DumpsterBossPro Blog — Running a Dumpster Business

Hiring Your First Office Person in a Dumpster Rental Business

For a long time, the office in a small roll-off company is the owner's phone and the owner's kitchen table after dark. Requests come in while you are placing a can, quotes go out from the truck cab, and invoices get done on Sunday night. It works until the business gets big enough that the phone rings more than you can answer and the paperwork starts to slip.

This guide follows Fewer Where-Is-My-Dumpster Calls: Customer Texts for a Dumpster Business. Here is how to know when you need office help and how to bring that person in without chaos.

The Signs You Need Office Help

The clearest sign is missed calls. If the phone rings while you are backing a truck into a driveway and you cannot answer, some of those callers are calling the next company on the list. Another sign is invoices going out late, sometimes weeks after the job, because nobody has time to do them. A third is the quiet one: you are working every evening and weekend just to keep up with the admin, and it is wearing you down.

If two or three of those describe your business, office help is probably worth more than it costs. Even a part-time person during the busy months can free you to sell, drive or run the trucks properly.

What the Job Actually Covers

Write down what the office person will do before you hire. In most small roll-off companies, it includes answering calls and texts, taking requests and putting them on the Waiting List, sending quotes, building the next day's board for the trucks, keeping customers informed, invoicing completed jobs, following up on unpaid invoices and keeping customer records clean.

That is a lot, so decide what matters first. Many owners start by handing over the phone and invoicing, then dispatch once the person knows the business. Be honest in the job description about the busy season, because it is a different job in July than in January in many areas.

Also decide what stays with you, at least at first. Pricing exceptions, credit decisions for a contractor who wants a bigger tab, and handling a serious complaint are usually owner calls until the new person has seen enough to make them well. Saying so up front saves them from guessing.

Look for Organized and Calm

The best office people in this business are organized, calm on the phone and comfortable with a computer. They do not need roll-off experience. They need to stay pleasant when a contractor calls upset about a late swap, keep track of a dozen small things at once and follow a process.

Ask how they would handle real situations. A customer is angry about an overage charge. Two contractors want the same truck first thing tomorrow. A driver calls in sick on a busy Monday. You are listening for someone who stays calm, asks good questions and knows when to bring the problem to you.

Hand Over the System, Not Your Head

The hardest part of hiring office help is getting what you know out of your head. If the business runs on your memory, the new person will call you about everything. If it runs on a system, they can look it up.

Before they start, make sure customers, contractor accounts and open jobs are all in DumpsterBossPro, with site addresses, haul-to addresses, can sizes, unit numbers, debris types and notes. Set up your prices, days included, daily rates and overage per ton. Then your office person can answer most questions by looking at the job, not by calling you.

Set Up Roles Sensibly

Role-based users let you decide who sees what. Your office person may need access to requests, dispatch, customers and invoicing, but perhaps not to every report or setting. Drivers need their jobs, not the billing. Set each role to what the person needs to do the work.

Because DumpsterBossPro is never billed per user, adding an office person does not change your software bill. Everyone gets their own login, which also means you can see who did what.

The First Month

Spend the first week side by side. Let the new person watch you take requests, build the board and send invoices, then switch: they do it while you watch. By the second week, they should handle the phone and invoicing with you nearby. By the end of the month, they should be running most days with you checking in.

Expect mistakes and fix them calmly. The next guide covers the bigger shift: going from owner-operator to manager. For an overview of role-based users and office tools, see the dumpster rental business software page.