The short answer
Storage units are volume jobs, so they price on the truck-fill ladder: quarter $241, three-eighths $338, half $431, five-eighths $513, three-quarters $587, seven-eighths $661, full $732.
Rough mapping, for a unit packed the way people actually pack them:
- 5x5 — quarter truck, $241.
- 5x10 — three-eighths to half, $338 to $431.
- 10x10 — half to three-quarters, $431 to $587.
- 10x15 — three-quarters to full, $587 to $732.
- 10x20 and drive-up units — a full truck at $732, often more than one load.
Minimum visit is $75 if you are only pulling a few items out.
Do the rent arithmetic first
This is the conversation worth having before anything else. A storage unit is a monthly bill against a fixed pile of objects, and the pile does not get more valuable.
Work out what you have paid on the unit so far, then walk it honestly and ask what you would actually buy again. In most Kansas City units the answer is: the tools, a few boxes of photographs and documents, maybe one piece of furniture. The rest is a sofa that has been in storage for three years, a mattress set, a treadmill and boxes nobody has opened since the move.
Once the removal is a one-off flat number and the rent is forever, the decision usually makes itself.
How Kansas City units get filled in the first place
The metro's storage corridors run where the traffic does — along I-35 and I-435, out Metcalf and Shawnee Mission Parkway, up through the Northland, around Independence and Lee's Summit. The stories behind the units are consistent:
- A move that never finished. Sold in Overland Park, bought something smaller, put the overflow in a unit for three months. That was in 2021.
- An estate, emptied into storage in a hurry so the house could sell, then left while siblings in two states worked out what to do.
- A basement that flooded in a spring storm, so everything went to a unit while the basement dried out, and then the basement got used for something else.
- A divorce or a job move, with half a household parked indefinitely.
- A business — files, a copier, spare stock from a Crossroads or Westport storefront that closed.
What the unit has done to your things
If it is not climate-controlled, and many units in this metro are not, a few Kansas City years will have taken a toll. Single-digit winter cold snaps, repeated freeze-thaw, then months of 90-degree days with high dew points.
- Particleboard and flat-pack furniture swells at the joints and stays swollen. Removal is $100 for a flat-pack bookcase.
- Upholstery holds humidity and comes out musty. A sofa is $126, a loveseat $119.
- Mattresses mildew. A set is $143.
- Cardboard on a concrete floor wicks moisture and fails from the bottom.
- Electronics and appliances stored through repeated freeze-thaw frequently do not come back. A TV 42 to 65 inches is $68, a mini fridge $115.
Which means a storage cleanout is usually not a sorting exercise. It is mostly disposal, with a small keep pile.
Facility access — the part that needs planning
- Gate hours and access code. Give us the code, or be there to open it. Access hours are often shorter than office hours.
- Which building and which unit. Large facilities are mazes. A unit number and a building letter save half an hour.
- Indoor units with elevators. Longer carry, sometimes a reserved elevator or a specific loading bay. Tell us in advance. There is no charge for it.
- Drive-up units are the easy case — the truck backs up to the roll door.
- Your lock. Bring the key or cut it beforehand. Facilities will not cut yours for you on the day.
- Tell the office. Most want to know a cleanout is happening, and several will want the unit swept and the lock removed at the end so billing stops.
Worked examples
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| 5x10 with a sofa, a queen mattress set and boxes | $126 + $143 = $269 in furniture, plus the boxes — usually the half truck at $431 instead |
| 10x10 estate overflow: sofa + dresser + dining table (2-4) + four dining chairs | $126 + $126 + $103 + (4 x $45) = $535, so the three-quarter truck at $587 is the better buy if there is more behind it |
| Business unit: copier + two cubicle workstations | $97 + $163 + $163 = $423 |
| Gym equipment parked in storage: treadmill + weight bench + weight set | $115 + $69 + $93 = $277 |
| Boxes only | 20 bags of debris $259, or 30 bags $385 |
Before the day
- Open every box with paperwork in it. Storage units are where tax records, deeds and photographs end up. Do this before the truck, not during.
- Pull the keep pile out first and put it in your vehicle.
- Check for hazardous items. Paint, old fuel, propane, pool chemicals — they are not supposed to be in a unit and they cannot go on the truck. They go to the household hazardous waste program for your side of the metro.
- Give notice to the facility so billing stops the month you empty it.
- Confirm the gate code the day before. Codes change more often than you would think.
Booking it
Pick a truck size from the ladder based on how full the unit is, note the facility, unit number, gate code and access hours, and the price is on screen before you confirm. You do not have to be there if the access is sorted. Same prices on both sides of the state line.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to clear a 10x10 storage unit in Kansas City?
Usually a half to three-quarters truck, $431 to $587, depending on how tightly it was packed. A 5x10 is more often $338 to $431.
Do I have to be there?
No, as long as we have the gate code, the unit number and the key or an unlocked unit. Plenty of these are booked from another state.
Can you work within the facility's access hours?
Yes — tell us the hours when you book. Access hours are often shorter than the office hours, so it is worth checking.
What if there is paint or old fuel in the unit?
Those cannot go on the truck. Take them to the household hazardous waste program serving your side of the metro.
Is anything in a non-climate-controlled unit still usable?
Tools and metal usually. Upholstery, mattresses and particleboard normally are not — a few Kansas City summers and freeze-thaw winters finish them.