Chicago’s own rule for a sofa, a mattress or an old refrigerator is short, and it has an order in it: arrange the pickup first, then put the item out. The City’s Sanitation Code Violation page says to “arrange with your Streets and Sanitation ward superintendent for a bulk pick-up” and to do it “before putting out any large item or extra load of trash”. For a move-out, that order decides whether the item is gone before the clean or still sitting on the floor you wanted cleaned.
One thing up front: Hometress does not take online bookings in Chicago yet. Chicago has a Chicago waitlist, so nothing here is a Chicago price or a promise of service. This guide repeats what two City of Chicago pages say, both read November 1, 2026, labels our own reading as ours, and lists what the pages leave open instead of guessing. It is practical home care only, and it covers no lease or deposit questions.
What the City’s pages say, line by line
Two pages matter. The first is the Sanitation Code Violation page, which is undated. The second is the City’s Garbage Fee FAQ, an older page that shows no date. Every cell in the middle column is the City’s wording or a direct reading of it.
| Topic | What the City’s page says | What it leaves open |
|---|---|---|
| A large item | “arrange with your Streets and Sanitation ward superintendent for a bulk pick-up” “before putting out any large item or extra load of trash”, with “after cleaning your basement or attic” as its example. | What counts as large, how many items, who to call, how far ahead. |
| A refrigerator or freezer | “Always remove doors or lids from discarded refrigerators and freezers”. | How to remove them, and whether a refrigerator is picked up as a bulk item. |
| Who the City serves | Households in “single-family homes or apartment buildings of four units or less” and “(others must arrange for private garbage collection)”. | Who to ask in a larger building. |
| The ward superintendent | “Each ward has a superintendent responsible for coordinating local garbage pick-up”. | Which ward you are in, a name, a phone number or a form. |
| Remodeling | “If remodeling, you are responsible for removing discarded building materials; dumpsters can be rented for this purpose.” | A sofa is not building material, so this line is not about your move. |
| Cost (Fee FAQ, older page) | “There is no additional cost for lawn waste or bulk waste collection.” | The page shows no date, so we do not know whether it is current. |
The Fee FAQ also repeats the four-unit line: “The City collects garbage from residential properties with four units or less.” It carries billing figures we have not checked, and this guide does not repeat them.
Why the order is the point
The City’s sentence puts the arranging before the putting out. A move-out clean works the other way around: the home is meant to be empty first. If the pickup is not arranged until the week of the move, the sofa can still be in the room when the cleaner arrives, and Hometress’s published Terms are plain about who moves it: “For safety, Cleaners cannot move furniture or objects weighing more than 30 pounds. If heavy items block areas needing cleaning, please move them before the appointment.” Those Terms govern the bookings Hometress takes, which are not in Chicago today. They show why the item has to be gone before the floor can be cleaned. Whether your sofa is over 30 pounds is for you to judge.
What the pages do not say
This is the section to read twice. When we read the two pages on November 1, 2026, they did not answer the questions people most often ask.
- Item count and size. No limit is stated for how many items, or how large, one household can arrange.
- Lead time. No number of days is given. The first step is to ask, and everything else counts back from the answer.
- How to ask. The page names the ward superintendent and gives no phone number or web form. Its only link to the City’s 311 service is under “Report Sanitation Code Violation”, so we cannot say that 311 takes bulk pickup requests.
- Mattresses and sofas by name. The page says “any large item”. It does not list a mattress or a sofa.
- Set-out day, time and place. Nothing is said about where the item stands or when.
- Haul-away sites. In our search on November 1, 2026, commercial haul-away pages quoted item limits, turnaround times and a request season. None of those figures came from a City page we could read, so none of them appear here.
A move-out week, counted back without invented days
The City states no lead time, so this sequence has no day counts in it. It is our reading, labelled as ours, for a household in a building of four units or fewer. A two-flat has two units, so it sits under the City’s four-unit line.
- As soon as the move-out date is fixed, find your ward’s Streets and Sanitation office and ask the questions in the list above: how many items, how far ahead, where and when to set them out.
- Write the answers on one card: the date, the items, who you spoke to and what they said, so nobody relies on memory.
- If a refrigerator or freezer is leaving, take off the doors or lids. That is the City’s rule. The page does not say how, so ask the ward office if you are unsure.
- Put the items out as arranged, not earlier. The City’s wording is “before putting out”.
- Check the room before the clean. If something you arranged is still inside, it is still yours to move before the visit.
What a clean covers once the home is empty
Hometress is not bookable in Chicago, so this describes our published sheet, not an offer here. The Standard list has “Clean and Empty Trash Cans” and “Floors Swept / Mopped / Vacuumed”. The Move list adds “Clean Inside of Refrigerator (must be clear)” and “Clean Inside Cabinets (must be clear)”. We found no line on any sheet for hauling a sofa, a mattress or an appliance away. That is why arranging the pickup is yours to do, and why it comes before the clean.
Where Hometress fits
Hometress is a cleaning marketplace that connects independent cleaning professionals with customers. Hometress takes online bookings only in Philadelphia today, so there is no Chicago price or cleaner to point you to here. If you live in Chicago, the place to say you are interested is the Chicago waitlist. In the meantime, our Chicago move-out cleaning checklist covers the clean itself, our guide to what a Chicago cleaning quote has to cover explains what a quote should name, and our guide to cleaning a Chicago greystone or two-flat covers the home.
Common questions
Can I put a mattress or sofa out without calling first?
The City’s instruction is to arrange first. The page does not say how an unarranged item is handled, and this guide does not guess.
Will the City take a refrigerator?
The page names refrigerators in its door rule and says “any large item” in its bulk-pickup rule. It does not say in so many words that a refrigerator is picked up, so ask the ward office.
What if my building has five or more units?
The City’s page says that others “must arrange for private garbage collection”. Ask your building’s office how large items are handled there.
Does Hometress take furniture away?
No sheet line says so, and Hometress takes no Chicago bookings today. In a home the City serves, the pickup is a City arrangement, and in a larger building the building’s office is who to ask. Either way, the clean comes after it.