March 20, 2017

Meet Eric Niehaus of Fox Junk Removal in San Gabriel Valley

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Niehaus.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Eric. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I used to be a General Contractor. I primarily focused on residential remodels. I found working with residential customers that before I would do any work remodeling their bathroom, kitchen, garage, etc. there would always be so much “stuff” to clean out. Many times I would help customers clean out the area that we were going to remodel. At that time I thought to myself “hey, this would be a good idea for a business”. I had not heard of any junk removal companies at that time and so I started to test my idea out. I started hauling unwanted items from customer homes with my pickup truck and after a couple of years I bought my first dump truck. As my business started to grow I brought on employees and eventually a second dump truck. We currently have 4 employees and two dump trucks and plan to add a third truck later this year.

The satisfaction we get out of our work is helping people. It’s amazing to see the reaction customers have once you rid them of their “junk”. Our customers always say “it looks so clean, it feels so good to get rid of all that stuff”. It is amazing how much our junk can weigh us down both mentally and physically.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
For the most part it has been a smooth road, however like with any business, there is a learning curve. For us, some of the challenges have been finding the most efficient and proper way to dispose of items we pick up and learning what we can haul and not haul from different cities. For us diverting junk from the land fill is very important so we try to find new homes for the items we pick up by donating to local charities, finding places to recycle items like mattresses, metal, cardboard, etc. and taking waste to the appropriate waste and reclamation facilities.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Fox Junk Removal – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our business is junk removal, so that means we remove just about anything a customer doesn’t want from their home, business, church, school, or other location. The only things we do not remove are things that are considered toxic or hazardous. Items we remove include furniture, appliances, exercise equipment, mattresses, clothing, household items, tools, yard debris, spas, fencing, sheds, gazebos, and more.

We take pride in helping our local community. We help customers get rid of their unwanted items and we work hard to divert it from the landfill. We sort each load separating out items to take to local charities and to recyclers. It would be easier for us to dump everything in the land fill, but we take time to recycle and find new homes for things. We donate to local charities such as Habitat for Humanity, ACTS Thrift Store, local animal shelters, Goodwill, The Huntington Collection, Friends in Deed (food bank and women’s room), Convalescent Aid Society, and others. We have even donated music, chairs and a couple of old violins to a children’s symphony.

We strive hard to provide our customers with great customer service. We set appointment times or short arrival windows so customers aren’t waiting around for us, we call when the truck is on the way so our customers know exactly when we will arrive, and we do our best to accommodate special requests or urgent pickups. Providing good customer service has earned us a five star rating on Yelp and other rating sites and an A rating on Angie’s list,

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are hoping to expand our fleet by adding another truck this year. We hope by adding another truck we can accommodate more pick up times during our busy summer season.

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