Today we’d like to introduce you to Janet LaBerge.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap in 2004 after leaving a twenty-year career as a social worker for the Department of Mental Health. I started the business doing all sorts of odd jobs, but quickly began to focus on clean outs. Most people call it “junk removal” but I prefer “clean outs” as junk has such a negative connotation. I found that my background as a social worker came in very handy, because many people who were leaving their home of many years were going through a grieving process. I have always been willing to listen to their stories and help them transition to the next phase of their lives. Along the way, I found it very difficult to find homes for all the items that we found in clean outs. Most local charities couldn’t accept the large volume of items we had, and they didn’t accept tools, cleaning supplies or durable medical equipment.
I opened Good Deeds thrift store in 2013 to provide an efficient means for us to process the large volume of useable goods. Since we had already gotten paid to do the removal, I didn’t feel it was fair to take all the profits of the sales. We decided to just cover our costs for running the store and to donate the overage to a different local charity every month. We have donated approximately $80,000 through our “give back” program, benefitting everything from food pantries to cancer causes.
Has it been a smooth road?
The biggest struggle is always finding and keeping great staff. While we pay our staff more than industry standards, we can’t compete with union jobs or state jobs with great benefits. We have been fortunate to have some great people working for us that like working for a small, woman owned business.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Dirty Deeds and Good Deeds story. Tell us more about the business.
Dirty Deeds is a full service clean out company. We work with anyone who needs items removed from their home or office, whether it’s one item or an entire house. We specialize with seniors who are downsizing. We have found that seniors find the process of selling the home they have been in for many years very daunting. They believe their children will want their items (they don’t) and that they will be willing to help them clean out the house (they won’t). Once they are over the disappointment of this, they are happy to hire our company as we not only keep everything we can out of the landfill, but we give lots of money back to our community with our “give back” program. We bring anything that is still functional to our thrift store, Good Deeds. We sell things very cheaply, which helps our customers and we give the proceeds to a different local charity every month. We could easily keep all the profits, so that only my company benefits, but our company motto is “Pay It Forward”. I believe it’s important as a business leader for my company to show that it’s possible to be a profitable company and still give a large amount of money back to our community.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think there will continue to be more franchise chains that are added as junk removal is a growing business.
Pricing:
- Labor is $120 an hour (the time it takes two men to load and unload our van)
- Most common disposal charges are listed on our website
- Mileage is $1 per mile via MapQuest from 209 Water Street in Pembroke to the customer’s home and return.
Contact Info:
- Address: Janet LaBerge, owner
- Website: www.dirtydeedscheap.com www.gooddeedsstore.com
- Phone: 781-308-4447 (Dirty Deeds) 781-924-3162 (Good Deeds)
- Email: dirtydeedsddc04@hotmail.com
- Instagram: Don’t do instagram
- Facebook: We have a face book page for both businesses, but I don’t know how to find the URL’s, just tell people to put the names of our companies in the search button. Technically definicient, I am.
- Twitter: Don’t tweet
- Yelp: Dirty Deeds is on Yelp
Image Credit:
Kat Hanafin photography (one with Susan Wornick). Head shot, shots with dog, one with truck and one with dolly: Jean Donahue photography. Magazine cover: staff of Cape and Plymouth Business magazine. I took the pic of the signs at Good Deeds.
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