Biohazard Cleanup in Texas, TX

• Texas coverage today: Dallas County and the wider Metroplex, Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties around Houston, and Travis, Williamson and Hays counties around Austin.
• Calls from smaller cities between those metros, such as Waco, Bryan or Temple, are referred to the nearest crew that agrees to travel, and travel time is quoted up front.

• Unattended death remediation statewide, especially in summer
• Homicide, suicide and assault scene cleanup after police release
• Sewage and floodwater contamination after Gulf storms
• Encampment and vacant-property cleanups for owners and cities
• Hoarding cleanouts handled at the resident's pace

• Statewide, crews bill labor by the hour; HomeGuide's third-party estimate is $25 to $150 or more per hour, or $1,500 to $5,000 for most jobs, before disposal of regulated waste (HomeGuide).
• Lower-risk BSL-2 blood cleanup runs $30 to $80 per hour, and odor treatment after Texas heat about $100 per hour, according to HomeGuide's estimate (HomeGuide).
• The Texas OAG program caps clean-up at $2,250 and total awards at $50,000, plus up to $75,000 more for catastrophic injury, and pays only after insurance (Texas OAG).
• Method: these are published HomeGuide estimates and the OAG's own limits, not our quotes; metro labor rates, distance and county disposal costs move the final number, which the local crew writes after a walkthrough.

• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 56B sets up the OAG Crime Victims' Compensation Program, which reimburses up to $2,250 for crime scene clean-up for crimes after July 14, 2016 (Texas OAG). The crime must be reported to police and the claim filed with the OAG.
• Scene release depends on the county: Dallas County uses the Medical Examiner at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences, Harris County the Institute of Forensic Sciences, and Travis County its own Medical Examiner; elsewhere a justice of the peace may hold inquests.
• Workers must follow OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030, and regulated medical waste leaves the property with a transporter registered with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, under rules shared with the Department of State Health Services.
• Step 1: police or the Medical Examiner release the property. Step 2: the crew assesses and photographs the scene for the insurer and the OAG claim. Step 3: containment and PPE. Step 4: removal of contaminated materials with a waste manifest. Step 5: disinfection, odor control and handover.

• Texas summer heat is the biggest driver of unattended-death cost statewide: a closed home in July can need subfloor and drywall removal after only a few days, while the same case in January may stay on the surface.
• Gulf humidity and hurricane flooding near Houston add sewage contamination work, and large garden-style apartment complexes in Dallas and Austin make unit turnovers a big share of jobs in north and east neighborhoods of both cities.
• HUD's 2024 Point-in-Time count recorded 27,987 people experiencing homelessness across Texas, 12,339 of them unsheltered (HUD). Encampment cleanups near downtown Dallas, Houston and Austin are frequent requests from owners, cities and transit agencies.
• Overdose deaths and deaths of older residents living alone drive many unattended-death calls across Texas metros, and medical examiner backlogs can delay release when toxicology is pending.

Dallas · Fort Worth · Houston · Sugar Land · The Woodlands · Austin · Round Rock · San Marcos