# scrapping metal



## Craftworks (Dec 18, 2013)

Aside from my abilities
In the last 4 years I HAVE BECOME A EXPERT SCRAPPER & make money doing it. 
Do any members incorporate metal trash from properties as money. Naturally I am not a wacko that takes copper from abandon homes .


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## grayghost (Aug 25, 2013)

first big trashout I did we got 1400.00+ in metal, that helped finance the job and keep us running for a while


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## BamaPPC (May 7, 2012)

We do not remove anything that's attached. If it's laying around, we remove it. And that includes scrap metal. And yes, we recycle.


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## Craigslist Hack (Jun 14, 2012)

We have NEVER tried because it takes too much time and doesn't pay much. We are on a job right now that has numerous appliances and the client seems sketchy. I told the guys that we are going to recycle this time and see if it will at least cover our dump fees.


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## Cleanupman (Nov 23, 2012)

We keep a 44 yard bin at our office for steel.
comes in at about 12-1400 each time....
You should be able to work something out like we did.
The arrangement we made is strictly steel no liquids etc...we get a minimum of $25 over TARE that you would receive taking in a truck load....


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## Craftworks (Dec 18, 2013)

Craigslist Hack said:


> We have NEVER tried because it takes too much time and doesn't pay much. We are on a job right now that has numerous appliances and the client seems sketchy. I told the guys that we are going to recycle this time and see if it will at least cover our dump fees.


You can figure for each 100 pounds of weight you have $9 to $10 if you keep a neat truck with tools organized then a trailer large enough for all the possible items you see might make it worth having , Wile there are different prices for different metals ,you most likely don't want to dismantle to pull the utmost amt of money. You probably just want mix load , BUT all power cords should be saved in a pail as they go for around a buck a pound . items like baby strollers and other things with 60% metal are also fine 
The day you go to recycle look at whats on the large pile of mixed metals you will then see that you have been tossing Money away for years.

The key is -
The scrapping of metals has to be incorporated with your normal travels. 
Special trips cause a loss of time and fuel and then it might not be worth it.
Wile on the way to the yard it's very common to see a microwave at the curb or a oven - water heaters . By the time you hit the yard you have some good weight


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## Craigslist Hack (Jun 14, 2012)

I just cashed out at the scrap yard. TOTAL waste of my time the time lost seperating the metal and loading it separate thwdeiving it to the scrap yard not only am I probably in the hole but I had other jobs to go do. Unless there is an enormous amount of metal I won't be doing this again.


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## hammerhead (Apr 26, 2012)

when we load up the trailer all the crap goes in first and the steel on the the tail. when we get back to the shop just drop the tailgate and toss the steel into a dumpster. when dumpster gets full they come and switch it out. Usually get around $500 -$1000 a month depending on the jobs and amount of To's. 

Free money baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Ohnojim (Mar 25, 2013)

*If it's worth a nickel I usually throw it in a bin*

Just made out really well on some old supermarket shelving, didn't scrap but sold most of it, scrapped the rest. Also been finding an odd piece of jewelry here and there, about $600 worth through the year. Just cleanrd out a house that was an eletricians, found a pile of Kline tools and a a large pile of copper clean bright already stripped and in buckets. No wonder this guy lost his house. Probably over 100 lbs.


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## Cleanupman (Nov 23, 2012)

Ohnojim said:


> Just made out really well on some old supermarket shelving, didn't scrap but sold most of it, scrapped the rest. Also been finding an odd piece of jewelry here and there, about $600 worth through the year. Just cleanrd out a house that was an eletricians, found a pile of Kline tools and a a large pile of copper clean bright already stripped and in buckets. No wonder this guy lost his house. Probably over 100 lbs.


There's your Christmas party....or that something for the missus...


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## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

I keep barrels in the back yard and have an area designated as my savings account pile. I usually get enough to pay for a complete fill up on the truck and all equipment once each month. 

When we are slow I let the guys have it to help them cover their expenses.


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## Craftworks (Dec 18, 2013)

Well your response tells me with my scrap back round , I could possibly be putting together all my skills in one package 
For now scrap is good money . some people don't have the time to organize it.
BUT no question it can be done and it is extra money . For sure CL hack you could pile all your metal from a job sight in one spot and find a scrapper who will put it in his truck and give you 20 % of the value.


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## Racerx (Aug 29, 2012)

Interesting topic, and a breath of fresh air from the usual forum subject matter..Bravo!!..


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## STARBABY (Apr 12, 2012)

I have a separate trailer I use for scrape. no double handling!when trailers full i`ll normally that it to scrape yard on a Saturday. Have bought two 1/2 ton trucks,three trailer, and one com. o turn mower with scrape money.


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## PropPresPro (Apr 12, 2012)

STARBABY said:


> I have a separate trailer I use for scrape. no double handling!when trailers full i`ll normally that it to scrape yard on a Saturday. Have bought two 1/2 ton trucks,three trailer, and one com. o turn mower with scrape money.


That's a lot of scrape money to scrape up!:whistling2:


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## STARBABY (Apr 12, 2012)

PropPresPro said:


> That's a lot of scrape money to scrape up!:whistling2:


yep!


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## Craigslist Hack (Jun 14, 2012)

Craftworks said:


> Well your response tells me with my scrap back round , I could possibly be putting together all my skills in one package
> For now scrap is good money . some people don't have the time to organize it.
> BUT no question it can be done and it is extra money . For sure CL hack you could pile all your metal from a job sight in one spot and find a scrapper who will put it in his truck and give you 20 % of the value.


It was worth a try. We aren't making the money we once were so I'll try anything for more profit right now. The thing is this little metal scrapping added TIME to the job. Time I had to pay employees for and a trip to the scrap yard which also took time. If I had collected it at the office in a pile that would mean seperating it all out multiple times and having to look at it. It just doesn't make sense to me. 

We can take one more job a week even a bad one and make way more and not waste the time. Now I will say if there is a lot of weight I could see how it would pay for itself, but I'm way too busy to be fooling around for pennies in the dollar. 

One of the dryers they had us remove still had tags and warranty papers on it. My guess is it probably worked. If I had sold it on Craigslist I would have gotten more money than I did for all the scrap. 

Side note: I had a very Hott 21yr old college girl helping me that day and the boys at the scrap yard went deliverance towards her. It creeped us out and certainly didn't help me feel any better about the little experiment.


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## RServant (Jul 13, 2013)

I've been having a little debate with myself about scrapping lately. I've never junked anything really other than copper, so I'm not savvy with scrapping to begin with. 

As it stands I'm of the opinion that the time it takes to scrap things outweights the reward for scrapping. Could be that the scrapyard in my area doesn't offer great rates to begin with. Or that I am clueless to the benefits of it. Or both. We have some relatives that junk metal regularly, so we've been letting them come to the job and pilfer around all the crap that's to be removed for whatever they think they can scrap. They load what they want and haul it off. Saves us having to load some stuff, saves room on the trailers, and it doesn't cost us anything for them to take it. I like hearing the success stories, but I'm still leary of trying it myself, and CLH's story is exactly what I'm afraid will happen.


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## hammerhead (Apr 26, 2012)

scrapping pays for my golf addiction


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## Racerx (Aug 29, 2012)

RServant said:


> I've been having a little debate with myself about scrapping lately. I've never junked anything really other than copper, so I'm not savvy with scrapping to begin with.
> 
> As it stands I'm of the opinion that the time it takes to scrap things outweights the reward for scrapping. Could be that the scrapyard in my area doesn't offer great rates to begin with. Or that I am clueless to the benefits of it. Or both. We have some relatives that junk metal regularly, so we've been letting them come to the job and pilfer around all the crap that's to be removed for whatever they think they can scrap. They load what they want and haul it off. Saves us having to load some stuff, saves room on the trailers, and it doesn't cost us anything for them to take it. I like hearing the success stories, but I'm still leary of trying it myself, and *CLH's story is exactly what I'm afraid will happen*.


What you have a *hot 21 yr old* working for you too?...I'm doing something wrong....LOL


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## RServant (Jul 13, 2013)

Racerx said:


> What you have a *hot 21 yr old* working for you too?...I'm doing something wrong....LOL


I've been known to play dress up on occasion.


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## Cleanupman (Nov 23, 2012)

RServant said:


> I've been having a little debate with myself about scrapping lately. I've never junked anything really other than copper, so I'm not savvy with scrapping to begin with.
> 
> As it stands I'm of the opinion that the time it takes to scrap things outweights the reward for scrapping. Could be that the scrapyard in my area doesn't offer great rates to begin with. Or that I am clueless to the benefits of it. Or both. We have some relatives that junk metal regularly, so we've been letting them come to the job and pilfer around all the crap that's to be removed for whatever they think they can scrap. They load what they want and haul it off. Saves us having to load some stuff, saves room on the trailers, and it doesn't cost us anything for them to take it. I like hearing the success stories, but I'm still leary of trying it myself, and CLH's story is exactly what I'm afraid will happen.


When we got started in the industry I saw that this could be a revenue stream and at one of our administrative company meetings we decided that we would include this in our training. So we came up with the method we use...The metal is separated as things are loaded, we just incorporated things into our procedures. We also have a yard so we had the storage capacity to have containers brought in and make better deals for the money with places like Western Metals. It's part of our system now. anything we can get $$$ for, wire, copper, batteries, aluminum, brass, old propane tanks etc...
If it is done correctly all the extra labor becomes very managible. One other thing we also do is pennies...we are on our fifth 5 gallon water bottle...when we fill a bottle we have a company event...BBQ, or if around a holiday...be surprised at what it does for the employee moral...


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## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

During the summer I can easily get enough scrap to fill up my truck, mowers, trimmers and a couple 5 gallon gas cans one time per month.

It effectively cuts my fuel costs by 25%.


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## Craftworks (Dec 18, 2013)

Scrap money is not free money Yes it will take effort , as CL hack noted - 
his base work comes first. 
100 bucks is not worth loosing a job due to lost time. Also utilizing hired help to cash in 1000 to 2000 pounds cant fund a work force to bring it to market . 

A washing machine is only scrap at best $12 . But for sure if you have a trailer and you have normal trash go to container and have your hired help put select items on your trailer , and ONLY you bring to the yard at days end or first thing in morn (nest day) bottom line thats your money .
Yes you have to unload But some yard workers will often help.


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

Craigslist Hack said:


> It was worth a try. We aren't making the money we once were so I'll try anything for more profit right now. The thing is this little metal scrapping added TIME to the job. Time I had to pay employees for and a trip to the scrap yard which also took time. If I had collected it at the office in a pile that would mean seperating it all out multiple times and having to look at it. It just doesn't make sense to me.
> 
> We can take one more job a week even a bad one and make way more and not waste the time. Now I will say if there is a lot of weight I could see how it would pay for itself, but I'm way too busy to be fooling around for pennies in the dollar.
> 
> ...





RServant said:


> I've been having a little debate with myself about scrapping lately. I've never junked anything really other than copper, so I'm not savvy with scrapping to begin with.
> 
> As it stands I'm of the opinion that the time it takes to scrap things outweights the reward for scrapping. Could be that the scrapyard in my area doesn't offer great rates to begin with. Or that I am clueless to the benefits of it. Or both. We have some relatives that junk metal regularly, so we've been letting them come to the job and pilfer around all the crap that's to be removed for whatever they think they can scrap. They load what they want and haul it off. Saves us having to load some stuff, saves room on the trailers, and it doesn't cost us anything for them to take it. I like hearing the success stories, but I'm still leary of trying it myself, and CLH's story is exactly what I'm afraid will happen.





I started scrapping my jobs because I was forced to. 
The landfills around here do not accept that which is easily scrapped. 

The private dump accepts it and charges me $50 a ton for all debris and then turns around sells the scrap. 
I lost money.

Recently I had a job where I took in a whole trailer load of stuff. $455 was what was left at the scrap yard.
Still have other items of value from the job.

Now granted if there is a small amount of stuff I don't waste my time. Let the private dump fool with the sorting of the stuff.

But there is real money to be made in scrap.

If you guys are covered up with W/Os then it might not make sense to bother with it unless you have a large amount. 
I've never had that problem, so pulling an extra $50 and up out of a job is always worth while.

I get $120 a ton up to one ton. $170 a ton up to 3 tons and $230 a ton over 3.
I've never hit the 3 ton mark but it adds up.

Here is my latest scrap ticket. As you can see a few pounds of copper laying around under some one's work bench adds up real dang fast.
A set of aluminum rims, cha ching. etc etc

If you can't make money at scrappin some thing isn't falling into place.
Either your properties are already been scrapped or your scrap yard is jacking you.


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## EXTKY (Dec 4, 2013)

I've had numerous cleanouts that the scrap paid for the dump fees at the landfill plus some.


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## brm1109 (Sep 17, 2012)

We had to do a cleanout of an office the other day. There were 6 really big file cabinets. Normally I would have kept them in the truck but driving home I passed the scrap yard so decided to stop. $55.00 for the scrap. Enough to cover all of the gas for 3 days of driving plus the cleanout fee.


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