Costs & billing
Price per Cubic Metre
Also known as: price per m3 · cubic metre rate · volume-based pricing · Kubikmeterpreis
The price per cubic metre is the most common way junk removal is billed in Switzerland and usually lies between CHF 60 and CHF 120 per cubic metre including transport and disposal. It depends on the type of material, accessibility and how much sorting is required.
How volume is estimated
One cubic metre is roughly the volume of a washing machine plus a bedside table, or about five filled moving boxes with a little air between them. A practical rule of thumb: an average Swiss cellar compartment (“Kellerabteil”, the lockable storage unit that belongs to each apartment) of 6 m² floor area, filled to chest height, comes to around 8 to 12 cubic metres.
It matters whether loose or compacted volume is being counted. A pile of loose cardboard contains a lot of air; in the vehicle it is pressed down to a fraction of that. Reputable providers calculate with the real transport volume, not with how big the pile looks on site.
Why the rate per cubic metre varies
The most important factor is weight per cubic metre. A cubic metre of books weighs around 600 kilograms, a cubic metre of loose cardboard maybe 60. Because disposal fees are charged by weight, heavy material is significantly more expensive.
The second factor is the material mix. Pure bulky waste is cheap to dispose of. As soon as electrical appliances, hazardous waste, paints, chemicals or contaminated material are involved, both the sorting effort and the fees go up.
Advantages and drawbacks versus a fixed price
Billing by volume is transparent and fair provided the volume was realistically estimated beforehand. Its drawback: it creates uncertainty, because the final amount is only known once the clearance is finished. If you have a fixed budget — which is often the case when a landlord or an estate is footing the bill — a fixed price agreed after a viewing is usually the better choice.
A real-world example
A cellar compartment in Wallisellen is cleared. Volume estimated at the viewing: 12 m³. The contents are mixed — furniture, boxes, a bicycle, four tins of paint, an old fridge. Rate of CHF 85 per cubic metre for the bulky waste, plus a CHF 40 surcharge for disposing of the paint as hazardous waste. Total: around CHF 1,060.
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Frequently asked questions about Price per Cubic Metre
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