Queensland's storm season runs from November to April, and the Gold Coast usually cops its first big hailstorm or wind event before Christmas. A dead palm frond, a loose trampoline or a pile of offcuts beside the shed turns into a missile at 90km/h. You have about five weeks to sort the yard while it's still dry and quiet. This checklist covers the jobs worth doing first.
Why October beats November
Arborists, gutter cleaners and removal crews all get busy once the first storm hits the news. Book in October and you pick the day. Wait until a warning goes out and you join a queue with half of Robina.
Council green bins fill up fast too. A standard green bin holds 240 litres and gets emptied once a fortnight. One mature palm drops more than that in a single blow, and after a big storm every bin on your street is already full.
The 6-step checklist
Work through these over two or three weekends. Steps 1 and 2 take the longest to organise, so start there.
- 1. Walk the yard and look up. Check palms for brown, hanging fronds and coconuts. Check trees for dead limbs, splits and branches over the roof, fence or power lines. Take photos as you go.
- 2. Book an arborist for anything above head height. Leave lopping, felling and anything near power lines to a qualified arborist. Ask them to leave the cut material stacked on the ground if you'd rather not pay their green waste rates.
- 3. Clear gutters and downpipes. Leaves, seed pods and palm debris block gutters, and a blocked gutter in a Gold Coast downpour sends water through your eaves. Bag the sludge or add it to your green waste pile.
- 4. Tie down or get rid of loose items. Trampolines, outdoor furniture, pot plants, kids' toys and shade sails. Anything broken or unused, like the rusted barbecue or the cracked plastic chairs, should go now rather than end up in your neighbour's pool.
- 5. Empty the side of the house. Old timber, sheet metal, pavers and leftover building materials all become projectiles. Most Gold Coast homes have a strip down one side where this stuff collects for years.
- 6. Make a post-storm plan. Save your insurer's claims number, photograph the yard as it looks now for comparison, and save a removal number in your phone so you're not searching for one with a branch across the driveway.
Get the arborist in first, then book the pickup for the same week.
Cut material sitting on the lawn for a fortnight kills the grass and gives snakes somewhere to live.
Your three options for the green waste
Once you've cut it all back, you'll have a pile. You can deal with it three ways:
- Your green bin. Free if you already pay for one, but capped at 240 litres a fortnight. Works for hedge trimmings and a few fronds. A full palm clean-up will take you months.
- A tip run. Cheaper per load if you own a trailer and don't mind the loading, unloading and queue at the transfer station. Palm fronds are awkward, spiky and hard to tie down.
- A removal service. We charge $95 per cubic metre for green waste with a two cubic metre minimum, so $190 gets you started. We load it from wherever it sits and take it to composting and mulching facilities, not landfill.
For a sense of scale, two cubic metres is roughly a standard 6x4 box trailer heaped to the top. A palm clean-out plus a few pruned branches usually lands somewhere between two and four. Our full breakdown of junk removal costs on the Gold Coast covers how we price mixed loads if you're throwing in the broken outdoor furniture too.
After the storm
Stay away from fallen power lines and call Energex on 13 19 62. For trees on your house or blocking access, the SES takes calls on 132 500. Take photos of the damage before you move anything, because your insurer will ask for them.
Once the area is safe and any big trees are cut into manageable pieces, the clean-up is a volume problem. Council kerbside and green bins back up for weeks after a citywide event. If you'd rather not wait, our green waste removal runs 7 days and we can often get to you the same day.
The practical takeaway
Look up, get the arborist booked, and clear the loose stuff before November. A tidy yard costs you a couple of weekends and maybe $190 in removal. A storm through an untidy one can cost you a roof, a fence or an insurance excess. Send us a photo of your pile and we'll text back a fixed price within 2 hours.
Related services
Frequently asked questions
When is storm season on the Gold Coast?
Queensland's storm and cyclone season runs from November to April. On the Gold Coast the severe thunderstorms with hail and damaging winds tend to arrive from late spring through summer, so October is the month to get your yard ready.
Can I put storm debris in my green bin?
Small branches and fronds cut to fit with the lid closed can go in a council green bin if you have one. Green bins are collected fortnightly and hold 240 litres, so a single fallen palm or a big branch can fill several bins' worth. Larger loads need a tip run or a green waste removal service.
How much does it cost to remove green waste on the Gold Coast?
Bin Chicken Co. charges $95 per cubic metre for green waste removal with a two cubic metre minimum, so the entry price is $190. That covers loading, transport and delivery to a composting or mulching facility.
Do you cut down trees before a storm?
No. Cutting, lopping or felling trees is a job for a qualified arborist. Once the arborist has cut the material and it's on the ground, we can load it and take it away the same day.