Free Guide to Starting Up In Scrap Metal, Scrap Electronics, E-Scrap, Salvage and Recycling

Hi - I've just created a new resource especially for newbies (newb, newby, newbys, noob). I'll be updating it frequently and I'd love to hear from you if you have questions, comments or - anything at all. Check out the New Guide to Starting Up In the Home-Based Scrap Metal, Scrap Electronics, E-Scrap, Salvage and Recycling.

www.RecyclingSecrets.com for Free Home Based Salvage and Recycling Information Including: Metals, Deconstruction and Used Building Materials, Gold and Precious Metals and E-Waste. Check out: How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

$600 Worth of Saleable Items PLUS 80+ Quarts of New Motor Oil Free

Hi - I've been looking around for more 55 gallon steel oil drums. I use them to sort various metals and electronic scrap. I was looking this time for some that had recently had liquid in them and still had the tops and plugs because I had found a source for several hundred gallons of biodiesel and needed a good way to store it.

I checked Craigslist but there was no one near and the folks who had them in a (100 mile away) major metropolitan area wanted $20 each for them.

I called around to the local gas and oil companies and found one company that would give me two and another one who turned me on to a race car driver that would give me four.

Today I went to collect the two and the guy told me that he'd really like to hang onto them but he knew of another place in town, an auto shop, that had dozens of nearly new sealed drums. They bought oil for oil changes in bulk and the supplier would not take the empty drums back. I asked the fellow if he'd call ahead for me so that I was expected.

I drove a cross town (tiny town of 1500 folks) and found the shop. The owner showed me a large side yard with dozens of like new drums stacked on their sides so they wouldn't rust or get water inside.

I was able to load 8 in my Nissan pickup and another 8 on my little 4x8 trailer. Tomorrow I'll go back for more. Should be about 40 drums in all.

Unexpected bonus was that each one has 2 to 3 quarts of brand new oil in the bottom. Either 15w-50 or 5w-30 - Napa Premium brand. The pumps they use in the barrels don't quite reach the bottom. Fortunately, once they've pumped all they can they put the plug back in and store them on their side. That way none leaks out and no water gets in - Brand new motor oil for free!

Around here motor oil goes for anywhere from $4 to $6 per quart. I'm going to keep the oil. I figure at the low end, I've saved myself purchasing 80 quarts of oil for $320! Also, I'll sell off most of the drums for $10 to $20 - approximate total of $300 to $600. Not bad for 6 hours of work total and about $15 in gas.

BTW - I'll be sure to tell them to call me when they have more and I'll also check around town for more. The more I look at them, the more uses I can think of for them. When I pickup the last load tomorrow, I'll bring a couple of pizzas as a way of thanking the shop folks. I'll also go by the gas and oil place and bring them something as well or at least, ask them what I should keep my eye out for as I go about my salvage and recycling business.

There's always something new around every corner. Just gotta keep being out there and keep talking to folks and you'll find them. Some of the things may not be as glamorous as electronic recycling for gold, etc, but they pay as well.

Good Luck

Mike

www.RecyclingSecrets.com for Free Home Based Salvage and Recycling Information Including: Metals, Deconstruction and Used Building Materials, Gold and Precious Metals and E-Waste. Check out: How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

How I Get the Material I Need and Make Money Tearing Down Old Houses

Last week a friend of a friend told me about an old house that the owner wants torn down. I went over and took a look. It's small - about 24 feet by 18 feet - single story home. It was built back in the 1930s and is in very poor shape, but the lumber is good.

I did some figuring on its value - the cost for materials at today's prices and came up with the following:

• The house is all douglas fir. It has shiplap siding that can be used as is or planed. The subfloor, ceiling and inside walls are all solid 1x12. It's a stick frame house so there are lots of 2x4 in walls and roof. There are 2x8 floor joists and the roof is solid sheathed in 1x12 lumber. All in all I come up with about 4400 board feet - today's value on the West Coast is about $1600.
  
  
• I actually want to use quite a bit of it to enlarge my shop at home so I'll be using a sawzall and taking portions of walls intact, but if I were to tear down the entire building piece by piece, I figure one person could do it in 4-5 days. 2 good workers could do it in 2-3 days. So, if I were to hire labor to do it, I'd be looking at about $800 -$1,000 cost for lumber valued at $1600. Note though that this is used lumber, but also of much better quality than is available today. If I tore it down myself, the cash out of pocket would be much less.
  
  
• The house has heavy corrugated aluminum roofing over the solid wood sheathing. Scrap value of this is about $200. The wiring is the old style single wires on posts - very easy to strip - worth about $150 - $250.
  
  
• And then there are the fixtures, switches, hardware, windows, doors... worth many hundreds of dollars.
  

The way I figure it - it's a good money maker. Most likely enough in scrap metals and miscellaneous non-lumber items to pay the labor costs so the lumber is basically free and can be used (what I'll do with most) and/or sold quite readily. I could price it for about 25% less than market value and it would sell quite quickly - in these times, everyone is looking for a bargain!

So, check out your friends, your town, start looking around. I'm in a very lightly populated county of only 20,000 people and I find more deals like this than I can handle - mainly just through word of mouth.

If you want to learn more about this and how I got into and stay in the salvage and recycling business, check out RecyclingSecrets.com and my ebook, How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business.

Best of Luck

Mike

www.RecyclingSecrets.com for Free Home Based Salvage and Recycling Information Including: Metals, Deconstruction and Used Building Materials, Gold and Precious Metals and E-Waste. Check out: How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

How I Get Computer and Electronic Scrap Free and Make Good Money With It

Lately I've been focusing most of my salvage and recycling business on building materials and parts for alternative energy systems. I use a lot of this at my own home and sell some to earn a living. But, given the soaring prices of gold, silver, platinum and other non-precious metals, I've recently gotten back into electronics and computer salvage and recycling.

Here's what I'm doing

I live in a rural area so I'm:

• Running ads on Craigslist telling folks that I'll pickup used computers, monitors, printers, electronic games, cell phones -- anything electronic for free. People are more than willing to give these things away in most regions of the country because they usually have to transport these things to recycling centers and then PAY to recycle them. Since I'm in a rural area, I've setup scheduled pickup days so I don't burn too much gas. I have a small Nissan pickup that normally does the job and if I luck into more, I have a small 8 foot trailer that I build from a Harbor Freight kit.
  
  
• I've also negotiated relationships with recycling centers in most of the towns and where there are no recycling centers, I've made a deal with a local market to allow folks to drop off their electronic stuff there so I can pickup.
  
  
• Recently I stopped at my local thrift store and there were two old 60s vintage IBM workstations and a mini-computer. These early computers have many times the thickness of gold plate on fingers and backplanes compared to newer computers. These were dumped at their back door when they were closed. They figured, rightly, that they had little chance of selling them and were very happy that I would take them away right then. So, I stop at all the thrift stores and leave them a flyer and cards so they know who to call when they get too many computers and the like - and they get a lot.
  
  
• I also post flyers on any bulletin board I can find and leave a few at each yard sale I visit.
  
  
• Freecycle works out quite well. I post wanted ads frequently and always get a good response. I also place ads in my local free giveaway classified newspapers. they're cheap and a lot of people read them from end to end.
  
  
• Magnetic signs on the doors of your truck or van help as well.
  

How I Make Money With All This Electronic Stuff

I've found that a lot of the computers are fairly new and have been replaced because they've gotten slow, crashed or just don't run right. Frequently the problem can be fixed by simply running a chkdsk and defragging the hard drive. Next step is to check for viruses, spyware and malware. I did find it difficult to get really good software and information about viruses, spyware, malware and their removal until I found a really good manual that explains it all plus provides the software to do it right. It's saved me a lot of money and precious time.

Doing these two things to the recent computers gets them running good again. Good enough to sell easily for $100 to $300 depending on what it is. I usually charge around 20% of what stores charge for a comparable computer. I also mix and match, taking parts from two to make one good computer and the like.

The older computers and ones that aren't reusable I scrap out for precious metals and parts. It's been awhile since I've dealt with a refiner so I'm still checking around. I used to get a very good deal from Cascade Refining in Salt Lake City, Utah, but before I use them again, I'll send a small test quantity of boards and connectors and see how it comes out. Some folks also sell this stuff on eBay, but for now, I'll stay away from that. It is an option though if you are so inclined. I've learned from previous experience that it does not pay me to refine myself - too dangerous and time consuming.

As I find out more about legitimate buyers of parts, details of amounts of precious and other metals in various computers and components and refiners, I'll post here so you can learn about them as well.

Complimentary Money Maker

I had trouble finding really good software that would really help getting a slow, virus infected computer going again. I finally found a really good manual about it and good software as well. Actually it is an entire business plan for making a good living just removing viruses and malware for people. I'm doing this on the side for the people who haven't yet bought a new computer and are trying to keep their old one going. Check out this spyware and virus removal manual and software for yourself. I found that it is well worth the money.

Check here, if you'd like to learn more about my decades in the home based salvage and recycling business.

Best of Luck

www.RecyclingSecrets.com for Free Home Based Salvage and Recycling Information Including: Metals, Deconstruction and Used Building Materials, Gold and Precious Metals and E-Waste. Check out: How to Make Money in the Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business

Plans for buildings, cabins, homes, sheds, greenhouses and more with used lumber

Early on in the salvage and recycling business I made a good living getting free or very cheap building materials and lumber. You'll find more about deconstruction and lumber and building material and reuse here. And it's gone into in more details in the ebook, Home Based Salvage and Recycling Business Manual.

Now there is a whole bunch of plans that will help guide you in making various stuctures - cabins, homes, barns, greenhouses, etc. - with the lumber and building materials that you collect. Check out the Free Self-Sufficiency Building Plans
for Farm, Ranch & Homestead at ToolsForSurvival.com.

Best of Luck,

Mike

Free Guide For Setting Up an Electronics Recycling Business

Here's a free guide from the Northeast Recycling Council. Download the guide to setting up an electronics recycling business here.