The Encounter
It was a cold and wet Friday afternoon, so I decided to hop in my car and help deliver medications to one of the local assisted living facilities here in Portland Maine. You’re probably wondering how the weather being cold and wet has anything to do with why I would decide to deliver medications. Well, most of my work is doing junk removal and hauling junk outside. I have no problem working in cold or wet weather but things just happen to be slower during the cold season, so it frees up more time to do other things.
When I arrived at the facility I walked through the front door into a massive dining hall and lots of people looking at me. This always makes me feel a bit uncomfortable to instead of walking around endlessly through in a maze of doors, elevators, and stairways I decided to ask the closest person who just kept staring at me with a blank look. I assumed he could use some conversation to activate his blank thoughts. Sure enough he was more than happy to steer me in the right direction which was right into the facilities manager’s office.
The manager was very helpful and helped direct me to each patient. There was a bit of a verification process so while we were doing that I mentioned that I own a junk removal company and would love to service them if they don’t already use someone. They happened to be using one of the national guys so I just gave them a card and told them if they ever need anything moved and their guys aren’t available that I would be happy to help. She immediately mentioned they have a large pile of junk behind the building. I’m never going to say “no” to an opportunity so I told her that I will go out after I pass out the medication and give an estimate.
The Junk Removal Estimate and Job
After completing the task of providing medications to the patients inside the facility I took a stroll out back and noticed the pile of mattresses, chairs, and other furnishings you would find when someone has moved out of there studio-style apartment. However, this included many apartments and an assortment of miscellaneous furniture. I took a few pictures, as seen in this blog post, and proceeded with my estimate of the job. Although I grossly underestimated the job mostly due to hidden mattresses stuffed behind the other mattresses, I stuck as close as reasonably possible to my estimate as I believe this is a big part of customer service.
Because they had budgeted close to the estimate I had given them, it wouldn’t be good customer service to come back and say, “sorry my bad, but the job is double the estimate I gave you.” I wouldn’t like that and neither would anybody else. So, after giving the estimate, they asked me to take care of it this week and I showed up the next morning to clean out this junk, therefore bringing the visual value of the property that people are paying for back up.
The Aftermath
The managers of the facility were very happy with the results and promptness as they expressed. However, the real value came when over the course of the next few weeks I received a couple of additional calls from other people who had family in the facility. The first call i recevied was from a lady that said,
“Hello, my father recently passed and I was getting ready to call one of the national junk removal companies when the manager told me not to use them and that you over at Pine State Hauling and Junk Removal are way better and have better prices.”
After hearing this I realized that it wasn’t just the price but also the fact that I was transparent of how the pricing worked as well as sticking to my estimate and biting the bullet on the low estimate I gave. Because we were honest, friendly and upfront we have got multiple jobs since in which it has really been our pleasure to help families in times of need.
Check here for Pricing
If you or anyone you know needs junk removal, or demolition work or would like to donate furniture don’t hesitate to call us to get an estimate. 207-900-1468.
