The short answer

Three things are actually at stake when a crew works in your home.

  • Access. Most managed buildings in this metro will not release a loading dock or a freight elevator without a certificate of insurance naming the property. No certificate, no job, and you rebook.
  • Damage. If something gets broken carrying a sectional down a turning bungalow stair, the question is whose policy pays. With an uninsured operation, the answer is frequently yours.
  • Where it ends up. Waste remains traceable. If a hauler tips your load somewhere it should not go, the paperwork trail leads back toward the person who generated it.

We are licensed and insured, we supply certificates of insurance on request, and the prices are published: a Sofa / Couch is $126, a full truck is $732, the minimum is $75.

Denver buildings check, and they check first

If your job is in a tower or a managed building, the certificate is not optional and it is not a formality. Cherry Creek North, LoDo, RiNo, the Golden Triangle, Union Station, Uptown's newer mid-rises — the pattern is the same. Management requires a COI naming the property as additional insured, with specified minimums, before the dock is reserved or the freight elevator is unlocked.

People discover this the morning of the move, with a truck outside and a crew that cannot get past the lobby. The building is not being difficult; it has a reason. A loaded dolly in a shared elevator with brushed-metal walls is a repair bill waiting for an owner.

Send us the building's requirements when you book and we will get the certificate to management ahead of the date. It does not change the price.

Old Denver houses damage easily

The city's pre-war housing stock is beautiful and fragile in specific ways, and this is where uninsured work goes wrong most often.

  • Plaster over lath. Bungalows in Congress Park, Park Hill and Platt Park have plaster walls, not drywall. A sofa corner into plaster does not dent — it cracks, and the crack runs.
  • Original woodwork. Fir trim, built-ins, newel posts and stair balusters that are a hundred years old and irreplaceable in kind.
  • The turning basement stair. Steep, narrow, a hard turn at a landing, under seven feet of headroom. This is where furniture gets dropped and where people get hurt.
  • Narrow doorways and casings. Around thirty inches. A modern appliance or a large sofa touches on both sides.

Any crew can promise to be careful. Insurance is what makes the promise mean something at the point where it fails.

Workers' compensation is the one nobody thinks about

Hauling is genuinely physical work with genuine injury risk, and the risk concentrates in exactly the places Denver puts things: the bottom of a basement stair, the third-floor landing of a Capitol Hill walk-up, the frozen apron of a detached alley garage in January.

If someone is hurt carrying your freezer up your stairs and they are not covered, the question of who is responsible becomes your problem rather than a settled one. This is not hypothetical and it is the least visible of the three risks, which is why it is worth asking about specifically.

Where your junk ends up is still your name on it

Colorado has a real illegal-dumping problem on public land west of the metro, and every year furniture, mattresses and construction debris turn up along canyon roads and forest access routes. Some of it is put there by people who paid someone else to take it away.

Waste is traceable. Delivery labels under sofas, mattress tags, mail in dresser drawers, permit paperwork in construction debris. When a dumped load is traced, the trail runs toward whoever generated it, and "a man with a truck said he would handle it" is not a satisfying place for that trail to stop.

A legitimate operation runs loads to permitted facilities and can tell you where. Ask. If the answer is vague, that is the answer.

The Denver season that produces the most risk

Hail season. After a bad storm crosses Aurora, Centennial or Lakewood, the metro fills with out-of-area crews chasing roofing and debris work. Most are fine. A minority are here for six weeks and gone, and by the time a damage claim or a dumping citation catches up there is nobody at the phone number.

The same pattern turns up in a smaller way every spring, when seasonal hauling operations appear with a round number and a trailer. The test is not whether someone seems capable — most do. The test is whether they can produce a certificate of insurance today, in writing, naming your property.

What to ask, exactly

  • "Can you send a certificate of insurance naming my building or property as additional insured?" — and then check the dates on it.
  • "Do you carry workers' compensation for the crew that will be in my house?"
  • "Where does the load go, and can you tell me which facility?"
  • "Is the quoted price the full price, including carrying it out and disposal?" — with us it is. No stair charge, no walk-up fee, no same-day surcharge, no refrigerant fee.

Four questions, two minutes over text. Any company that cannot answer them quickly is telling you something useful.

Frequently asked questions

Can you provide a certificate of insurance for my building?

Yes. Send us the building's requirements when you book and we will get the COI to management before the date. Cherry Creek, LoDo, RiNo and Golden Triangle buildings generally require one naming the property as additional insured before releasing a dock or freight elevator.

What happens if something in my house gets damaged?

That is exactly what liability coverage is for. Older Denver homes are the hard case — plaster over lath, original fir woodwork, narrow casings and a basement stair that turns at a landing. Working with an insured company is what keeps a mishap from becoming your bill.

Why does it matter where my junk goes?

Because waste is traceable. Delivery labels, mattress tags and paperwork in furniture all identify the household it came from, and Colorado has a real problem with dumping on public land west of the metro. A legitimate hauler runs loads to permitted facilities and can tell you which.

How do I check a hauler is actually insured?

Ask for the certificate in writing and read the dates and the coverage. Ask specifically about workers' compensation for the crew, not just liability. If the answer takes days or arrives as a photograph of something expired, you have your answer.

Does being insured make the job more expensive?

Not here. Our prices are published flat — a sofa is $126, a full truck is $732, and the minimum for a visit is $75. There is no insurance surcharge, no stair charge and no same-day surcharge.