How the Burly Guys came to be:

So here we were, a couple of circus strongmen, just going along with life as it came to us. We loved showing off how strong we were to appreciative onlookers! The gasps as we lifted things beyond the ken of mere mortals were extremely satisfying!

Even more satisfying were the doubters in the crowd who would snicker “Yeah, the weights are probably made of Styrofoam.” We’d invite them to try to pick up our props and enjoy watching their eyes bulge out as they tried to lift things we had made seem effortless. (Insert small, self-satisfied smirk here.)

But one day, the circus ended, and our jobs were gone. There were no longer appreciative crowds to gaze upon our feats of strength. The days wore on as we tried to figure out what to do with ourselves.

I’d lift a sofa over my head, but there was no one to gasp in awe. My partner would bench press the freezer, but there was no satisfaction in the act without an audience.

Then one day Mary, our elderly neighbor, came by and asked if we two burly guys would mind moving her refrigerator while she cleaned behind it. Mind? Hah! We couldn’t get there fast enough! I held the fridge aloft as Mary swept, then mopped where the fridge went, then gently set it down. “My, you boys certainly are strong” she cooed, as she offered us tea and cookies. It felt so good to be appreciated again!

Mary, in her wisdom, said to us “Since you lost your circus jobs, I am sure there are lots of people who would pay you to help them move things they can’t or don’t want to handle themselves.” The light switch clicked, and Burly Guys was born!

Okay, at least that’s the way I dreamed it! I’m not really a superhero, (except perhaps in my own mind,) but we’d really like to help you with those tasks that are too much for the individual homeowner to do. And cookies are always appreciated!

Well, the Burly Guys scrapped our first car yesterday. It was just a natural offshoot of the business, and we will be doing a lot more. Got a call from a customer in Bloomfield Hills with this beater Hyundai Elantra. The customer got rid of his problem and got some money and we made a little profit. Everybody wins!

May 9th, 2012

Today it was the Burly Guys versus the Serpent King. Can you see the snake in the lower right? He was only about 8 inches long, but struck at me like he was a King Cobra!  I'm told he might have been a Massassauga Rattler, since garter snakes do not strike.

Gave him a wide berth. Not sure if he was poisonous but he sure acted like he wanted to be!

BTW, the Burly Guys NEVER would hurt a little guy defending his territory!

June 2, 2012

Thanks all who came out for making the Burly Guys' garage sale last weekend a success! We offloaded a LOT of inventory of perfectly good, reusable items, customers got great deals, and we kept a lot of stuff out of the landfills.


Also we gave away about 25 miscellaneous garden tools; rakes, shovels, picks, pruners, etc.

Seems no one wants to take the snow shovels this time of year.  May we'll do a snow shovel giveaway at the first snowfall!

May 25th 2012

The Burly Guys got an emergency call from a customer in Rochester Hills on Thursday evening at 6 pm. Their building was sold and needed to be emptied out the next day. Four truckloads later, building was emptied and a LOT of paper and other items were recycled!

Burly Guys Junk Removal has a new video! If you have need for commercial property cleanup, please check out this short video of the 170,000 square foot facility in Ann Arbor we recently emptied!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6IJDfboXDk&feature=plcp

So a couple of weeks ago we were called in to haul away a shed in an elderly man's yard.  Leonard greeted us with a big smile when we showed up, and took us to the dilapidated old steel shed out back.  It was completely rusted out.

I asked Leonard if he wanted us to remove the concrete pad underneath the shed, and he told me that another shed was being delivered.  When I asked him what kind he told me it was another steel shed.  I asked "Leonard, with another steel shed you could have it rust out again.  Are you getting it with some kind of warranty?"

Leonard looked at me with a big smile.  "Young man, I am 94 years old.  I walk around with my arms crossed in front of me so they don't have to do much but stuff me in the box!"

You gotta love customers with a sense of humor!

Welcome to Burly Guys

Burly Guys is a local junk removal service, as seen on The Learning Channel's "Hoarding: Buried Alive." We handle all types of removal and cleanup jobs, big or small. We are up to the challenge, weather its removing a heavy hot tub from your home or doing a complete cleanup for an industrial business.


Burly Guys can make your life easier by removing unwanted items. The following is a list of things we can remove from your premises:

• Furniture
• Trash
• Yard debris
• Hot tubs
• Appliances
• Concrete
• Scrap metal
• Bathrooms
• Swing sets
• Storage sheds
• Carpet and tile
• Pianos

The list doesn't stop there. Contact us about the items you need removed and we can provide you with a quote and schedule a time to complete the job.

Not only do we haul away the junk, we also pride ourselves on recycling as much of the unwanted items as possible. We are able to donate or recycle as much as 60% of the items we remove from homes and businesses.

We have two Burly Guys locations, in Waterford, MI and Sarasota, FL. We work hard to remove your unwanted items. We work quickly, professionally and we even clean up after ourselves. We take pride in what we do.