JunkBossPro Blog — Running a Junk Removal Business

Setting Truck Load Prices for Your Junk Removal Business

Most junk removal customers do not care how many cubic yards your truck holds. They care what it will cost to make the pile go away. Pricing by truck load answers that question in a way people understand: a little bit of the truck costs a little, the whole truck costs more. The hard part is picking numbers that cover your costs and still win the job.

Prices Before People

The last guide, When a Junk Removal Business Needs an Office Person, was about handing off the phone. You cannot hand off quoting until prices are written down. If the only price list lives in the owner's head, every quote waits for the owner. This guide is about building that list.

There are no magic numbers here. Prices vary a lot by area, truck size and dump costs. What follows is a way to think it through using your own costs.

Pick Your Load Sizes

Start by deciding how you will slice the truck. A common set is:

• Minimum load — a single small item or a few bags.
• Eighth and quarter loads — a couple of pieces of furniture, a small pile.
• Half load — a room's worth, a small garage corner.
• Three-quarter and full loads — most of a garage or basement.
• Multiple loads — 1.5, 2 or 3 loads for estate and whole-house cleanouts.

JunkBossPro supports the whole range on every job, from Min Load through 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, Full Load and 1.5, 2 or 3 loads. You do not have to use every size. Fewer steps make quoting faster; more steps make prices fairer for in-between jobs.

Know What a Load Costs You

A load price has to cover more than the dump. Think through what goes into a typical job:

• Labor: the crew's time on site, driving and at the dump.
• Truck: fuel, wear, payments and repairs, spread over your working days.
• Disposal: the dump or transfer station fee for that load's weight.
• Overhead: phone, software, advertising, office time.
• Profit: what is left for the business to grow and handle a bad month.

Add those up for a full load, and you have a floor. Smaller loads take less disposal and less loading time, but the drive and the setup are about the same, so the smaller sizes usually cost more per slice of truck. That is normal and worth explaining to customers who ask.

Decide How Weight Is Handled

Volume pricing works until a customer fills a half load with roofing shingles or concrete. Many junk removal businesses include a set weight in each load price and charge a per-ton rate over it. Others price heavy materials separately.

In JunkBossPro, you can enter the dump ticket's tons, the tons included in the price and your per-ton rate on each job, and the overage is added to the invoice automatically. For example, “Dump fee overage (0.28 tons @ $70.00) = $19.60.” The guide on Charging a Dump Fee Overage Without Arguing With the Customer covers how to explain it upfront.

Write One Service List

Once the numbers are set, put them in one service list and quote from it every time. Example prices for your own services might look like this:

• Single item — $129
• Half truck load — $329
• Full truck load — $549
• Over the included weight — $70 a ton

Those are examples only; yours will be different. In JunkBossPro, estimates are built from your service list, the customer approves online, and the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job. Everyone quotes the same prices, whether it is the owner, the office person or a crew member on site.

Review Prices With Real Jobs

Prices are not set once and forgotten. Every few months, look back at real jobs: the load size, the price, the dump ticket and the time on site. If half loads keep running long or heavy, that price is too low. If you win almost every quote, you may be cheaper than you need to be.

Because every JunkBossPro job records the load size, the items and the dump ticket, that review is a look at your own history instead of a guess. Adjust in small steps and watch what happens to bookings.

Keep an eye on how customers react, too. If people regularly ask for something between two of your load sizes, that may be a sign to add a step. If the office keeps having to explain a price, the wording on the service list may need work. A price list that the crew, the office and the customer all understand is worth more than a perfectly calculated one nobody can explain. Write a one-line description next to each load size, such as “about a pickup bed's worth” or “a one-car garage corner,” so customers can picture it.

Next: The Minimum Charge

The smallest jobs need their own thinking, which is why the next guide is about the minimum charge. For every topic in this series, visit the running a junk removal business page.