What patio furniture removal costs in San Diego

The short answer

A standard dining set is a table plus four chairs: $89 + $30 + $30 + $30 + $30 = $209. Minimum for any visit is $75, so a couple of chairs alone is a $75 job.

Why outdoor furniture dies faster here

San Diego is the best climate in the country for using a patio and one of the worst for keeping the furniture on it.

Year-round use. In most of the country outdoor furniture works four or five months a year and spends the rest under a cover in a garage. Here it is in service every month, which is three times the wear in the same number of calendar years.

Relentless UV. The sun does not take a season off. Sling fabric goes brittle and splits at the rail, resin wicker chalks and cracks, cushion covers fade unevenly and then powder. A cushion that looks fine from the kitchen window comes apart in your hands when you lift it.

Salt air. Anywhere west of the 5 - Ocean Beach, Point Loma, PB, Mission Beach, La Jolla, Bird Rock, Del Mar, Cardiff, Encinitas, Oceanside, Imperial Beach - salt gets into every fastener. Powder-coated aluminum survives a long time. Steel frames rust from the inside of the tube outward, so the chair looks fine right up to the afternoon a leg folds.

The marine layer. Morning damp every day for weeks in May and June, then drying heat in the afternoon. That cycle is what delaminates wood and grows mildew inside cushion foam.

Rust is not always visible

A tubular steel patio chair corrodes from inside the tube where water sits. The powder coat outside can look almost new while the frame is a shell. This is the specific reason not to donate old patio seating - a chair that collapses under somebody is not a favor.

Test it before you decide to keep or donate: press hard on the seat frame, flex the back, look at the weld points and the leg ends. If there is rust weeping out of a joint, or the leg end is open and flaking, it is disposal.

Aluminum does not rust but it does fatigue, and the fasteners still corrode. Teak grays but generally survives - teak is worth cleaning rather than replacing, and it has resale value here.

The San Diego patio, item by item

What actually comes out of a typical back yard or balcony in this city:

• The dining set that has been outside for eight years. Table $89, chairs $30 each.
• The grill. Charcoal $59, propane $71. Disconnect and take the propane cylinder off - cylinders are not accepted on a junk truck and go through the county's household hazardous waste program or a cylinder exchange.
• Two chaise lounges by the pool or the spa. $93 each.
• The umbrella and base, and a pile of failed cushions - usually a small pile at $82 or a medium at $129.
• The hot tub nobody has used since the cover failed. $322.
• The kids' stuff - portable basketball hoop $115, above-ground pool $145.

Balconies are patios too

In the beach rentals and the Mission Valley and downtown condo stock, the entire outdoor room is a six-by-ten balcony, and it still accumulates.

The pattern is consistent: a small bistro table, two chairs, a dead planter or three, a folded umbrella, a grill that the building may or may not permit, and something the last tenant left. That is typically a table at $89, two chairs at $30 + $30 = $60, and a small pile at $82, which is $89 + $60 + $82 = $231.

All of it has to come down before a move-out inspection, and in a Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach walk-up that means down three flights of exterior stairs. Included - there is no stair or walk-up charge.

HOA yards and the patio rule

In the HOA-governed communities of North County and the South Bay - Carmel Valley, 4S Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Eastlake, Otay Ranch - patio furniture is one of the most commonly cited items, because it is visible from a common area and because faded, broken furniture is exactly what the architectural standards were written about.

Two practical consequences. You usually cannot stage the old set in the driveway or against the garage for a week while you figure it out, and you definitely cannot put it out at the curb early. Book the pickup for the day the new set is delivered and the swap happens inside one afternoon.

Arrange gate access the day before if your community has a callbox or posted service-vehicle hours.

Getting it out of the yard

The standard Southern California exit is the side yard - a narrow strip between the house and the fence, usually with an AC condenser, a hose bib and two garbage bins already in it. Most patio furniture fits. Glass tabletops are the exception worth mentioning when you book, because they are carried separately and slowly.

On canyon-lot houses in Del Cerro, Bay Park, Mission Hills or up the Mount Helix slopes, the yard is a terrace below the house and everything comes up the exterior stairs. Same price. There is no long-carry charge and no stair charge.

Priced examples

Encinitas back yard, replacing a corroded set. Patio table $89 + six chairs ($30 x 6 = $180) + propane grill $71 = $340.

Point Loma yard, post-remodel. Two chaise lounges ($93 + $93 = $186) + patio table $89 + charcoal grill $59 + medium junk pile $129 = $463.

Carmel Valley, spa and set going together. Hot tub $322 + patio table $89 + four chairs ($30 + $30 + $30 + $30 = $120) = $531.

Ocean Beach balcony, end of lease. Patio table $89 + two chairs ($30 + $30 = $60) + small junk pile $82 = $231.

Every figure above is a published price added to another published price.

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