Junk Removal business

Regarding the junk removal business, I've been doing it for many years (my own business, not a franchise) and there are a few main things to consider to be successful:

1. Have a truck big enough to eliminate multiple round trips to and from the dump for your average customer

2. Try to negotiate a special rate with your local dump and recycling center

3. Do everything in your power to pick up on the same day a customer calls you. The last thing you want is to leave them waiting with a bunch of their unwanted stuff.

At the core of it, it is a simple business. With more and more people jumping into this market you need to stay competitive and work hard to establish and maintain your image.

Brad
Brad's Junk Removal

I wanted to follow up on some other ideas that came to mind. Earlier, someone mentioned to specialize in a certain area of junk removal (commercial or yard waste as examples). That is certainly a good way to build yourself as a brand. To get an idea of what is in demand, take a quick look at what's being thrown out or offered for free on your local CraigsList ads. If you notice a trend, consider that as a specialization for your junk removal business.

It may also be worth looking into creating a quick post in services offered in CraigsList to get your name out there. Since its free, any sort of response is profitable.

Brad
Brad's Junk Removal

A fellow named John McTighe used to sell a manual on junk removal. He called it The Ultimate Buying And Selling Kit. His concept wasn't to be a junk hauler. It was to clean out garages and homes of chattel and resell it.

I remember one story about a vacuum cleaner. The owner of the house had him clean out his garage. John picked up a vacuum cleaner along with some other "junk" and also received $25 from the home owner for cleaning his garage. He was getting paid to haul off stuff so he could resell it and make even more money. Schwwweeeettt...

John sold that particular cleaner for somewhere around $100. John never took anything to the dump/landfill because that wasn't his gig.

Regardless, he is living proof that the phrase junk removal business can have more than one meaning. Oh yeah, that was before Craigslist or the Internet. Thanks to technology we now have an organized well manicured junk list called CL.

I could tell you stories about picking up washers, dryers and refrigerators and selling them to two used appliance stores. Sometimes I'd also get paid for hauling them away by the owner and sometimes I wouldn't. Didn't make a whole lot of difference given I was always paid by the stores or the scrap dealer.

I almost always worked alone so I didn't have to share any of the revenue. Back then the norm was around $300 to $500 a week for this type of manual labor.

Gotta love American ingenuity...

[Dien Rice]

You're just about to find out how a teenage kid made money from "junk removal"...

Then, she used this money to help fund the purchase of her first house!

Yes, at 14 years old!

Also, from this story, you're also going to find out a new way how you can profit from this yourself.

The basics of the story are this...

Her Mom is a real estate agent in Florida. The teenage daughter, Willow, noticed that when people bought a house - often the house was still filled with "junk" from the former owners or tenants.

So - Willow offered to remove the junk for the new owners for free. The new owners usually said "yes!"

She sold the furniture and appliances on Craiglist. By doing this (on top of her schoolwork and everything else ) - Willow was making $500 a month.

She saved up her money.

Then, she noticed a house selling for $12,000 (which had previously sold for $100,000, before the housing market collapsed).

In the end, she bought that house - going in 50/50 with her Mom...

At just 14 years old!

You can read the whole story here...

This 14-Year-Old Girl Just Bought A House In Florida
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/...use-in-florida

Now, here's how you could use this yourself...

You could probably make extra profits from "junk removal" if you work together with real estate agents. I'm sure real estate agents see a lot of homes full of "junk"! You'd be providing a service for them, and for their clients too - while also making some moolah for yourself.

Best wishes,

Dien

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All the best...

Phil

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

You're just about to find out how a teenage kid made money from "junk removal"...

Then, she used this money to help fund the purchase of her first house!

Yes, at 14 years old!

Also, from this story, you're also going to find out a new way how you can profit from this yourself.

The basics of the story are this...

Her Mom is a real estate agent in Florida. The teenage daughter, Willow, noticed that when people bought a house - often the house was still filled with "junk" from the former owners or tenants.

So - Willow offered to remove the junk for the new owners for free. The new owners usually said "yes!"

She sold the furniture and appliances on Craiglist. By doing this (on top of her schoolwork and everything else ) - Willow was making $500 a month.

She saved up her money.

Then, she noticed a house selling for $12,000 (which had previously sold for $100,000, before the housing market collapsed).

In the end, she bought that house - going in 50/50 with her Mom...

At just 14 years old!

You can read the whole story here...

This 14-Year-Old Girl Just Bought A House In Florida
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/...use-in-florida

Now, here's how you could use this yourself...

You could probably make extra profits from "junk removal" if you work together with real estate agents. I'm sure real estate agents see a lot of homes full of "junk"! You'd be providing a service for them, and for their clients too - while also making some moolah for yourself.

Best wishes,

Dien

Dien,

Great story. I am very glad some young people still have the entrepreneur DNA. Means mankind might stay alive.

As for the cleaning out of houses, it depends on the house. By that I mean if it is a foreclosure, the lender won't use anyone who isn't licensed, bonded and on their approved list.

How do I know? I looked into it after the real estate bubble went pop. If the government takes back the house, the hurdles to becoming the clean up person are even greater. How do I know? I looked into it.

Individual real estate brokers don't hire people to clean up houses unless they own them. The brokers are given the house by the lender to resell. The lender obtains the clean up workers. How do I know? I looked into it.

I also know some people in the business. They are meticulous about getting the properties cleaned and junk hauled away as they can be. The reason is simple. They can be replaced in a heartbeat. They operate by contract and are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

One of the people told me the worst to deal with is the government. When they call, they give you a deadline. If you don't meet it, they move you to the bottom of the list and there you stay. He told me they paid quite well and on time but they were hard task masters.

I think there are easier ways to make a buck at least here in Northern Nevada. We have our share of vacant and abandoned houses to be sure. However, if a person wants to be Mr Junk Remover, good luck. That end of the real estate chain is already sewed up.

Mind you, everything I said above is applicable to Northern Nevada. It may be different in Osh Kosh or Bangor or Laramie. Don't know about those places but I would bet it parallels or mirrors our scenario.

However, I know of one house a person can come and clean and remove the junk. Anyone guessing the correct answer gets an all expense paid trip to anywhere they wish to pay to go.

Have a great day.

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by sandalwood

Dien,

Great story. I am very glad some young people still have the entrepreneur DNA. Means mankind might stay alive.

As for the cleaning out of houses, it depends on the house. By that I mean if it is a foreclosure, the lender won't use anyone who isn't licensed, bonded and on their approved list.

How do I know? I looked into it after the real estate bubble went pop. If the government takes back the house, the hurdles to becoming the clean up person are even greater. How do I know? I looked into it.

Individual real estate brokers don't hire people to clean up houses unless they own them. The brokers are given the house by the lender to resell. The lender obtains the clean up workers. How do I know? I looked into it.

I also know some people in the business. They are meticulous about getting the properties cleaned and junk hauled away as they can be. The reason is simple. They can be replaced in a heartbeat. They operate by contract and are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

One of the people told me the worst to deal with is the government. When they call, they give you a deadline. If you don't meet it, they move you to the bottom of the list and there you stay. He told me they paid quite well and on time but they were hard task masters.

I think there are easier ways to make a buck at least here in Northern Nevada. We have our share of vacant and abandoned houses to be sure. However, if a person wants to be Mr Junk Remover, good luck. That end of the real estate chain is already sewed up.

Mind you, everything I said above is applicable to Northern Nevada. It may be different in Osh Kosh or Bangor or Laramie. Don't know about those places but I would bet it parallels or mirrors our scenario.

However, I know of one house a person can come and clean and remove the junk. Anyone guessing the correct answer gets an all expense paid trip to anywhere they wish to pay to go.

Have a great day.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for that great info. Willow (the girl in the story) did it this way...

What she did was she talked to the new owners of recently sold homes if they would like the "junk" removed (assuming it hadn't been removed already)... Since they owned the house (having just bought it), there were no issues.

She knew who to ask, because her Mom was a real estate agent, so her Mom knew who the new owners were for the houses she sold.

Therefore, one idea is you could get some of this info from real estate agents, especially if you developed a relationship with one who would be willing to tell you the info on new owners... (However, you might wonder, why would they bother? - unless they were a friend or family... I have no idea of what possible "legalities" may be here, either.)

The main thing though, is you would have to be able to find out who the new owners are, so you can contact them. Often there are ways of doing that (though I'm not an expert in that - though I know others here do know that info...).

These comments in past posts may also be useful...

"Go to your County CourtHouse...to the Assessor's Office and ask if they have a LIST of people who have purchased Homes. (If their office doesn't have this "Public" list, some office does)"
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=18322

"You can check with your local Courthouse and / or City Hall. Often they can provide you with a recent list of all new move-ins. However digging the names and addresses up yourself can be time consuming so you may want to consider outsourcing it by purchasing a list from a list broker who specializes in obtaining names and addresses of new move-ins sorted by zip code."
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=24374

Is it worth doing? I suspect it probably strongly depends on the characteristics of the area.

Where I live, if a house is sold, it's already been cleaned. Usually the seller will clean it, or at least remove the "junk", in order to get a higher price. (I was involved in the sale of a condo just over a year ago, and we got all the "junk" removed just for that reason.)

However, in a "down" market, with many "abandoned" and "foreclosed" homes, that may not always be the case - so in that kind of market, there may be better opportunities for "junk removal". The way Willow did it was to get permission from the new owner who just purchased the house (assuming it hadn't been cleaned already), rather than contacting lenders/owners prior to sale...

She lives in Florida, which is the state with the largest percentage foreclosure rate...

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/st...reclosure.html

Best wishes,

Dien

Dien,

Yep, that is one way to do it and she did it the smart way. I am very happy she used her brain and not only made some money but was able to buy a house.

Thanks for the update. I hope it inspires all sowpub junkies, oops did I say that, to get off their duff and get to using their grey matter.

Tom

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All the best...

Phil

I have been in the junk removal, hauling business for over 20 years. I started it to pay for college, but it'sbeen so good for me that I am still doing it. I operate 2 hauling trucks and a bobcat. The way I do it is search engine marketing and also solitcit demolition contractors, and on social media, contacting realestate agents and contractors. The business has been very good for me.