Value-added junk hauling may sound like a questionable product to sell: it assumes that people will pay hundreds of dollars to get rid of ratty sofas and assorted flotsam in professional and socially conscious ways.
Its biggest selling points are friendly employees who presumably look more respectable than the local odd jobber, and who will, unlike the far less expensive city garbage collector, climb into that nasty basement or garage to haul out your junk.
Yet to the bafflement of industry experts, quality junk-hauling sells.
Take Omar Soliman and Nick Friedman, the 26-year-old founders of College Hunks Hauling Junk, based in Tampa, Fla. The pair started the company in Washington five years ago and now employ 25 people there; they also have franchises in 15 metropolitan areas.
Sending out college students in golf shirts and khakis, College Hunks had $2.9 million in business last year. Mr. Soliman and Mr. Friedman said they expected sales of $4 million this year.
The company charges by the size of the cargo: for an eighth of a truck, a quarter and so on, up to $500 for a full load, or $99 for a single item. Extra charges apply for some concrete, dirt, construction materials and other loads.
Photo: Gregg Matthews for The New York Times.