Yard cleanup after a storm

Junk removal after a storm is branches, palm fronds, downed limbs, and the landscape debris that was already waiting. Tree removal is the other call: a tree on a house, a split trunk, or a lean that showed up when the wind stopped. They get booked as different jobs even when they are the same yard. Mowing does not start until the pile is off the grass.

Most of the haul calls we get are this pile, not a garage. Old sod pulled up and never taken, a dead shrub bed, river rock and mulch from the last remodel of the yard, plus whatever the storm added. The published range is $150–$600. Storm loads often sit at the high end because there is more material and the disposal site is slow. The method is still volume and what the material is. There is no separate storm menu.

County pickup is not our schedule

After a named storm in Sarasota, Charlotte, or Manatee County, yard debris jumps and curbside collection backs up or switches to special rules that vary block by block. We pay attention to what the county is doing that week. Sometimes the right move is to leave separated piles at the curb for the county's own trucks. Sometimes that pickup is weeks out and we haul to the transfer station ourselves, if the station is open to that material. We do not guess a pickup day, and we do not dump a mixed pile of sod, rock, and lumber into a vegetative-debris line.

A tree that the storm already felled, on a developed lot that already has a house, is treated differently from a tree you want cut. Charlotte County's own permitting guide says a permit is not required for a tree felled by a storm on a developed property with existing structures. Other counties are not that sentence. Read the guide for your county before anyone turns a leaning, still-standing tree into a "it already fell" story. Standing hazard trees can still need authorization. The three guides are linked from the removal cost page.

Sort the yard before you sort the bill

Keep vegetative debris together: limbs, fronds, shrubs. Keep sod, rock, and mulch in a different pile if you can, because a county vegetative pickup often will not take soil and stone, and a mixed pile is how a load gets rejected. Household trash stays out. If a limb is hung up in a power line, stay away and call the utility. We do not pull wood off live lines, and we do not want you to either. A tree that is on the roof, split and standing, or newly leaning is the removal call, including at night when it is safe to work. A tree that is already down in the open yard may be debris, and in Charlotte County a storm-felled tree on a developed lot is treated differently from a tree you decided to cut. Do not "finish" a hanging tree and call it already down.

Mowing waits. Running a deck over a yard of hidden limbs tears the turf and throws wood. We haul, then we cut, on a later day if the ground is soft. Photos in daylight, with the house in frame so the scale is obvious, beat a flashlight shot. If the county is picking up on your block this week, we may tell you to leave a sorted pile. If they are weeks out, we load it. The price follows the volume either way, inside the usual $150–$600 unless the load is honestly outside that, in which case the quote will say so before we throw anything. Stump grinding is not part of the night the tree comes off the house. Ask for it when the street is normal again.

Neighbors will all call the same week. Photos and a clear "this is on the house" versus "this is a pile in the yard" are how we order the route. House and leaners first, when it is safe. Open-yard piles next. Mowing last. If you already dragged everything to the curb in one mixed heap, tell us before we quote a load the county may also be coming for. Double-handling a pile the county was about to take is a waste. Leaving a dangerous hang-up because you hoped for a free pickup is worse. We will say which situation you are in. We will not promise a same-day mow on top of a debris day when the ground is still saturated.

What gets hauled, and what is an emergency

We load limbs, fronds, old sod, dead shrubs, and leftover landscape material. Small pieces of fencing mixed into the yard pile can go. A demolished screen cage, household trash, and a kitchen remodel do not. If the tree is leaning on the roof, split, or already down on a structure, that is the emergency removal, day or night, when it is safe to work. Stump grinding is still an add-on if you want it after the trunk is gone. It is not automatic in the dark.

Photos of the pile, and a separate photo of any tree that is on a structure, are the fastest way to sort which truck you need. If we are already coming for the tree, the debris from that tree leaves with the job, and extra yard piles are cheaper on that same trip. Book the haul through junk removal.