JunkBossPro Blog — Online Booking & Leads

The Leads List and Estimates: Turning Junk Removal Inquiries Into Priced Jobs

Between “I have some junk” and “the truck is booked for Thursday” there is usually a price. For a mattress, the price is your single item rate and the conversation is over in one text. For a basement, a shed teardown or a hot tub, the customer wants something in writing. That written price is the estimate, and keeping track of which ones are still open is the leads list.

From First Text to Written Price

The first text, with a range and an open day, is covered in What to Text a New Junk Removal Lead: First Replies That Book the Job. When the customer says “sounds good, send it over,” the next step is an estimate.

In JunkBossPro, estimates are part of quotes and leads. Each open lead is a customer who has asked for a price and hasn't said yes yet. Seeing them in one list tells you who needs a follow-up and which jobs are close to booking.

Build Your Service List First

Estimates are built from your own service list, so setting it up well makes every quote faster. Most junk removal companies price around a few kinds of services:

• Truck loads. Minimum load, quarter, half, three-quarter and full truck load, each with your price.
• Single items. Mattresses, appliances, couches, recliners and other common one-off pickups.
• Heavy or awkward items. Hot tubs, pianos, safes and other items that need extra hands or equipment.
• Teardowns and cleanouts. Shed teardowns, estate cleanouts, garage cleanouts, storage unit cleanouts.
• Recurring and commercial. Apartment trash-outs and property manager move-out jobs.
• Add-ons. Same-day service, extra labor or stairs, if you charge for them.

The prices are yours. A company might list a single item at $129, a half truck load at $329 and a full truck load at $549, but every market and every company is different. You can also price services off measurements on a property, like haul miles, cubic yards or a count of items, if that is how you work.

Writing the Estimate

An estimate is a few lines from that list. A typical garage job might be:

• Half truck load: garage cleanout
• Mattress and box spring
• Refrigerator

Add a short note in plain words about what is included and what could change the price: “Price is for up to a half truck load. If it fills more of the truck, the next load size applies. Includes loading from the garage.” If you charge for dump weight over what is included, say so here too. Later, the dump fee overage can be added to the invoice automatically from the dump ticket's tons.

For jobs you quote all the time, estimate templates mean you are adjusting a few lines instead of starting over.

Approved Online, Booked Automatically

The customer gets the estimate and approves it online. They don't print anything, sign anything or reply “yes” to an email that someone has to notice. When they approve, the estimate becomes the scheduled job, with the same line items.

From there the job goes onto the Waiting List until it is assigned to a truck and a day. The crew sees the job on their phone with the load size, the number of items and what's going, and when they tap Complete the invoice is built from the job.

Working the Open Leads

Not every estimate is approved right away. Some customers are comparing prices. Some are waiting on a spouse, a landlord or a closing date. A few habits keep open leads from going stale:

• Look at the list daily. Who got an estimate yesterday and hasn't answered? Who said “next week” last week?
• Let follow-up emails do the routine part. JunkBossPro sends estimate follow-up emails, so the reminder doesn't depend on you remembering.
• Text the big ones. For a large cleanout, a personal text is worth it: “Hi Linda, just checking on the basement estimate. We have an opening Tuesday if you want it.”
• Close out the lost ones. If a customer went elsewhere, clear it out and move on, so the list only shows real chances.

Follow-ups have their own guide: Estimate Follow-Up Emails: Getting Junk Removal Quotes Approved.

No Instant Calculator, on Purpose

JunkBossPro doesn't put an automatic price calculator on your website. Junk varies too much: a “couch” at the curb and a sleeper sofa in a basement are different jobs. A quick estimate from your own service list, written by someone who read the request, gets a better price for you and fewer surprises for the customer.

Price It, Send It, Book It

A clean service list, a short written estimate and online approval take the slow steps out of turning a lead into a job. For how estimates connect to the request form, texting and the Waiting List, visit the JunkBossPro junk removal booking software page.