Bailey's Junk Removal of Vandergrift puts family values to work, cleaning up any mess

The Bailey family of Vandergrift loves getting dirty helping others.

Married couple Joshua and Richelle Bailey co-own Bailey’s Junk Removal on Grant Avenue in Vandergrift.

The business, established in 2012, handled more than 650 junk removal jobs in the Alle-Kiski Valley last year.

The couple’s five sons — Chandler, Cassius, Cayden, Camden and Cobadiah — all work for the family business.

Joshua Bailey is a Kiski Area alumnus who served in the Army and worked as a personal trainer and in the senior home care industry.

He said, about a decade ago, he started to notice televisions discarded along roadsides. That indicated a general need for disposal of items not handled by regular garbage pickup. He decided to create a new business model for his large family.

“I saw a need,” Bailey said. “I’ve always had a side hustle, including scrap removal, and this is a full-time job now. I did this for financial security.”

Bailey’s Junk Removal primarily handles estate cleanouts, spring cleaning jobs and hoarder conditions.

“I’m sometimes shocked by how people live. There are situations I see where people are living in unsanitary conditions,” Bailey said. “I’d say about 10% of the jobs we go on, the conditions are not fit for living.”

The hoarding jobs are usually from property owners who have evicted tenants.

“It’s all socio-economic levels, too,” Bailey said. “I’ve seen $500,000 homes that look like a crack house when you walk inside. … You go inside and you’re knee-deep in trash.”

But not all junk jobs are bad.

“One of the first jobs we had was in New Kensington, and I found $100 neatly folded inside of a sea shell,” Joshua Bailey said. “We’ve found money stuffed inside walls, too.”

Richelle Bailey, a Kiski Area grad, home-schools the couple’s children at the family’s 126-year-old house. The youngest, Cassius, 11, will be required to pitch in more when he turns 12.

“They start really working at 12, and they learn how to deal with people,” she said. “We help people clean up their homes inside and out.”

The Baileys said the top three items from junk removal gigs are furniture, electronics and household goods.

Vandergrift real estate agent Marilee Kessler said she recommends the Baileys’ services to clients.

“They’re an amazing example of good old-fashioned American values of hard work, honesty and independence,” said Kessler, who’s also a Vandergrift councilwoman.

Customer Laurie DeLuca of East Vandergrift hired the Baileys last year to empty out her daughter’s apartment during a move.

“They loaded it perfectly. We were extremely happy with them. They were courteous and gentle with all of her furnishings,” DeLuca said.

DeLuca’s husband, Jeff, frequents Bailey’s Resale Shop at 116 B Grant Ave.

Chandler Bailey manages the upstairs shop, packed with cherry-picked items the family deems worth selling.

Joyce Hanz | Tribune-Review

Chandler Bailey, 22, manager of Bailey’s Resale Shop, holds a vintage telephone at the store, which is packed with items from junk removal jobs that the family deems worth selling.

“He bought some good vinyl records there. And it’s just fun to look around,” Laurie DeLuca said.

Bailey’s Resale Shop is open by appointment only by calling 724-393-8426.

Chandler Bailey, 22, said he is amazed at the cool finds that result from the family junk hauls.

“I love seeing the pure joy on people’s faces after we finish removing the junk they never thought they’d get rid of. It’s satisfying providing a helpful service to the people of Vandergrift and beyond,” he said.

Bailey’s jobs range in price from $135 to $735, but each job is priced individually based on location, duration of the work and what’s required.

The unwanted junk removed by the Baileys goes to one of two locations: McCutcheon Enterprises, a waste management company in Allegheny Township, or Westmoreland Cleanways and Recycling in Latrobe.

Other services offered by Bailey’s are labor for hire, demolition, pickup and delivery to new addresses. They also have a side gig in boulder sales.

“We find them in old foundations that people don’t want,” Joshua Bailey said.

Bailey’s Junk Removal can be reached on 724-472-6384.