My Biz: Cedar Rapids firefighter hauls away stuff on his days off

Kyle Ugarph gets into a lot of basements, attics and garages, sometimes to dramatic effect.

“We had a gentleman whose wife got Alzheimer’s, so she just kept keeping things,” Ugarph said. “She wouldn’t let him get rid of things, so when we came and cleared the house out, it was huge for him.

“He was getting teary-eyed. He was in such a better place, and his wife could navigate the home now. She had had a couple of falls previously because of all the stuff.”

A Cedar Rapids firefighter living in Fairfax, Ugarph, 31, was “basically just looking for something to do in my off time” when he got the idea for what became KJ Haul Away. “I have a 24 (hours) on, 48 off schedule, which leaves quite a bit of extra time.”

Ugarph’s search for small business ideas led him online.

“I was looking around on YouTube, of all things, seeing what people do,” he said. “I just thought, ‘That’s something I could see people using.’ My grandparents, they can’t just pick up stuff they want hauled away to the dump and put it in their crossover.”

‘Massive need’

The reaction when he launched the business from his home in late 2021 only confirmed Ugarph’s hunch.

“There was a massive need for it I wasn’t expecting,” he said. “I just kept getting calls, and it turned into an opportunity.”

Advice from the YouTube community helped Ugarph design a workable rate schedule. To keep things affordable for homeowners, he divides his 16-foot trailer into eight sections for pricing.

“It starts at an eighth load, all the way up to a full trailer,” he said. “That way, customers are only charged for the space they take up. It’s not like a dumpster, where you’re still paying for the full load even if you don’t fill it.”

That approach allows Ugarph to schedule multiple customers on his days off from the fire department.

“It leaves a lot of room for customers to get something (scheduled) that’s convenient,” he said. The firefighters’ work schedule also allows him to recruit co-workers to help on busy days.

Commercial services include cleanouts of offices, storage units and apartments. Commercial customers provide about 40 percent of Ugarph’s business, which has enabled him to upgrade from his personal pickup and the 8-foot-long trailer he used at first.

“Now I have a Ram 2500, a three-quarter-ton truck and a 16-foot dump trailer,” he said. “I just got our new truck, which is an (Ford) F-450 with a specialty built dump body that holds 18 cubic yards.”

Marketing

Without a brick-and-mortar presence, marketing has been key to building business.

“There’s been a couple of junk-removal companies before me, but it’s not a real known thing,” Ugarph said. “It has been a bit of a challenge getting the word out. Things like Facebook really help. There’s all those community groups I can post in, which is a great way to reach people.”

His core market is the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area, but Ugarph will travel for large jobs. Discarded materials go to the customer’s local landfill.

“Whichever county we’re working in is where you take it because other counties don’t want to dispose of other counties’ trash,” he said.

Repurpose, reuse

But not everything goes to the landfill.

“One of our huge things is to repurpose and reuse things,” Ugarph said.

That’s led to working relationships with nonprofits such as Central Furniture Rescue.

“They take people that maybe just immigrated here, or victims of domestic abuse just moving into a new apartment and they’ve got nothing,” Ugarph said. “They’ll fully furnish a home for them.

“We take items there, furniture and household utensils. You name it, we take a lot of stuff there. We do the usual (donations to) Salvation Army, Goodwill. We’re able to do what they call landfill diversion. We’re going to keep a lot of stuff out of the landfill.”

Ugarph’s customers are happy to see unwanted furniture go to new owners.

“People are very happy to give it to somebody else,” he said.

Giving back

Ugarph’s trailers also carry nonprofit sponsorship, with 5 percent of receipts from their cargo going to the designated organization.

Working with nonprofit service organizations inspired Ugarph’s holiday fundraiser, which ran through Dec. 7 this year.

“I call it Tons for Toys,” he said. “Every ton that we haul away, we’re donating a toy. Right now, we’re up to 22 tons, so we’ve got 22 toys already.”

Know a business that should be considered for a “My Biz” feature? Let us know by emailing mary.sharp@thegazette.com.

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