Posted by james on August 11, 2007 at 24:03:01:
How about put in the rules not to put trash cans on curbside except trash pickup day - if not you can fine them for violation?
By the way, what do other owners do when a tenant violates minor rule, send an warning letter only, or can you fine them for $25-50 for each violation?
Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Greg Little
Posted by Greg Little on August 09, 2007 at 20:54:34:
Working hard to clean up a 74 pad “turn around” park I just bought. What are some park owners experience with using common area dumpsters versus individual cans? Thanks for your reply.
Greg
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Ryan (NC)
Posted by Ryan (NC) on August 11, 2007 at 07:54:25:
I personally prefer trash cans just because I think they look nicer and there are fewer people that you must tell to take their trash to the dumpster rather than setting it outside the back door or in the shed.
With that said inside the city limits in my area they pick up the trash for free and charge $7.50 per unit in disposal taxes on the power bill. We can rent a dumpster for $26/month or buy one for about $400 and the tenant pays for the pickup with their power. Figuring a 4 year minimum life on the dumpster we’ll realize a 73.50% guaranteed return on the small investment if we buy it along with cutting the monthly expense adding a few thousand in equity to the property. It’s amazing how fast and easy you can add value by reducing expenses on a multi unit property!
What I’m getting at is it that it really depends on your local circumstances more than anything, which is going to cost you less and provide you with the least amount of hassles? Talk to your disposal people and they can give you the real dirt IF you don’t let them pressure you in to signing for more service than you really need.
Best wishes,
Ryan Needler
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Dave Fl.
Posted by Dave Fl. on August 11, 2007 at 03:26:06:
Our park uses a big compactor that is always on site, then twice a week we collect trash/garbage in a small trailer and throw it in the compactor. When its full, about every 6-8 weeks, we have it hauled to the dump, emptied and returned to its pad. Works well and keeps the park clean.
Dave Fl.
How about a combo - Posted by Dr B. (OH)
Posted by Dr B. (OH) on August 10, 2007 at 15:31:37:
One park I work in requires individual toter trash cans supplied by the trash co. Every year the park rents a 40yd dumpster for 1 mo. for the 160 residents to toss their major …er, items, into.
Another set of parks has an agreement with the hauler for individual toters PLUS the hauler will take ANYTHING other than batteries, tires and refrigerated units. I have no idea how much this costs but it keeps the parks cleaner than others. People put out their entire rehab project refuse to find it gone in the A.M.
Happy Trail(er)s,
Steve
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Ellen Brenn
Posted by Ellen Brenn on August 10, 2007 at 09:56:48:
We bought a turnaround park about your size last year. We were lucky that the City picked up the garbage one day a week. No dumpsters EVER!
The trash is paid for in the water bill, which we turned over to the tenants early this year. No bills, no dumpsters. We effectively raised our park rent by getting the water and trash out of the park account.
That said, do not think you won’t have papers, etc. around the park. There is a convenience store very near us, and the people who live there walk there and drop papers, cans and bottles as they walk. (We have never observed this, but it is pretty evident!) Our solution is to pay a young boy $1 per day to walk around the park and pick up trash. He is very happy with this pay. We gave him a trash-picker to use, since sometimes it is not just papers.
I do agree with Brenda. Dumpsters are smelly!
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Bruce
Posted by Bruce on August 10, 2007 at 07:45:39:
No question with me it is individual cans. I always include it in the lot rent, for some reason the trash bill is always the one that does not get paid if you leave it as the tenants responsibility. In my area trash pickup is $20 a month for individuals. I contacted several trash companies and was able to get it for 15 by giving them the entire park. I added $20 to the lot rent,took over the trash and profited $5 per lot per month. My 44 lots net me a nice $220 profit and I never worry about the trash being cancelled due to their non-payment. Another bonus is one truck per week not several different haulers on several different days. Make sure to tell tenants that they MUST have cans with lids. Works great for me, just my thoughts.
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Edwin Bland
Posted by Edwin Bland on August 10, 2007 at 04:33:26:
We are also working on a “turn around” park… also known as the slum by most of my family… We brought in a 40 cubic yard dumpster & told all the residents they were free to put their trash in the dumpster as long as it wasn’t over-filled. We had no idea how much trash there was around the park. We brought a group of guys in & started cleaning out a single family home (-vs- mobile) on the property… in 2 hrs flat we had the dumpster filled… OK… no big deal so we scheduled another dumpster… The next morning I stopped by the park on my way to work… there was trash strewn all down the road & bags of trash piled beside the dumpster & several more couches stacked up about 3-4ft above the top of the dumpster… the trash company won’t pick up the dumpster with very much stuff extending above the top of the unit. They will also reportedly charge an extra fee for not being able to pick up the unit.
The existing policy in the park is that the individual tenants must have their own trash service or personally remove their own trash. After seeing the way people dumped/strewn their trash down the road we decided we didn’t want to mess with picking up everyones trash from the common areas… so we’ll stick with the same policy. We later learned that it was one tenant who had his 4 year old son bring the trash to the dumpster… dragging the bags along the way… so unfortunately, all of the tenants will suffer because of one lame parent (who could have provided their kid a great learning experience by helping him understand what is the proper way to take the trash out… perhaps he could have loaded the bags in his wagon & pulled it… )
Good luck!
Regards,
Edwin Bland,
Mansfield, TX
p.s. We took pictures of the inside of one of the mobiles… the trash /junk is literally waist deep… we’ll likely need another dumpster for that unit alone… we’ve considered just using the unit itself as a dumpster & hauling it away… but we’d like to see what it looks like underneath all the junk… 
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Brenda (OH)
Posted by Brenda (OH) on August 10, 2007 at 03:56:47:
Greg,
not an owner viewpoint, but when I lived in large apartment complex of similar # of people to your park, I noticed several down sides of dumpsters,
and for prespective, the residents were middle income range. mix of singles and families
up side for me as a resident, I could put trash out on any day of week, and not have to worry about putting the cans out and taking them in. that lead me to be better about not keeping the trash sitting in the kitchen. well, it would have, if I had not been on the third floor, and at the opposite end of the building from the dumpster lol
Brenda (OH)
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Shawn
Posted by Shawn on August 10, 2007 at 09:50:55:
I have considered switching to curbside pickup, but I am concerned about the cans being left out in the yards(unsightly and moving them slows mowing) and the mess around them, does anyone else have other solutions?
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by Daphne Lowe
Posted by Daphne Lowe on August 11, 2007 at 20:41:06:
We wanted a neat, uniform appearance. So we purchased (and billed residents for) 64 gallon trash cans and painted lot numbers on them. Our community guidelines state that the cans be kept behind the deck and only be brought curbside on collection day.
Daphne
Re: Dumpsters or personal cans? - Posted by james
Posted by james on August 11, 2007 at 24:03:48:
How about put in the rules not to put trash cans on curbside except trash pickup day but keep it inside etc. - if not you can fine them for violation?
By the way, what do other owners do when a tenant violates minor rule, send an warning letter only, or can you fine them for $25-50 for each violation?