Dumpster rental and junk removal seem like a good pair. However, there's a reason why we don't rent dumpsters at Junk Doctors. Though dumpster rental and junk removal pair well as sister businesses, you should focus your attention on one and grow it until you're ready to turn your focus to the other. In this video, Lee breaks down the specifics and explains exactly why we don't rent dumpsters. Check us out at https://www.junkra.com Subscribe to this channel for all the best junk removal industry info Like and follow us on Facebook at Junk Removal Authority
Good evening everybody. Hope everybody’s having a great evening tonight. It’s about a 10:30pm. Just lay down on the couch. I know I don’t get any videos out today. Kind of fairly busy day today, but a lot of consulting calls. Especially on the phone all day. Just having a chance to put a video out. One of the consulting calls that we had today, we talked about why don’t we do dumpsters? Anyway, why don’t we do a dumpster? It was just kind of a business decision. It’s not that I have anything against dumpsters. Dumpsters does pair well with junk removal. There’s a few things before you do dumpsters that you’ll want to consider.
Number one, you need to get about 10 bins minimum. There’s no point in having just a few bins. The problem with a few bins is you don’t have enough inventory to really make sure that you’re servicing people in a timely manner. If you only have a couple of bins that a lot of times you’re missing out on customers that need to get a bin a lot sooner than you’re able to provide them. You need a heavy-duty truck generally, because in addition to the bin itself, which weighs a few thousand pounds. You also have either a hook lift or the Switch-N-Go. A system to move the bins. If you have a roll-off truck, but generally junk removal companies don’t do roll-off dumpsters. Some do, but normally it’s the smaller bins. Tops being about 20 yards that people are talking about doing.
With that, you’ll do either Switch-N-Go or hook lift. We liked the hook lift system a lot better if you are going to do them. We added Switch-N-Go truck at one point. It is just too slow. The winch cables break. It’s just needs more maintenance. A lot more maintenance needs to get done to them. Its hook is about twice the cost and the hook weighs more. So, there’s some advantages to the Switch-N-Go. Overall, obviously if you’re going to be serious about doing dumpsters, go ahead and spend the extra money on a hook lift system instead of going with the Switch-N-Go.
You got to make sure you have at least one truck near a 19-5 GVWR or more. Anything less than that, and you’re going to be maxing maybe out too often.
So, 10 bins, it’s going to be tough to find that for less than $20,000 used. 10 new bins, you’re to be closer to about $30,000. If you find a company, a guy that’s getting out of the business and wants to sell all of his inventory. You might be able to get a good deal. A lot of times they’re going to be beat up and we don’t want beat up bins. In our business, we want good professional looking bins because if we did dumpsters, we would use the same trucks that we use on junk removal. That we would use in dumpsters. That can be a little interesting. Anyway, that’s one of the reasons we decided not to do dumpsters.
The other reason was we had to prove that the concept that we used in Raleigh, it would work in other markets. At first, we were looking at franchise, so we want to prove that this could work in Charlotte and Greensboro markets. We chose to expand geographically. If you don’t have interest in franchising, you can do franchising and sell, but it’s an expensive way. Actually, another consulting call I had today. The guy who had tried office system and it didn’t go all that well. Real smart guy. He’s working on a neat project. We’ll probably be talking about here soon. The franchising just didn’t work out for him.
So, dumpsters are good pair. You just got to be ready. You got to be committed to it. You can’t just dabble. You can’t just go out and buy a couple of bins and list that you have dumpsters for rent because you never really be able to catch on much when people call and those dumpsters aren’t available. They have to wait 2 to 3 weeks out. A lot of times they won’t do it. Now. some people do plan ahead. Some people with dumpsters will plan ahead. Maybe more so than the junk removal if there’s kind of like a renovation project or whatever. They’re going to do it by themselves. Sometimes they might plan a little bit more head than they would with a typical junk removal job, but still you’ve got to have that quick turnaround. If you can’t do that quick turnaround and you’re going to dabble in it, it’s probably not for you.
The other thing is, when you do dumpsters you’ve got to keep up with where all your bins are. So, there’s a different type of software you would be using. You’re not using the same scheduling software that you use on junk removal. You got to be able to replace all these bins. You have to have a system that computes people’s charges if they keep it over a certain period of time. How are you going to charge it? It is a different business. It’s not a hundred percent similar. They pair well together, but before you go out and do it. Think about everything that’s involved with the dumpster. There’s a lot of expense with the dumpsters. You don’t have the labor of loading it up, but you’ve got two trips out there.
Where’s the majority of our expense on a junk removal job? It’s not labor. It’s not being on-site loading everything up. The majority of our expense is a disposal fee. Actually, the majority, it’s just the transportation time. Getting people to the site, Fuel, wear and tear that sort of deal. There is an advantage as you normally would have to have one person riding around that truck instead of two.
There’s some pros and cons. Sometimes the good things about dumpsters and the reason to do it, you’ve probably thought of. That is there some junk removal jobs or dumpster just makes more sense. If somebody is going to do a home renovation project, it makes a lot more sense to have a dumpster instead of just piling the stuff in the yard. That’s coming to get it for the most part if their area allows a dumpster.
However, there’s some times that people don’t know about junk removal. They call about rent a dumpster and then you can sell them on junk removal. So, there is definitely a good pairing in there. If you are not going to offer dumpsters, I would call a local dumpster rental company and see if you all can’t work out like a referral partnerships sort of deal. Kick back or whatever. We’ve done something similar to that. Anyway, hopefully this was a good little video. I know a lot of people think about renting dumpsters. I thought that was a good question that the gentleman asked me. You know, he might go with dumpsters because, I don’t think he’s looking to expand geographically. I’m not 100% certain yet. Always call us +1 919-466-9322. I’ve really enjoyed my consulting calls we’ve had this week. I’m hopeful that I’m able to provide a lot of value to them. I look forward to seeing them make their next business moves and take the information that I was able to provide them. Put it out into the marketplace and see what they can do. Call us at +1 919-466-9322 and visit our website junkremovalauthority.com, or you can email me, [email protected]. I look forward to talking to everybody real soon. Everybody have a great night!