Business Spotlight: Smith’s Roll-Offs
By Deanna Ryan
Brandon Smith’s Electronics Technology degree from Southeastern Tech and Aircraft Repairman Certification and Airframe License all allowed him to work at Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah as a highly-trained lead aircraft mechanic from 2008 until this past May. Still the commute between Vidalia and Savannah kept him away from his wife, Ashley Smith, and their three children countless hours. For this and other reasons, Smith wanted to move out of the corporate world and begin a business closer to home.
In February of 2020 Smith came up with the idea of leasing out roll-off bins (large 20, 30, 40 yard containers) for residential or commercial projects and made his first big purchases. He worked out how the bins could be dropped off at sites and after construction, roofing, demolition or remodeling projects were completed, the materials could be hauled to landfills or metal collection sites.
A month later, Covid hit.
Smith took out a few ads for Smith’s Roll-Offs, but several months passed before he received any steady business.
“It was a little scary,” he says, but then the people stuck at home started renovating and restaurants forced to close decided to remodel, and business rolled in. Bins were delivered to McDonalds, Popeyes, General Nutrition Center by Walmart (when it closed) and Pizza Hut (when it became the Tasty Wings and Seafood).
“To be honest, Covid kind of helped us,” Smith says now as he looks back. The projects that keep Smith and his four employees and 35 bins busiest right now are school summer remodels that require daily hauls.
No matter how busy the bin business may be, Smith looks towards expanding and has purchased four trucks that haul milling, asphalt, sand, and rocks along with a semi with a 39-foot aluminum frame which can be used in carrying fertilizer.
Between the roll-off and trucking companies, Smith and his wife, a pharmacist in Lyons (who also does the billing), stay busy. Add to it, they parent three children, two of whom are two-year old twins. When asked if he sleeps, Smith says, “It’s a circus, but it’s a good time.”
Currently, Smith's Roll-Offs has a Facebook challenge. Take a photo of any of their green roll-off bins you see in town, post it to Facebook, share with Smith's Roll-Offs and get a chance to win $300! Visit their site at https://www.facebook.com/SmithsRollOffs/ to see more details.