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Brand comparison

1-800-GOT-JUNK? and VETS,item by item.

1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchise cost and fees next to VETS, from each brand's current FDD by item. Territory model, service lines, and one owner per metro.

Key takeaways

  • Both brands sell junk removal franchises. The biggest structural difference is territory. VETS sells one franchise per metro area; check Item 12 of the 1-800-GOT-JUNK? FDD for how its territories are drawn.

  • Fees and investment for both come from Item 5, 6 and 7 of each FDD, and only from there.

  • VETS owners run junk removal, dumpster rental and commercial waste from one fleet, with national property-management accounts assigned as set out in the FDD.

1-800-GOT-JUNK? (also searched as "1800 Got Junk" and "Got Junk") is the best-known junk removal franchise in North America, and the first brand most buyers compare against. This page sets its franchise cost and fees next to VETS's, each taken from the brand's own current Franchise Disclosure Document by item number, and says plainly where each model fits a buyer better.

The numbers, by FDD item

Figures come only from each brand's current Franchise Disclosure Document, cited by item. A cell reading “See current FDD ↓” means the brand's current FDD has not been reviewed for that figure: the lookup block below says where to read it.
What the FDD says VETS 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
Initial franchise fee Item 5 In the FDD ↗ See current FDD ↓
Total initial investment Item 7 $62,100–$178,420 See current FDD ↓
Royalty Item 6 In the FDD ↗ See current FDD ↓
Brand or marketing fund Item 6 In the FDD ↗ See current FDD ↓
Technology and other recurring fees Item 6 In the FDD ↗ See current FDD ↓
Territory model Item 12 One owner per metro area, as defined in Item 12 See current FDD ↓
Services offered Item 1 Junk removal, dumpster rental, and commercial and multifamily waste services See current FDD ↓
Veteran incentives Items 5 and 6 See the veterans page ↗ See current FDD ↓
Franchised units open Item 20 4 (2025) See current FDD ↓
Financial performance representation Item 19 No Item 19 — VETS publishes no earnings information See current FDD ↓
FDD issuance date Cover page In the FDD ↗ See current FDD ↓
  1. VETS: its current Franchise Disclosure Document, every figure a reviewed claim. Every line of the investment.
  2. 1-800-GOT-JUNK?: current FDD not yet reviewed — see the lookup block below.

Why owners choose VETS over 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

Both brands sell junk removal franchises. These are the reasons owners who compared the two chose VETS.

  • One owner, the whole metro. A VETS franchise is an entire metro area as defined in Item 12, with no carved-up sub-territories and no second VETS branch competing for the same jobs. Compare that with how Item 12 of the 1-800-GOT-JUNK? FDD draws its territories.
  • Three service lines from one fleet. Junk removal, dumpster rental, and commercial and multifamily waste services: more ways to put the same trucks and crews to work, across different customers and seasons.
  • National accounts you do not have to win yourself. VETS holds relationships with multi-site property management groups, and the work in your metro is assigned as set out in the FDD.
  • CentCom behind you. The corporate support team runs national accounts, receivables, the technology platform and training, and stays on the line after opening. Item 11 of the FDD sets out exactly what VETS provides.
  • Veteran-founded, led from the front. Built by an Army Engineer Officer from a single Charlotte truck, and the Charlotte corporate store is still the template every territory runs from.

Questions to ask both brands

  1. Show me Item 12. What exactly is my territory, and what is not?
  2. Which end of the Item 7 range should I plan for in my metro?
  3. What does the royalty in Item 6 fund, and what is charged separately?
  4. How many owners left in the last three years, and may I call them?
  5. What did the last three new owners find hardest in year one?

Review 1-800-GOT-JUNK?'s FDD yourself

Every franchisor gives you its Franchise Disclosure Document during its own sales process, and by law you have at least fourteen days with it before you sign or pay anything. The current document is also on file, free, in the state databases below.

A brand appears in a state database only if it has registered or filed in that state; not every franchisor files in every state.

Request the VETS FDD

Questions people ask

How much does a 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchise cost?

The answer is Items 5 and 7 of its current FDD, and the table above shows those figures once we have read the current document. Any other number you find online is somebody's copy of an older FDD or a guess.

Is VETS cheaper?

Compare the Item 7 ranges in the table, then ask each brand which end of its range applies to your market. A lower low end is not a lower cost if your metro sits at the top of the range.

Sources

  1. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchise site — retrieved 2026-09-25
  2. FTC Franchise Rule, 16 CFR Part 436 — retrieved 2026-09-25

PENDING COUNSEL. Trademark notice for comparison pages. Third-party marks belong to their owners; their use here is for identification only and does not imply affiliation or endorsement.

PENDING — VETS to supply

Franchise development

Fact-checked by PENDING — VETS to supply

Placeholder. Doc 10 input 13: VETS must supply real author and reviewer names, titles, credentials, bios and headshots. Every editorial page carries a named writer and a separate named fact-checker, and both become Person nodes in the page's structured data. Never invent a person or a credential.

Next step

Let us talkabout your market.

Tell us where you are looking. We will tell you straight whether the metro is open, what it would take, and whether we think it is a fit.

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A person replies, usually within a business day

Not an autoresponder sequence, and not a call centre reading from a script.

Fourteen days with the FDD, minimum

Federal law gives you at least that long before anything can be signed. We treat it as a floor, not a target.

We will tell you if it is not a fit

Both directions. We are deciding too, and we would rather say so early than waste a year of yours.

PENDING COUNSEL. This is not an offer to sell a franchise. An offer is made only by a Franchise Disclosure Document, and only in states where VETS is registered or exempt.