Polk Services owner Donny Gozzola in Highland City, FL — owner-operated junk removal, demolition, and land work in unincorporated Polk County.
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Highland City · Unincorporated Polk

Junk Removal, Demolition & Land Work in Highland City, FL — Across the Clubhouse Road Crossing, the SE Streets & the Fort Fraser Trail Corridor

Polk Services runs junk removal, demolition, and land work in Highland City from a Lakeland base about seven miles up US-98. Donny Gozzola quotes every job, runs it on-site, and walks the property with you before he leaves — no rotating crew, no out-of-state call center.

Covering All of 33846 Unincorporated Polk County US-98 & Clubhouse Road Fully Insured Open 7 AM – 7 PM Daily
Owner Runs Every Job
Donny quotes it, runs the machine, and signs off with a walk-through.
Your Mail Says One Thing, Your Parcel Another
The Municipality field on your own parcel record settles it in ten seconds.
Newer Houses, Working Lots
The median home here dates to about 2000, which changes what comes out of a garage.
Six Miles From Bartow, Seven From Lakeland
Both directions on US-98, so the drive never eats the day.
Donny Gozzola, owner of Polk Services LLC, with the branded truck and Kubota mini skid steer working in Highland City, FL.
Donny in Highland City

A Lakeland-Native Owner-Operator on the Bartow Highway

Donny was born and raised in South Lakeland, about seven miles up US-98 from Highland City, with more than 20 years in construction and removal and 19 years with a Class A CDL. Highland City sits between the two markets he works most in, which makes it one of the easier addresses on the schedule.

He has spent enough time on both sides of this stretch of US-98 to know that the answer to almost every rule question here starts with a county office, and that the fastest way to settle an argument about a property is to pull the parcel up and read it.

Areas We Cover

Where Polk Services Works in Highland City

The US-98 & Clubhouse Road Core

33846 · The commercial center

The signalized crossing of US-98 and Clubhouse Road is the middle of Highland City, with the post office and the shopping frontage around it. Regular work: small-commercial and vendor cleanup, garage and household cleanouts, and turnover work on the residential streets behind it.

The SE Street Grid

33846 · Addresses off somebody else's downtown

Nearly every street here carries an SE because the numbering runs off Lakeland's addressing grid and the community has no center of its own to number from. Regular work: yard waste and brush removal, stump grinding, shed demolition, and full property cleanup.

The 33812 Overlap

Lakeland mail, Polk County parcel

A belt of properties here takes a Lakeland 33812 mailing address while sitting in unincorporated county. Neighbors a street apart get different envelopes and the same rulebook. Regular work: cleanouts, fence and deck removal, and clearing, plus a straight answer about which jurisdiction the parcel is actually in before anything is quoted.

Along the Fort Fraser Trail & the Bartow Line

33846 · South on US-98

South of the core, the lots widen as US-98 runs toward Bartow, with the Fort Fraser Trail on the old rail alignment beside it, the same alignment that put a stop here in the first place. Regular work: lot clearing, grading, and property-line land work at rural scale.

Also covered: the CR 540A corridor, the Lakeland Highlands edge, the rural pockets toward the Bartow line, and every subdivision and unplatted parcel inside Highland City's ZIP code. If the address is inside a 20-mile radius of 33803, it's covered with no travel fee.

What We Do Here

Every Service, With the Highland City Angle

Yard Waste, Brush & Stump Removal

County curbside is designed for routine maintenance, and its guidance calls for bundles under 30 pounds with branches no longer than 3 feet. Whole trees, trunks, stumps, logs, and root systems are outright on its exclusion list. We take the pile, grind the stump, and rake the ground flat behind it.

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Household Junk Removal & Garage Cleanout

A neighborhood whose median house dates to around 2000 is full of twenty-five-year-old garages. We work inside for it — furniture, appliances, mattresses, carpet — and we do not take tires, batteries, paint, or fuel that go to the county's household hazardous waste facility.

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Shed & Outbuilding Demolition

Polk County exempts prefabricated reach-in storage under five feet mean height, fifty square feet and 250 cubic feet, with no power or plumbing. Above that, a permit is in play, and the plans examiner is the one who decides. Demolished, loaded and hauled in one visit.

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Construction & Renovation Debris Removal

County code puts the duty on whoever did the work: professional services shall remove all excessive bulk waste from parcels resulting from their work. If a remodeler leaves it at your roadside, the notice and the assessment land on your parcel, not theirs.

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Fence & Deck Removal

Worth knowing before you replace one: the county exempts chain-link fences of any height and stockade up to eight feet, and requires a permit for masonry walls, fences with masonry pilasters, and solid fences over eight. Coming out, all of it is ours — panels, posts, and the concrete footings, which are the part most crews leave.

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Bush & Lot Clearing

The Kubota goes through a side gate for an overgrown back lot, and the full-size Cat takes the open parcels toward the county line, with the debris leaving on the same visit. On a bigger reset, Donny walks the cleared ground with you before he loads out.

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And every other service on the catalog — estate cleanout, heavy junk hauling, dumpster rentals, concrete demolition, grading and ground leveling, gravel driveways, storm debris, pool demolition, sod, and mini skid steer work — all run in Highland City at the same rate card and standard as the rest of the service area.

Kubota mini skid steer clearing a lot in Highland City, FL.
Local Conditions

Eight Highland City Realities That Shape the Work

01

Your Mailing Address Does Not Say Who Governs the Parcel

The Property Appraiser says so on the record itself: the postal city may not match the administrative area, because the Postal Service names cities and the county governs land. The field that settles it is Municipality, and here it reads Unincorporated Polk County.

02

It Was a Town on Paper, Briefly

The place grew up as Haskell, the only stop the railroad put between Lakeland and Bartow, named for the brothers who invested in the line. It was incorporated as Highlands City in 1925 and abolished by act of the legislature in 1929. The name outlasted the government by nearly a century.

03

The Mail Points at Lakeland and the Schools Point at Bartow

Street numbers here run off Lakeland's downtown grid, which is why almost every address carries an SE. The elementary school's sixth-graders go on to Bartow Middle. People who live here answer the question of where they are from with a pause.

04

This Is Not an Old-Housing Market

Census figures put the median home at about the year 2000, with roughly half built in 2000 or later and about one in seven dating to 1979 or earlier. That is the reverse of Bartow up the road. Pre-1978 work still gets flagged at the estimate for lead-safe handling, but here it is the exception.

05

Every Number You Need Is a County Number

Permits, code enforcement and floodplain questions go to county offices on West Church Street in Bartow. Solid waste is a different county number altogether, out at Environmental Loop in Winter Haven. A Lakeland resident calls Lakeland; here there is no equivalent call to make.

06

The Curb Refuses Exactly What the Work Produces

Whole trees, trunks, stumps, logs, root systems, and land-clearing debris are excluded from county collection regardless of how small they have been cut, and the monthly furniture and appliance pickup does not accept construction debris or move-out loads. Material left out of compliance can become a code enforcement matter.

07

Eighteen Inches Here, Twelve Either Side of It

On a lot of two acres or less next to a parcel with a house or business on it, the county allows eighteen inches over no more than a tenth of the property. On a lot bigger than two acres, the same eighteen inches applies within two hundred feet of a neighbor's built parcel, and there the ten percent does not apply at all. Inside Lakeland, and inside Mulberry, the same standard is twelve.

08

Burning the Cleared Pile Does Not Work on a Lot This Size

Land-clearing debris is not yard waste under the state rules, and the setback depends on which premises it is. On residential premises of no more than two family units, the state asks for 300 feet from any occupied building other than the landowner's, 50 feet from wildlands or brush, and 100 feet from a paved public road. Where the burn is not residential, the building setback is a thousand feet. Either way, it needs Forest Service authorization, and the Forest Service will not authorize burning debris trucked in from elsewhere. A county burn ban can suspend the rest of it anyway.

Head to Head

Polk Services vs a Franchise Chain in Highland City

Comparison Point
Franchise Chain
Polk Services
Who quotes the job
Call-center rep reading a rate card
Donny Gozzola — owner-operator, on-site or by direct text
Who runs the machine
Rotating hourly crew
Donny — the same person who wrote the quote
Whose rules reach your parcel
Assumes a city code that does not exist here
Works to Polk County's code, and says which section
Stumps, roots and land-clearing debris
Priced as ordinary yard waste
Handled as the material the county refuses at the curb
Debris the work itself generates
Left for the homeowner to deal with
Removed the same visit, as county code requires
Grass-height standard
One number assumed for the whole metro
Eighteen here, twelve inside Lakeland and Mulberry — quoted to the right one
Side-gate access
Full-size equipment can't enter a 36-inch gate
Kubota threads a 36-inch gate — no fence removal
Post-Milton storm response
Surge pricing during storm response
Same rate card, no surcharge
Accountability
Escalate through franchise or corporate
Direct call or text to Donny
★★★★★

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FAQ

Highland City Questions

Do you cover all of Highland City?
Yes — all of ZIP 33846, from the US-98 and Clubhouse Road core through the SE street grid to the parcels running south toward Bartow, plus the Lakeland-addressed 33812 belt. Highland City is inside the 20-mile radius from Lakeland, so there's no travel fee.
Am I in a city or in the county?
Look up your parcel on the Polk County Property Appraiser site and read the Municipality field. In Highland City, it says Unincorporated Polk County. Your mailing address will not tell you, and the Property Appraiser says exactly that on the record.
Why won't the county take my brush pile?
Because its guidance for routine yard waste asks for bundles under 30 pounds, with branches no longer than 3 feet and no thicker than 2 inches. Whole trees, trunks, stumps, logs, root systems, and land-clearing debris are excluded regardless of how small they have been cut.
Do I need a permit to take down a shed?
The county exempts only prefabricated reach-in storage with a mean height under five feet, fifty square feet, and 250 cubic feet, with no electrical or plumbing. Anything larger is in permit territory, and the county's plan examiners make the call. Send photos, and we will tell you what to ask them.
Do I need a permit to clear my lot?
Not for the clearing itself. Clearing and grubbing upland property is permitted in unincorporated Polk except where habitat or tree-preservation requirements, the laws of Florida, or federal rules reach the parcel. Adding or removing soil is what goes through county review.
Can I burn it instead of hauling it?
Yard waste, within the state's setbacks and pile-size limits. Cleared vegetation is harder: it needs Forest Service authorization, and 300 feet from any occupied building other than yours on residential premises, and 1,000 feet where the burn is not residential. A county burn ban stops all of it while it is in force.
How tall can the grass get before it is a problem?
Eighteen inches under the county ordinance. On a lot of two acres or less beside a parcel with a building on it, no more than a tenth of the property can be over that; on a bigger lot it applies within two hundred feet of a built neighbor with no tolerance at all. Inside Lakeland, and inside Mulberry, the same standard is twelve.
Can I text photos instead of scheduling a walk-through?
Yes. Text photos to (863) 344-5806 and a photo quote comes back the same business day when possible — the fastest path to a price for work you can photograph clearly.
Is the housing old enough to worry about lead paint?
Usually not. Census figures put the median home at about the year 2000 and roughly one in seven at 1979 or earlier. Where a property falls in that older seventh, pre-1978 work is flagged at the estimate for lead-safe handling.
What about the debris from my remodel?
It does not go in the county cart or the monthly furniture and appliance pickup, both of which exclude construction debris. It goes in the trailer, and county code puts the duty to remove it on whoever did the work.
Do you work the parcels with Lakeland mailing addresses?
Yes, and on the same rate card. Whether a given parcel is unincorporated county or has been annexed is a question the Property Appraiser's Municipality field answers in ten seconds, and it is worth checking, because the rules change with it.
Polk Services truck and Kubota mini skid steer serving Highland City, FL.

Ready to Hire Local in Highland City?

Text photos of the work, call directly, or fill out the estimate form. Every quote comes from the owner-operator who runs the job — not a franchise call center.

Call or Text (863) 344-5806