How Much Does It Cost To Clean Out A Hoarder House In Pennsylvania?

How Much Does It Cost To Clean Out A Hoarder House In Pennsylvania?

The are only two kinds of people who would search “How Much Does It Cost To Clean Out A Hoarder House?“.

The first kind, is a hoarder.

The second is someone trying to help a hoarder.

Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, hoarding is a very serious condition that plagues over 5M Americans annually.

Don’t take it lightly.

If you’re a hoarder and you’re trying to estimate the cost to clean out and remediate your home, then this post will get you everything you need with updated numbers for 2024 in Pennsylvania.

Are you ready to find out how much it costs?

Let’s get to it.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS:

• Hoarder homes are dangerous and expensive to fix.
• Professional resources are required to fix your hoarder house and make it safe again.
• There are alternatives to cleaning and fixing a hoarder house.

Table of Contents

How Long Should It Take To Clean A Hoarder House?

Before I walk you through the estimated costs and factors that could increase or decrease your expense, let’s talk a little bit timing and expectations.

A lot of people think that money can solve everything.

And for the most part, it can.

However, solving a hoarder’s dilemma will require more than just the funds to clean and organize.

Paying a cleaning team to clean out your hoarder house is a major financial decision, but it’s also a major time commitment for the hoarder and friends/family/helpers.

On average, you can expect the cleanout project to take anywhere from 5 to 21 days in Pennsylvania depending on the overall mess, presence of mildew or mold, cooperation of the hoarder and overall access to resources (labor, dumpsters, cleaning teams, etc.).

Many hoarders are ready to pay for a solution, if it fits their budget of course, but only very few are willing to commit to days of watching professionals sort through their personal belongings.

Are you?

Don’t worry, we’ll review options that can speed things up tremendously.

What Is The Fastest Way To Clean A Hoarder’s House?

Step 1: Create A Hoarder Cleanout Project Plan

Have you ever noticed that nothing great or magnificent ever happens without a solid plan? Don’t expect anything less.

In most cases, you can expect the junk haulers or cleaning crew to review their cleanout plan with you. This should include the scope of work, the estimated timing of completion and overall cost.

In extreme cases, you may need to hire a hoarding specialist to help coordinate resources, mental preparation and provide the hoarder with a support system during the project.

Skip this first critical step and you will surely prolong the time and effort needed to clean out your PA house!

Step 2: Hire Professional Help To Cleanout Your House

Many hoarders are DIY junkies.

Look through your garage and you’ll find half-started craft projects, supplies for a new hobby that never materialized and even expired food and goods that was never really needed after all.

They thrive on saving a penny here and there. And for most, they think the organization and cleaning is something they can tackle on their own as well. It’s no different. Why make an exception?

Well, if you want to cleanout an entire house by yourself, then don’t expect it to happen quickly…or even at all.

Here’s why.

For one, you can only physically move so much on your own.

But secondly, and more importantly, you need to save your time and energy for the emotional charge this activity inflicts on the hoarder.

Of all the cleanout examples my team and I reviewed, the ones that took the longest always included some sort of DIY or owner-operated plan.

It’s quite simple. Ask for help.

Do this and you can really accelerate progress on your cleanout.

Step 3: Be Patient & Cooperate With The Cleaners

The last but, oh so difficult step:

Patience.

If you lack it or lack to practice it during your hoarder project, then you will surely slow down the entire process.

Be understanding and calm with all of the people involved in the process. Everyone works harder and faster when they are not pressurized by the customer.

If someone asks for your approval on whether to donate, trash or keep an item…don’t prolong a decision. Do your best to answer them immediately. Anything short of that will slow down the helpers and crew.

If you need professional help, such as a psychologist or doctor, then plan to hire one onsite.

Master your patience and you will finish your hoarder cleanout in record time.

Estimating Your Cost: Cleaning Out A Hoarder House In Pennsylvania

By now, it’s no secret:

You need to hire professionals to cleanout your PA hoarder house.

That, or you need to sell it and move on.

But how much does it cost to cleanout a hoarder house?

The hard truth:

It depends.

You see, not every house is the same size and condition. And not every hoarder is the same as the other.

Thankfully, my team and I dug deep on this topic.

• We interviewed 14 hoarder specialists across the country
• Called 25 cleanout crews for quotes.
• Received 65 estimates in states all across the county for different hoarder projects
• Built a hoarder cost matrix to help homeowners computer their cost
• Spent 20 hours compiling our results and reviewing the output

So where did we land?

It all boils down to two main inputs:

One, severity of the hoarder and two, the size of the project.

The rest is noise.

Forget dumpster costs. Forget permits.

Stop worrying about hazardous materials or unsafe moldy rooms in your house.

Just stop spinning your wheels on all the minute details and focus on one thing:

The Hoarder House Cost Matrix.

The Cost To Clean Out A Hoarder House Matrix

By now we know that the cost to cleanout a hoarder house is a function of the hoarder and the house.

Here’s how we designed our matrix:

Hoarders can be grouped into 5 main stages. The higher the number, the worst the hoarding problem.

And ask a proxy for the size of the project, we simply used the square feet of the house.

So there you have it.

The problem and the size of the problem. As you move up the scale on each, so does the cost to cleanout your hoarder home.

So what does all of the data for this look like?

Pretty comprehensive, huh? We thought so too.

By the way, the average cost to cleanout a hoarder house in Pennsylvania using the above matrix:

$10,350 (assuming a level 3 hoarder in an average 2,500 sqft home)

How Is The Cost Of Hoarding Cleaning Services Determined?

In our research, we found that hoarding cleaning services are typically broken out into three main scopes of work.

The first is the most physical.

These are the laborers moving all of the material and belongings out of the house.

The second phase is the trash removal.

Think dumpsters, trucks and all the fees generated by the waste department.

The last scope of a typical hoarder project is cleaning.

Once an empty house is delivered, it needs to be cleaned extensively. This usually involves mold remediation, structural repair and many other sanitary measures to make it livable again.

Sell Your Hoarder House As Is

Does all of this seem a bit overwhelming?

The costs. The coordination. The mental agony of watching strangers peel through all of your belongings. The mold. The biohazardous environment.

There is a better, cheaper and faster way to cleanout a hoarder house:

Sell it to a local PA investor.

When you sell your hoarder house in Pennsylvania to a cash buyer, they can buy it “as is”. You don’t need to spend a dime or penny on cleaning or repairing it.

And for all of the stuff you have. Take what you would like and let the buyer clean up what remains.

The biggest benefit that we hear many hoarders share with us is that they don’t have to watch the entire process unfold.

If this is something you might be interested in, make sure you find a cash buyer who will not only buy your house “as is” but also work on your schedule, waive contingencies and let you pick and choose every little thing you want to take after closing.

Do you want to see what a cash buyer might pay for your hoarder house?

Pennsylvania Hoarder House Cleanout Expenses FAQ

Is there a way to reduce the cost of hoarding cleaning services?

If there is a will, there is a way. The best approach to reduce the cost of cleaning out a hoarder house is to negotiate and organize. Make it easy for the junk removal and cleaning teams to say yes to your project. Show them you are onboard with fixing the property and that you will support their effort along the way.

Are there any other costs associated with hoarding cleaning services?

Many. In fact, the cost of cleaning out a hoarder house is just one. Does the property also have code violations from years of neglect? Those will cost time and money to fix. You may also need a permit to have this cleanout scheduled (depending on your location and severity of the house). Other fees passed on by your cleanout crew could come from dumpster rentals, dump fees, overtime and rental equipment.

Is there a cheaper way to clean out a hoarder house?

I wish there was. Everyone wishes there was. We want to help hoarders fix their situation. The reality is that hoarding is an expensive condition to treat. If you cheap out, you may get an unfinished project or uncommitted crew of cleaners that do a spotty job.

The findings and information in this article are focused on Pennsylvania, however, it is applicable in many locations nationwide!

Best Way To Sell My Hoarder House Pennsylvania

Signature Properties provides the easiest and simplest way to sell your house in Pennsylvania. We buy houses through fair and honest cash offers.🙂 Whether you are avoiding the bank from foreclosure, coming into an inheritance, going through divorce or any other situation – we have real estate solutions to get you the outcomes you desire when you sell your house to us. We help homeowners with costly home repairs, mounting liens, code enforcement violations and even vacant homes. Are you trying to sell your house in surrounding areas or other counties and states near Pennsylvania? We buy properties in New Jersey and Delaware as well as many other towns! In fact, we buy homes all over Pennsylvania. If you need help with “how much does it cost to cleanout a hoarder house” then you may also want to consider a straight and simple cash offer to solve all of your hoarder house problems.