Dumpster repair? Anyone do it?

Bob, your best bet would be to contact the owners of the dumpsters and find out if they are provided as part of the collection service or owned by the property owner. Next would be the collection companies themselves. They may be doing this in house but looking to subcontract this out. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Good Luck

Jim Vrzal Holiday,FL.

Bob wrote:

If they are doing a poor job of it themselves, are they going to pay to have you do it well? Try calling them up and asking, or even doing a bit of a sales pitch to see what response you get. Neat and tidy garbage trucks and dumpsters are a rarity, in my experience. I assume that the people who own and operate them generally don't feel that business will be improved by spending money on looking good.

Consider the smell, and the possibility of things that are not supposed to go into dumpsters (but do) dripping out of the dumpster-bottom ooze and onto your land (toxic chemicals, etc).

Thanks to all for the replies so far.

Jerry,

You bring up topics I had not thought of and thet is why I posted here BEFORE talking to any companies. I wanted to be sure what I was getting into first. I am not really sure if there is any money to make or not.

Basically I am trying to come up with a business I can do in my back yard and in my shop that I can try to earn a living since I have been laid off (6 months now). I have done some blacksmithing, making gates and fences and I also built some carts for a nursery to cart plants around on. In addition to that I make custome knives but none of these and even all of them combined are earning enough.

I saw a dumpster that was damaged and leaking gunk and noticed it. I drove around and almost every dumpster was beat up and looked terrible and I thought that repairs might pay the bills.

I guess I will call a couple of the companies and pick their brains a little and see what happens.

Thanks,

Bob

At least require steam cleaning before they a delivered to your property. They must deliver dumpster to your shop. It seems they use dumpsters and rolling stock untill it's broke then fix. They are famous for not even changing hydraulic filters but better companies know they save money when they do.

They are not all that expensive new which is one reason why they don't go to great lengths to save them once they are rusted out and falling apart.

FWIW, a very good friend worked for the major trash hauler in Southern Nevada. He worked in the repair area. He finally got transferred out, or just requested another job. He was forever sick with one sort of thing or another. He said it was from welding on the trash bins and trucks all day. Yes, they did clean them before repair, but it was impossible to get them totally clean. And forgeddabout the trucks. Heavy welding on nasty stuff.

But, if there's a market, not much competition, and your prices are good enough to get the work, that sounds like a plan. I would not care to do it, and it could possibly get into a lot of fabrication and bending, possibly enough to get a CNC plasma cutter and such. Which may segway into other work.

You must live in a rural area, or have great neighbors. I do not think the situation of heavy equipment rumbling in at all times, and lots of sparks, smoke, and grinding would be tolerated long even by good neighbors. You may not even be able to get the idea past the zoning people. And if you did it on the sly, the first incident that brought the FD or medics would probably put a halt on production until you got things straightened out. Or the first idle zoning compliance officer who saw the operation could red tag it.

I did repairs on things the garbage men screwed up, mainly the trash gates and carports at apartment complexes. They never once asked me to fix the dumpsters, as they had their own department that did that kind of work. They were EXCELLENT pay for the other repairs, and I made a ton of money from them. They and U-Haul were my best customers.

Lastly, if there is a vacuum in the marketplace, I would identify the reason. It sounds odd that there is work, but no one doing it. Traditionally trash haulers have been a very highly organized group (if you know what I mean), and perhaps someone's got a contract that sells new dumpsters to their Godfather's company, and disdains repairs. Not saying that is the way it is in your market, but even you seem to have some curiosity as to why no one around you is doing this work. Find those answers. You might want to investigate a portable welding service to fix the other damages they do ...........

Good luck.

Steve

Any chance you could put a generator and welder in a truck and do most of the repairs on site, instead of having them bring the dumpsters to you? My impression is that most repairs will be simple, like welding tabs and tracks back on for the lids and/or doors, followed by a couple of coats of paint. Keeps the neighbors and zoning people happier. Also, if the smells get really bad get one of those fresh air-fed helmets :-). Good luck.

----- Regards, Carl Ijames

Bob yes. I have experience repairing dumpsters in that I am very good at it its not that hard to do I am a certified welder that can repair dumpsters if anybody want to go into business please respond to my message at snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

replying to Bob, Danny Polli wrote: Bob I run a dumpster repair business in Alabama. I would like to speak with you. Call me at 251 487 1722.

replying to Carl Ijames, Byn wrote: Most of our repairs are completely replacing rotted floors.

replying to garycausey10, Jason Scarfato wrote: Is this still an option I need a pricing list on how much to charge the customer's

replying to Bob, Dan wrote: I do dumpster repairs would you like my number

If its contract work then remember you have to pay all your own taxes including 100% of your SSI. Not just the "half" an employer takes out of your paycheck. They just give you a 1099 and its all on you. Don't forget to cover your wage, extra taxes, and the time you will have to spend making sure its right or paying your accountant to make sure its right.

You may also find you want to use some of your own gear anyway. Welding helmet, gloves, chipping hammer, jacket, cap, etc. Bear in mind that you may have to replace some of that over the course of a few jobs, and you will have to replace all of it over time. Add a factor for that in your bids.

Maybe also add in a small headache factor due to what will probably be sporadic work or very short jobs. Remember it costs you just as much to get to work whether you work for ten minutes or ten hours.

After calculating all of that give them a marginally high bid on your first couple jobs. You can always come down, but its nearly impossible to go up.