Back yard of a red-brick two-family flat in St. Louis, MO crowded with tarp-covered piles, tires and broken furniture, with a trailer at the alley gate

Porches, yards, alleys and side lots

St. Louis Hoarding Cleanup: Yard Cleanups in St. Louis

Clearing what has spilled outside the house, which is usually what the neighbors and the inspector see first.

St. Louis and eleven towns within 28 miles
Written price before work starts
Licensed, insured local contractors
Occupancy inspection rules covered

St. Louis Hoarding Cleanup arranges yard cleanups for hoarded and neglected properties in St. Louis and the surrounding towns, carried out by local cleanout crews. When a house fills, the overflow goes to the porch, the yard, the side of the garage and the car, and that outdoor accumulation is what most code complaints are about.

A yard cleanup is typically two to four truckloads at $150 to $350 each; left until a notice arrives, the same yard has a reinspection date on it, and a missed one moves the case toward fines or a court summons.

$150 to $350 per truckload

Yard cleanups around St. Louis are usually priced by the truckload, typically $150 to $350 a load, the range published cost guides give for hauling. A cluttered porch is often one load, a full back yard two to four. Tires, appliances, scrap metal and heavy material like broken concrete or lumber change the price, and yard waste goes to a compost site rather than the landfill.

Get a price: (636) 216-6490

Signs the house has spilled outside

Furniture, boxes or appliances stored on the porch or in the yard
Tarps over piles that have been there more than one season
Old tires, car batteries or a vehicle that has not moved in years
Overgrowth hiding stored items along the fence or the alley
Rodents seen in the yard or the alley

Alleys, porches and side lots

In the City of St. Louis most houses back onto an alley, and the alley side is where storage piles up, behind the garage and along the fence. The city's monthly bulk pickup takes up to three items set out in the alley by 6am on the Monday of the collection week, which helps with a couch, not with a yard. In the county, front porches and side yards carry the overflow more often, because they are what is visible.

What a yard usually holds

Furniture and mattresses moved out of the house
Tires, batteries and car parts
Scrap metal, grills, lawn mowers and bicycles
Lumber, broken concrete and building scraps
Yard waste and overgrowth tangled through all of it

Missouri law keeps yard waste, lead-acid batteries, waste oil and major appliances out of landfills, so a crew sorts a yard into several streams before it loads anything. Scrap metal is usually the easiest part, because recyclers take it.

Not sure how big the job is? Describe the rooms and what is in them, and get a straight answer on what it usually takes.

Call (636) 216-6490

Yards are where code complaints start

The International Property Maintenance Code that most cities here enforce treats accumulated rubbish, exterior storage and conditions that harbor rodents as violations. In St. Charles, the city's rental inspection specifically looks for an accumulation of trash or debris that could pose a fire hazard. A yard is also the part of the property a neighbor can photograph, so it is usually what the complaint cites.

If a notice has already arrived, start with the code violation cleanup page, which covers working to the reinspection date.

Questions people ask

How much does a hoarder yard cleanup cost in St. Louis?

Typically $150 to $350 a truckload. A porch is often one load and a full back yard two to four.

Will the city pick up the junk in my yard?

City of St. Louis bulk pickup takes up to three items once a month, set out by 6am on the Monday of your collection week.

What are the signs a yard will draw a code complaint?

Stored furniture or appliances outside, long-term tarped piles, old tires, overgrowth and rodents.

Can the crew take tires and car batteries?

They are separated and taken to recyclers, since Missouri restricts them from landfills.

Does yard waste go in the same truck?

It is kept separate, because Missouri landfills do not accept yard waste.

Often done together

Code violation cleanup

Clearing what a code enforcement notice names, in the order the inspector will check it, before the reinspection date.
Hoarder garage cleanout

Clearing a garage that has not held a car in years, with the hazardous material sorted out before it goes anywhere.
Foreclosure cleanout

Emptying a vacant property after a foreclosure or a tax sale so it can be secured, inspected and sold.

Talk it through before anyone carries anything out

Say how many rooms are affected, whether there is a deadline, and whether anything in the house needs to be kept. You will hear what the job usually involves, what it tends to cost, and how long it tends to take.