JunkBossPro Blog — Estimates & Quotes

Quoting a Storage Unit Cleanout Before You Can See Everything Inside

Storage units are packed tight, floor to ceiling, front to back. The customer stopped paying the monthly rent, moved across the country or inherited a unit they have never opened. They want it empty, and they want a price. The trouble is, you can usually only see the first row of boxes.

Why Storage Units Are Different

Estate work, covered in Quoting an Estate Cleanout With Patience and a Clear Plan for the Family, often leads to storage units too. The family empties the house and then remembers the unit across town.

Storage units have a few traits that make them their own kind of quote:

• Known size. The unit has a set footprint, which gives you a ceiling on how much can be in it.
• Hidden contents. What is behind the front row is a guess.
• Facility rules. Gate hours, access codes, loading areas and sometimes rules about who can enter.
• Distance. The unit may be across town from the customer, and the customer may not be there.

Start With the Unit Size

Ask for the unit size first. A small closet-sized unit and a large drive-up unit full to the door are very different jobs. Combined with how full it is (“about halfway up” or “packed to the ceiling”), the size gives you a solid first estimate of the load.

Over time you will learn what a full unit of each common size turns into on your truck. Write that down. It becomes your own reference for future storage quotes, based on your truck and your jobs.

Ask for Photos With the Door Open

If the customer can get to the unit, ask them to text or email you a few photos: one straight in with the door rolled up, one from each front corner looking in, and one of anything large like a mattress, a couch or an appliance. A photo with a person in the frame helps with scale.

If they cannot get there, a facility manager may be able to tell you how full it is. Or you can book an estimate visit, which in JunkBossPro is just a job on the schedule. Put it on a day when a truck is working near the facility.

Quote a Range, Then Confirm

Because you rarely see everything, storage unit quotes work best with a clear range:

• “Based on the size and your photos, we estimate a half to three-quarter truck load.”
• “Half load is [your price], three-quarter is [your price]. We'll confirm the size once the unit is open and before we load past the half.”
• “Price includes 1 ton at the dump; anything over that is $70 a ton, from the dump ticket.”

Both load sizes come from your service list, so the customer sees real numbers, not a vague promise. If the customer will not be at the unit, agree on how you will confirm the final size: a quick text from the crew with a photo, or a call from the office.

Facility Details on the Job

Storage facilities have their own rules, and the crew needs them on the card:

• Facility name, unit number and gate code
• Gate hours and any office hours for check-in
• Who has the key or the lock combination
• Where the truck can park and whether there is a loading area
• Whether the customer wants the empty unit swept out

In JunkBossPro, the crew's phone shows access notes, the load size, the item count, what is going and where it is hauled to on each job card. A missing gate code is the most common reason a storage job turns into a wasted trip.

When the Customer Is Far Away

Plenty of storage customers are not local. They found you online, they will never meet the crew, and they want it handled. Clear communication matters even more:

Storage jobs often come in pairs with house cleanouts, so ask whether there is anything else at the home while you have the customer on the line. Bundling both into one approved estimate, with each place described on its own line, saves the customer a second round of quotes. If the unit holds mostly furniture and boxes, a saved template makes the next storage quote even faster; see Junk Removal Estimate Templates for the Jobs You Quote Every Week.

• Send the estimate for online approval so they can say yes from anywhere.
• Keep their card on file so the job can be charged when it is completed.
• Text before and after photos once the unit is empty.
• Let the customer app show them their invoice and let them pay online.

From Approval to an Empty Unit

Once approved, the estimate becomes the scheduled job, with the load, items and access notes carried over. The crew rolls up the door, confirms the size, loads, and taps Complete. The invoice matches what was hauled. Dump fee overage, if any, is added from the ticket.

To see how storage quotes fit with on-site visits, online approval and the schedule, head back to the JunkBossPro junk removal estimate software page.