Buying a waste hauling company in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida

• Recurring commercial accounts on dense routes, with service agreements that renew automatically.
• A broad base of roll-off customers, not one or two large contractors whose projects will end.
• A young or well-maintained fleet with maintenance records. A truck off the road for a week means missed pickups and unhappy customers.
• Reliable access to disposal at reasonable prices, perhaps including its own transfer or processing site.
• Franchises or permits in the cities and counties where it works, with years left to run.
• Experienced drivers who stay, and a clean safety record.
• Containers in good condition, counted and tracked.
• Routing and billing software that shows revenue per stop and per truck.

• Every franchise, license and permit: holder, area, term, fees, and conditions for transfer.
• Revenue by line (roll-off, commercial routes, residential contracts), and how much comes from the biggest customers.
• Disposal costs and agreements. Rising tipping fees can squeeze margins quickly.
• A fleet list with age, mileage, maintenance records and liens. Have a mechanic inspect the trucks.
• Container count and condition, and how many sit at customer sites.
• Driver records, accident history, insurance claims and the cost of auto liability coverage.
• Environmental issues at the yard: fuel, oil, wash water and any DEP enforcement.
• Contracts with cities or counties, and their renewal or rebid dates. Ask whether any local government plans an exclusive franchise or its own service. Before a city or county takes over a service a private hauler provides, state law requires a hearing, 3 years' notice and compensation, but not when it simply declines to renew a contract (section 403.70605). Ask your attorney whether that protection covers a new exclusive franchise.
• Customer service agreements: length, automatic renewal, price increase terms, and whether they can be assigned.

• Which franchises and permits do you hold, and when do they come up for renewal?
• How does your revenue split between roll-off, commercial routes and government contracts?
• Where do you dump, and what do you pay per ton?
• How old is your fleet, and what are you planning to replace?
• How long have your drivers been with you, and how do you hire new ones?
• What accidents and insurance claims have you had?
• Who are your biggest customers?

This region covers Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker and Putnam counties: Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Green Cove Springs, Fernandina Beach, Yulee, Macclenny and Palatka. Jacksonville merged with most of Duval County in 1968, which makes it the largest city by land area in the lower 48 states.

The economy leans on logistics, the Navy and financial services. Logistics runs through JAXPORT, major rail lines and the meeting of Interstates 95 and 10. The Navy has Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport. Insurance and health care matter too. St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish in 1565, and Amelia Island draw steady tourism. Trucking and logistics firms, the building trades, medical practices and home services all fit this market.

Northeast Florida is less seasonal than South or Southwest Florida, with fewer winter residents and more year-round employers. Direct hurricane landfalls have been less common here than on other parts of the coast, but storms still bring flooding along the St. Johns River and the beaches, so check insurance costs and flood zones.

Military families bring skilled workers and working spouses into the labor pool, though they also move on when orders change. St. Johns, Clay and Nassau have added the most new homes, and companies serving those suburbs have grown with them. Georgia is close, and some companies here serve customers across the state line. Work in Georgia may need Georgia licenses, so ask how much revenue comes from there and who holds those licenses.