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Travis County · sourced local information

Biohazard and crime scene cleanup in Austin, TX

After a death, crime or biohazard event in Austin, the cleanup is the property owner's responsibility — not the city's or the county's. We look for a company that covers Austin and Travis County, and tell you plainly when we do not have one yet.

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County: Travis County
Residents: about 962,000
Services: 6 covered

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Austin county offices and rules

Services in Austin

What we can help with in Austin

These are the jobs a biohazard company takes on in Austin — removal, disinfection, odor and the waste paperwork — so the family does not have to.

Unattended Death Cleanup in Austin

Decomposition cleanup, odor removal and restoration after an unattended death.

Typical range $2,000 – $25,000+

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Crime Scene Cleanup in Austin

Discreet cleanup after violent crimes once police release the scene.

Typical range $1,500 – $15,000+

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Trauma & Suicide Cleanup in Austin

Compassionate cleanup after a suicide, accident or serious injury.

Typical range $1,500 – $15,000+

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Hoarding Cleanup in Austin

Sorting, removal and sanitizing of hoarded or unsanitary homes.

Typical range $1,000 – $15,000+

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Death & Biohazard Odor Removal in Austin

Professional deodorization after decomposition, sewage or biohazard events.

Typical range $500 – $5,000+

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In Austin

What happens in Austin, specifically

Who releases the property, who to call, and what the housing here means for the work. Every figure below is sourced, and anything we could not verify is left out rather than guessed at.

Who releases the scene

In Travis County the death is investigated by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Address: 7723 Springdale Road, Austin, TX 78724
Phone: (512) 854-9599

“It generally takes 12 to 24 hours to complete our examination. In certain cases, however, it may take longer.” — Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office

Also published by that office

“The Medical Examiner’s Office does not provide certified copies of the death certificate; the designated funeral home completes it within 10 working days.”
“Depending on the complexity of tests or investigations, it may take up to 90 days for the autopsy report to be finalized.”

None of these offices clean the property. That is arranged by whoever owns it, or by the next of kin.

The non-emergency number in Austin

3-1-1, or 512-974-2000 if calling from outside Austin

Use iReportAustin.com to contact the Austin Police Department’s incident reporting system for non-emergency incidents.

For anything in progress, call 911. Police do not clean a scene once they have finished with it.

What Austin housing means for the work

Rented homes: 56.6%
Median year, rentals: 1998
Median year built: 1994
Over-65s living alone: 30,504

ACS 2020–2024 5-year, US Census Bureau. 72,586 renter households here are in buildings of 50 units or more. B25034 · B25035 · B25032 · B11007

Austin routes non-emergency police reports through 3-1-1 rather than a dedicated seven-digit line. The police department publishes 512-974-2000 for callers outside the city and directs everyone else to 3-1-1 or the iReportAustin.com portal — worth knowing before you spend twenty minutes hunting for a number in the usual format.

Travis County publishes its own timings, and they are worth knowing before anyone quotes you a different number: 12 to 24 hours to complete the examination, the death certificate completed by your funeral home within 10 working days, and up to 90 days for the autopsy report to be finalized. Those are three separate clocks, and only the first one holds up the funeral.

Austin’s housing is newer than Houston’s, Dallas’s or San Antonio’s: a median build year of 1994, and 1998 for rentals, against Houston’s 1982, with only 28.3% of the stock built before 1980. In practice that means fewer plaster-and-cast-iron problems and more multi-story wood-frame and engineered-wood floor systems, which carry fluid along the assembly instead of holding it in one room.

72,586 renter households in Austin live in buildings of 50 units or more, so an Austin job is frequently a building-management problem as much as a cleaning one — the lift, the loading bay and the manager’s schedule often decide when work can start.

Austin by neighborhood planning areas

The city publishes 65 neighborhood planning areas. Austin’s official areas are planning boundaries, so several carry names no resident would say out loud.

AllandaleBouldin CreekCentral East AustinCrestviewDowntownEast Cesar ChavezGovalleHyde ParkMontopolisNorth LoopWindsor ParkZilker

Full list from the city →

Sources for Austin

Austin, TX

What property owners in Austin need to know

The questions below are the ones worth asking any company before it starts work in Austin. The local detail — which office releases the scene, which number to call, what the housing here means for the job — is set out above, with its sources.

How to choose a provider in Austin

Confirm the company serves Austin, and ask for an arrival window in writing rather than a promise on the phone.
Ask whether technicians are trained under the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens standard, and whether there is a written exposure control plan.
Ask how regulated medical waste is transported and disposed of, and whether their transporter is registered with the TCEQ — you can look the registration up by name.
Ask whether they bill homeowners or renters insurance directly, and get the scope and price in writing before work starts.
Ask whether they use unmarked vehicles and how they protect your privacy.
Ask how they verify the job is finished — ATP testing, odor checks, or a post-clean walkthrough.
Ask who they will deal with at the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office, and whether they will wait for the property to be released before anyone enters.

Request a callback in Austin

Leave your number and the address you are asking about in Austin. We will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do for it today. No obligation, and we are not a cleanup company ourselves.

About Austin

County: Travis
Region: Central Texas
Population: about 962,000

Neighborhoods served in Austin

East Austin, Hyde Park, South Congress, Mueller, Zilker, North Loop

How it works

Getting help in Austin

Call or request a callback

Tell us what happened and where in Austin. The call is confidential and there is no obligation.

Get connected in Austin

We look for a company that serves Travis County, and tell you plainly if we do not have one.

Assessment and written estimate

Get the scope and the price in writing after someone has seen the property. Ask whether they will bill your insurer directly.

County: Travis County
Residents: about 962,000
Services covered: 6
Cost to you: Free

Providers serving Austin

No company has finished our checks in Austin yet, so there is nothing here we would stand behind. We would rather show you that than a list we cannot vouch for.

Call (866) 697-0754 or leave your number and we will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do for your address today. The checks a company has to pass are published in full.

Elsewhere in Texas

Other Texas cities we cover

Austin is the only city we cover in this part of the state so far. These are the others, each with its own county offices, release process and sources.

Houston Harris County San Antonio Bexar County Dallas Dallas County Fort Worth Tarrant County Arlington Tarrant County Garland Dallas County

See every Texas city we cover

Worth reading

Before you call anyone in Austin

Who releases a death scene in Texas, and when you can go back in

Which office does what, county by county, and what none of them will do.

Read it

Who cleans up after a death in Texas?

Why it falls to the property owner or the next of kin.

Read it

Is biohazard cleanup licensed in Texas? No

What to check instead, and why "OSHA-certified" is not a thing.

Read it

Help & advice

Biohazard cleanup in Austin: common questions

Who investigates a death at home in Austin?

The Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office, on (512) 854-9599. It examines and releases the person; it does not clean the property, and neither does the police department or the fire service. That falls to the property owner or the next of kin.

How long does the Travis County office take?

Its published wording is: “It generally takes 12 to 24 hours to complete our examination. In certain cases, however, it may take longer.”

What do I call in Austin if it is not an emergency?

3-1-1, or 512-974-2000 if calling from outside Austin. Use iReportAustin.com to contact the Austin Police Department’s incident reporting system for non-emergency incidents. Anything in progress is still 911.

It happened in a rented home in Austin. Who pays?

Start with the lease and the insurer, not with an assumption. Under Texas Property Code § 92.052, the Texas Attorney General puts it this way — Unless the need for repair was created by “normal wear and tear,” the landlord does not have a duty to repair problems caused by you, another lawful occupant, a member of your household, or your guests. — which means the landlord's usual duty to repair does not automatically cover damage caused by a member of the household. It matters here: 56.6% of occupied homes in Austin are rented.

Does a cleanup company in Texas need a license?

Not for this work. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation publishes the state’s licensed trades. Mold assessors and remediators are licensed, and so are sanitarians and code enforcement officers — but there is no license for crime-scene, biohazard, trauma-scene or unattended-death cleanup itself. So a company advertising a Texas cleanup license is describing something that does not exist. If mold is part of your job a mold remediation license is real and worth asking for; otherwise ask about insurance, bloodborne-pathogens training and where the waste goes.

How much does biohazard cleanup cost in Austin?

Companies commonly advertise $1,000 – $10,000+ for this work, and we publish that band because it is what the trade publishes — not because we have verified it. Nobody can price a job before they have lifted a floor covering and seen how far the fluid travelled. Get a written estimate after an on-site assessment, and ask whether the company will bill your insurer directly.