How We're Building the Dream Junk Removal Fleet.
We’re the tip of the sword in the fight against clutter. We’re hardened to the trappings of modern commercialism. And we see the disposable nature of today material goods. Everyday.
But when it comes to gear, those of us in junk removal circles still like our “stuff.” Cool tools that make our job easier. But there’s no consensus on what’s best.
We’re already broken the norm with Amelia, our high roof Ram ProMaster. I haven’t seen any other “junk” trucks rolling around the dump that look like her.
But for us, the high roof van makes perfect sense. That’s because:
- She’s economical. In a world of out- of- control gas costs, she sips fuel compared to other hauling vehicles. This has allowed us to keep our prices a bit steadier in current times.
- She’s deceptively large. Roughly 15 cubic yards of cargo space and a payload capacity of nearly 2 tons, she’s mightier than you think.
- She forces environmentally responsible disposal practices. Rather than taking a full truckload to the dump and tilting our bed, we have to sort our haul. This means, recyclables get recycled. Metal gets scrapped and stone gets to the rubble pile before anything gets trashed.
- She’s beautiful. Amelia is the perfect rolling billboard and she gets lots of looks on the streets of Fort Mill.
With an 8- foot bed, Zane can carry a lot on his own, but he’s most effective when pulling a buddy. For major cleanouts, construction debris removal, shed demos and yard waste removal that’s almost always a 14 ft. dump trailer. In all transparency, we don’t own a dump trailer. Rather, we have strategic partnerships with equipment providers to secure trailers on demand.
Again, this is probably a bit atypical. After all, dump trailers are cool! They’re super effective and make loading and dumping easier. They’re also expensive to acquire, need regular maintenance and come with parking/ storage costs. The rental strategy is an effective cost control measure that puts the tool in our hands when we need it without passing on overhead costs to our customers.
Good Just Got Better
It finally happened. we got the dump trailer we’ve been dreaming of. The trailer rental strategy was a valid one that worked great for us… but this upgrade is a welcomed one. With our new 6 ft x 12 ft dump trailer, we’ll be able to save rental costs and schedule “debris removal” without limitation.
We’ll also be able to make fewer dump runs. This will save on landfill costs and mileage. Win for us and a win for our customers!
Rather and with the 80/20 rule in mind, we made a pair of summer additions to our fleet. First, we acquired a 10 ft. aluminum utility trailer. This trailer is most often riding with Zane. It gives us a lot of flexibility and way more carrying capacity. It’s ideal for furniture donation pick ups.
It’s also extremely light weight. This means any of our vehicles can pull it. So, on busy days when Amelia’s out and Zane’s got the dump trailer, I can tow the utility trailer with the Tacoma. It puts a 3rd truck on the road. This is important.
It allows us to continue to provide shorter service appointment windows (2 hrs) and continue to offer same or next day service. We know there’s often time sensitivity and urgency with both junk removal and moving. This increased capacity allows us to meet those time demands. Part of our customer first, philosophy.
A month later, we made another fleet addition. We brought on a 10 ft. enclosed trailer that gets pulled by Amelia. This has been a game changer in a lot of ways. You see, we’ve found a bit of a niche in helping families move loved ones into and out of assisted living communities. These are typically small moves. Studio or 1 bedroom apartments. And usually local. Our specialty. With the addition of the enclosed trailer, we can accomplish these moves in 1 trip most of the time. We now have 20 feet of combined cargo space.
Reducing the number of trips saves time (and therefore money) while eliminating the need for families to rent trucks and equipment. So, you still get a full service moving experience at a fraction of the cost that the big moving companies can do it for.
The extra cargo space also affords us more flexibility and fewer dump/ donation/ storage runs. Like everything else we’ve talked about, this saves time (and therefore money) and allows us to offer shorter appointment windows and same or next day service.
