Storm drain cleaning cost in South Florida (2026)

What drives your price

Two properties in the same city can have the same number of basins but different cleaning scopes. Here is why.

1. Mobilization is a fixed cost getting spread across your work

Rolling a vactor truck, a support vehicle, and a two-person crew to a site is roughly the same expense whether we clean four basins or forty. Standalone mobilization is $250 and is waived on maintenance plans. This is why bundling, cleaning every structure on the property in one visit, always beats piecemeal work. HOAs that split cleaning into "the front eight this quarter, the back six next quarter" pay a mobilization premium twice.

2. What's in the sump

A sump that's 20% full of dry silt takes eight minutes to clear. The same sump full of saturated mulch, standing water, and a decade of Publix bags takes 25. And what comes out matters at the tip: clean sand goes to a construction spoil site cheaply; anything with hydrocarbon contamination goes to a specialty facility at 4 to 6x the rate. We can't tell you which yours is until we open the lid. That is why the honest per-basin numbers are always a range, not a single figure.

3. Access

A curb inlet on an open drive lane is a five-minute setup. A grate under a parked-solid line of cars in a Miami Beach condo garage is an hour of coordinating tow notices, waiting for owners, and squeezing a hose through a tight turn. Traffic control on a state road (arrow board, MOT permit) is another line item entirely. Access explains more cost variance than debris volume does.

4. Structure depth and type

A shallow curb inlet is fast. A four-foot-deep manhole with a sediment shelf takes longer. A conflict structure with three incoming pipes at different elevations takes a confined-space setup and a longer vactor arm. On sites with a mix, most commercial properties, the per-structure number is a blended average, not a single rate.

5. Are you buying documentation, or just cleaning?

Compliance-driven work (SFWMD ERP, MS4 recordkeeping, post-DERM NOV) requires before/after photos of every structure, disposal manifests, a signed report, and often CCTV. That documentation package adds crew time and back-office hours. Straight cleaning with no paperwork is cheaper. But if you're one inspection away from a fine, the documentation is the actual product.

6. Season

Emergency and same-day service adds 35%. Maintenance plans offer 15% or 20% savings on cleaning.

Ballpark ranges (South Florida commercial, 2026)

• Cleaning minimum, up to 5 structures: $1,500 per job
• Larger jobs, quantity-dependent: $130 to $275 per structure, subject to the job minimum
• Heavy or treatment structures: +$150 each
• Emergency/same-day: +35%; standalone mobilization: $250, waived on maintenance plans

Also see the hydro jetting cost guide, SFWMD ERP inspection cost guide, and the storm drain cleaning service page.