The Leaves Came Down in October and the Rain Never Stopped
Every year I get the same call around the second week of November. The leaves came down in October, it has rained for three weeks straight, and what used to be a lawn is now a brown mat that smells like a compost pile.
That call always starts with an apology. There is no need for one. In this city, a yard gets away from you fast, and it is not because anybody was lazy. It is because we get a month of leaf drop followed immediately by the rain that glues it all down.
This is what yard cleanup Portland, Oregon actually costs, what should be included, and how to think about the timing so you are not the person calling me in January about a lawn that did not survive.
What a Fall Yard Cleanup Costs in Portland
Most single visit fall cleanups in the Portland metro land between $250 and $900.
That spread is mostly about how much material is on the ground and how hard it is to get it out of there.
- $250 to $400. Small lot, one or two trees, caught early, truck access to the yard.
- $400 to $650. Average Portland lot with mature trees, beds to clear, light pruning, some buildup.
- $650 to $1,200 and up. Big lot, heavy tree cover, months of accumulation, or a property that has not been touched in a year.
Priced by the hour, a two or three person crew runs $120 to $200 per hour in this market, and most cleanups take three to six hours.
Those numbers include hauling the debris away, which is not a small part of the cost. Dump fees are real and a loaded trailer of wet leaves is heavy.
These are typical ranges for the Portland market, not a quote. Every property is different, and the only way to know what yours costs is to have someone look at it.
What a Full Cleanup Includes
Ask what is on the list before you book. These are the pieces, and roughly what each one adds.
- Leaf removal from lawn and beds. The core of the job. Usually 40 to 60 percent of the total.
- Bed cleanout. Pulling spent annuals, cutting back perennials, clearing debris out of planting beds. $75 to $200.
- Light pruning of shrubs and small trees. Deadwood and anything that will catch wind. $100 to $300.
- Final mow and edge. One last cut before the grass goes dormant. $50 to $100.
- Gutter and downspout check. Not every landscaper does this. Worth asking.
- Debris haul away and dump fees. $75 to $250 depending on volume.
- Bark dust refresh. Optional, usually billed separately by the yard.
What is almost never included unless you ask: roof moss, gutter cleaning on a two story house, and anything that requires climbing.
Why Wet Leaves Kill a Portland Lawn
This is the part people underestimate, so let me be specific about what is happening under there.
A layer of wet leaves blocks light and traps moisture against the crown of the grass. In a dry climate that is survivable because the leaves dry out. Here they do not. They stay wet from October until March.
What you get is a dead or thinned patch by spring, and in that bare spot, moss moves in. Moss is not the disease, it is the symptom. It shows up because the grass gave up first.
Two or three weeks of leaf cover is fine. Two or three months is what causes the damage. That is the entire reason timing matters more than thoroughness on this job.
What the First Windstorm Leaves Behind
Our first real wind event usually lands between late October and mid November, and it changes the job.
Before the storm, a cleanup is leaves. After it, it is leaves plus branches, plus whatever blew out of the neighbor's yard, plus small limbs hung up in the canopy that will come down on their own schedule.
What to look for after a windstorm:
- Branches resting on the roof, the fence, or power lines
- Limbs hanging in the tree but no longer attached, which is the dangerous one
- Debris blocking downspouts and area drains
- Fresh lean on a tree that was upright last week
The first three are cleanup. The fourth is a call to an arborist, not to a landscaper, and it is worth making that call the same week.
What Changes the Price
Tree count and type
A single maple can drop more volume than four small ornamental trees. Big leaf maples, which are everywhere here, produce an enormous amount of material.
How long it has been sitting
Dry leaves blow into a pile. Wet, matted leaves have to be lifted. The same yard costs more in December than it does in late October for exactly that reason.
Access
If everything gets carried through a side gate to the street, that is hours of labor instead of minutes.
Lot size and bed area
Beds take longer per square foot than lawn because the work is by hand.
Visits
Here is the honest part: one visit almost never does it. Leaf drop in Portland runs over four to six weeks. A cleanup in mid October misses half of it. Most yards with mature trees need two or three passes.
One Time Cleanup vs a Maintenance Plan
One time cleanup runs $250 to $900 per visit. You call when it is bad, we come when we can. In November that can mean a two week wait, because everyone calls in the same two weeks.
A seasonal plan with scheduled fall visits typically runs less per visit, and the yard never reaches the state that causes damage. You also get a spot on the calendar instead of a waitlist.
Running the math on a yard with mature trees: three one time visits at $450 each is $1,350. The same yard on a lawn maintenance plan usually comes in lower, and the lawn comes out of winter in better shape, which saves a spring repair.
If you are weighing whether to handle it yourself or hire it out on an ongoing basis, our post on choosing the right lawn care plan walks through both.
DIY vs Hiring It Out
Here is the real cost of DIY. Yard debris bags run $1 to $2 each, and a mature maple fills twenty of them. Curbside yard debris carts have limits, so the overflow goes to a transfer station, where you pay by weight. Wet leaves weigh a lot. A tarp and a truck helps, and renting one for a day is $80 or more.
Time: a 6,000 square foot lot with two mature trees takes one person six to ten hours spread over a few weekends, and the weekends it does not rain are limited.
Where DIY stops making sense is pruning anything overhead, working on a slope, or a yard that has gone a full year without attention. At that point you are paying in weekends what you would have paid in dollars.
When to Schedule in Portland
The window that works is mid October through mid December, and the shape of it matters.
- Mid to late October. First pass. Clears the early drop and gets beds cut back before the rain settles in.
- Mid to late November. Main pass. This is the one that matters most, right after the bulk of leaf drop.
- Early December. Final pass. Catches the late droppers, especially oaks.
Book before November. Every landscaper in Portland is full the week after the first big windstorm, and the people who called in September are the ones who get on the schedule.
If you wait until January, the leaves are still there, they are heavier, and whatever damage was going to happen to the lawn has already happened. You will also be paying for a lawn repair in April on top of the cleanup.
What Portland Homeowners Say
"Amazing work! They spent 5 hours taking two huge trailers of yard debris from our yard. Pruned trees and shrubs, removed shrubs and debris clean up. Very personable and professional. We are going to hire them for re-occurring yard and lawn maintenance services moving forward." — Bill S., Google review
Two full trailers is what a neglected Portland yard actually produces. That is the honest picture of what a catch up cleanup looks like, and it is why I push people toward scheduled visits instead.
"They did a great job clearing a very overgrown property. Fair prices too!" — Katy H., Google review
FAQ's
1.How much does yard cleanup cost in Portland, Oregon?
Most single visit fall cleanups run $250 to $900 depending on lot size, tree count, and how much material has accumulated. Hourly, a crew runs $120 to $200.
2. How many cleanups do I need in the fall?
Most Portland yards with mature trees need two or three passes between mid October and early December. Leaf drop here spans four to six weeks, so a single visit misses a large share of it.
3. What happens if I skip fall cleanup entirely?
Wet leaves sitting on grass all winter kill the turf underneath and leave bare patches that fill in with moss by spring. The spring repair usually costs more than the cleanup would have.
4. Do you haul the debris away?
Yes, haul away and dump fees are included in our cleanup pricing. Confirm this with any contractor you hire, because some bill it separately.
5. When should I book?
Before November. The week after the first windstorm, every crew in Portland is booked out two weeks or more.
Get Your Yard Cleared Before Winter Sets In
If your yard is already past the point where a weekend fixes it, that is normal for this time of year and it is exactly what we do. I will come look at it and give you a number before any work starts.