JunkBossPro Blog — Estimates & Quotes

Min Loads, Eighths and Multiple Loads: Filling the Gaps in Your Junk Pricing

Four load sizes cover most residential junk work, but real jobs do not always land on a quarter, half, three-quarter or full truck. Some are smaller than a quarter. Some are a little more than half. Some take two trips. The gaps between the main sizes are where pricing gets fuzzy, and where customers start to feel like the number was pulled out of the air.

Beyond the Big Four

The main sizes are covered in Pricing Junk Removal by the Truck Load: Quarter, Half, Three-Quarter and Full. This article is about the steps in between and beyond.

JunkBossPro records the truck load on every job using these steps: Min Load, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, Full Load, 1.5, 2 or 3 loads. You do not have to sell every one of them. But having them on the job means the record shows what actually went on the truck, even when the estimate used a simpler set.

The Min Load

The Min Load is the smallest amount you will haul as a load-priced job. It sits between a single item and a quarter truck: two or three small pieces, a handful of bags, a small pile from a closet clean-out.

It is a useful line because it gives the customer with “just a few things” a clear price without bumping them all the way to a quarter load. It also protects you, because even a tiny load still takes a truck, a drive and a stop. How it relates to your overall minimum charge is covered in Setting a Junk Removal Minimum Charge and Explaining It Without Losing the Job.

Eighths: Worth It or Not

Eighth-load steps (1/8, 3/8, 5/8, 7/8) let you price closer to what the customer actually has. There are good reasons to sell them and good reasons not to.

• For eighths. Customers with a little more than a quarter do not feel pushed to pay for a half. Quotes feel precise. You can win price-shopping customers without dropping your main prices.
• Against eighths. More steps mean more debate on site. “Is that 5/8 or 3/4?” is a hard question to answer in a driveway. Fewer, wider steps are easier to explain.

A common middle ground is to quote in quarters and record in eighths. The estimate offers the familiar sizes, and the job records exactly how full the truck was. Over time that record shows whether you are under-quoting.

Multiple Loads

Big cleanouts often need more than one truck. JunkBossPro records 1.5, 2 or 3 loads on the job, so a whole-house estate cleanout or a large hoarding job has a load size that matches reality.

On the estimate, be clear about how multiple loads are priced. Many companies price each additional load the same as a full load. Others take a little off the second and third loads because the crew is already on site and the drive to the property only happens once. Either works, as long as it is on your service list and on the quote. Also say how weight is handled across several loads: are the included tons per load or for the whole job?

Matching Steps to Your Trucks

Your load steps should match the truck you run. A company with a large box truck and a company with a dump trailer behind a pickup have very different “full loads.” If you run two different trucks, decide whether your load prices are based on one of them and say which on the estimate, or keep a separate set of lines for each.

Whatever you do, the crew needs to know which truck the load size refers to. A card that says “1/2 Load” means nothing if the crew pictures a different truck than the person who quoted it.

Recording What Actually Went

The most useful habit is having the crew confirm the actual load at the end of each job. Over a few weeks you will see patterns: estimates that say half and jobs that say 5/8, or cleanouts that keep running one step over. That tells you where to adjust your questions on the phone or how much cushion to quote. It is your own data from your own jobs, which is better than any chart.

When the load does change, tell the customer before loading the extra. The approach for that conversation is in When the Price Changes Once the Truck Is Loaded: Telling the Customer Before You Leave.

Keep It Simple for the Customer

Customers want a number and a reason. However many steps you track internally, the estimate should read like a short, clear choice: this size, this price, and what happens if it is bigger. For the full picture of how load steps fit into quoting, approval and the schedule, return to the junk removal estimate software page.