Photo quotes for junk removal crews

The idea

Junk removal prices by truck-load fraction, which means an operator can price a job accurately from three phone photos. Yet independents still drive to in-person estimates that routinely don’t convert, burning half a day of fuel and labour to lose jobs to whoever quoted faster. Meanwhile 1-800-GOT-JUNK and the franchises quote from photos as standard practice.

The wedge is packaging that exact workflow for independents at independent prices: a dedicated text-in number, a board where photos become priced quotes in two taps, and a booking link with a deposit so quoted jobs actually stick. No route software, no CRM suite, just the quoting loop that eats their day.

Who pays

The buyer is the one-or-two-truck junk removal operator, and $49/mo clears easily when in-person estimates cost more than that in fuel weekly, before counting the jobs won by quoting in minutes instead of days. Distribution: junk removal is a heavily YouTubed side-hustle niche with big creator channels and Facebook groups; sponsor the creators who teach people to start these businesses.

MVP scope

• Dedicated Twilio number per operator with MMS photo intake
• Quote board with conversation cards and photo galleries
• Two-tap quoting from preset load-fraction prices plus surcharges
• SMS quote with booking link and Stripe deposit checkout
• Jobs calendar of booked time windows
• Skip for v1: AI volume estimation from photos, route planning, crew management, invoicing the balance, review requests

Build HaulShot, a photo-quoting tool for independent junk removal operators. Stack: Next.js App Router, Supabase (Postgres, storage, magic-link auth), Twilio for the SMS/MMS number, Stripe for deposits and billing.

Core flow: each operator gets a dedicated Twilio number to put on their site and ads with the line, text us photos for a fast quote. Inbound MMS photos and messages land on a quote board as conversation cards showing the images, the customer number, and the thread. The operator taps a card, picks a price from their preset load fractions (eighth, quarter, half, full truck, each with a set price, plus surcharge buttons for heavy items like pianos), and sends the quote as an SMS containing a booking link. The customer picks a time window on the booking page and pays a deposit via Stripe Checkout; the balance is collected on site. The board moves cards through new, quoted, booked, done.

Pages: quote board (kanban), conversation view with photo gallery, pricing presets editor, jobs calendar, settings and billing.

Implementation details: handle Twilio MMS webhooks by copying media to Supabase storage immediately, since Twilio media URLs expire; support multi-photo messages arriving as separate webhooks by grouping on sender within a time window.

Pricing: $49/mo including the phone number, via Stripe Checkout.