How One Junk Removal Business Owner Expanded Into Dumpster Rentals

Transcript: How To Start And Grow A Junk Removal Business

Matt:
What’s up guys?

In this episode of Roll Off Rundowns, we are on location at Junk Wranglers.

It’s a female-owned business that’s in Golden, Colorado.

We sit down with Ms. Brooke, who’s the owner, and we talk about how she started a junk removal business and then added roll-off dumpster rental to her business as she looks to expand.

This is an episode you don’t want to miss, so let’s jump right in.

We are here in beautiful Golden, Colorado at Junk Wranglers, one of the best names out there, and we’re sitting here with Brooke, who is the owner, and what we really want to know is, tell us about the beginning.

How did you start this business?

Brooke:
Well, I was flipping a house a couple years ago and just was never really satisfied with the dumpsters, the booking system, the customer service, and I’m like, this is the most brainless company, like just show up, that’s all you have to do. And so I mulled about it for a while and I spent so much money on dumpsters flipping these houses and they never show up.

So I’m just gonna start my own.

So I quit my job.

I was in tech sales before.

I quit my job and I just went full on trash.

Matt:
That’s awesome.

What made—like we’ve heard this a lot actually, where people are doing house flips or house renovations, and there’s like super unreliable contractors that you’re working with and whatnot, so they start their own.

Was it scary starting from scratch?

Brooke:
Absolutely.

I’m a single mom.

I have two daughters, and this is the biggest gamble that I could have ever done.

I put everything on the line to start this business and now I have 2 trucks and 13 dumpsters, and I’m just going for it.

I had to send it.

Matt:
That’s awesome.

And it looks like you are. And again, if there’s anyone that has a beautiful location, it’s you.

So that helps coming to work each day, right?

We’re sitting here in Golden, Colorado, and folks, if you haven’t been, it’s definitely a place you want to come to.

What’s a typical week look like for you?

Brooke:
Oh my gosh, every day is different, every week is different.

I wear all hats in this business and so generally I run the dumpster truck and then I have employees who do the junk removal side, but I’ve got to do marketing and networking and sales and accounting.

Every day is different.

So this morning I woke up and had to deliver some dumpsters and then go to a meeting with my mastermind group where we all just talk about how to make each other’s businesses better.

So every day is different. It really depends.

Matt:
Nice.

What’s your typical customer look like?

Are you working with mostly residential or are you working with commercial or both?

Brooke:
I’d say the junk removal side is more residential and then the dumpsters are more commercial.

My dumpsters are pretty small.

I do 20 yards and smaller, but the footprint is little, so they fit nicely in a driveway, so you don’t have to deal with permitting and that kind of stuff.

So I would say about 50/50 when it comes to that breakdown.

Matt:
Got it.

And you are one of our newest customers for Docket, and you are one of the first that is doing junk and dumpster rentals.

Why did you choose us?

I know you looked at us because of the dumpster rental side.

What makes it better?

Brooke:
Well, the previous software that I was using did really well with the junk removal and terrible with the dumpsters.

I was losing dumpsters.

The billing wasn’t going well.

There was no weight entries or, when you go over your days for the rental, a lot of it had to be manually done.

You couldn’t pin drop where a dumpster was. It just was terrible.

And that was mostly for home services, the software that I was using, where Docket is specific to dumpsters and junk removal.

And that’s what I wanted.

I wanted to have something that was very—because the dumpster rentals is very nuanced.

There’s a lot that goes into it, whereas the junk removal, you schedule it, you send out the truck, it is what it is.

And so finding a software that is specific to those two service lines has been a game changer for me.

Matt:
That’s awesome.

We put out a lot of content and we get folks that are looking to start businesses or maybe they’re looking to grow businesses.

And it’s a great way to grow a business—if you’re doing dumpster rentals and you want to add junk, or if you had junk and want to add dumpsters.

What advice would you give someone that’s starting out in the junk world?

Brooke:
I spent way too much money on Carhartts.

Like brand new iPads and computers and all these things.

Just slow your roll.

I was like, I want to be the most legit looking company from day one and I overdid it in a lot of ways.

So just ease into it a little bit.

I think I dove not just head first but like—what else could be first? I don’t know.

I really just sent it and I wish I would have taken a step back and slowly gotten into it.

Matt:
What’s interesting though, even though that might have been painful in the beginning, your brand is amazing.

So major props for your brand, your website.

You’re doing SEO right, you’re doing PPC right.

So it was worth the investment, I would say.

If someone is getting started, how many dumpsters should they start out with?

How should they test their market?

Brooke:
I did a lot of research about capacity.

I think that one roll-off truck can operate at max capacity with 40 dumpsters.

In order to pay for itself, I think you need to have a minimum of 10.

It’s a very large upfront capital expense, but you don’t want to just have a couple dumpsters because then it’s not worth it.

The truck is expensive, the employees who drive it are expensive.

The land to store it is expensive.

That’s the difference really between the dumpsters and the junk.

I could park the junk truck at my house and not have to pay for rent.

But with all this other equipment, you really have to think about cash flow.

Can your market hold it?

Do you see a lot of competition?

I did a lot of—I’d call dumpsters out and have them come to my house and deliver a dumpster and see what the experience was like.

Ask them how many times do you flip this a month?

I did a lot of kind of snaky things like that.

I still do.

I’ll call and pretend I’m a builder and be like, how much for a dumpster for three weeks?

Just really call your market and don’t go into it blindly.

You really have to do your research and make sure there’s room for you because there’s a lot of competition.

Matt:
I don’t think it’s sneaky, by the way.

I think that’s just good market research.

You’re talking to marketers.

That’s been around for a while.

Nice job there.

A lot of people have questions when they’re starting out about where to get the money to start a business.

Do I finance it myself?

Do I work with a local bank?

Can you talk about your experience?

Brooke:
Absolutely.

My previous career, I was able to have a nice little nest egg, and I had to put 50% down on this truck.

It’s a brand new truck because I don’t have any commercial experience and so I was a risky lend, as they called me.

I was able to do this through a local credit union and then I also took a HELOC out on my house.

Then I also got an SBA loan, which is a small business loan.

I just figured out how to get creative with financing.

The commercial auto loan, the SBA, my HELOC paid for the roll-off truck.

Just really shifting things around and seeing who will trust me to lend on.

Matt:
What about insurance? Was that hard?

Brooke:
Oh my gosh.

It’s a nightmare.

The general liability, workman’s comp—just the two trucks that I have are $1,500 a month for auto insurance.

So there’s just two trucks. It’s a lot, especially because I don’t have that background in trucking or logistics.

But you have to have it.

I probably pay $3,000 a month on insurance for all the things.

My dumpsters are insured. Everything.

Matt:
Let’s talk about the dumpster side of your business.

What made you realize that adding dumpsters was a good business move?

Brooke:
I don’t know if it was.

I don’t have the historical data and the seasonality to really track the ebbs and flows of it.

But I think it has been good for me because we’ll have really big jobs that are several five, six, seven truckloads.

It’s nice to be able to just come drop a dumpster off, bring the truck, swap them out, and keep my employees on site instead of going back and forth to the landfill.

That’s been a really creative solution for some of the bigger jobs.

It also is more consistent annually.

A lot of kitchen and bathroom remodels and smaller contractors use me for their jobs, and that happens all year round.

The residential side is much more seasonal, so I think it has created more consistent monthly revenue versus the peaks and valleys.

Matt:
Where do you see the opportunity on the dumpster rental side of your business?

Brooke:
I think there’s a ton of opportunity, especially being a female-owned business.

I’m working on getting certified.

You have to have a certain amount of history before you can get certified, but there’s a ton of government RFP processes.

I’m very integrated with the town of Golden and they want to use me as a diverse supplier for neighborhoods or events.

I think there’s a lot of opportunity.

Matt:
Are most of those opportunities in construction or on the residential side?

Brooke:
Mostly construction.

A lot of evictions have been happening lately, so there’s unfortunately a large market in that.

But property management, realtors, flippers—I’m into the wholesale flipping world.

There’s a lot.

Matt:
If you’re giving a piece of advice to others in the business, what’s the biggest piece of advice?

Brooke:
Delegate and outsource the things that you’re not good at.

I will never learn SEO or PPC. So I’ve outsourced it.

I don’t want to do accounting, so I’ve outsourced it.

I don’t want to pick up junk, so I’ve hired employees.

Try to buy your time back so you can do the things you’re good at, versus trying to learn something someone else is already a professional at.

Matt:
What are you best at?

Brooke:
Sales.

I’m a sales girl through and through.

I love networking.

I love meeting new people.

I’m an empath, so we deal with a lot of hoarders and I think that is a mental thing.

Instead of coming in and saying, let me take all your trash, I try to help them find a long-term solution.

I don’t see these people as a transaction.

I build relationships and try to help.

Matt:
That’s awesome.

I think it’s also a good place to land this plane.

So thank you so much, Brooke, for sitting down with us and telling us more about your business.

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