October
1, 2008
By
VALUE-ADDED junk hauling may sound like a questionable product to
sell: it assumes that people will pay hundreds of dollars to get rid of ratty
sofas and assorted flotsam in professional and socially conscious ways.
Its biggest selling points are friendly employees who presumably
look more respectable than the local odd jobber, and who will, unlike the far
less expensive city garbage collector, climb into that nasty basement or garage
to haul out your junk.
Yet to the bafflement of industry experts, quality junk-hauling
sells.
Take Omar Soliman and Nick Friedman, the
26-year-old founders of College Hunks Hauling Junk, based in
Sending out college students in golf shirts and khakis, College
Hunks had $2.9 million in business last year. Mr. Soliman
and Mr. Friedman said they expected sales of $4 million this year.
The company charges by the size of the cargo: for an eighth of a
truck, a quarter and so on, up to $500 for a full load, or $99 for a single
item. Extra charges apply for some concrete, dirt, construction materials and
other loads. And they will not remove some materials at all, like combustibles
and other hazardous waste. The haulers promise to recycle and donate what they
can — and say that it’s to their advantage to eliminate as much as possible
this way, because they pay by the pound for whatever they drop off at the dump.
More than half of College Hunks’ business comes from homeowners in
upscale neighborhoods who discard many items that the company takes to Goodwill
Industries instead of to the dump. While some charities offer pickup services,
they may be selective in what they accept and may not clean out a space, Mr.
Friedman said, adding, “Calling College Hunks gets the stuff out in one sweep.”
About 30 percent of the company’s revenue comes from businesses —
property managers, for example, who hire the company to clear rental units.
College Hunks has sold 36 franchises since January 2007, each
requiring a minimum investment of $75,600, which includes a $25,000 franchise
fee, to get started. “In our minds, we want to have 80 to 125 franchise
partners across the country,” said Mr. Soliman, the
chief executive. “We think we can do that within three years.”
From the beginning, their business plan called for franchising, as
the least expensive way to expand the company. By the summer of 2006, when
12-month revenues were up to about $500,000, Mr. Friedman and Mr. Soliman had enough cash from operations to spend around
$250,000 for lawyers and consultants to roll out a franchise plan.
Among the expenses were setting up a call
center that could take orders from around the country and software that would
allow customers to search online for College Hunks by ZIP code.
They also hired George Palmer, 63, as director of franchise
development. “I’ve been in franchising for more than 30 years; that’s longer
than the College Hunks have been on the face of the earth,” Mr. Palmer said.
His job is to arrange support for the franchisees, including
marketing materials designed for specific customers, like real estate agents,
bankers or moving companies. He also hosts conference phone calls with
franchisees, where tips are shared — on good insurance rates, for example.
If the College Hunks plan sounds familiar, that is probably
because a company called 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has already
done it. Based in
Mr. Friedman said College Hunks was already the largest
junk-hauling business based in the
College Hunks — whose phone number is a similar 1-800-JUNK-USA
(its Web site is 1800junkusa.com) — is
undaunted by the competition. While Mr. Friedman said
1-800-GOT-JUNK? “is the McDonald’s of the
junk-hauling business,” he said his company just wanted to be “the Burger
King.”
Franchise consultants say there is nothing wrong with that
strategy. They point out that Wendy’s did not enter the fast food market until
about two decades after McDonald’s invented it.
College Hunks was conceived in the summer of 2003, when Mr.
Friedman was a college intern at the International
Monetary Fund in
They split about $9,000 that summer. Then Mr. Soliman
returned to the University of Miami and Mr.
Friedman to
So Mr. Soliman drew up a business plan
for College Hunks and entered it in the Leigh Rothschild Entrepreneurship
Competition at his university. He took first place and won $10,000.
After graduating with a business degree, Mr. Soliman
took a marketing job in
“I created spreadsheets, economic research to help billion-dollar
businesses make more billions,” he said. Six months later, he left to join Mr. Soliman and the junk business full time.
They recruited haulers from the University of Maryland, in nearby
The company’s name notwithstanding, the haulers don’t have to be
hunky, Mr. Friedman said, but “clean-cut,” which he defines as well-groomed
with no prominent piercings or tattoos. There is also
at least one Hunkette, as they call a female hauler,
and women also work in the corporate office.
Mr. Soliman and Mr. Friedman designed a
logo with a cartoonish muscle man and invented a
slogan: “Let tomorrow’s leaders haul your junk today!” They put out fliers and
door hangers and handed out business cards.
Shortly before their 25th birthdays, they were ready to franchise,
and they obtained a toll-free phone number with the word junk in it, paying a
“It was easy to remember and sounds like a national company,” Mr. Soliman said.
Big waste-collection companies might pose formidable competition
if they pursued junk hauling, but they haven’t so far, and some of them openly
disdain the idea of collecting junk from inside homes.
“I question the need and the appropriateness of companies like
1-800-GOT-JUNK?” said Robert Reed, a spokesman for Norcal
Waste Systems, based in
Most homeowners get free or inexpensive pickup of bulk items from
the curb once or twice a year as part of their city garbage collection, Mr.
Reed said. So why would people spend $400?
“Most people are able-bodied and can haul their own stuff,” he
said. “You just get a dolly, which most people have in their garage, and pull
it out to the curb.”
Those sentiments were echoed at the National Solid Wastes
Management Association, a trade group whose members include large trash companies,
and in Waste Age, a publication that covers the waste-hauling industry.
But at 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, Launi Skinner, the president and chief operating officer,
said quality hauling services were needed because “everyone in our society has
junk.”
And sometimes it takes a sense of humor to move it. Among the
College Hunks is Kevin Burns, a 21-year-old student who is also a full-time
employee.
Last month, Mr. Burns was working on a job at a small apartment in
While her 10-pound Chihuahua yapped furiously, the resident,
Deirdre Blancett, asked the haulers to remove the sleeper sofa, the television,
the computer desk — pretty much all of her furniture — and whatever was on it.
When the job was about half done, Ms. Blancett’s
nephew, Brian Vans Evers, arrived. Noting the College Hunks sign on the truck,
he spat tobacco juice and remarked that college students had time for junk hauling.
Mr. Burns introduced himself and finished filling the truck. Then
he slapped a College Hunks magnet on the tailgate of Mr. Vans Evers’s pickup
and said he hoped he could work for him again.
Mr. Vans Evers looked at the magnet, just above his “Yur Followeeng a Rednek” bumper sticker. The house his aunt is moving into
has more junk than this apartment, he said, adding that “maybe we’ll give you a
call.”