Matt Beasley and Luke Trefny started their junk removal and hauling business, Aloha Junk Man, about two years ago and since then have grown from two trucks to five, including two new flatbed trucks delivered earlier this month that are undergoing customization.
The partners and their team — they have about 10 people total working for the company — have hauled everything from a single couch to the dump to truckloads of junk from a home to disposing of old office furniture and equipment from businesses and hotels.
They haul items to various places on Oahu depending on the materials and whether something is recyclable, and will sweep and clean up the area after they’re done loading the truck. Depending on the client, they will also take items in good condition and donate them to charity or put them on social media for someone to take for free, such as a recent patio set. They also donate their time and services to several nonprofit organizations.
They’ve also found treasure buried under piles of junk, such as the time they found $4,000 in cash and about $6,000 in gold and silver at a client’s home.
Beasley and Trefny are active on social media, posting entertaining videos on Instagram and TikTok that show them working, such as cutting up a boat or a hot tub for disposal, and had Hawaii Island YouTube comedian Alex Farnham produce a humorous junk man superhero video advertising their services.
They’ve also outgrown working from home and are looking for commercial space to lease or buy with a yard where they can store their trucks and a warehouse where they can store some of the items they come across.
What made you get into this line of work?
Matt Beasley: We’re men of faith, so I really blame it on God, I feel like he led me into it. I had a pressure-washing business and I got an opportunity to haul somebody’s junk and a light bulb came on. It’s not like it’s a new concept or anything but it was new for me. I just saw the need for it and saw opportunity and as I started to go after that, business came, and I just kept doing it.
I was leading a Bible study and [Luke] was there attending it, at Anchor Church in Kaneohe. Luke had a background in business and we started connecting on that. He became a mentor in business and this seemed natural for us to team up.
Luke Trefny: I had a consulting business, business management, and a background in mortgage banking and finance. Nothing about waste management but there are things you can apply across industries.
How did initially you find clients?
Beasley: We advertise with Google AdWords. We have a social media presence, we do a lot of interactive videos where it’s kind of “day in the life” of what we’re doing, that goes on TikTok Instagram, Facebook. Then there’s, we call it pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, when you’re out in the community. You do an apartment job then you go find the property manager and you tell them, “Hey, we’re here to serve you.”
How do you charge for your services?
Beasley: Mostly it’s by volume, how much stuff you have. In certain situations, we do charge by the hour. Every job is so different, we do things from going to pick up a couch to taking 18 loads out of a house. Our biggest job was 34 loads out of somebody’s yard. There’s some jobs we have to use equipment to load our trucks and so we just hire that out. What we try to sell to our customers is a no-obligation, on-site estimate.
How do you want to grow the company?
Trefny: We see a lot of opportunities in many places, serving communities or apartment complexes. They have challenges with trash that the residents are making. And there’s the military community. They take some stuff with them but [when] they’re moving off the island, they’re not taking everything with them.
Aloha Junk Man
Matt Beasley, Luke Trefny, owners
Phone: 808-940-0809
Website: alohajunkman.com
Instagram: @alohajunkman