NorthEast Ohio Junk Removal

The roots of Mike’s Hauling goes back to 2008 when Mike Oradini Jr. decided to start garbage picking around North Ridgeville every Monday, for scrap metal to sell to the local yard.  Mike and his friends used to drive around the city in a red pickup truck looking for metal, cool things to fix, people to talk to, and blasting old time rock and roll with the windows down.  “We would basically pick up anything we thought we could sell outright, fix and use, recycle, or use in our junk fort.”  The junk fort is still in existence to this day, chilling in the woods.  Maybe Mike will post some pictures of this junk palace one day, if you’re lucky.

This paradise quickly turned into a thriving business opportunity when Mike started to save his scrap money, started doing jobs for his network, mastered the art of removal and recycling, and then borrowed the family’s farm truck for the first time in the summer of 2009.  Mike realized there was a market for removing unwanted things of all types.  Mike and the farm truck conquered any job that was thrown at them.

The story of the company’s first job must be told:

“The first job I ever got, I had to leave the high school building to call the person back.  At that point, getting my first call ever, was totally worth getting a detention or two for leaving the school building during school.  There was no way I was forfeiting my first job because of some rules; entrepreneurs’ have a knack for breaking rules, when appropiate, and this was the start of my rule breaking skills.  So I go out to my car, nervous as ever;  I had never made or participated in a business call before.  Nevertheless, I was pumped.  I called the person back, and it is a landlord from Columbus who needs his property cleaned out for his next group of tenants in Amherst, Ohio. This being my first job, I first had to get the approval to use the farm truck and get one of my friends to "hang out."  Let's skip ahead to arriving at the property of my first hauling job ever... My friend and I walked up to the door and knocked for a good 10 minutes, only to find that the landlord's wife was weeding the side yard, and refused to notice us.  We then met the big burly, scary, and intimidating man walking out his junk filled garage with a displeased look on his face as he looked at us and looked at my truck.

‘I thought I was hiring an actual hauling company, not some college kids, trying to make beer money.’ Let me just stop right there and say, this statement has been with me my entire career. I will never forget that he said that, and it has motivated me and my company to entertain our best work in every single job we do.

My response was, this and only this, "Where is the stuff you need to get rid of, we will do our best."

Too his surprise (and ours too), we packed everything he had into only 3 pickup truck loads and I charged him $25 a load.  I was clueless on how this industry worked at the time and was extremely undercharging for all my services. He gave me $110 and said good day (at the time I thought this was a nice tip).

Below is a picture from the first load we did.  Check it out... Yes, there is a SECOND COUCH behind that one standing up.

Among the many things we learned from that day, safety was one of them.  We would never operate like this again.  Our current trucks are fully equipped and safe for any removal job.  This red pickup truck will spend the rest of its days feeding horses.

During the summer of 2010, Mike took the next step in making his business a real self-standing local business.  At only 18 years old, Mike received a loan from his loving mother to buy the company’s first official F-350 truck; customized to suite the junk removal industry.  He also officially registered with state; this was not a big deal, but it gave him the feeling of being official. This was important to Mike, he always wanted to be taken seriously; this was his chance to prove that.  “The summer of 2010 really put us on the map. That summer really taught me how hard this was actually going to be, but I was not the slightest bit discouraged, I wanted it to be challenging.”

Then came the summer of 2011, where things got serious.  Mike bought a second truck, a F250 customized with a dump-bed attachment, which became his beloved little buddy. 

This truck tags along on big jobs as a sidekick to “The Beast”; it can also do its own thing, such as delivering and moving landscaping materials.

"I thought I would never have a customer call and tell me.... that when they tried to find a better deal, the other junk removal company said, 'D@mn I can never beat that kid'. This made me feel good, except for being call a 'kid' again, haha.  We guarantee this experience is common for our customers."

Old potentials were reached and new ones were discovered.  An immense amount of blood, sweat, and tears were sacrificed, but well spent.

The 2012 season is crucial to the future of Mike’s Hauling Services, and we are excited to spend it working with you!  Meet Mike and the team and become part of this young company’s history and future! 

Go to our Scheduling Page, and shoot us an email!