Monster Junk - Our Journey So Far...

Hi I'm Dan, the founder of Monster Junk. To explain how and why the business developed to what you see today, I need to go right back to the beginning - to before the Monster was born...

Our Story

Monster Junk is a family business run by two married couples Dan & Sophie Lavin and our friends Ash & Lila Thompson. The business has been built with fundamental family values of integrity, compassion and optimism guiding our ethos.

The team run the company from our head office in Cheshire, taking care of Monster Junk partners all over England and Wales. We operate from a rural village office, fortunate to work in an environment surrounded by the Cheshire countryside and friendly people.

Dan’s first career was with a Spanish building company in the rural Spanish province of Almeria, Spain. In 2008 as the financial crisis hit the Spanish property market (and the whole world) Dan and Sophie decided to return to the UK with their young family. After one year of working for other the people, Dan set up an international removals business with just one van. Dan was able to help many more expats return to the UK during the crisis with his man & van Spain-UK-Spain moving service. Dan acquired the nickname Dan The Van and things took off so well he decided to take on staff, an extra van and even a storage unit.

As for many people, the turbulence and volatility of 2008/9 completely altered the landscape, and though much struggle came along with that, Dan soon built up a thriving domestic home removal and courier transport service locally. Business was booming.

By 2014 a trend had emerged - that house clearance, and people needing disposal services, was not just easier but much more profitable than removals and light transport. Dan and Sophie made the decision that the way forward was in house clearance and junk removal. Dan learned all he could about the industry with help from auctioneers and waste disposal experts he slowly moved the business in that direction. This new business model proved to be exceptionally profitable and enjoyed years of success.

Family has always been the driving force for Dan and Sophie. It’s always been essential that they reserve themselves the time, that rare resource, to have quality moments and experiences with their children. This is what motivated them to take the leap in to self-employment in the first place - set your own hours and decide how much you want to earn without sacrificing family time. The business has to work around the family, never vice versa.

In time, as the business grew and developed, it made sense to move away from the Dan The Van name, as it had become much more than a standard man & van outfit. It became important to use a name, and branding, that more clearly explained the nature of the service on offer - and that's how Monster Junk was born.

During the Covid 19 pandemic of 2020/21 Monster Junk was incredibly busy with house clearances and junk removal. Considered an essential service, Dan carried on through lock-downs and restrictions to help people when they needed it most. It was impossible to service the demand, and it quickly became necessary to expand and take on new bigger storage premises, an office and 4 new vehicles including two tipper trucks to keep up.

As the service became widely known and Monster Junk's reputation for quality spread, Dan found he was struggling to keep up with demand in towns and cities over an hour from the new depot. It was time to replicate the model and open up new branches in surrounding areas.

Dan wanted to keep the family values that have always been at the core of Monster Junk, and with this in mind he consulted friends, family and even those customers who had seen the business grow so quickly. One of Dan's regular customers (a business consultant) suggested franchising as a way to keep standards high and family values at heart. He pointed out that franchised business owners would always be better placed to offer that consistent high quality and personal service that Monster Junk customers had grown to expect. 

Dan could show others how they could make a substantial income working from home. In am economy where it is not easy to find well paid work that is compatible with family life, he realised that meeting Monster Junk demand could offer more families the opportunity to do a good thing for their communities and be well rewarded. A team was assembled, including a customer service and sales team. Ash Thompson joined us as franchise director and together they set out to recruit partners across the country.

The hard work had already been done for the new partners joining Monster Junk. The systems and support was in place and new branches simply had to go out and get the business that was there waiting for them. Now the extremely successful Monster Junk systems could be enjoyed by not just the customers but also by franchisees joining as new partners.

There have been many problems to solve to get to this point, but after over 17 years of industry experience, and 3 years of franchising, the bumps have been levelled out. This has been achieved by persistent attention from Dan and Ash, using Monster Junk's unparalleled app software, the head office call centre, bespoke management systems and advertising launch strategies. All of which allow our franchisees to run their own junk clearance businesses with the piece of mind of Monster Junk community support from head office and other partner franchisees.  All of these assets (and more) are made available to new franchisees from day one.

As a Monster Junk Partner you get a mentor and support team to help you build your business. You will then benefit from earning up to 89% of the receipts generated in your territory. You will have a support team in place who can answer customer enquires and provide admin support while you are enjoying the freedom of the open road. 

We are also seeking Master Franchise Partners for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We will teach you how to run a Master Territory Head Office & Call Centre. We are also looking for local Partners to join their teams in Scotland and Eire. From time to time, we also have franchise territory resales following franchisee retirement or change of direction.

If you want to be involved with one of the most innovative and fastest growth industries then now is the time to join the Monster Junk team.