Articles Ranking
Every documented owner, ranked by revenue
Thirty reported figures in one column, largest first, each with the caveat that belongs to it. Three owners have never said.
Thirty of the 33 owners in the database have a revenue figure on record. This is all of them in one column, largest first, each with the caveat that belongs to it. Three owners have never disclosed revenue and are listed separately at the end.
Read the notes as well as the numbers. Some figures are franchise system sales. Some are a monthly figure multiplied by twelve, and those are marked. One is a business that no longer exists. Where two entries land on the same number, the order between them means nothing.
Junk removal franchise. Systemwide revenue for 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, per Founder's Journal (2024). Franchise system sales, not one owner's company.
Lawn care franchise. Systemwide revenue across 200-plus Augusta locations, per interviews (2026).
Mobile home parks. 2013 revenue, with over half reported as profit. The newest revenue figure on record for them is that old.
Pet waste removal franchise. About $1.25 million a month systemwide, per UpFlip (2023), annualised here.
Car washes, three locations. Nearly $6 million a year at margins above 20 percent, per UpFlip.
Portable toilets. 2025 total income, per CNBC Make It. Nineteen employees, almost two thousand units.
Septic pumping. Up from about $1 million within two years of buying the company in 2013, per Acquiring Minds.
Junk removal. Annual figure per UpFlip. Owner-claimed, and the coverage does not separate revenue from take-home.
Laundromats, four locations. Recent annual revenue, per industry interviews.
Dumpster rental lead generation. Year-two revenue on about $26,000 of advertising, per figures he shared on My First Million. Profit not independently documented.
HVAC, acquired. Revenue at purchase, per Acquiring Minds. The business ended in bankruptcy after seller fraud.
Pressure washing and roof cleaning. Annual revenue per UpFlip (2023).
Residential and Airbnb cleaning. $120,000 to $140,000 a month per UpFlip, annualised here at the midpoint.
HVAC, acquired. Revenue at acquisition, per Acquiring Minds. He was targeting $2.72 million the following year; the target is not ranked.
Septic pumping. Reported as up to $200,000 a month in peak season and about $30,000 in winter. The annual figure is the database's estimate, not one she stated.
Pet waste franchise territory. Within a year of taking over the Dallas territory, per Franchise Times and Entrepreneur.
Mobile auto detailing. Annual revenue at 60 percent gross margins, per UpFlip.
Pool service franchise. Annual revenue per UpFlip's feature. Revenue, not take-home.
Window cleaning, sold. Peak of $65,000 to $70,000 a month before the sale, annualised here at the midpoint.
Holiday light installation. Booked in a two-month season, per his published figures.
Parking lot striping. Annual gross revenue after two decades, per Starter Story.
Vending route, 100-plus machines. More than $58,000 a month gross per UpFlip, annualised here.
Parking lot litter cleanup. A year, as told on Small Business Origins. Operating since 1981.
Vending machines. 2022 sales, per CNBC Make It.
Landscape maintenance and build. $22,000 to $29,000 a month across UpFlip's coverage, annualised here at the midpoint.
Laundry service and laundromat. About $24,000 a month from a 40-machine store, per CNBC Make It, annualised here.
Junk removal, sold 2024. A run rate of about $20,000 a month, per Starter Story, annualised here. He reported about $180,000 for 2019.
Commercial cleaning. First full year, per The Side Hustle Show.
Storage unit flipping. 2025, on about $82,000 of EBIT, per documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Residential cleaning. $10,000 a month as of October 2024, per CNBC Make It, annualised here.
Not ranked: revenue undisclosed
Nick Huber and Dan Hagberg report 2 million square feet across 68 storage facilities in 11 states and have not published revenue. Clayton Roll runs dumpsters, container storage, apartments, and equipment rental with no figure on record. Brannon Fowler is documented at more than 1,000 recurring bin-cleaning clients, which is a customer count and not a sales number.
What the column shows
The top is franchising and land. Three of the first four entries are franchise systems, and the other owns mobile home parks. Systemwide revenue is what the franchisees sell in total. The franchisor's own income is a fraction of it, and that fraction is not documented for any of the three.
Half the list is under $1 million. Fifteen of the thirty ranked entries report less than $1 million a year, and the midpoint of the whole column sits between $900,000 and $1.2 million. Most documented owners of these businesses run something that size, with a handful of employees or none.
Starting capital does not sort the list. The $700 pickup truck is at number 1. The $150 window cleaning kit is at 19 and the $250 of hand tools at 23, and both of those outrank the laundry business that needed a 40-machine store. The full cost column is on the startup costs page.
Revenue is the least useful number here. Daniel Tom reports margins of 20 to 25 percent on $4.3 million. Michael Haskell kept about $82,000 of EBIT on $135,000. Dan Burnside's $2.1 million business is at number 11 and ended in bankruptcy. The margin ledger and the exit ledger say more about what an owner ends up with than this page does.
Use it as an index
Every name above links to a case study with its sources. The database lets you sort the same 33 owners by trade and city, the Boring Index scores each business from 0 to 100, and the picker narrows the models by what you can spend.
Common questions
Who has the highest revenue in the database?
Brian Scudamore, at about $600 million, but that is systemwide revenue for the 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchise. Leaving out the franchise systems and the mobile home park portfolio, the largest service business is the D'Eri family's three car washes at nearly $6 million a year, followed by Daniel Tom's portable toilet company at $4.3 million.
How much revenue does a typical documented owner report?
The midpoint of the thirty ranked entries falls between $900,000 and $1.2 million a year. Fifteen report less than $1 million. The smallest is Anna-Marie Ortiz's cleaning company at about $120,000 annualised.
Is revenue the same as what the owner earns?
No. Reported margins in this database run from about 20 percent for larger companies with employees to 60 percent or more for a founder doing the work. Michael Haskell reported about $82,000 of EBIT on $135,000 of sales, while Daniel Tom reports 20 to 25 percent on $4.3 million.
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