Debris Removal Deserves More Attention on Restoration Projects
Debris removal is one of the first steps on many restoration projects, but it’s often treated as an afterthought. Daniel McCarty, founder of JunkStart, grew up in the debris removal industry and has spent years working alongside contractors and property owners. He believes many of the delays, customer frustrations and inefficiencies that occur during cleanup stem from long-standing processes that few people have questioned. McCarty recently chatted with Cleanfax’s Editor Elizabeth Christenson on why debris removal deserves more attention on restoration projects.
Cleanfax: Debris removal is one of the first steps on many restoration projects, but it’s often treated as an afterthought. Why do you think that is, and what impact can it have on the rest of the job?
McCarty: Debris removal is usually the first thing that has to happen before any real restoration work can start, but it rarely gets treated that way. Contractors are focused on mitigation, drying and rebuilding, the parts of the job that show up as billable expertise. Clearing debris feels like a logistics detail, so it gets handled reactively instead of planned for. The problem is that everything else in the project is downstream of it. If debris is not cleared quickly and correctly, drying can’t start, access is blocked, and the timeline the insurance company is watching keeps slipping. A weak start on debris removal doesn’t cost a day; it can cost the whole schedule.
Cleanfax: From your experience in the debris removal industry, what are some of the most common coordination or communication issues you see between restoration teams and debris removal providers?
McCarty: A lot of it comes down to debris removal being treated as a same-day phone call instead of a scheduled part of the job plan. Someone calls the day of expecting a truck to just show up, with no advance notice or coordination on scope. A good operation can absolutely move fast, but speed without a heads-up on what’s actually being removed is where things go sideways. The other issue is nobody agreeing upfront on what actually counts as debris versus what needs to be documented for the claim or set aside as salvageable. That gap in communication leads to either the wrong things getting hauled or the right things sitting there too long. And pricing communication matters here too. A lot of debris removal is still priced on volume or a visual estimate, which leaves room for disagreement later. Weight-based pricing removes a lot of that guesswork because it’s simply based on what came off the scale.
Cleanfax: What are a few operational best practices restoration contractors can implement to make debris removal more efficient without adding complexity to the project?
McCarty: Build debris removal into the plan at the first walkthrough instead of as a follow-up call once the job is already underway. Have a standing relationship with a hauler you trust instead of sourcing one cold every time. And take a few minutes on-site before anything gets touched to agree on what is trash, what is staying, and what needs to be photographed first. None of that adds a step to the process; it just moves an existing conversation earlier, which is usually where the inefficiency was hiding in the first place.
Cleanfax: Customers are often under significant stress during a restoration project. How can restoration companies improve communication around debris removal to build trust and set clear expectations?
McCarty: Tell the property owner what is leaving their home, when and why, before it happens. People are already dealing with the stress of strangers in their house and their belongings being touched. Being upfront about what is being removed and why does more for trust than almost anything else in the process. Clear pricing helps too. If a customer understands their debris is priced on weight, not a guess, there is a lot less room for the conversation to go sideways later. Silence and ambiguity are what create distrust, not the work itself.
Cleanfax: You’ve spent much of your career challenging long-standing assumptions in the debris removal industry. Are there any common practices you think restoration professionals should reconsider, and why?
McCarty: The biggest one is treating debris removal as a commodity to shop purely on price. The cheapest hauler is often the least reliable when the job gets complicated or the schedule shifts. I would also push back on volume-based pricing in general. Landfills charge by weight because that is what is actually accurate. Charging customers by visual estimate or truck space creates a mismatch between what the hauler is actually paying to dispose of and what the customer is being billed for. It is worth restoration professionals asking their debris partners how they actually price the work, because that answer tells you a lot about how the rest of the relationship will go.
Cleanfax: Looking ahead, what trends or changes do you think will have the biggest impact on debris removal and cleanup operations, and how can restoration companies prepare now?
McCarty: Technology will keep improving routing, dispatching and sorting, but it will not remove the basic reality that this is a physical, variable, logistics-heavy business. Trucks still have to get to the site, material still has to be loaded and disposed of correctly, and the field will not always cooperate with the plan. I would also keep an eye on the regulatory side. In some markets, exclusive waste contracts are limiting the options contractors and property owners have for roll-off and specialty debris services, and where competition shrinks, cost and flexibility usually get affected. The restoration companies that come out ahead will be the ones that treat debris removal as a real operational partnership, not an afterthought, and that understand their true waste costs instead of assuming the cheapest option is the efficient one.
