This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Start with household cleanouts you can finish in one stop: furniture, bagged junk, and appliances the landfill will take. Add storm debris when you know where it goes. Leave demolition and anything hazardous off the page until the rules and the insurance both say you do that work.
The state guides under this page cover all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each one names the filing office and the licensing board we could verify, and it says so when we could not confirm a direct address. City guides cover the metros ServiceBase writes about for this trade, including Austin, TX.
High-demand trades with thin local websites are the ones to read first: chimney sweeps and standby generator installation in cold markets, snow removal, and Christmas light installation from November through January, then landscaping, electrical, cleaning, and roofing, in the cities linked below. The steps are the same shape for every trade. The license and the first job are not.
Some boxes are labeled Partner. ServiceBase has not joined those programs. The links go to each company's own homepage, not a tracking link. If a program later approves us, the address will change and we may earn a commission. You can file, insure, and bank anywhere. Official government links are not partner links. Nothing on this page is a discount code.
$500 in free advertising when you launch
Keep the checklist on your account
The guide stays public. An account saves your state, city, and trade, and lets you mark each filing as you go. The advertising credit is reserved when you register. It can be spent after the free website is live.
Pick a plain name a customer can text. Search the state records and the city. 'Hauling' and your city is enough. The name on the truck, the invoice, and the voicemail should match, because the customer is letting you into a garage full of their things.
02Form an LLC or stay a sole proprietor
A lot of one-truck hauling businesses start as a sole proprietorship. Form an LLC when you are hiring, taking larger cleanout deposits, or putting the insurance in a company name. The filing does not decide what the landfill will accept. Read the city and the disposal site separately. Ask an accountant before you treat helpers as a favor. This page is not legal advice.
Each state guide links the filing office. Where we could verify an LLC fee from an official page, that guide prints the fee and the source. Everywhere else, the fee stays on the state's site.
An employer identification number is the business tax ID. The IRS issues it online at no charge and says you never have to pay a company to get one. If you form an LLC, file with the state first. The IRS says an EIN application can stall when the state filing is not done. A sole proprietor can often start with a Social Security number and get an EIN when a bank or a hire requires it.
Apply on the IRS page if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner beside this step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero either way.
Junk removal is often a city business license, a vehicle question, and a disposal rule, not a state contractor classification. Confirm that on the contractor board. A job that becomes demolition or construction cleanup can cross into a contractor category. Read the board before you advertise tear-out. Paint, chemicals, tires, and some appliances are limited by the landfill or the state environmental office, not by your willingness. Open the local solid-waste page and write down what you may not haul.
Read the contractor board for a hauling or demolition line and any dollar threshold. Get the city business license. Read the local disposal rules before you promise to take paint, chemicals, or appliances. Do not invent a statewide junk-removal license if the official list does not name one.
05Insure the work
General liability for damage inside a house and for a load that shifts. Tell the insurer you haul from homes. Commercial auto for the truck, because a personal policy often excludes business use. Workers' compensation before anyone else is lifting. A property manager will ask for the certificate before the first cleanout.
Workers' compensation is a state program. Before anyone works with you, including a friend, ask an insurer and the state labor office whether you must carry it. This guide does not quote a headcount, because those rules differ and the state page is the source. The SBA page describes the common policies. It does not sell them. Buy the policy before you work in a house in the city you will serve.
Dump fees and the customer's payment should run through a business account. A load that cost more to dump than you charged is obvious only if both numbers hit the same account. Set tax money aside on the larger cleanouts. The small garage jobs disappear if you cash them into a personal wallet.
The bank will usually ask for your ID, the EIN or your Social Security number, and the formation papers if you filed an LLC. A checking account and a habit of setting tax money aside are enough at the start.
07Price the real visit
Price the volume, the stairs, the carry to the truck, and the dump fee. A garage you can back up to and a third-floor walk-up are different jobs. Write both numbers down. Publish the items you will not take so you are not arguing about paint in the driveway.
Storm debris and a household cleanout are different days. Do not use one flat 'truckload' price for both until you have timed them. Adjust after ten real loads, and tell the customer when a mattress or a piano changes the number.
08Get found, then create the free site
Google Business Profile with photos of empty garages and trucks you actually own, and a service area made of towns you drive. Reviews should name the neighborhood and the kind of load. The website lists what you refuse and asks for a photo. ServiceBase publishes that page and keeps the requests. It does not make a prohibited load legal.
In your first city, the profile, the reviews, and the site should name the neighborhoods you actually drive. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps quote requests in a list on your account. No card. It does not file the LLC, get the EIN, or buy the insurance.
Do I need an LLC to start a junk removal business?
A lot of one-truck hauling businesses start as a sole proprietorship. Form an LLC when you are hiring, taking larger cleanout deposits, or putting the insurance in a company name. The filing does not decide what the landfill will accept. Read the city and the disposal site separately. Ask an accountant before you treat helpers as a favor. This page is not legal advice. The SBA page linked in the steps explains the structures in general. A lawyer or an accountant can apply them to you. This guide cannot.
Does a junk removal need a state license?
Junk removal is often a city business license, a vehicle question, and a disposal rule, not a state contractor classification. Confirm that on the contractor board. A job that becomes demolition or construction cleanup can cross into a contractor category. Read the board before you advertise tear-out. Paint, chemicals, tires, and some appliances are limited by the landfill or the state environmental office, not by your willingness. Open the local solid-waste page and write down what you may not haul.
Is an EIN free?
Yes. The IRS issues an employer identification number at no charge and says you never have to pay a fee for one. Use the IRS link in the steps if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner on that step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional, and the IRS fee is still zero.
What does the free junk removal site include?
A public page for your junk removal business and city, and a list of the quote requests that come from that page. No card. It does not form the company, get the EIN, buy insurance, or replace a license. The website guide for this trade is separate: it is about what the page should say once the company is real.
