If you’re considering leaving your job to start a business, franchises like Junk King might be on your radar. Junk King is a well-known name in junk removal, and it’s one option prospective entrepreneurs weigh against opportunities in other sectors – for example, a cleaning business franchise in the commercial cleaning industry. This article offers a deep dive into the Junk King franchise opportunity and compares it to its cleaner alternative: investing in a commercial cleaning franchise model such as Assett Franchise. We’ll explore what Junk King offers, how the junk removal industry compares to commercial cleaning, and why Assett’s modern approach to commercial cleaning might deliver more stability and long-term growth.
What Is the Junk King Franchise Opportunity?
Company Overview and Industry
Junk King is a franchise business in the junk removal and hauling sector. It was founded in 2005 by two friends in San Carlos, California, and began franchising in 2010. Since then, Junk King has expanded rapidly; today it’s the second-largest junk removal company in North America, with over 170 franchise locations and nearly 600 trucks on the road. In 2022, Junk King was acquired by Neighborly – a large home-services franchisor – which speaks to its growth and prominence in the industry.
Junk King specializes in removing non-hazardous junk items for customers. This includes everything from old furniture and appliances to yard waste and construction debris. Franchisees serve a broad client base: homeowners doing cleanouts, businesses clearing out offices or stores, landlords or property managers dealing with tenant waste, and even local governments needing bulk waste pickup. A key selling point of Junk King’s model is its eco-friendly approach – the company recycles, reuses, or donates roughly 60% of everything it hauls. In other words, instead of just dumping junk in landfills, Junk King franchisees sort through loads to salvage usable goods and materials. This green focus not only helps the environment but also resonates with customers who prefer sustainable practices.
The junk removal industry itself is a sizable and growing niche within the broader waste management market. In the United States, junk removal services generate around $10 billion in revenue each year. Demand for decluttering and hauling services has been on the rise as consumers accumulate more stuff and look for convenient ways to dispose of unwanted items. Industry studies project continued growth in coming years. Notably, junk removal proved to be “essential” during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic – classified as an essential service, junk haulers like Junk King continued operating (and even adding new franchise units) while some other industries faced shutdowns. This resilience highlighted that even when the economy slows, people and businesses still need to get rid of trash and clutter.
Overall, Junk King sits at the intersection of consumer services and environmental responsibility. It offers would-be franchisees a chance to be part of a well-known national brand (now backed by a large franchise parent company) in a business that “keeps the world clean” in a different sense than commercial cleaning – by hauling away the big stuff people no longer want.
What Franchisees Get
When you invest in a Junk King franchise, you’re getting the framework to operate a turnkey junk hauling business in your territory. Here’s what that entails:
- Services & Revenue Streams: Junk King franchisees primarily offer on-demand junk removal for both residential and commercial customers. A typical day might have your crew picking up an old couch from a homeowner in the morning, clearing construction debris from a job site at noon, and helping a business clean out a storage room in the afternoon. In addition to standard hauling jobs, Junk King owners can also generate revenue through mini dumpster rentals (delivering a dumpster for clients to fill at their convenience) and through recycling or reselling materials. For example, scrap metal collected can be sold to recyclers, and some furniture or appliances can be refurbished or donated. These multiple revenue streams help franchisees maximize earnings from each job.
- Training and Support: Franchise owners receive comprehensive training to get started, including a week-long training program at Junk King’s headquarters in California. You don’t need prior industry experience – the franchisor teaches you how to price jobs, manage operations, and market your services. Ongoing support is a strong point of the Junk King system. Each franchisee has access to corporate operational support and a marketing team dedicated to helping grow the business. Junk King provides a proprietary software system called “Netware” that handles day-to-day logistics like scheduling jobs, dispatching and tracking trucks via GPS, managing customer data, and generating reports. This technology streamlines operations so owners can run the business efficiently.
- Customer Call Center: A standout feature Junk King offers is its centralized Customer Care Center, which is essentially a national call center that handles incoming customer inquiries and booking for franchisees. When someone in your territory calls Junk King or visits the website to request service, the call center reps handle the scheduling and appointment setting for you. In practical terms, this means you (the owner) and your crew can focus on doing jobs and managing the business, rather than constantly answering the phone. This service comes with a fee (more on fees below), but many franchisees see it as worth it because it saves significant time and ensures every lead is promptly handled.
- Typical Operations: Junk King is an owner-operator model but can also be run with a manager. Many new franchisees start out working in the business – handling sales estimates, managing the crew’s schedule, maybe even riding on the truck initially – and then transition to a more managerial/executive role as they grow. Importantly, no special license is required for you or your employees to drive the standard Junk King truck; the trucks are designed to be operated with a regular driver’s license (they’re usually 15–18 ft. box trucks built on an Isuzu chassis). A new franchise typically launches with one truck and about 2–3 employees to serve as the hauling crew. As the business expands, you add more trucks and hire additional crew members. Junk King’s model is very scalable – add another truck = increase your daily job capacity, without dramatically increasing fixed overhead. The franchisor will guide you on when to add trucks based on demand in your territory.
- Community and Eco Impact: Franchisees also get the benefit of Junk King’s eco-friendly brand reputation. The company’s emphasis on recycling and donating means as an owner you’re not just running a trash business – you’re providing an environmentally conscious service. Junk King estimates about 60% of each truckload can be diverted from the landfill through recycling or repurposing. Franchisees often partner with local charities (to donate usable furniture, clothing, etc.) and recycling centers. Not only does this feel good and build community goodwill, it also reduces your dumping fees and can even create extra revenue (for instance, selling scrap metal from appliances). Many owners highlight this aspect as a rewarding part of the business.
In short, what you get with Junk King is a fully-developed operating system for a junk removal business: brand name recognition, training, call-center support, marketing tools, a tech platform, and a playbook for efficient junk hauling with a green twist.
Startup Costs and Ongoing Fees
One of the most important considerations before buying any franchise is the investment required. Junk King’s startup costs are relatively moderate compared to many franchises, partly because you don’t need a retail storefront or expensive build-out. According to Junk King’s Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), the initial investment to open a franchise ranges roughly from $90,000 up to $175,000 for a standard territory. (The exact range varies based on your local market and what equipment you already have.) This range includes all the typical expenses to get the business off the ground, such as the Initial Franchise Fee (anywhere from $54,000 to $78,000, depending on the size of your territory), the cost of your truck, initial supplies and equipment, any necessary permits/insurance, a few months of rent if you lease a small warehouse or parking yard, training travel costs, and some working capital to cover the first 3 months of operations. For example, a mid-sized territory might have a $60K franchise fee, about $20K down payment on a truck lease, a couple thousand in tools and marketing materials, and then some buffer cash for payroll and advertising until revenue ramps up.
It’s worth noting that Junk King territories are fairly large (population of 450,000 to 650,000 people), which is one reason the franchise fee is higher than some service brands. If you choose to start in a very big market or want to launch with multiple trucks from day one, your total investment could be on the higher end (some sources cite a max initial investment around $300,000 in certain cases). However, most new owners come in near that $100K–$180K range for one territory.
After the initial startup, franchisees pay ongoing fees to the franchisor. The royalty fee for Junk King is 8% of gross revenue. This royalty percentage is in line with many franchise systems and essentially is your fee for continued use of the brand and support. Junk King also charges a Customer Care Center fee of 5% of gross revenue – this directly funds the call center that handles your customer bookings. In addition, there’s a marketing contribution (often called an ad fund fee). Junk King’s marketing fee is about 2% of gross sales (as of recent data), which goes toward national and regional advertising initiatives to build the brand. In some markets, franchisees may also contribute to a local co-op marketing fund, but the required advertising spend is primarily that 2% to the national fund.
Let’s put those fees in perspective: if your franchise does $50,000 in revenue in a month, you’d pay $4,000 in royalties (8%), $2,500 for the call center (5%), and $1,000 for marketing (2%). That totals $7,500 in fees for that month, and the franchisor handles a lot of the heavy marketing and customer call work for you in return. Aside from these franchise fees, you’ll have typical business expenses – payroll for your drivers and helpers, fuel and maintenance for your truck, disposal fees at the landfill or recycling center, insurance, etc. Junk King recommends franchisees have at least $50,000 in liquid capital and $150,000 net worth to ensure they can comfortably fund the business and have a financial cushion.
In terms of earnings, performance can vary widely by how aggressively you grow and your local demand. Junk King’s FDD includes earnings disclosures – recent figures show the average unit generates around $550,000 in annual gross revenue (this average includes franchises of all ages; well-established locations can do considerably more). Some sources have noted that mature Junk King franchises (in operation for several years) have annual sales in the $750K–$1M range or higher, while newer ones ramp up over time. The potential is there to build a solid mid-six-figure revenue business, though it’s important to remember that junk removal is often a local volume game – you might top out unless you expand territory or fleet.
Overall, Junk King offers a fairly accessible entry into business ownership. You’re looking at a low six-figure investment to start, with defined fees and a lot of support in exchange. You will need at least one truck (typically financed or leased) and a small storage space or lot for vehicles and collected items. But you won’t need a fancy retail location or expensive machinery beyond the trucks. This relatively low infrastructure model is one reason people are attracted to junk removal franchises.
How the Industry Itself Compares
Now that we’ve covered what the Junk King franchise entails, let’s zoom out and compare the junk removal industry versus the commercial cleaning industry. Many entrepreneurs considering Junk King might also be looking at other service industries. Commercial cleaning (janitorial services for businesses) is one such indirect competitor industry – especially relevant for those evaluating Assett Franchise’s commercial cleaning opportunity. Both junk removal and commercial cleaning involve providing “clean up” services, but they differ in significant ways operationally and financially. Below we break down the advantages of Junk King’s industry and then compare them to the advantages of the commercial cleaning industry. We’ll see that while junk removal has its merits, commercial cleaning often comes out ahead for long-term stability and scalability.
Junk King Industry Advantages
Every industry has its selling points. For junk removal franchises like Junk King, some key industry advantages include:
- Growing Demand for Decluttering: Americans generate an enormous amount of waste and clutter. The U.S. junk removal sector is valued around $10 billion annually, reflecting how lucrative and in-demand these services have become. With consumer buying trends (think online shopping and constant upgrades of home goods), people continually find themselves with stuff they need to get rid of. This means a steady stream of potential business for junk haulers. Both residential and commercial clients use junk removal – from families clearing out garages to companies closing offices – so there’s a broad market to tap. Junk removal is also boosted by trends like minimalism and organizing spurts (thank you, Marie Kondo!) which inspire folks to clear out junk. In short, the problem of “too much junk” isn’t going away, and that keeps demand robust.
- Eco-Conscious Appeal: Junk removal, especially with a brand like Junk King, has a strong environmental angle. As mentioned, Junk King recycles or repurposes about 60% of what they haul on average. This commitment to being eco-friendly attracts customers who care about sustainability. Many people are willing to pay a bit more to ensure their junk is handled responsibly rather than all ending up in a landfill. For franchise owners, this focus on recycling can also save money – fewer dump fees – and even create extra revenue from salvaged materials. In comparison, standard cleaning services don’t have as much opportunity for an eco “hook” (beyond using green cleaning products). The junk removal industry lets you build a business that aligns with green initiatives, which can be very satisfying for an owner and marketable to the community.
- Simple, Scalable Operations: Running a junk removal business is fairly straightforward in terms of concept – you need labor, a truck, and a place to take the junk. There’s no costly retail real estate required and typically no extensive inventory to manage. Many Junk King franchises operate out of a small industrial yard or flex space for their trucks and sorted items. The model is highly scalable: as your volume grows, you primarily just add more trucks and crew to increase capacity. Your fixed monthly overhead (insurance, rent, utilities) doesn’t skyrocket just because you’re doing more jobs; it stays relatively stable while revenue can grow by doing more pickups per day. This incremental scale-up is easier to manage than, say, a restaurant that has a fixed capacity of seats or a retail store limited by foot traffic. In junk removal, a second truck can literally double your daily revenue potential. Additionally, Junk King’s technology and call center support simplify the operational side – routing trucks efficiently and filling the schedule are tasks the system helps handle. For an owner, this means the business can grow without needing to reinvent processes at each stage.
- Multiple Revenue Streams: The junk removal industry isn’t just one uniform service. As a franchisee, you can derive income from several related services. Junk King emphasizes that it’s not only about one-off junk hauling jobs. Franchisees can rent out roll-off dumpsters or drop-box containers to customers who prefer to load junk at their own pace (common with DIY home projects or yard cleanups). They can earn from recycling initiatives – for example, extracting metals, electronics, or even reselling gently used items. Some junk removal businesses also partner with real estate firms or property managers for recurring clean-out contracts when tenants move out. This means you’re not entirely reliant on random one-time residential calls; you can cultivate B2B relationships for steady gigs (like clearing foreclosed homes or assisting storage facilities). This diversified income model adds resilience – if one segment (say, residential) is slow in winter, another (like commercial or contractor jobs) might keep you busy according to sharpsheets.io. Junk King’s large truck size (20% bigger than competitors’) is even promoted as an advantage to take on king-sized loads and do fewer trips, which can attract bigger jobs.
- Essential Service Resilience: As noted earlier, waste removal has proven to be an essential service in society. During economic downturns or even during the pandemic lockdowns, junk removal services continued to operate because trash still needs to be disposed of for health and safety. People might delay elective projects during a recession, but eventually the junk has to go (for instance, after a move, a renovation, or when a business closes or relocates). This gives junk removal a degree of recession resistance. It may not be as universally ongoing as cleaning (which happens nightly or weekly no matter what), but junk removal isn’t a luxury service that people cut completely in tough times. In fact, downsizing or foreclosures in a bad economy can create more junk removal jobs (cleaning out properties, etc.). Many franchisees tout that this business gave them steady work and revenue even during uncertain times, which can’t be said for all industries. Being classified as an “essential business” also meant Junk King could keep serving customers (with safety protocols) when other consumer service businesses were shut – a crucial consideration if you want a business that can weather various external storms.
In summary, the junk removal industry offers strong consumer demand, a feel-good eco mission, operational simplicity, multiple ways to make money, and a measure of resilience. These advantages make franchises like Junk King attractive, especially to owners who like the idea of being “hands-on” (managing crews, working with trucks) and having a tangible impact by cleaning up spaces. However, it’s important to weigh these against what the commercial cleaning industry brings to the table.
Compared to Commercial Cleaning Industry
When comparing junk removal versus commercial cleaning, there are some clear differences. Commercial cleaning (think office cleaning, building janitorial services, etc.) is the arena in which Assett Franchise operates. Here are the major advantages of the commercial cleaning industry – and by extension, advantages that Assett’s commercial cleaning business franchise model can offer – especially in contrast to a junk hauling business:
- Massive, Stable Market: The commercial cleaning industry is huge – over $100 billion annually in the U.S.. Virtually every commercial building you see (office towers, schools, medical clinics, retail stores, factories) needs cleaning regularly. This dwarfs the junk removal market (~$10B) and indicates just how much opportunity exists. More importantly, cleaning services are needed in all economies. Businesses must keep their premises clean for health, safety, and appearance reasons. In good times or bad, offices will still hire janitorial crews; schools will still require daily cleaning. This makes commercial cleaning recession-resistant and essential in a very practical sense. Junk removal, while needed, is often a discretionary or occasional service – a household might postpone a basement clean-out if money is tight, but a corporate office can’t just stop emptying the trash cans and vacuuming the floors each week. The stability of demand in cleaning means an owner can build a book of business that is relatively insulated from seasonal or economic swings.
- Recurring Revenue Contracts: One of the biggest draws of commercial cleaning is the recurring revenue model. Cleaning contracts are typically structured on ongoing schedules – e.g. a client signs for cleaning 3 times a week, every week, and often on an annual or multi-year agreement. This creates steady, predictable income for the franchisee. Once you land a few good contracts, you have a baseline revenue every month that you can count on (as long as you keep the client satisfied). In contrast, junk removal is mostly one-off jobs – you earn money today for a pickup, but tomorrow you start at zero jobs and have to find the next customer. There’s very little recurring revenue in junk hauling; even a repeat customer usually only calls when they have accumulated another batch of junk, which might be months or a year later. Commercial cleaning’s B2B contracts flip that script: you might clean an office building every night, and invoice them monthly like clockwork. Over time, a cleaning franchise can accumulate a portfolio of these recurring clients, steadily stacking revenue. This compounding effect is powerful – it’s not unrealistic for a single commercial cleaning franchise territory to reach $1M+ in annual revenue by year 2 or 3, because they’ve added multiple recurring contracts that sum up to that level. That kind of scale is harder to achieve in junk removal, where each sale is separate. The peace of mind that comes with knowing you have, say, 20 clients under contract for the next year is a huge advantage for cleaning business owners.
- Low Operating Costs & High Margins: Commercial cleaning is often touted as a low-cost, high-margin business. The day-to-day costs are mainly labor (paying your cleaning crews) and cleaning supplies, which are relatively inexpensive in bulk. You generally do not need heavy equipment or vehicles – many cleaning companies operate with a few vans or even personal cars to transport crews and supplies. There are no dump fees, no fuel-guzzling trucks, no expensive equipment like dumpsters or lifts required for basic office cleaning. Because overhead is low, the profit margins in commercial cleaning can be attractive. Once you cover your labor and basic supplies, additional contracts add marginal profit. Junk removal, by contrast, has significant variable costs: fuel, landfill fees (which can be hefty per ton of junk), maintenance on trucks, etc., in addition to labor. These costs eat into margins and add complexity. With cleaning, a lot of the work is manual but low-tech – a crew with mops, vacuums, and cleaning solutions can generate a lot of revenue with minimal expense. Also, you often don’t need to rent a large facility; many commercial cleaning franchises are home-based or use a small storage unit for supplies. In junk removal, you might need a yard or warehouse to aggregate collected junk and park trucks. Overall, cleaning tends to have lower fixed costs and fewer surprise expenses, helping owners keep more of what they earn.
- Year-Round, Non-Seasonal Business: Commercial cleaning is highly consistent throughout the year. Offices and facilities need cleaning services regardless of season. In fact, there’s a baseline level of service that happens every day. While there can be slight upticks (for example, flu season might prompt extra sanitization services, or a retail store might need extra cleaning around the holidays), there generally isn’t a “busy season” and “slow season” in janitorial work – it’s steady. Junk removal, on the other hand, can experience seasonality. Many junk haulers see peaks in spring and summer (spring cleaning, moving season, yard projects in summer generating yard waste) and then a slowdown in the winter months when fewer people want to tackle garage cleanouts in cold weather or are busy with holidays. Additionally, weather can impact junk removal jobs (a snowstorm can shut down your pickups for a day; not an issue for indoor office cleaning which happens regardless). The cleaning industry’s consistency means cash flow is smoother and scheduling is more predictable month to month.
- Scalability Without Heavy Capital: Both junk removal and cleaning can scale, but scaling a cleaning business generally requires less capital investment than scaling a hauling business. To expand a cleaning franchise, you mainly need to hire more cleaners as you sign more clients – cleaning equipment is inexpensive, and you don’t necessarily need additional vehicles for every new contract (teams can carpool or reuse existing transport). You won’t need to buy a $60,000 truck for each incremental uptick in business. In contrast, scaling Junk King typically means buying more trucks, which is a significant cost, not to mention additional insurance and maintenance for each. Cleaning also scales in a more linear, controlled way: you can add one new contract at a time and assign staff accordingly. Junk removal’s growth might require a chunky investment (like adding a second truck plus crew) to increase capacity, which can be a bigger risk/hurdle. Because of this, a cleaning franchise can often grow faster and more flexibly. There’s also virtually no limit to how big a cleaning business can get in a metro area – large janitorial companies handle dozens of buildings. With junk removal, you might eventually saturate your territory unless you diversify services.
- Recession and Pandemic Resilience: We noted junk removal’s resilience, but commercial cleaning arguably has even more. In recessions, companies might cut costs – but they rarely eliminate cleaning; if anything, they might reduce frequency slightly, but buildings still need to be cleaned. During the COVID-19 pandemic, cleaning services were absolutely critical; businesses and schools that remained open or eventually reopened needed more intense and frequent cleaning and disinfecting than ever before. The heightened awareness of hygiene has actually boosted long-term demand for commercial cleaning and sanitization services. In terms of being “essential,” cleaning crews were also considered essential workers during lockdowns, particularly for sanitizing healthcare and public facilities. This underlines how indispensable the cleaning industry is. It’s hard to imagine a future scenario where offices and institutions suddenly stop needing cleaning – it’s about as steady as it gets in the service world.
- First-Time Entrepreneur Friendly: For someone new to business ownership, commercial cleaning can be an ideal starter business. The operations are straightforward (especially with a good franchise system): it’s about managing people and keeping clients happy, not dealing with complex technical tasks. Franchisees don’t need any particular technical knowledge – unlike, say, an HVAC franchise where you’d better know something about air conditioners. Similarly, in cleaning there’s lower risk of liability or injury compared to junk removal (where crews lift heavy items and drive large trucks, which has some inherent risk). Assett Franchise, for example, provides a full playbook and training so franchisees can succeed without prior cleaning experience. The simplicity and proven nature of the model make it accessible. By contrast, a junk removal owner has to be ready to handle the physical logistics of trucks, dumps, and potentially dirty or heavy labor via their team. It’s still learnable, but there are more moving parts (literally and figuratively). Cleaning’s simplicity also means an owner can focus on business growth activities (sales, customer service) rather than technical troubleshooting. It’s essentially a people-management business.
- Semi-Absentee Ownership Potential: If your goal is to own a business but not be stuck in daily operations, commercial cleaning shines. Many cleaning franchise owners operate in a semi-absentee capacity – meaning they keep a full-time manager or team in place and the owner only oversees high-level admin a few hours a week. In fact, Assett Franchise is structured to be run with as little as 5 hours per week of owner time (once established), truly allowing you to work on the business, not in it. This is possible because of the recurring schedules and routines in cleaning; once crews know their routes and clients, the business can almost run like clockwork with the right systems. Junk King does allow semi-absentee ownership (some franchisees hire a manager to run day-to-day), but realistically a junk removal business might demand more owner attention. Each day’s jobs are different, routing trucks can be complex, and customer acquisition is continuous – so a Junk King owner who’s completely hands-off would need a very trustworthy manager and might see more variability in outcomes. The predictability of cleaning services makes it easier to step back and let the processes run themselves. For an owner who wants flexibility and potentially to keep their day job or invest in multiple businesses, commercial cleaning is often a better fit.
In summary, the commercial cleaning industry offers scale, stability, and simplicity that often surpass what the junk removal industry can provide. A cleaning franchise taps into a huge B2B market with recurring demand, enjoys lower operational headaches (no big trucks or dump fees), and can build compounding revenue streams that grow year after year. It’s a model geared toward long-term sustainable income, whereas junk removal can be a bit more cyclical and labor-intensive per dollar earned. For these reasons, many entrepreneurs find the commercial cleaning industry a more attractive bet when comparing opportunities.
How the Assett Franchise Compares
We’ve looked at Junk King and junk hauling vs. commercial cleaning as industries. Now let’s focus on Assett Franchise – the commercial cleaning franchise brand in question – and see how it stacks up as an opportunity. Assett Franchise is in the business of helping people build their own commercial cleaning companies with a high-performance model. In contrast to Junk King, Assett is already positioned in that $100B commercial cleaning space and intentionally designed to address many of the pain points we discussed. Below, we break down a few key ways Assett differentiates itself and delivers value to franchisees.
Simpler Systems, Bigger Potential
Assett Franchise was founded by Matt Pencarinha with the vision of making business ownership simpler and more rewarding for first-time entrepreneurs in the commercial cleaning arena. The system is built for owners who want to work on the business, not in it according to bizbuysell.com. What does that mean? In an Assett cleaning franchise, you’re not spending your days pushing a mop or emptying trash cans; instead, you’re managing client relationships, ensuring quality service, and scaling the operation. The model is proven – Assett gives franchisees a complete business playbook covering everything from how to price contracts, to how to hire and manage cleaning crews, to how to market effectively in your community. You don’t need any prior cleaning industry experience to succeed; the training and documentation walk you through the process step by step.
Because Assett is already part of the commercial cleaning industry, franchise owners get to tap into all the advantages we outlined earlier – a giant market, recession-resistant demand, and recurring B2B revenue. Importantly, Assett’s franchise model is fine-tuned to help you scale up to a $1M+ annual revenue business on a relatively accelerated timeline. Commercial cleaning contracts can ramp up quickly, and Assett’s strategies (for example, targeting high-value clients like medical facilities or large offices) focus on building that recurring revenue base. The income potential is significant, especially relative to the initial investment – which in the cleaning sector tends to be lower than something like Junk King, since you’re not buying trucks or heavy equipment. Assett franchisees can start home-based or with a small office and grow revenue without a commensurate spike in expenses.
Another key point: Assett’s philosophy is about keeping operations simple and streamlined. Cleaning itself is straightforward, and Assett equips owners with systems to simplify scheduling, invoicing, and quality control. It’s a modern, technology-enabled franchise that likely uses software for things like client scheduling and crew management, making it easy for an owner to monitor the business without constant firefighting. When you compare this to a hauling business (with more variables each day), Assett’s approach can feel refreshingly simple. Everything is aimed at bigger potential with less complication. In fact, many Assett franchise owners are people who came from corporate backgrounds – they appreciate the structured, “clean” (pun intended) business model where they can apply their management skills and scale up a sizeable operation using Assett’s blueprint.
Automated Hiring = Time and Money Saved
One of the most unique advantages Assett Franchise brings is its automated hiring system. Ask any small business owner in the services world what their biggest headache is, and most will say: “finding and retaining good employees.” This is especially true in industries like cleaning, which can have higher turnover. Assett recognized this challenge and developed an automated system to handle a lot of the grunt work of recruitment and hiring for franchisees.
In practice, Assett’s automated hiring system continuously recruits, screens, and even helps train cleaning staff using a combination of technology, online assessments, and proven processes. It’s like having a built-in HR department working in the background to keep your team staffed with qualified cleaners. For a franchise owner, this is a game-changer. It can save 20–30 hours per week of administrative work that you’d otherwise spend posting job ads, sifting through resumes, scheduling interviews, and onboarding new hires. In fact, with a steady pipeline of vetted candidates, Assett owners can avoid having to hire a full-time HR manager or spend their own evenings and weekends scrambling to fill positions. The system ensures that when you need an extra pair of hands for a new contract, there are pre-screened people ready to step in.
This automated hiring not only saves time, it also saves money. High turnover can be costly (every empty position or hiring mistake is lost revenue and time). By minimizing downtime in staffing and improving the quality of hires, Assett’s system helps maintain a stable workforce, which in turn keeps clients happy with consistent service. A consistently high-quality workforce at scale is a huge competitive advantage. As your cleaning business grows to 20, 50, 100+ employees, having this automated recruitment engine means you’re not overwhelmed by the growth – you’re actually supported in growing. It essentially eliminates one of the biggest growth bottlenecks (finding labor) in service businesses. For owners, that means you can focus on higher-level tasks like getting new clients and managing customer relationships, rather than constantly dealing with job vacancies or hiring paperwork. In contrast, a Junk King owner without such a system might spend a significant amount of time interviewing truck crew members or dealing with driver turnover. Assett’s approach lets you run a lean operation where your time and money go into scaling the business, not plugging HR holes.
Personalized and Founder-Led
Another aspect that sets Assett Franchise apart is its culture and leadership style. Assett is a family-owned franchise brand, not one controlled by private equity or a multinational conglomerate. Matt Pencarinha, the founder, remains very much at the helm and directly involved in guiding franchisees. This means when you join Assett, you’re not just a number in a corporate system – you become part of a tight-knit franchise family with direct access to the top leadership. Need advice or facing a challenge? You can pick up the phone and talk to the founder or a seasoned expert on the core team who knows your name and your business. This level of personal support is something you rarely get in larger franchise systems. (For example, Junk King is now part of Neighborly’s 5,000+ location portfolio; while that offers some benefits, a new franchisee might not get much personal face time with higher-ups in a big organization.)
Assett’s personalized, founder-led approach translates into decisions and support that prioritize franchisee success over just hitting growth metrics. The company isn’t beholden to outside investors demanding rapid expansion at the cost of support. Instead, it’s growing carefully and ensuring each franchisee is well-supported. Franchise owners benefit from the founder’s years of experience in the cleaning industry and business operations – essentially, you have a mentor who has walked the path and remains invested in your success.
The brand also prides itself on being community-focused with a clear mission. Assett franchisees aren’t just cleaning for cleaning’s sake; they are often involved in giving back to the community, whether it’s through hiring practices (creating jobs for people in their area) or supporting local causes as part of the business mission. This sense of purpose can be very motivating. You’re building a business that not only earns money but also contributes positively to your community’s well-being (clean, safe environments) and economy. Assett being family-run also means the values and culture tend to be consistent – oriented around integrity, service quality, and mutual support – rather than solely profit-driven.
In practical terms, Assett’s franchisee support is hands-on and tailored. You get to interact directly with leadership at trainings, conferences, and one-on-one calls. Advice is often personalized to your situation, not generic. If you encounter a problem (say, a big client request or an operational hiccup), the founder and team can work closely with you to solve it, drawing on their deep knowledge. It truly feels like a partnership.
This is a stark contrast to many large franchises where franchisees sometimes feel like they’re “on their own” after launch, or only get to talk to a rotating field manager. With Assett, franchise owners join a growing network of like-minded entrepreneurs all following the same vision under Matt Pencarinha’s leadership. And because Assett is not backed by private equity, you can trust that the company’s decisions are made for the long-term health of the brand and its franchisees, not just short-term financial engineering. (As a point of comparison, Junk King being acquired by Neighborly in 2022 shows a different path – beneficial in some ways, but the personal touch can get diluted in a big portfolio).
Finally, Assett’s personalized approach is yielding results nationwide. Despite being a newer franchise, it already has owners thriving across the United States – from Anchorage, AK to Sarasota, FL, and many points in between. Each of these franchisees benefits from that founder-led guidance and the sense of community among owners. When you join Assett, you’re joining a close community where franchisees often share best practices and celebrate each other’s wins, not a faceless corporate structure. This can make the journey of entrepreneurship far more enjoyable and less lonely.
Final Thoughts
Both Junk King and the junk removal industry, and Assett Franchise in the commercial cleaning industry, have their strengths. Junk King offers an exciting, hands-on business for the right type of owner – someone who doesn’t mind rolling up their sleeves, managing trucks and crews, and capitalizing on the ever-present need for decluttering. Junk King’s brand recognition, eco-friendly mission, and continued growth indicate it can be a solid opportunity for those drawn to the junk hauling space. If you love the idea of helping people toss out the old and you’re comfortable with a more labor-intensive, logistics-focused enterprise, Junk King might feel rewarding.
However, for many entrepreneurs – especially those coming from professional careers looking for a stable, scalable venture – the commercial cleaning route holds some clear advantages. Assett Franchise, in particular, aligns with what such individuals often seek: a scalable, stable business with low operational complexity and predictable recurring revenue. The Assett model is built to minimize risk and speed up returns on investment, leveraging the massive demand for cleaning in all economic climates. It’s a modern business model designed for executive ownership, meaning you can apply your leadership skills and outsource the tougher grunt work (thanks to systems like automated hiring and a strong support infrastructure).
In comparing the two, it becomes evident that if you want a business that can grow steadily to seven-figure revenues, provide long-term income, and not require you to constantly chase the next customer, the commercial cleaning franchise wins out. Cleaning contracts offer continuity that junk jobs just don’t. And if you want a franchise system where you’re more than just a cog in a machine – where you get personalized support, direct access to leadership, and a sense of family – Assett Franchise clearly offers that environment.
At the end of the day, the “best” opportunity depends on your personal goals and what you want your day-to-day to look like. Junk King might appeal to those who enjoy physical operations and quick wins (each junk job is done in a day). Assett will appeal to those who are thinking about building an asset (no pun intended) that generates income with less hands-on effort over time, and who value a simpler, steadier growth path.
If you’re exploring franchise opportunities and want a model that can deliver long-term income, flexibility, and control — we’d love to show you how Assett Franchise can help you build a business that works for your life. Visit https://assettfranchise.com to connect with our team and learn more.
