Why a price card at all
Junk removal is sold on the phone and on the driveway. A price card, eighth of a truck to full truck, lets a customer estimate before you roll, lets your crew quote on site without calling you, and stops the "the other guy said $150" conversation because your number is printed. The trick is building the card from your cost per cubic yard, not copying the national franchise's card, whose costs are not yours.
Step 1: what a job hour costs you
| Two-person crew, $20 wage + 26% burden + benefits, ÷ 78% billable | $66.54 / hr |
| Truck: ownership + fuel + upkeep | $26.46 / hr |
| Overhead: $32,000 ÷ 1,400 billable hours | $22.86 / hr |
| Break-even per job hour | $115.86 |
|---|---|
| Minimum rate at 30% margin | $165.51 |
Disposal is on top, because it depends on what is in the truck.
Step 2: hours and disposal per tier
A 15-yard bed of household junk, the common case. Time scales with volume but not linearly: every job has a drive and a dump run.
| Tier | Cu yd | Job hours | Time cost @ $115.86 | Disposal (150 lb/yd, $65/t, $35 min) | Cost | Price @ 30% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum (1–2 items) | 1 | 1.0 | $116 | $35 | $151 | $215 |
| 1/4 truck | 4 | 1.5 | $174 | $35 | $209 | $300 |
| 1/2 truck | 8 | 2.25 | $261 | $39 | $300 | $430 |
| 3/4 truck | 11 | 2.75 | $319 | $54 | $373 | $530 |
| Full truck | 15 | 3.25 | $377 | $73 | $450 | $645 |
Round to numbers that look chosen: $215, $300, $430, $530, $645. Print it. The full spreadsheet on Etsy generates this card automatically from your own rates.
Step 3: surcharges that go on top
- Mattress $25, refrigerant appliance $30, tire $8: these are pass-throughs of what the transfer station charges you.
- Stairs, long carry, no driveway: flat $50 to $100. Crew time is the product.
- Heavy material: see below. Never at the household rate.
The heavy-material exception
The card above assumes household junk at 150 pounds a yard. Concrete is 2,400. Shingles are 2,200. Dirt is 2,000. A full bed of any of those is 15 tons: over any payload, and $975 of tipping at $65 a ton. Put a line on the card: "Concrete, dirt, roofing and tile priced by weight." Then price those jobs with a weight check, not a fraction of truck.
Keep the card honest over time
Track your price per cubic yard on every job. If it drifts under the card because crews are calling a 3/4 load a 1/2 load, that is a training problem, not a pricing problem. If the card is right but the month is unprofitable, the disposal or time assumptions have moved. Rebuild the card twice a year.
