JunkBossPro Blog — Junk Removal Software

Load Size on Every Job: From Min Load to Three Loads in Junk Removal Software

A junk removal truck has a box of fixed size, and every job takes up some of it. How much is the single most useful thing to know about a job before the truck leaves the yard. That is why JunkBossPro puts a load size on every job.

Why Load Size Comes First

Getting the day out of the notepad is covered in Moving a Junk Removal Business Off Paper, Texts and Spreadsheets. Once jobs live in software, load size is the first junk-specific field worth filling in on every one.

Load size drives three decisions: what you charge, which truck gets the job, and when the truck has to make a dump run. A day of single items might all fit in one box. A day with a full-load estate cleanout and a half-load garage needs a dump run in between, or a second truck. If the load size is only in the owner's head, every one of those decisions waits on him.

The Load Sizes

Each job can be set to one of these:

• Min Load — a single item or a few small things
• 1/8, 1/4, 3/8 — small loads, like a couch and chairs or a few appliances
• 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8 — the middle, where most garages and basements land
• Full Load — the whole box
• 1.5, 2 or 3 loads — estate cleanouts, hoarder houses, big property turnovers

The same scale works whether your truck has a big box or a small one, because it's a fraction of your truck, not a measurement in cubic yards. If you do want to track cubic yards on a property, there's a place for that too, covered in the client records guide.

Load Size and Pricing

Most junk companies price by the fraction of a truck. Your service list might have a single item at $129, a quarter load, a half truck load at $329, a three-quarter load and a full truck load at $549. Those are your prices, not ours, and you set them however you want. The point is that when the job's load size and the price line agree, the crew and the customer are looking at the same thing.

When the crew gets there and the pile is bigger than the estimate, the load size on the job is the conversation starter: “This was booked as a quarter load and it's closer to a half.” The office can adjust the line items so the invoice matches. Building that price list is covered in Building a Junk Removal Service List: Single Items, Truck Loads and Cleanouts.

Load Size and the Schedule

When you look at a day on the dispatch board, the load sizes tell you whether it's realistic. Three half loads and a full load is two dump runs at least. A run of Min Load pickups can stack up all day without emptying the truck. That's why many companies with two trucks put one on single items and small loads and the other on cleanouts and big jobs: the load sizes sort the work for you.

On the Waiting List map, load size helps fill a truck. If tomorrow's route has room for a quarter load, you can look for a nearby request of about that size and add it.

Load Size on the Crew's Phone

The crew app shows the load size on every job card, right next to the number of items and what's going. Before the crew leaves the yard, they can glance down the day and see whether the truck needs to be empty to start, and where a dump run fits. On site, they know how much room to keep, and whether the stop after this one will fit.

Getting It Right at Booking

Load size is only as good as the guess at booking. A few habits help:

• Ask the customer to describe every item, not just “the garage.”
• Ask if things are boxed, loose or bagged. Loose junk takes more room.
• For anything bigger than a half load or hard to picture, book an on-site estimate visit instead of guessing.
• When the crew sees the real size, have them note it on the job. Next time that customer calls, the past notes help.

One Field, Many Uses

Load size looks like a small field, but it shapes pricing, routing and the crew's day. With it on every job, anyone in the office can plan a truck, not just the owner. The rest of the junk-specific job details are on the JunkBossPro junk removal software page.