Kirk and Jacob McKinney launched their junk removal business in 2021 with roughly $8,000 and a used pickup truck, and have since grown it into an operation on track to exceed $5 million in revenue this year, according to a profit-and-loss statement viewed by Business Insider.
The company, Junk Teens, is based in Norwood, Massachusetts. Kirk, now 22, and Jacob, now 21, have expanded beyond their original location to Cape Cod, the North Shore, and Rhode Island. The business currently runs about 25 employees and seven dump trucks, though its own website lists eight trucks and 30 employees, reflecting figures that may be more current than the mid-July 2026 snapshot.
Kirk’s path into the industry started before the business existed. After discovering a dump near his Massachusetts home, he began salvaging and reselling discarded speakers, electronics, and weights. He got to know local junk removal workers, started helping them on jobs, and eventually noticed how the economics worked in their favour.
‘I was basically doing the whole job for them,’ he told Business Insider. ‘The guy was paying me pretty well, and he was still walking away with money at the end of the job.’
Starting a junk removal business for under $10,000
Half of the brothers’ $8,000 starting budget went toward a $4,000 Ford F-150. The rest covered basic setup costs: registering the business and building walls on the sides of the pickup so it could carry more material. Tools such as saws and drills came later, borrowed from their parents or taken from jobs where customers were happy to leave them behind.
‘I don’t think we’ve ever bought a trash barrel, a broom, or a shovel,’ Jacob said. ‘We’ve always got them for free, so that definitely saved us a lot in the beginning.’
That resourcefulness extended further. When jobs involved office supplies, furniture, or usable equipment, the brothers kept what they needed for the business rather than buying new. Junk Teens now donates reusable items to partners including Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, and New Life Furniture Bank, and maintains a warehouse to store furniture in good condition ahead of donation.
CNBC, citing documents it reviewed, reported that the company brought in $3.04 million in 2025 revenue. As of March 2026, CNBC reported, the team comprised around 10 full-time and 10 to 15 part-time staff, all described as high school, college, or gap-year students. The headcount has grown since.
Three principles behind the junk removal business
The brothers identify speed, pricing transparency, and brand identity as the three things that allowed them to compete in a fragmented market.
On speed: customers typically want junk removed the same day or the next, Kirk said. Responding faster than competitors wins jobs before they go to anyone else.
On pricing: early on, the brothers called established junk removal companies and asked direct questions. Jacob recalled introducing himself as a young founder just looking for guidance, and finding people willing to talk. Over time they learned to factor in volume, weight, labour intensity, special disposal requirements, and awkward access, such as a third-floor attic versus a ground-floor garage. Kirk said unexplained pricing loses customers before they book.
‘I think a lot of people will get into it and have no idea how to price their jobs,’ he said. ‘The customers, when they get the price, don’t understand why that number.’
On branding: the company originally traded as K&J Removal. Kirk noticed customers were drawn in specifically because teenagers were doing the work, so he built an identity around that differentiator. The Junk Teens name followed.
‘I just took the thing that made us stand out, our competitive advantage, and built a brand around that,’ he said.
Kirk added that competing purely on price is a trap. The customers worth having are those who value quality over cost, he argued, not those who will switch for a cheaper quote.
‘The best customers are the ones that will just pay what the service is worth and aren’t price shopping,’ he said. ‘We want to do a great job, and we want customers that want to pay for a great job.’
The team’s culture reflects the brand’s origin. According to the Junk Teens About page, operations lead Colin joined as a student hire, has managed over 2,000 jobs across four years with the company, and has trained 24 team members, growing into a full-time management role.
According to CNBC, Kirk has said the priority now is covering the rest of Massachusetts before expanding further along the East Coast. Franchising, outside investment, and an eventual sale are possibilities he has acknowledged, but none are in the immediate plan. The next test is whether the $5 million revenue target materialises by year-end.