Here is something we hear a lot from Denver families: "It looked fine from the street." Many hoarded homes here do. A tidy brick bungalow in Harvey Park or a split-level in Arvada can be full to the ceiling downstairs while the front yard looks normal. Often the first person to see it is a son or daughter visiting for the holidays, or a neighbor who notices the mail piling up.
Basements, dry air and snow
Most Denver-area homes have a basement, and in a hoarded home it is usually the fullest part of the house. The furnace, water heater and electrical panel are down there. When boxes block them, it is a fire risk and it means nobody can service them. Clearing a path to those mechanicals is often one of the first things we do.
Colorado air is dry, which helps in one way: paper and clothing do not mold as fast as they would in a humid state. But dry air also means dust, a lot of it, and dust in a packed home gets into everything. Crews wear masks, and the deep clean at the end of a job includes surfaces, vents and baseboards, not just floors.
Winter brings its own planning. Snow can come early and late on the Front Range. Steps and driveways need to be clear before crews carry anything heavy. If a house has been empty and the heat was off, pipes may have frozen and burst. We clean up the mess, and your project manager can connect you with trusted local professionals for the plumbing. Hail is another local reality. If a roof or windows were damaged and never fixed, water may have gotten into the upper floor. Repairs are not our work, but we clear and clean what the water ruined.
Six counties, different rules
The metro is a patchwork of counties and cities, and each one handles things a little differently. Your project manager knows this, so you do not have to.
City and County of Denver. Neighborhoods include Park Hill, Congress Park, Washington Park, Highland, Harvey Park, Montbello and University Hills. Housing complaints go through 311. The Department of Public Health and Environment enforces parts of the housing code, including sanitation and pest problems.
Arapahoe County. Aurora, Centennial, Englewood, Littleton and Greenwood Village. Many newer Aurora and Centennial neighborhoods have HOAs with rules about dumpsters and how long they can sit in a driveway.
Jefferson County. Lakewood, Arvada, Golden, Wheat Ridge and Evergreen. Foothills homes can have long, steep driveways that change how we load and where a dumpster can go.
Douglas County. Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock, Parker and Lone Tree. This is HOA country. If you have a violation letter, send us a photo and we will plan around it.
Adams County. Thornton, Westminster, Northglenn, Commerce City and Brighton.
Broomfield. Its own city and county, between Denver and Boulder.
Help that exists here besides us
Adult Protective Services. In Colorado, each county runs its own adult protection program. In Denver, the Denver Human Services hotline for child welfare and adult protection is 720-944-3000, open around the clock. The city says on its report abuse or neglect page that self-neglect is the most commonly reported concern about at-risk adults. In Jefferson County, the adult protection line is 303-271-4673. In the other counties, call the county's human services department. If someone is in danger right now, call 911.
The Colorado Hoarding Task Force. The Colorado Hoarding Task Force is an all-volunteer group of health workers, first responders, mental health professionals, social service staff and others. It does not meet on a regular schedule, but its website lists county contacts, support groups and counselors, and information for families. It is a good place to look for support for yourself, not just the house.
Learning about hoarding disorder. Hoarding disorder is recognized in the DSM-5. The International OCD Foundation estimates it affects about 2 to 6 percent of adults and has helpful pages for families. We are not therapists, and we do not diagnose or treat anything. We work on the home.
Inside the house, step by step
The first visit is a conversation. Your project manager walks the home, listens to what your mom or dad wants to keep, and looks at what is urgent: blocked exits, a kitchen nobody can cook in, a bathroom that does not work, a furnace buried behind boxes.
Then the plan. Some families want everything done in one push. Others need it done in stages so the person living there can keep up. Both are fine.
On work days, crews set up keep, donate and discard areas in each room. Photos, letters, cash, jewelry, tax papers and anything with an account number on it go into a box for the family. Old mail is not shredded until the family says so.
When the stuff is out, the cleaning starts. Kitchens and bathrooms get scrubbed and sanitized. Homes with pet waste, human waste, rodent droppings and heavy odor are normal work for us, and the crew treats them that way, with no comments and no judgment. We work on the smell until the home is livable.
More on the process is on our hoarding cleanup page.
Where things go
Good furniture and household goods can go to the Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver ReStore, which approves donations and schedules pickups for larger items, along with local thrift stores. Metal and cardboard get recycled. Paint, chemicals and old batteries go to household hazardous waste programs, not the dumpster.
The rest goes to landfills. One of the big ones is the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site on South Gun Club Road in Aurora. Most of our jobs use a roll-off dumpster. A 30-yard dumpster is about 22 feet long and holds roughly what you would fit in several pickup truck loads. Your project manager orders it, places it and handles any permit the city or HOA requires.
Denver's probate court is its own court
If a parent has died and the home is part of an estate, it helps to know that Denver is different from the rest of Colorado. The Denver Probate Court is a separate court that handles estates for the City and County of Denver. In Adams, Arapahoe, Jefferson, Douglas and Broomfield, estates go through the district court.
We do not give legal advice. We do work around the timeline your attorney or the court sets, and we set aside wills, titles, deeds, insurance papers and bank records for the personal representative before anything leaves the home.
Cost and financing
We do not publish prices. A condo in Lakewood with one cluttered room and a four-bedroom house in Parker with a packed basement and garage are not the same job. Cost depends on how much is there, how much sorting the family wants, how much cleaning and odor work is needed, and how easy the home is to get in and out of. Our cost page explains it. Financing is available.
If you have not talked with your parent about this yet, our page on helping a family member can help you start.
Common questions
Do you serve all of the Denver metro?
A local project manager covers Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Jefferson, Douglas and Broomfield counties. That includes Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Centennial, Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock, Thornton and Broomfield. If you are just outside those areas, call and ask.
Can you work around HOA rules in Highlands Ranch or Parker?
Yes. Send a photo of any HOA letter when you call. Your project manager will plan dumpster placement and work hours around the rules and focus first on whatever the HOA has flagged.
Who do I call if my mom is not safe living alone?
In Denver, call the Denver Human Services hotline at 720-944-3000, any time. In Jefferson County, call 303-271-4673. In the other counties, call the county human services department, and call 911 if she is in danger right now.
What if there is a strong smell or animal waste?
That is normal work for us. We remove soiled materials, clean and sanitize, and keep working on the odor until the home is livable. If there are still live animals in the home, your project manager can connect you with trusted local professionals.
Will the neighbors know?
We keep it low-key and private. Crews do not talk about the job with neighbors, and we stage the work so it does not draw attention. A dumpster may be noticed, but the details stay with your family.
Can you clear a house that is in probate?
Yes. We do estate and probate cleanouts in all six counties. We set aside wills, titles and financial records for the family or personal representative and can deep clean the home to get it ready to sell.