Local services · idea 25 of 52
Junk removal with a borrowed or rented truck
Everyone has a garage, basement or dead relative's house they've been avoiding. You show up, load it, and make it disappear the same day.
- Who pays you
- Homeowners, landlords, estate executors and small businesses pay you per load or per job to remove and dispose of unwanted stuff, on the day, by card or transfer. Your costs are the vehicle, fuel and dump fees; anything resellable you keep.
- Outcomes
- 0 receipts. Nobody's reported back on this one yet. Receipts open when accounts launch.
How it works
People pay to have things gone. Not sorted, not sold, gone. Post that you do same-week junk removal in local groups, quote by fraction of a truck load, load it, and take it to the transfer station, the donation centre or the scrap yard depending on what it is. Metal and working appliances often pay you twice: once from the client, once at the scrap yard or on Marketplace.
What it actually takes
- A pickup or box van. Borrow or rent one for the first few jobs; buy when you're turning down work.
- Gloves, straps, a dolly, tarps, a couple of contractor bags, and a back that's used to lifting. A second person for anything heavy.
- Knowing the dump fees and hours, which charities take furniture, and where the scrap yard is.
- Quoting rules by load fraction, with a surcharge for mattresses, tyres, paint and anything else the dump charges extra for.
Where it goes wrong
- Hazardous stuff. Asbestos, chemicals, oils, refrigerants: know what you can't legally take and say no.
- Underquoting a hoarder house from a photo. Always see the job, or quote by the load with the client understanding it might be four loads.
- Not being insured. You're in people's homes moving heavy things past their walls.
- Dump fees eating the margin on a cheap quote. Price the disposal into every job.
Published 18 Aug 2026