Articles Ranking
The Boring Index top ten: the ten dullest trades in the database
Portable toilets at 99, septic at 98, litter cleanup at 97. The ten highest-scoring trades, the owner documented in each, and why the score says nothing about size.
The Boring Index is this site's score for how unglamorous a business is, out of 100. It weighs inverted glamour at 40 percent, demand that ignores the economy at 35 percent, and absent competition at 25 percent. Higher is better, and a business needs 80 to enter the database. This page ranks the ten highest-scoring trades, with the documented owner behind each and what that owner reports.
The scores below are the trade scores in the ideas index, recalculated from the current dataset. Across all 23 scored trades the mean is 91.1 and the median 91, with a range of 83 to 99. The 33 owner entries, which are scored separately, average 90.0. Trades with the same score share a rank.
Construction sites are legally required to provide sanitation, and the disgust barrier keeps most competitors away. Daniel Tom's Bay Area Sanitation runs almost 2,000 units with 19 employees and reported $4.3 million in total income for 2025, per CNBC Make It. He puts the cost at about $800 a unit and $160,000 a vacuum truck.
Tanks need pumping every three to five years whatever the economy does. Dan Spracklin took Gray Brothers from about $1 million to about $3 million within two years of buying it, with margins moving from 10 to 15 percent to over 30. Kim Hatch's Turner Septic reports up to $200,000 in a peak month and about $30,000 in winter.
Hand tools, before dawn, on property-management contracts. Brian Winch started in Calgary in 1981 with about $250 and put the business at $600,000 to $700,000 a year in 2024. He still walks the lots.
Weekly demand set by biology. Scoop Soldiers reported about $1.25 million a month systemwide across 96 territories by 2023. Ryan McCoy bought its Dallas territory and reported more than $900,000 and 1,100 clients within a year.
Steel boxes that last for decades and get re-rented weekly. Clayton Roll keeps his revenue private. Ian Hecht, who owns no dumpsters and sells the leads instead, reported $2.1 million in his second year on about $26,000 of advertising.
A subscription to clean the container the garbage sits in. Brannon Fowler built The Trash Can Cleaners past 1,000 recurring clients in San Antonio in about two years, as documented by Jobber.
Lots repaint every 18 to 24 months, so the customer list behaves like a route. Luke and Heather Menear started in 1999 and approach $739,000 a year in gross revenue two decades later.
Residents own the homes and rent the land, and moving a home is expensive or impossible. Frank Rolfe and Dave Reynolds reported $30 million of revenue in 2013 with more than half as profit. It is also the most ethically contested model in the database.
A steel frame on leased land, rented by the month. Rolfe built the largest privately owned billboard company in Dallas and sold it to Universal Outdoor, now Clear Channel, for $5.8 million in 1996.
Machines that sell without staff, if the placement is right. Marcus Gram started with $10,000 and two machines in 2018 and reported $500,000 in 2022 sales. Adam Hill bought a $60,000 route in 2014 and now grosses over $58,000 a month, working about two days a week.
What the order shows
The top is mostly waste. Five of the top seven trades handle something people throw away or flush: toilets, tanks, dog waste, debris and bins. Two more, litter cleanup and striping, work the parking lot outside a building nobody thinks about. The last three own something that rents: land under homes, a sign by a highway, a machine in a break room. HVAC, the skilled trade the database documents through two buyers, scores 84, near the bottom.
The score says nothing about size. Within the top ten, reported figures run from Winch's $600,000 to $700,000 a year after four decades to Rolfe's $30 million in 2013. Entry costs run from about $250 of hand tools to the roughly $250,000 the toilet trade typically takes to start. The index measures how durable the opportunity is, not how large it gets. The revenue ranking and the startup cost ladder sort the same owners by those other measures.
An owner can score differently from the trade. Owner entries are scored on their own. Hecht's dumpster lead-generation business scores 89 against 96 for the trade, and the Scoop Soldiers entries score 94 against 96 for pet waste. The database shows every entry's score.
The lowest-scoring trades are the familiar ones. At the other end, mobile detailing scores 83, HVAC 84 and lawn care 85. Each is work most people have seen done or done themselves, which is exactly what the glamour factor penalizes. That does not make them worse businesses. It means more people are trying them.
The margin ledger and the exit ledger show what these trades keep and what they sell for. For the logic behind the top two scores, see what legally mandated demand is worth. This site is one of SideRoad's weekly builds, and the scores are recalculated as entries are added.
Common questions
What business has the highest Boring Index score?
Portable toilet rental, at 99. Construction sites are legally required to provide sanitation, demand ignores the economy, and few people want to compete for the work. Daniel Tom's Bay Area Sanitation reported $4.3 million in total income for 2025, per CNBC Make It.
Does a higher Boring Index score mean more money?
No. The index measures how durable an opportunity is, not how large it gets. Among the top ten, Brian Winch's litter business reports $600,000 to $700,000 a year after four decades, while Frank Rolfe's mobile home parks reported $30 million in 2013.
How is the Boring Index calculated?
Each business is scored out of 100 on three weighted factors: inverted glamour at 40 percent, recession-resistant demand at 35 percent, and absent competition at 25 percent. A score of 80 is needed to enter the database. The methodology page explains each factor. Across the 23 scored trades the current mean is 91.1.
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