Welcome! If you’re reading this, you’re probably in the same boat I was in a number of years go before you could become a franchisee of Bin Blasters and GarbageCanCleaning.com even existed.
My name is Casey Evertsen and I was a first generation can cleaning entrepreneur. That means I was winging it and I made a lot of mistakes. Check out my story if you want to hear more about that.
These days, my partner Steve Terry and I put together solutions to help future garbage can cleaners get to a reliable, self-sustaining business as quickly as possible, and this article falls into the “thought leadership” category on this topic.
So I hope you enjoy and please feel free to drop your questions in the comments. I’d love to answer them!
What Equipment Do You Need to Start a Trash Can Cleaning Business?
Notice the word “Start” in this question? There’s some nuance.
A lot of people who find this industry as appealing as I do think they need to buy a specialized truck, and that often ends in tears because they burn up their whole budget with no money to spend on marketing to build their subscriber base.
Some people also try DIY solutions. Those can work as long as you’re careful about how you build your rig.
Here’s my checklist for a rig that will do the job and be a good fit for someone just getting started:
- Affordable – You can buy can cleaning trucks for more than $100k. Even if you’re able to finance, that’s still a huge monthly expense for someone with minimal revenue coming. Start with something more affordable and trade it when you have the volume to support a fancier rig.
- Reliable – This one is so critical, too. Don’t get stuck with equipment that will shut down your routes for weeks if something needs repair. Buy right, learn how to repair yourself, or have a relationship with someone who can help you quickly so you don’t go offline too long.
- Waste-Capturing – You can’t leave your dirty water and debris behind. Leaving any kind of mess on the street or driveway is the easiest way to lose a subscriber. You’ll also piss off their neighbors.
- Water-Heating – Cleaning bins with cold water takes much longer and doesn’t kill any odor producing bacteria. You need to be sure your rig sprays hot water.
- Shielded – High pressure water goes everywhere. Just a wand isn’t a good solution for getting the gunk out of a bin. It basically acts as a U-shaped pipe and shoots that water straight back out. What you want is a system that lifts the bin into your waster capturing system and handles the inside with a rotating nozzle on a mast. You’ll stay dry and you’ll leave the subscriber’s home clean as a whistle.
Check out pictures of our starter garbage can trailers for what a rig that meets all of those criteria looks like.
What Skills Does a Trash Can Cleaning Business Require?
I’ve seen plenty of can cleaning businesses fail because the owner used this flawed logic:
- I can drive a truck.
- I can operate a pressure washer.
- I can put a sign on my truck.
Therefore, I can grow a bin cleaning business by cleaning bins. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work this way, especially when you have no subscribers to begin with.
Here are what I would consider to be the critical skills. If you don’t want to personally develop expertise, you’re going to need someone in your company or a service that you can rely on to cover these bases:
- Sales
- Networking
- Graphic design
- Digital marketing
- Website building
- Search engine optimization
- Mechanical repair
You’ll quickly discover that cleaning the bins is incredibly easy. Growing your customer base, now that takes some skill.
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Trash Can Cleaning Business?
Growing a successful trash can cleaning business is not cheap. You’ll need equipment to get started and working capital to cover your expenses while you grow.
You’ll find equipment options ranging from $30,000 – $250,000. A typical payment on a new bin cleaning truck is $4000-$6000 per month!
Trailer payments can range from $900 – $3000 depending on your choice of trailer.
On top of your equipment payment, right out the gate you’ll have: Business and equipment insurance, marketing, maintenance, possibly payroll, fuel and basic supplies.
These expenses can range from $2000-$7000 per month during your “getting off the ground” stage or what we call the “knuckle-dragger stage” here on GarbageCanCleaning.com.
A few questions to ask yourself: Be truthful with yourself. Your answers could cost you a small fortune.
- Can I quit my job to grow this new business? If not, who will manage the daily work that’s required to grow a business?
- Do I have 6-12 months of cash reserves in the bank to cover expenses while I grow?
- Do I have the capital to invest in various forms of marketing for a minimum of 12 months?
- Can I afford to pay someone to do this work, or should I consider a partner?
- Do I have the time or desire to spend my free time growing a business?
- Do I tend to quit when things get tough, or do I see things through, learn from mistakes and push on?
If the answer to all of the above is yes, you’ve come to right place and I would encourage you to keep reading and leverage as much wisdom from Generation-1 can cleaners as you can.
What Is Typical Garbage Can Cleaning Business Profit?
Entrepreneurs are drawn to service-based business for their lack of inventory challenges, freezers, food costs, retail spaces, employees and everything else that can zap profits.
No, service-based businesses are not free to operate; they’re simply much easier to get started and offer a quicker path to profitability. In many ways, you’re selling your time in a way that you already have done to your historical employers.
The variable costs of a garbage can cleaning business are marketing, fuel and labor. The larger your service area, the more miles and time is spent between stops. Zapping your profits. You’ll spend more time driving than cleaning bins!
Garbage Can Cleaners that focus on route density, referrals and a small service areas can see profit margins as high as 60-70%.
The promised land is a route that completely exhausts what your rig will hold, all within one or two neighborhoods. Bonus points if they’re close to your home base!
Aim for servicing 50-100 customers per day and only driving a mile or two in your early days. That’s money!
How Can Garbage Can Cleaning Help Me Get Started?
It’s disheartening to come across listings for barely-used bin cleaning trucks. Each listing tells a story of someone’s entrepreneurial journey cut short before it had a chance to flourish. Sometimes you’ll even see the logo of the failed business still on the truck.
They shared their excitement with family and friends (who may have provided loans), proud of the business they were building—only to see it come to an unexpected end.
Our goal is to share our hard-earned experience around equipment and marketing with as many bin cleaning startups as we can. You’ll find all kinds of free resources and then if you’re ready for the next step, we sell equipment and services that are stage specific. If you become a customer of ours, we want to support you for the rest of your garbage can cleaning career.
The last thing we want is for you to purchase something from us only to be out of business a few months later.
We’ve developed the market’s lightest, fastest, and most compact bin cleaning trailer. What’s more, it comes at a price point that’s $20,000 lower than the closest competitor. You can book time with us to talk about your business and we’ll be happy to tell you whether we think you’re ready or not.
We’ve also curated comprehensive marketing packages designed to fuel the growth of your subscriber base. These packages include everything from captivating branding and a polished website to robust digital marketing strategies, automated text and email follow-ups, and a solid online presence.
With our support, you’ll build a strong reputation and make a lasting impact in your market, with the ability to grow the business to the size you desire.
What’s Next?
While I’ve successfully grown Bin Blasters to the point that you can become a franchisee, Garbage Can Cleaners is just getting started. We’ll be bringing more products to the site over the coming months.
If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to sign up for our newsletter, where you’ll get access to articles like this as well as be the first to know about great used and second-hand equipment, get to hear from other can cleaning entrepreneurs across the country, and much more.
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