How to Create a Dumpster Rental Business

For this week’s newsletter, I had a great conversation with Bodhi Gallo, the owner of a full-service dumpster rental & junk removal company (whose name will remain anonymous), and Stryker Digital , a marketing agency that helps home service companies generate organic leads via SEO.

In my conversation with Bodhi we covered how he self-funded the purchase of his dumpster rental business, how he scaled the business using digital tools, his keys to SEO for home service businesses, and more.

The 10 Key Takeaways

Below are the 10 most essential insights from my conversation with Bodhi that you can apply to your home services business.

1. Starting a dumpster rental company

Bodhi had many experiences during college that eventually led him to start his dumpster rental business. He worked at a few big companies and had some success with his finance blog “Financial Freedom 101,” which earned him $2,000 from referral fees in one month.

While at lacrosse practice, he and his cousin started discussing other ways to earn a living than a normal 9-5 job.

Once Bodhi and his cousin were ready to start their business, they looked into several different business models. They had family in construction and other trades, and after doing more research, they landed on dumpster rental as the right fit.

Bodhi and his cousin pooled all their money at the time and purchased an existing dumpster rental company from a business owner who was ready to retire.

“I put all the money I had saved up via stocks and crypto, which was around $60,000, toward buying an existing dumpster rental company. We got twenty dumpsters, an old truck, one driver, and a list of customers. We didn’t get any financials; it was just a list of the dumps they had done in the past two years. That’s how we were able to estimate the revenue and profit. I built a website, social media pages, and Google My Business Profile, and started doing outbound sales to get more clients.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

2. Cashflow rules everything around me

Bodhi first created a digital presence for the business, which he used for marketing, and started doing outbound sales to attract new customers.

The business started growing quickly, and Bodhi found managing the flow of money in and out of the business stressful.

Bodhi had a background and experience in marketing, so those areas came easily to him, but he had to learn on the job how to ensure money was coming in and going out at the right pace to the right people.

Bodhi used tools he knew, like Microsoft Excel, to create a simple tracker to ensure that all drop-offs and pick-ups happened at the right times, that he was collecting bills, and that he was paying his bills on time.

“On our first day in business, we created one Excel sheet for drop-offs and one for pick-ups. As the sheet gets updated, we send bills to customers via Freshbooks. It’s simple, but it works for us. The first six months running the business were all about getting my systems in place and figuring out the logistics. I also needed to put more capital into the industry.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

3. Staying focused during hard times

Bodhi was in his early twenties and had recently invested his life savings in a dumpster rental company. Naturally, he was a bit stressed, but like a true entrepreneur, he didn’t let this stress define him.

He had to experience a few uncomfortable situations, like attending dinners outside his budget in New York City, but leaned on the wisdom of business leaders like Gary Vee to keep him motivated.

“After putting all my money into the business, I had $2,000 left in my name. I went to dinner with a friend in New York City, and he felt terrible for me because I put everything into the business and didn’t have much money. The dinner was $150, which was a lot. I remember thinking that one day, this won’t be an issue; I won’t even have to think about spending money on things like this. I’m a big fan of “eating shit,” as Gary Vee says. If you work hard for long enough, you’ll make money. We were able to do that. But I went many months without making any money.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

4. Leveraging debt to grow

Consumer debt is often portrayed negatively in American society, and rightfully so.

It can have disastrous financial consequences for individuals. In 2024, consumer debt reached over $16 trillion, largely due to increased usage of credit cards, auto loans, and personal borrowing.

It’s important to understand that borrowing money for personal reasons differs from borrowing for business growth.

Bodhi was initially against using debt, like many of us. However, he eventually realized how he could use it as a tool to grow his new business.

“We were growing so fast in the first six months. I didn’t have enough dumpsters to service our jobs, and service quality declined. I needed to get another truck and more dumpsters as soon as possible. My initial investment was $60,000, and I was up to $110,000 three months later. I used debt for the second investment of $50,000. I was anti-debit until I realized I could make more money using the debt. If the loan is at 3% and we’re making 35% on a dumpster, I’m making money off that spread. I had to wrap my head around this and change my mindset to be successful.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

5. How to price a dumpster rental

Bodhi’s business is based in New York, with a standardized pricing model that he and his competition follow:

$300 drop-off fee

$124 per ton dumped

The pricing is stable since everyone in New York pays the same fees to dump at the county dumps. Excellent customer service and marketing are necessary to win in this market.

“We charge a $300 drop-off fee, and the price per dumpster is determined by weight. We charge $124 per ton. After we dump the trash, we collect the money. Where I am in New York, everyone has to pay the same price to dump at the county’s dump, so we all charge the same price. Whoever can offer the best service and do the best marketing wins.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

6. Why buying a business works best

When starting a business, you have two choices: build it from scratch or purchase an existing business from someone else.

Bodhi echos a popular sentiment—most home services businesses are owned by “Boomers,” who are less tech-savvy than younger generations and are retiring at increasing rates, thus looking to sell their businesses.

Bodhi feels that buying his business helped him grow faster than starting it from scratch.

“Today’s most significant opportunity for in-home services is buying an existing business from an older owner. It’s much easier to succeed than building something from the ground up, and it’ll probably cost you less money, too. When we bought our business, we already had a list of clients, which was helpful. The existing clients would help us get new clients through word-of-mouth, which is the best form of marketing. The business we bought was solid but had no technology or digital presence, which we could easily add. We quickly took the company from $300k to $750k annually and are looking to hit $1MM soon.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

7. The big challenges with dumpster rentals

Dumpster rentals present their fair share of challenges, like any business. Bodhi breaks these into the big three:

CapEx

Finding labor

Accounts Receivable

CAPEX, or Capital Expenditure, is the funds a company uses to buy, improve, or maintain its long-term assets, such as buildings or equipment

Driving a truck in New York, picking up and dropping off dumpsters, is challenging. Bodhi has struggled to find reliable labor to do this tough job.

Accounts receivable refers to the money customers owe for goods or services that have been delivered but not yet paid for.

“My third biggest struggle with the business is accounts receivable. Specific customers take a long time to pay. They’re giving me work, which I appreciate, but they’ll take two weeks to pay, which is really annoying. I’ve had to fire customers before. I’ll make 30-day payments with specific big customers since they’re paying me $20,000 per month, but other times, I’m chasing small customers to pay my monthly credit card bill. The quicker your accounts receive, the more healthy your cash flow is.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

8. Advice for starting a dumpster rental company

More and more people are leaving behind industries like tech or finance to create real-world businesses like dumpster rentals. Bodhi sees this first-hand as he gets asked almost daily how to start a dumpster rental business.

His answer: Make sure you’re in the right market and have significant capital to contribute.

Bodhi is in New York, where the market is more fragmented, creating opportunities for entrepreneurs like himself. Other markets in the southern and western United States are less compelling.

“I would never start this business in Texas, Florida, California, or anywhere in the South. These markets are oversaturated and monolopies, where the government contracts with one company, such as Waste Management, IWS, or Waste Connections. In other states like New Jersey, you need to get a license from the Department of Environmental Protection, and that can take up to two years and $10,000 with an attorney. If you can enter a market like that, it’s great because there is not much competition, but it’s hard to break in.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

9. Starting Stryker Digital

The pattern is clear: Many home services entrepreneurs want to diversify their revenue by offering their hard-learned skills to other business owners via digital services.

Bodhi learned a ton about SEO for his dumpster rental company and saw an opportunity to partner with his friend to create the SEO agency Stryker Digital.

SEO is key for home services, but it’s a technical thing that many business owners don’t care about figuring out themselves.

Do you want to start a digital business to complement your home services? Check out how Brigham Hughes, Owner of Feedbacker Digital & Quick Cuts Lawn Care did exactly this. theworkbench.beehiiv.com/p/brigham-hughes-1

Check out how Brigham Hughes, Owner of Feedbacker Digital & Quick Cuts Lawn Care did exactly this.

theworkbench.beehiiv.com/p/brigham-hughes-1

“We started the agency mostly because I had extra time since my dumpster business is pretty automated now. I learned a lot about SEO and marketing by running the blog. I met my partner Andy through a stock group chat years ago, and since he was learning how to code, we decided to partner with an agency. Many home services businesses are not doing SEO well, so I knew we could help them. We’ve served at least one client in every state and helped them get their website and Google My Business profile ranking on Google to drive more leads.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

10. SEO Best practices

Another common theme on The Workbench is that the Google My Business profile needs to be the #1 priority for home services businesses.

Bodhi specializes in getting businesses ranked on the Google My Business map back. He shares a few key steps:

Build a website on Webflow or WordPress.

Create pages for every service area you service.

Embed your Google Business Profile on each of these pages.

Populate your Google Business Profile with information and media.

“Our main focus is getting our client’s Google My Business Profile ranked—this is even more important than getting the website ranked. The key is creating a website on Webflow or WordPress and then building pages about your main services and areas you’re targeting. Make sure to embed your Google My Business Profile on the bottom of the service area pages. We have our secret sauce for every single service area page. Make sure to complete everything on the Google My Business profile and connect the profile to your website. Include a picture on the Google My Business profile as if it were an Instagram or Facebook page. Potential clients will check the profile and will be heavily influenced by it before they ever call you.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)

What the future entails for Bodhi

Bodhi is off to a fast start. He already owns a dumpster rental company and a digital marketing agency in his early twenties. But he doesn’t plan to stop there.

Bodhi sees an opportunity to recycle difficult-to-dispose materials like car tires by offering a free collection service.

Bodhi looks forward to building more digital businesses, investing in real estate, and finding ways to create other home services businesses.

“I like the digital business model. I’m definitely looking to build more digital businesses. The dumpster rental company is pretty automated. I would consider it semi-passive even though there is no such thing as passive income—I still deal with a lot of headaches. I’d love a diversified portfolio of dumpster rental businesses, digital businesses, and real estate within the next ten years.”

— Bodhi Gallo (@irentdumpsters)