Leaf Cleanup and Removal in Kennesaw, GA
Kennesaw and Acworth sit under a mix of hardwoods and heavy pine, which means two different messes arriving at once every fall — leaves on the lawn and needles in the gutters. We clear both, load them, and take them off the property. Nothing gets bagged and left at your curb.
Free on-site estimate, and an itemized written quote before any work starts.
What leaf removal costs around here
Metro Atlanta market rates for 2026, so you can judge any quote you get — ours included:
• Quarter acre — $180 to $255
• Half acre — $205 to $505
• Three-quarter acre — $305 to $755
• Full acre — $405 to $1,010
The average across the metro is about $357, with most jobs landing between $170 and $554. Heavily wooded lots run to the top of that and past it.
Two things move the number more than lot size does. Tree density is the first — a half acre with four trees and a half acre inside a pine stand are not the same job. How long they have been down is the second: dry leaves blow, wet matted leaves have to be lifted.
Our cleanups carry a $150 minimum. Past that we quote after we look, itemized, before anything starts. We will not price a wooded lot over the phone, and you should be careful with anyone who does.
When to do it in North Georgia
This is the question we get asked most, and the honest answer is that it depends on what is growing over your house.
Maples, poplars and sweetgums come down first, usually through late October and November. Oaks hold on far longer — on plenty of Cobb County lots they are still dropping into January. Pines shed needles heaviest in fall as well, and those go straight into the gutters rather than onto the lawn.
So: if your lot is mostly maples and poplars, one cleanup in early December catches nearly everything. If you have mature oaks, one December cleanup means doing it again in January, and you are better off with two passes — one around Thanksgiving, one in early January once the oaks have finished.
The one timing mistake worth avoiding is going too early. A cleanup in early November on an oak lot looks great for about ten days.
Book both passes at once, before December fills up
The timing above is the part most people already half-suspect. What nobody actually offers is a way to book it.
So we do. If your lot needs two visits, both go on the schedule at the estimate — the first around Thanksgiving, the second in early January once the oaks have given up. You are not calling around in the last week of December, which is the week everybody else is calling around, and we are not fitting you in as an emergency at the busiest point of our year.
The second visit is a smaller job than the first and it is quoted that way. There is less on the ground, the beds are already clear and we know the property. Both figures sit on the same written estimate before either visit happens, so nothing about January is a surprise.
It is also the sensible visit to put the gutter clean on. Cleaning gutters in October while the oaks are still dropping means doing them twice.
If the second pass turns out not to be needed — a mild fall, or the oaks finish early — we cancel it. You are booking a slot, not prepaying for work.
What happens if you leave them
A light scattering of leaves is genuinely fine, and mulching them into the lawn with a mower is a real option on a thin layer. The problem is the mat.
Fescue is the issue in this part of Georgia. We sit in the transition zone, so most lawns here are fescue, and fescue does its growing through the cool months — exactly when the leaves are sitting on it. A wet packed layer blocks the light during the only season that grass is working, and you find the dead patches in March.
The rest of it is drainage. Leaves wash into gutters, downspouts and the low corner of the yard, and a blocked downspout in a Georgia winter puts water against your foundation rather than away from it.
And matted leaves against siding and under decks hold moisture through the winter and give rodents somewhere warm to be.
Bagging it yourself, and why that gets expensive
Worth knowing before you buy a box of bags, because the rules here are not what most people assume.
Unincorporated Cobb County has no county leaf pickup. Waste collection is contracted privately, and vegetative waste is handled through drop-off rather than a truck coming for your pile. If you bag it, you are either paying your hauler to take it or driving it somewhere yourself.
Inside Marietta city limits there is curbside collection on Wednesdays, but with conditions: leaves must be bagged, not piled loose; bags cannot exceed 32 gallons; branches must be under six feet, under four inches thick and under 100 pounds. Paper bags are recommended, because Georgia state law prohibits plastic in compost. And once you hit 48 bags — roughly 200 cubic feet — an excess fee of $100 per load applies.
Forty-eight bags sounds like a lot until you rake a wooded half acre. It is not unusual to pass it in a single afternoon.
When we do a cleanup, the leaves leave on our trailer. Disposal is in the quote, not added afterward, and nothing sits at your curb waiting on a Wednesday.
What is included
• Lawn areas cleared, front and back
• Beds and around shrubs hand-cleared, so we are not blowing mulch out with the leaves
• Leaves pulled off the foundation line, out from under decks and away from A/C units
• Driveway, walkways and patio blown clean
• Leaves either mulched back into the lawn where the cover is light enough, or loaded and hauled off — disposal included in the number either way
• Gutters cleared and downspouts flushed, if you add it
Two ways to finish it. Mulching passes a mower over the leaves and returns them to the lawn as fine matter, which feeds the grass and costs less because nothing leaves the property. That only works while the layer is thin — once the cover is deep it smothers the grass instead, so it all goes on the trailer. We look at what is actually down and tell you which one your yard is.
What is not included unless you ask: pruning, bed re-edging, and fresh mulch or pine straw. Those are worth doing at the same visit if the beds are already open, and we will price them separately so you can see what each one costs.
Leaves and gutters are the same job
If you are booking a leaf cleanup under pine or oak, the gutters are already full. Doing both on one visit costs less than two mobilizations, and the gutter clean is worth more done after the trees have finished dropping than before.
Questions we get asked
Do you have to come back if more leaves fall?
On an oak lot, yes, and we would rather tell you that up front than have you find out in January. We will say at the estimate whether your lot is a one-pass or two-pass property.
Can you just blow them into the woods behind my house?
If it is your property and you want that, it is cheaper and we are happy to. If the woods belong to a neighbor or an HOA common area, no — that becomes their problem and eventually yours.
Do you mulch leaves into the lawn instead?
On a thin layer it is a genuinely good option and we will tell you when it is. On a heavy layer, mulching it just leaves you a finer mat.
What about the pine straw in my beds?
We clear leaves off it rather than stripping the beds out. If the straw is a year old and gone gray, that is the moment to refresh it — the beds are already clean and the labor is already there.
Do you work in the rain?
Not on leaves. Wet leaves are slower, heavier and harder to get clean, which costs you money. We reschedule.
The rest of what we do
Free estimate, itemized in writing
We come and look, free, and tell you honestly whether your lot needs one pass or two. Serving Kennesaw, Acworth, Marietta, Woodstock, Canton, Powder Springs and Dallas — full service area.
Call or text (470) 332-3398.