Kirk and Jacob McKinney started their junk removal business, Junk Teens, with about $8,000.
Courtesy of Kirk and Jacob McKinney
Junk removal is, at its core, a simple business model with a relatively simple startup blueprint.When Kirk McKinney decided to start his own junk-removal business as a teenager, he already had a feel for the industry. After discovering a dump near his Massachusetts home, he began collecting discarded speakers, electronics, weights, and other items and reselling them. The more time he spent there, the better he got to know the local junk removal workers. Eventually, he started helping them.That's when he saw the business opportunity."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."To start his own version, he figured he needed two things: another person to help pick up and transport the junk, and a vehicle.He enlisted his younger brother, Jacob, and the two pooled their savings to buy a $4,000 Ford F-150 in 2021. As of mid-July 2026, Kirk, 22, and Jacob, 21, have built Junk Teens into a seven-figure business on track to top $5 million in revenue this year, according to a P&L viewed by Business Insider. Since 2021, the company has expanded beyond its main location in Norwood to Cape Cod, the North Shore, and Rhode Island, and now has about 25 employees and seven dump trucks.Starting Junk Teens with about $8,000All in, the brothers estimate they spent about $8,000 to get the business up and running in year one. Half of that went toward the F-150. The rest went toward basic startup costs, including setting up the business and building walls on the side of the pickup truck so it could carry more junk.
