Buying a waste hauling company in Orlando and Central 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 Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Sumter and Marion counties: Orlando, Winter Park, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Sanford, Clermont, Leesburg, Ocala and the large retirement communities of Sumter and Lake counties. Tourism is what the area is best known for, built on the theme parks, the hotels, the vacation rental homes around Kissimmee and the Orange County Convention Center. It's far from the only business. The University of Central Florida and the military simulation and training offices near it support a technology base, and health care is a major employer.

Marion County is horse country, with thoroughbred farms around Ocala, and it has added warehouses and distribution centers along Interstate 75. Retirees in Sumter and Lake create steady demand for medical practices, home care, home maintenance and auto services. The building trades, restaurants, and companies that serve hotels and rental homes do well across the region.

Central Florida is inland, so storm surge isn't the worry it is on the coasts. Hurricanes still bring wind damage and flooding, though: Hurricane Ian flooded neighborhoods in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties in 2022. Ask whether the business or its customers were affected.

Tourism keeps demand steadier through the year than in markets that depend on winter residents, with busy stretches around school holidays. Hotels, parks and restaurants compete hard for workers, which pushes up wages for any company that hires hourly staff. New homes have spread fast in Osceola, south Lake and southeast Orange counties and around Ocala, so check whether a company's customers are in growing areas or older ones. Traffic on Interstate 4 limits how much ground a service company can cover in a day.