How a TikTok Trend Became a National Franchise

This week, I sat down with Casey Evertsen, founder and CEO of Bin Blasters, a 34-location residential garbage bin cleaning franchise. Casey had the idea years before he ever acted on it: a trailer that could tip a bin upside down and spray it clean with a bar that slides inside the can. His son laughed at the idea, and Casey shelved it, since he had a tech job and didn’t need it at the time.

Four or five years later, sitting in that same tech job and wanting to be back outside, he circled back to garbage cans, found equipment that already did the job, and built his first rig in his garage mounted on the back of an old Chevy flatbed. He launched right as COVID hit, which killed the parades and sporting events he’d planned to market at, so he rode a scooter around town putting stickers on bin lids instead.

We covered how a viral video habit turned into 265,000 TikTok followers and a nationwide franchise, why he built his own proprietary equipment instead of buying an off-the-shelf rig, the unit economics that let a single operator clear $500,000 a year, and what he tells people who think they can just buy a pressure washer and skip the franchise altogether.

The Key Takeaways

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

1. He Shelved the Idea for Five Years Before Building It

Casey wanted out of a tech job and out of the sun, since he didn’t want to be up on a roof for 30 or 40 minutes or cleaning windows for two hours. Years earlier he’d pictured a trailer that could tip a bin upside down with a spray bar inside, but his son laughed at the idea and he didn’t need the job at the time, so he let it go. It took four or five more years working that same tech job before he circled back to it.

“I knew I could make a little trailer that would just tip a bin upside down, and one of those spray bars could go inside the can. I had the solution in my head, and then my son kind of laughed at me, and I didn’t need the job at the time. So I kind of put it out of my head.”

— Casey Evertsen

2. He Built the First Rig in His Garage, Right as COVID Hit

Once Casey confirmed equipment already existed to clean garbage cans efficiently, he and a partner bought gear, built it in his garage, and mounted it on the back of an old Chevy flatbed truck. The launch coincided with COVID lockdowns, which wiped out the baseball tournaments, soccer tournaments, and parades he had planned to market at, so he had to grind it out door to door instead.

“This was right when COVID hit, so everyone’s locked in their houses. I was going to go to baseball tournaments and soccer tournaments and all these parades, well, all that stuff was shut off. So we just had to get out there and grind. I rode a scooter around putting stickers on garbage can lids, putting flyers on cans, door hangers, anything I knew at the time to do to get to be visible.”

— Casey Evertsen

3. His Third Video Took Off, and Content Became the Growth Engine

About a year into the business, Casey started filming what he was doing and telling the story of the company. He says it was probably the third video he posted that took off, showing him there was real audience interest in watching garbage cans get cleaned. Today Bin Blasters has posted five or six thousand videos, and the brand has grown to 265,000 TikTok followers with close to 6 million likes, plus 55,000 followers on Instagram.

“Now here we are five, six thousand videos later, and content has just been our biggest driving force. Just being the most visible bin cleaner out there has put us on the map. Now we’re around the country just from making free videos.”

— Casey Evertsen

4. He Built His Own Trailer Instead of Buying a $150,000 to $200,000 Truck

Rather than the hydraulic-lift bin cleaning trucks other builders sell, which run $150,000 to $200,000 and are overkill for someone with zero subscribers, Casey designed a compact trailer with its own lifter, a hot water pressure washer, a custom molded water tank, and a hopper that collects dirty water for proper disposal at the end of the day. The whole unit fits inside a garage and costs $50,000 to $55,000, low enough for a true startup.

“For a startup without a single subscriber, you’re just way over your head, way too soon. So let’s get you a piece of equipment that’s $50,000 to $55,000 and gets you started. And that’s really the whole business.”

— Casey Evertsen

5. A $130,000 Investment Can Scale to $500,000 a Year Per Rig

Total investment to join the franchise runs less than $130,000, and Casey says a single operator running one rig can exceed $500,000 a year once it’s booking 30 to 60 jobs a day. A full clean takes about five minutes from pulling up to driving away, so franchisees who build dense, tightly packed routes can stack jobs quickly, then add a second, third, or fourth rig in other parts of their territory as demand grows.

“Total investment, less than $130,000 to get into a franchise that could make someone 500 grand a year with one person. Each rig, when they’re at that 30 to 60 jobs, they could be exceeding 500 grand a year with one operator just running that route, because you can do so many jobs a day.”

— Casey Evertsen

6. Neighborhood Days Work Like a New Car Wash’s Grand Opening

Franchisees regularly schedule discounted cleaning days in a specific neighborhood, which typically brings in 30 to 50 signups in a single day. Casey compares it to a new car wash giving away free washes while it sells subscriptions to people waiting in line, since the crew is already standing at each house and can pitch the recurring plan on the spot.

“It’s kind of like the car wash. A new car wash comes into town, they’re giving away a free car wash. While they’re waiting in that line, they’re selling you on a subscription. Same thing if we show up and do a discounted bin cleaning in a neighborhood. We have all those people we can talk to while we’re standing there cleaning their bins.”

— Casey Evertsen

7. Most DIY Bin Cleaners Fail Within Two or Three Months

Casey warns that buying a pressure washer and calling it a business ignores real problems, starting with where the dirty wastewater actually goes. He says he has watched hundreds of independent bin cleaners buy equipment and quit within two or three months because they never built the marketing, sales, and operational systems needed to get and keep customers. That gap is exactly what the franchise fee funds: a team that spends two or three days onsite training new operators, plus dedicated marketing and finance support.

“I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of bin cleaners buy equipment and fail and give up within two or three months. So that is your likely path unless you have the experience of growing something. Your chances of failure are very high because you have to market heavily.”

— Casey Evertsen

Looking Ahead

Casey and his team are now focused on scaling the awareness they already built through content, bringing on new franchisees who are willing to operate their own rig rather than sit back as an absentee owner, and rolling out community touches like a garbage can mascot to keep the brand visible in every market they enter. His core message to anyone considering the space is that the equipment is only one piece of the puzzle, and real growth comes from being obsessed with getting in front of people every single day.

“You have to be obsessed with this. You have to tell everybody, you have to be out every day talking to people about it. So the equipment is just one piece of the puzzle, and it’s not going to make your business happen.”

— Casey Evertsen