# Hello



## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

Hi All,

I am new to the forums here. I have been doing PP work for a little over a year now. It isn't too bad. No worse that being a drywall contractor. I did that for over 10 years. 

I have worked for a couple of different companies and dropped one of them because they pay was too low and the jobs were too far apart to be profitable. I want to add more companies so I am not depending on only one source for work. 

We stopped doing cleanouts about 8 months back because they money wasn't there. We have been doing maintenance cuts and cleans, but would like to do cleanouts again if we can find someone who pays what is agreed on. 

Any info or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2011)

In my area there is no money for trashout's,i will take re cuts and re cleans all day every day.


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## Craigslist Hack (Jun 14, 2012)

Gypsos said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I am new to the forums here. I have been doing PP work for a little over a year now. It isn't too bad. No worse that being a drywall contractor. I did that for over 10 years.
> 
> ...


Trash out's are some of the best money. You just have to hook up with company's that pay decent per cube.


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2011)

I know I just don't like them.We do only about 3-5 a week and that because its a bundle package.When I have a open bid on trash out I never get them because I shoot for the stars.


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2011)

Gypsos said:


> We stopped doing cleanouts about 8 months back because they money wasn't there.


If your not making money on trashouts I'm guessing your doing bundle work? If you are bidding at $40-$50 per yard and doing it correctly, there is no way to lose money.

We do mainly repair work but we take all of the big trashouts when they come up! I would say at least 90% of the time I make MORE money with metal and paper then I pay for trash at the dump. So for a 40 yard trashout at $2,000 it cost me $300 for labor (2 guys) and fuel and overhead for the day ($200) im looking at $1500 profit.

I never lost money doing a trashout, but then again I don't bundle trashouts upto 40 yards, sales clean, lawn cut, winterization for $500


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## APlusPPGroup (Apr 14, 2012)

BigDaddyPin, where in Philadelphia are you?

Linda


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2011)

a1propertyclean said:


> BigDaddyPin, where in Philadelphia are you?
> 
> Linda


I'm about 20 miles west but do 90% of my work in Philly. I did a bid for you at Nandina.


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## APlusPPGroup (Apr 14, 2012)

BigDaddyPin said:


> I'm about 20 miles west but do 90% of my work in Philly. I did a bid for you at Nandina.


Yes, you did. I thought, by your posting, I might know you. And I do. 

Wish I had a bunch of trashouts for you............... from a client who doesn't drag the payments out forever. They are history, BTW.

Linda


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2011)

BigDaddyPin said:


> If your not making money on trashouts I'm guessing your doing bundle work? If you are bidding at $40-$50 per yard and doing it correctly, there is no way to lose money.
> 
> We do mainly repair work but we take all of the big trashouts when they come up! I would say at least 90% of the time I make MORE money with metal and paper then I pay for trash at the dump. So for a 40 yard trashout at $2,000 it cost me $300 for labor (2 guys) and fuel and overhead for the day ($200) im looking at $1500 profit.
> 
> I never lost money doing a trashout, but then again I don't bundle trashouts upto 40 yards, sales clean, lawn cut, winterization for $500


Alot of mine are bundles,but now I have it set up that they pay for dumpster.When I bid trash out's I am always at the 40 per cubic yard but i maybe get 1 out of 10 of those.My local competitor is all about FAS so when he gets different work orders for bids on trash out he maxes out at like 25 c/y from different vendors


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2011)

MKM Landscaping said:


> Alot of mine are bundles,but now I have it set up that they pay for dumpster.When I bid trash out's I am always at the 40 per cubic yard but i maybe get 1 out of 10 of those.My local competitor is all about FAS so when he gets different work orders for bids on trash out he maxes out at like 25 c/y from different vendors


Anything under 40 yards ($2,000) I usually get approved thru the brokers with no additional bids which is nice. Over 40 yards I will drop a little so a 60 yard I normally charge $2,400.

I also have 3 dump trailers (best purchases I ever made!!) so I don't have the expense of a dumpster which saves money me as well.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2011)

You have what we all want,you have the brokers.I have no broker connections.

On a side note I did get a real big real estate investor up here intersted in buying into my company today.He scavenges these hud homes up and wants to buy into my company.After my meeting he was talking about buying some new equipment for us,he has the brokers in his pocket.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2011)

MKM Landscaping said:


> You have what we all want,you have the brokers.I have no broker connections.
> 
> On a side note I did get a real big real estate investor up here intersted in buying into my company today.He scavenges these hud homes up and wants to buy into my company.After my meeting he was talking about buying some new equipment for us,he has the brokers in his pocket.


Besides bundle packages, what are nationals paying per yard? $30-$35?

You can still make that work.

I think its more about having a system and the equipment then money (unless your getting under $20yard).

I'm anal about trashouts and train everyone of my guys personally. 

All clothes, shoes, curtains, bedsheets, linens, backpacks, ANYTHING made of cloth goes to the donation bins. People think it's only for good clothes because they are going to sell in some store, that's bull! EVERY clothing box (even salvation army) sells some or all of the donations. Everything that's not sellable is sold as rag quality per lb so they are more then grateful to have anything you put in there.

Metal, that's an obvious one but you would be surprised how much money people throw away doing trashouts. It's not all about washing machines and old bikes. I tell people all the time POWER CORDS!!, cut them off of everything you trash and keep in a trashcan till its full and you got about $125 a the scrap yard. Plus all the brass ($2.50 lb) nick nacks, lamps, etc... look around its there! 

Paper- try to find a place to sell it. I'm getting $150/ton right now at a paper plant. Even if you can't sell it there is most likely a bin for donations usually at school yards. Again, you would be surprised how much paper and cardboard you will find in a trashout when you start looking!

Concrete, blocks I store till i get a good bit and take to the local recycle for free, as long as there is no dirt.

For large trashouts I bring my dually and dump trailer for trash and my 14' box truck for metal, clothing, and paper.

I usually pick a corner of each room and start tossing stuff, 1 corner for paper, 1 for clothes, 1 for metal and the rest is trash! Once you get a system and start separating you will wish you had started sooner!


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2011)

Bigdaddy how much extra time does it take you to move stuff around 2-3 times then take it to where ever your recycling? Seems like there are times to recycle some stuff, but to go room to room stacking sorting and what not, I'd already have the trailer or dumpster loaded and of to the next.?


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2011)

mbobbish734 said:


> Bigdaddy how much extra time does it take you to move stuff around 2-3 times then take it to where ever your recycling? Seems like there are times to recycle some stuff, but to go room to room stacking sorting and what not, I'd already have the trailer or dumpster loaded and of to the next.?


Sorting in a room literally adds minutes, it's not even noticeable. The clothes, metal and paper are loaded in the box truck and taken back to my shop. 

There are 3 bins for clothes in an empty parking lot that I have to drive past to get to my shop so that's the first stop which takes maybe 3-5 mins to unload depending on amount of bags.

Once at the shop all ferrous metals are loaded into one of my dump trailers until its full, then I just take it to the scrap yard which I pass about 15 on any given day in Philly. Total time to weigh in, dump, weigh out and get paid is maybe 15-20 min. Usually $200-$400 weekly load.

All of the non ferrous metals are stacked and whenever there is a slow day or it builds up I spend a day breaking everything down and separating. This is usually done about every 2 months and usually generates about $1500-$2000 worth of cable, brass, copper, aluminum at the scrap yard.

The paper is stacked until I have enough to fill a dump trailer, then I load it with the skid steer and take to the paper manufacturer which again, I drive past everyday on the expressway. Total time to load and then unload is probably 30 min. Usually I take a load every 4-5 weeks and collect about $350-$500

I think it's worth my time or I wouldn't do it.

If you think it's better to just load the dumpster and move on, that's fine too.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2011)

BigDaddyPin said:


> Sorting in a room literally adds minutes, it's not even noticeable. The clothes, metal and paper are loaded in the box truck and taken back to my shop.
> 
> There are 3 bins for clothes in an empty parking lot that I have to drive past to get to my shop so that's the first stop which takes maybe 3-5 mins to unload depending on amount of bags.
> 
> ...


It's seems it all works out for you, great. Here you can spend 2 or more hours at the scrap yard. It's amazing how we all do the same tasks but in different parts it still works out different. An example is trailers vs dumpster. In some areas using trailers are the cheapest way to go . In my area if its 30 yrd or more a dumpster is cheaper.:thumbsup:


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## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

Thanks for the info. My problem with the cleanouts appears to have been the person I was working for. Argued about the price and then changed it after the work was done. We agreed to disagree and I refuse to do more work for her. 

I do well with lawn cuts and have started making contacts with the local banks. I am still not sure about how to contact some of the larger ones. One of my fears is being overwwhelmed. I had that happen early on and it caused bad blood between us and the people we worked for. I told them the voulme I was able to handle and then they buried me with work and got snotty about it when I asked them to slow down. You live and you learn.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2011)

mbobbish734 said:


> It's seems it all works out for you, great. Here you can spend 2 or more hours at the scrap yard. It's amazing how we all do the same tasks but in different parts it still works out different. An example is trailers vs dumpster. In some areas using trailers are the cheapest way to go . In my area if its 30 yrd or more a dumpster is cheaper.:thumbsup:


I hear you. If I lived someone where I didn't have so many resources so close it may be a different story. I know paper is one thing that many people say they cant find anyone to sell it to, I am just lucky to have a place that I drive by everyday. 

The whole thing about separating vs throwing all in dumpster, owning your own dump trailer vs renting dumpster is kind of like Ford vs Chevy. Who's way is better? Both! Whatever works for you.


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## CSREO (Jun 16, 2012)

If you are loosing money on trashouts, something is wrong. Our highest proffit margins are usually in trashouts, and we generally offer lower rates than some competitors (granted, there are guys that are not legit that will be cheeper). We also recycle some of the metals, and sometimes when doing commercial, we will recycle the paper as well.


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## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

It wasn't that we were losing money on the trashouts. We weren't. It was that after we agreed upon a price and the work orders were issued the person we dealt with would cut the price and issue a new work order for a lower price, after the work was done. A lot of people might just consider it the cost of doing business. I do not. 

I have estimated literally thousands of jobs for commercial and residential construction. I know how to do my research and make sure of what the costs are, so when I give my lowest price it really is the least I am willing to work for. 

What really got me was how obtuse she was about saying that she simply could not see that much work being done so she lowered the price to where she felt it should be.


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## APlusPPGroup (Apr 14, 2012)

Gypsos said:


> It wasn't that we were losing money on the trashouts. We weren't. It was that after we agreed upon a price and the work orders were issued the person we dealt with would cut the price and issue a new work order for a lower price, after the work was done. A lot of people might just consider it the cost of doing business. I do not.
> 
> I have estimated literally thousands of jobs for commercial and residential construction. I know how to do my research and make sure of what the costs are, so when I give my lowest price it really is the least I am willing to work for.
> 
> What really got me was how obtuse she was about saying that she simply could not see that much work being done so she lowered the price to where she felt it should be.


Sounds illegal to me. You cannot send someone an order approved for one amount, then change it after the work is completed.

What she's doing reminds me of the old "bait and switch" ads. I'd go after the money you're owed and I wouldn't hesitate.

Linda


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## CSREO (Jun 16, 2012)

They cannot change the amount your paid once you have an approved contract. Hopefully you either have a signed contract, or an email giving you approval for the original amount. Both are legally binding.


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## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

I pointed out that what she was doing is illegal and she got nervous and snotty with me. I did not want to get in a big fight with her and have her taint my changes with other departments. So I simply told her I would no longer do work for her. All told it was a total of about $200. 

What I did do was make a good name for myself with her co-workers and when they asked me to bid things I explained that I would not tolerate them cutting my bids after the fact the way she did. The universal reaction was surprise and an explaination that she was not allowed to do that. 

Then I went after the shoddy cleanouts that she approved for transfer to routine maintenance that then got assigned to me. I basically held everyone to my standards. After about the tenth property with over 200 pics of incomplete intials her managers got involved and she was transfered or fired. Either way I do not have to deal with her any more. 

I was not nitpicking the intials either. A typical example was one house that had a garage full of broken furniture and other trash. About 20 CY total. The vendor had simply moved the trash from the house and yard to the garage and did not turn in any after pictures of the garage.

Another one the grass was still over a foot tall and there was trash everywhere, no light bulbs had been replaced and no wires were capped. 

There is no way she had reviewed the photos or she would have found the problems. I looked at the after photos on the company website and it was obvoius the vendors were not doing the job right.


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2011)

Here is a good one. I did a cleanout for scamguard a few months back. Paid approval for interior was capped at $600 (for listed 18cy, should have been $1150), and $150 for 5cy (should have been $250). I agreed to perform said work at listed prices. Turns out the total removal ended up being closer to 27cy. Ended up getting paid $465 for it all. When I asked about it, they claimed my photos only supported 8cy interior. 

I think my camera must take magical photos. They seem to change from my screen to theirs.


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## CSREO (Jun 16, 2012)

somewherein815 said:


> Here is a good one. I did a cleanout for scamguard a few months back. Paid approval for interior was capped at $600 (for listed 18cy, should have been $1150), and $150 for 5cy (should have been $250). I agreed to perform said work at listed prices. Turns out the total removal ended up being closer to 27cy. Ended up getting paid $465 for it all. When I asked about it, they claimed my photos only supported 8cy interior.
> 
> I think my camera must take magical photos. They seem to change from my screen to theirs.


I have never had a problem with someone trying to pay me less, however I do take extra pictures for that same scenario. I will take a picture of our trucks before starting, and then one after with everything loaded. Our clients know the dimensions of the trucks, and there would be no way to argue otherwise.


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