subject: How to Price Foreclosure Trashout [print this page] As a new business owner, you can offer everything from debris removal, cleaning, lawn maintenance, cleaning gutters, pressure washing, interior cleanup, painting, winterizing, boarding windows and doors, changing locks, property inspections, and more.
Much of your work will consist of trashouts -- removing interior and exterior debris from a home. You will need to know how to charge for debris removal services to make a profit. Many trashout and debris removal jobs can be priced using the pickup truck capacity rule. The pickup capacity rule means you'll be pricing the by truckload.
If you call around, you can find out what your competitors are charging per load, but make sure you're getting the size of their "truck" when you get the price per load. Is one load for your competitor based on a 4'x6' compact pickup truck or is it based on a 5'x8' full size bed? Call a few places and see what they say. The larger junk removers tend to charge by the load.
You can use the pricing formulas of companies like the large well-known junk haulers as a "starting point" to set your company's prices; or call other competitors in your area, and then, set your prices competitively.
Remember to take into account who your foreclosure cleanup client is on a particular bid, whether or not it's a HUD home, what you need to make on the job, what your company's markup percentage is, etc.
In debris removal, pricing by the truckload is really a win-win. Why? Because if it turns out the client has more junk and debris than you realized when you wrote the original estimate, a standard clause in your foreclosure cleanup debris removal estimate will protect you.
