Down to Business: Relief on a customer's face the fun part for Naperville junk removal company owner
Business: The Junk Removal Dudes
Address: Naperville
Phone/website: 331-444-7070; www.TheJunkRemovalDudes.com
Owner: Alex Broches, 37, of Sycamore
Years in business: 12
What does your business do? 'We are the Dumpster alternative. We do all the work. You point. Before you can blink, the dump truck is gone with all the stuff. You don't have a Dumpster sitting outside for a week,' Broches said.
Why did you start this company? 'I started the business as a way to make extra money. I graduated from (Northern Illinois Unversity), had an incredibly hard time finding a job. I was a geography major, which has nothing to do with anything I'm doing now. I was delivering pizzas, doing landscaping, some Internet businesses.
'I borrowed my grandpa's SUV. It was a busted-up Ford Explorer, on its last legs. I gave him my old SUV because it couldn't handle a trailer and his was more durable. I told him, 'I have this idea, I know it sounds weird, but I'd pick up junk for extra money.' He said, 'Yes,' because in his retirement years he had fun Dumpster diving. … I made a wooden trailer with my own hands. Started off, here and there, a part-time thing.
'It was me and a friend. The first month we made a couple hundred bucks. … My grandfather (the late Chris Deligiannis) was the only person in my friends and family who didn't laugh at me. He encouraged me.'
When did you know you made the right move? 'The game-changer was I had a customer in Naperville. It looked like a barn, out by Costco. A gentleman called me, he saw my little sign on the corner that read 'junk removal.' … I threw him a number, $6,000. He jumped at it. I know now that should have been a $10,000 job. After several days of back-breaking work, I was thinking, 'I'm getting the hang of it.''
How big is your fleet? 'We have three new Dodge Ram trucks to do estimates. We have four dump trucks we use with a fifth on the way.'
How many employees do you have? 'Twelve. Once we get that fifth truck, it will go up to 17. I was on the truck seven days a week the first 10 years. … I have destroyed both my ankles. My lower left back is messed up. I've had a hernia. … Now, I'm off the truck.'
How does it work with a new client? 'They send us photos or a video. One of our managers gets back to them with an estimate. If it's a hoarding situation or commercial, we send someone out to quote it. A couple things in your garage, it's pretty quick.'
What's your area? 'Rockford. Crystal Lake. Schaumburg. DeKalb County. McHenry County. … Ninety percent of our business is Naperville and Aurora. … When I started, it was two to three (jobs) a month. Now, 300 to 400 a month. … We can get it bigger. It's just getting warmed up.'
What do you like about your work? 'I enjoy seeing the relief on customers' faces. Financially, it's better than what I was doing before. I have met so many wonderful, great clients, many I'm friends with. A lot of employees, I've seen them get married, have kids, buy their first houses. That, to me, is so special.'
Can you walk me through a job? 'We call you an hour before we show up. They're ready. … We do everything. Fridge? Gone. Pool table? Gone. Crawlspace with 80 years of stuff? Emptied. … We sweep up, leave things spotless. … One thing I'm proud of is our reviews on Google. People say how crazy it is, how everything is done the next day.'
Any memorable stories? 'Moving couches, sometimes mystery cell phones fall out. … Our workers have dumped boxes at the landfill, a bunch of guns and drugs fell out. … We once cleaned up an island in the Fox River for the Fox Valley Park District. There were hundreds of shopping carts. Homeless people who lived there had moved. … A fun job was 700 to 800 basketballs. The workers would shoot them into the truck.'
Any competition? 'There's quite a bit. … It forces me to step up my game.'
Where do items go? 'Goodwill. Salvation Army. Churches. What we don't donate goes to a landfill.'
What's your advice for someone starting a business? 'You have to figure out how to bring so much value to the customer to the point where they tell everybody. If you do that, you're going to be successful. Stop focusing on being rich right away. That does not work.'
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