, and nobody — including us — can judge it accurately without seeing the property.

Corrections

If a figure here is wrong, or you are an operator whose rate card says otherwise, tell us and we will check it. Corrections are made to the model and the “prices verified” date is bumped, so a stale model is visible rather than silent. Get in touch via the contact page.

Primary sources

• Landfill Tax rates for 2026 to 2027 — HM Revenue & Customs
• Rates and allowances for Landfill Tax — HM Revenue & Customs
• Check a waste carrier's registration — Environment Agency

Cost-guide figures in the table above were read from each publisher’s own page on 24 August 2026 and do change.