Property Cleanup and Land Clearing
A lot of these jobs are mostly hauling. Some turn out to be much more.
- THE JOB
- Clearing a property of whatever is on it, and hauling it away
- TYPICALLY
- Overgrown lots, storm debris, decks, fencing, sheds and full cleanouts
- ALSO
- Estate and hoarder cleanouts, and lots cleared for sale or for building
- MEASURED BY
- Volume, weight, and how much of it has to be handled by hand
- SORTED
- Metal, clean wood, concrete and regular trash go to different places
- VEGETATION
- Brush and small trees. Large tree work is a separate trade
- STORM DEBRIS
- Including what the city won't take and what it left behind
- AFTERWARD
- Raked, graded and passable
- TIME ON SITE
- A day for most residential lots, longer for a full cleanout
Every one of these jobs is priced from the property itself, so there is no figure on this page to mislead you.
251-415-4545Call and we will come and look at it. The estimate is free and you get it in writing.
Storm debris, and the pile that's still there
After a named storm the county fills with debris piles, and the rules about them aren't obvious. Municipal collection takes vegetative debris, in a separate pass from construction debris, on a schedule that runs for weeks and sometimes months. It doesn't take everything.
What gets left behind is consistent: anything mixed, anything with a fence panel or a shed wall in it, anything containing metal, appliances, and construction material from a repair. So a pile that's 80% branches sits there through several passes because of the 20% that isn't, and the homeowner figures collection isn't coming.
That's most of what we get called about in the months after a storm. Separating a mixed pile so the vegetative part goes with the free collection and only the rest is hauled is usually the cheapest way to deal with it, and it's worth asking about before you pay to haul the whole thing.
The other storm job is a damaged structure that's still standing, and nobody wants to do it. A leaning shed, a collapsed carport, a fence lying flat across a yard. That's demolition, and it's safer with a machine than with a chainsaw and optimism.
Overgrown lots, and the letter that usually comes before the call
Most calls about an overgrown lot start with a code enforcement notice, and there's usually a clock on it.
An empty lot in this climate doesn't stay empty. One season of growth makes a thicket. Two seasons and you have saplings. By then there's usually something in it too: illegally dumped trash, an old appliance, a mattress, sometimes a vehicle. Clearing it is a two-part job. First the growth gets cut, then comes whatever the growth was hiding, and nobody can quote that second part from the curb.
We clear brush, undergrowth and small trees, pull out whatever has been dumped, and leave the lot cut back, raked and passable. Large or hazardous trees are an arborist's job, and we'll say so rather than take them on.
If you're up against a deadline, tell us when you call. It changes how we schedule it.
One season of growth makes a thicket. Two seasons and you have saplings.
Cleanouts, including the difficult ones
Clearing out a house is different work than clearing a lot, and it often comes at a bad time: a probate sale, a relative who can't manage the property anymore, a rental that ended badly.
In practice it's hand work. Somebody carries every item out, and volume rather than weight usually sets the size of the job. Anything you want to keep gets set aside first, so it's worth walking the property with us and pointing it out, because once it's in a truck it's gone.
Hoarding cleanouts are their own thing, and we'd rather hear about it in advance than discover it. They take longer, they need more people, and there are often live utilities, structural issues or pests underneath that nobody has been able to see for years. We can handle all of that. Getting surprised by it the morning of the job is what causes trouble.
If you'd rather load at your own pace, a container in the driveway for two weeks is often cheaper and less stressful than a crew for a day. Sizes are on the dumpster sizes page.
Decks, fences and the things attached to the house
Wood decks, screen enclosures, pergolas, carports, above-ground pools and fencing all fall somewhere between cleanup and demolition, and they come out as part of this work.
Two things are worth knowing. Older decks were often built with treated lumber that can't be burned and shouldn't be reused, so it's hauled off rather than salvaged. And anything ledger-bolted to the house leaves holes in the wall behind it, which need patching the same day if weather is coming.
Post footings are the part people forget. A deck with a dozen concrete footings in the ground leaves a dozen holes once they're pulled, and the ground needs to be filled and leveled afterward or the lawn tells the story for years.
Questions we get asked
Can you separate a storm pile so the city takes part of it?
Yes, and it's usually the cheapest way to handle a mixed pile. Vegetative debris goes with the free collection and we haul the rest.
I have a code enforcement deadline. How fast can you clear a lot?
Tell us when you call and we'll schedule around it. Most residential lots take a day once we're on site.
Do you take trees down?
Brush, undergrowth and small trees, yes. A large or hazardous tree is an arborist's job, and we'll tell you that rather than take it on.
Will you clear a hoarded house?
Yes. It takes longer and needs more people, and it goes much better if we know ahead of time than if we find out the morning of the job.
What happens to what you take?
It's separated. Metal is recycled, clean wood and concrete go to be reused, and only what's actually trash goes to the landfill.
Can I do it myself with a container instead?
Often that's the better answer, especially for a cleanout you want to do at your own pace. A container in the driveway for two weeks costs less than a crew.
Where we do this
We take this work anywhere in Mobile County, AL and Jackson County, MS, and the yard is in Theodore, so most of the territory is inside an hour.
Storm debris work runs for months after a named storm, and the piles still sitting there in the spring are almost always the mixed ones.
Service area
Mobile Theodore Tillman's Corner Grand Bay Saraland Satsuma Creola Chickasaw Prichard Semmes Wilmer Eight Mile Moss Point Pascagoula Gautier