Polk Services owner Donny Gozzola in Mulberry, FL — owner-operated junk removal, demolition, and land work on Bone Valley reclaimed ground.
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Mulberry · Bone Valley

Junk Removal, Demolition & Land Work in Mulberry, FL — Across the Phosphate Town, the SR-37 Corridor & the Reclaimed Land South and West

Polk Services runs junk removal, demolition, and land work in Mulberry from a Lakeland base straight down SR-37. 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 33860 Bone Valley & Reclaimed Ground SR-37 and SR-60 Corridors 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.
The City Issues Its Own Permits
Mulberry has its own building division. Demolition paperwork starts here, not in Bartow.
Reclaimed Ground, Read Correctly
Sand tailings and phosphatic clay behave nothing alike under a machine.
Full-Size Cat for Open Parcels
Reclaimed and rural acreage south and west gets the big machine.
Donny Gozzola, owner of Polk Services LLC, with the branded truck and Kubota mini skid steer working in Mulberry, FL.
Donny in Mulberry

A Lakeland-Native Owner-Operator Working the Phosphate Town

Donny was born and raised in South Lakeland, a straight run southwest down SR-37, with more than 20 years in construction and removal, and 19 years with a Class A CDL. Mulberry has been on the route since the company's early days.

He knows the difference between a tight lot behind the older stock near the depot, where the mini skid steer is the only machine that gets in, and an open reclaimed parcel out toward Willow Oak that wants the full-size Caterpillar — and he knows that on this side of the county the dirt itself is the variable.

Areas We Cover

Where Polk Services Works in Mulberry

Historic Downtown & the Depot

33860 · The older core

The blocks around SE 1st Street and the old railroad depot that houses the Mulberry Phosphate Museum carry the town's oldest stock, on lots platted long before anything with tracks needed to reach a backyard. Regular work: interior cleanouts, end-of-life shed and outbuilding demolition, and narrow-access property cleanup.

The Church Avenue & SR-37 Corridor

33860 · North-south spine

SR-37 runs the length of town and carries most of what moves between Mulberry and Lakeland, mixing residential frontage with small commercial. Regular work: garage and household cleanouts, heavy junk hauling, concrete demolition, and driveway work.

The SR-60 Crossroads

33860 · East-west, toward Bartow and Hillsborough

SR-60 is a four-lane state route, which means a trailer can get in and out of a job here without threading the residential grid, and a heavy load can leave the same day it is made. Regular work: concrete demolition, heavy junk hauling, and small-commercial cleanup along the frontage.

The Reclaimed Land South and West

33860 · Bone Valley ground

Past the town limits, the land turns to what the industry left: contoured overburden, sand tailings, and raised clay settling areas sitting above the surrounding grade. Regular work: open-parcel clearing, grading and ground leveling, and driveway installation on ground that needs reading first.

Also covered: Willow Oak, Bradley Junction, Homeland, the SR-37 and SR-60 corridors, and every subdivision and rural pocket inside Mulberry'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 Mulberry Angle

Grading & Ground Leveling

On reclaimed ground, the grade is half the question. Sand tailings drain freely and stay put. Phosphatic clay holds water, moves with the season, and runs from sticky when wet to extremely hard when dry — which is why a pad that sat true through one dry season can be out by the next.

Grading and ground leveling →

Bush & Lot Clearing

Once the city writes to you about an overgrown lot, the clock is ten days, and the duty runs past your line into the strip between the property and the street. After that, the city can have it cleared and send you the bill.

Bush and lot clearing →

Gravel Driveway Installation

A driveway is a subgrade problem before it is a rock problem. Phosphatic clay barely takes water at all, so the base has to shed it sideways. That is a different build from the same driveway a mile away on tailings, which drains freely on its own, and how deep it has to run is something Donny reads at the estimate.

Gravel driveway installation →

Shed & Structure Demolition

Mulberry issues its own demolition permits, and the permit does not come first. It comes last, after the utility sign-offs. The teardown and haul-off is the same one-visit job it is anywhere; the calendar in front of it is not.

Shed demolition and removal →

Concrete Demolition

Slabs, walks, pads, footers, and the concrete under half the sheds in town. Broken out, loaded by machine, and priced as heavy material because it is weighed at the scale. Where crushed concrete can stay on site as base, it does.

Concrete demolition →

Complete Property Cleanup

When the city's building official orders a structure demolished, the owner has 30 days from first published notice to demolish it and get the debris to an authorized landfill. Pulling the permit does not extend that clock. Full cleanup in one visit.

Complete property cleanup →

And the other services on the catalog — including yard cleanup, estate and garage cleanout, household and heavy junk removal, appliance, furniture and mattress removal, carpet and scrap metal removal, fence and deck removal, stump grinding, storm debris, pool demolition, excavation and fill dirt delivery, sod installation, and mini skid steer work — all run in Mulberry at the same rate card and standard as the rest of the service area.

What the City Already Handles, and Where We Start

Inside the city limits, weekly garbage, bi-weekly recycling and bagged or bundled yard waste are the city's own contracted service, billed on your water bill, and roll-off containers come through the company the city contracts with. Bulk pickup is booked by calling Customer Service. None of that is ours, and none of it should be. Polk Services starts where that service stops: demolition, land work, and the loads the city truck is not built to take.

Kubota mini skid steer clearing reclaimed Bone Valley land near Mulberry, FL.
Local Conditions

Eight Mulberry Realities That Shape the Work

01

The City Issues Its Own Permits

Mulberry is not administered out of Bartow for building purposes. It runs its own building division, portal, and fee schedule, and requires a permit before any demolition work begins.

02

A Demolition Permit Is the End of a Sign-Off Chain

Eight steps are completed before the permit is issued, ending with the sewer lateral capped at the right-of-way in concrete and inspected before anything is backfilled. A septic tank needs an abandonment permit from the county health department first. Plan in weeks for the paperwork and one day for the teardown.

03

Bone Valley Sits Under the Whole Town

Pebble phosphate mining began in central Florida in 1888, across roughly 1.3 million acres everyone here calls Bone Valley. Mulberry grew up inside it, and has long been known as the phosphate capital of the world.

04

Reclaimed Ground Is Not One Material

Florida has required mined land to be reclaimed since July 1975, and reclamation leaves three common landforms: contoured overburden, sand tailings, and phosphatic clay. The first two have proven suitable for development; the third is described as generally unsuitable for it. Overburden and clay sit close together by design, because the walls around a clay settling area are built out of overburden.

05

Clay Settling Areas Are Still Moving

The basins where phosphatic clay was pumped and left can sit 60 feet above the surrounding grade and keep consolidating for decades. Planting beds raised on them have disappeared within a few years as the clay has continued to settle beneath.

06

Twelve Inches, and the Strip by the Street Is Yours

The nuisance article treats untended growth over twelve inches as prima facie evidence of a public nuisance and places the duty on the owner to clear the right-of-way by the street. Agricultural and public institution uses are excepted.

07

Burning It Is Not the Free Option

The code makes it unlawful to burn trash, garbage, or refuse within the city limits without prior written permission, so the pile has to be left instead. Bagged and bundled yard waste goes out with the city's Monday collection. Trunks, stumps and root balls are not what that truck is for, and that is the load we take.

08

Taking a Fence Out Is the Easy Half

Putting one back here requires a permit, whatever its size, with proof that it sits within your own line. Taking one out does not, and on this ground the footings are the job: phosphatic clay grips a footing the way sand never does, and when it is wet it will not let go of one at all.

Head to Head

Polk Services vs a Franchise Chain in Mulberry

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
Mulberry's own permit process
Assumes the county handles permitting
Knows the city issues its own, and what the sign-off chain requires
Reclaimed-ground grading
One grading approach for every site
Sand tailings and phosphatic clay treated as different problems
Driveway subgrade on clay
Rock delivered onto whatever is there
Subgrade read first, base built for the ground under it
A city demolition order with a deadline
Quotes a teardown date and nothing else
Works back from the 30-day clock and the sign-off chain in front of it
Backyard access downtown
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
★★★★★

Real Jobs That Match the Work Mulberry Needs

Verified Google reviews from across the service area, each showing a competency that matters on Mulberry's work.

FAQ

Mulberry Questions

Do you cover all of Mulberry?
Yes — all of ZIP 33860, from the downtown depot blocks to the SR-37 and SR-60 corridors and the reclaimed land south and west toward Willow Oak and Bradley Junction. Mulberry is inside the 20-mile radius from Lakeland, so there's no travel fee.
Does Mulberry require a permit to demolish something?
Yes, and the city issues it rather than sending you to the county. Its own code enforcement page puts it plainly: a building permit is required for any person or business to construct, alter, repair, or demolish any building or structure.
What has to happen before that permit is issued?
Eight steps: the application, gas and electric signatures, the water meter pulled, an 811 locate ticket, the water service cut and capped, a commercial-only telephone signature, and the sewer lateral capped in concrete at the right-of-way, inspected before backfilling. A septic tank needs an abandonment permit from the county health department first, and the permit itself carries an asbestos notification statement.
How do I find out whether my land was ever mined?
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection publishes a mapping tool for it. Enter an address, and it shows the documented mining layers. The state's own caution: records from 1975 on are the reliable ones, and earlier mining was often undocumented.
Can you grade ground that came back as clay?
Yes, and it is a different job from grading sand. Phosphatic clay waterlogs when wet, sets hard when dry, sticks to tires and tracks, and continues to consolidate for years. Donny tells you on the estimate what the grade will hold.
Do I need a permit for a fence?
For a new one, yes. The code requires a permit for all new fence installations with no size threshold and asks for proof that the fence sits within your own line. Taking an old one out is our side of it, footings included.
Can I just burn the brush pile?
Not inside the city limits without written permission first. Outside them, the state rules apply instead, and they are considerably stricter for cleared vegetation than for ordinary yard waste. A county burn ban suspends all of it while in effect.
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.
How fast does the city move if my lot gets cited?
Ten days from the date written notification was mailed. After that, the city may have the lot cleared and bill the cost back to the property, with unpaid amounts going to the code enforcement board. Ten days is enough time to get it handled on your own terms.
How is heavy material priced?
Concrete, block, masonry and dirt are quoted as heavy material with a $500 minimum for the first four cubic yards, priced by weight at the scale. Standard junk and cleanup categories start at $300 for the first four.
Do you work the rural parcels outside the city limits?
Yes. Willow Oak, Bradley Junction, Homeland and the open ground along SR-37 and SR-60 are regular territory, and out there the full-size Caterpillar earns its keep on acreage the mini machine would take all day to cross.
Polk Services truck and Kubota mini skid steer serving Mulberry, FL.

Ready to Hire Local in Mulberry?

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