- April 17, 2024
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Former chefs Joe and Heidi Tassone opened a junk-removal business after months of unemployment.
To Joe and Heidi Tassone, owners of one of the newest businesses in Palm Coast, J&H Junk Removal LLC, the old adage of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” couldn’t be more spot-on.
Having opened Jan. 5, the company specializes in residential and commercial cleanup. The Tassones focus on fresh starts, taking an abandoned home or storefront and “reclaiming” it, making it presentable and ready for resale.
“We’ve been working together since we met,” Joe Tassone said. About 14 years ago, Heidi got a cooking job, with Joe as her boss. Later, she transferred to a sister company, where she became the chef — and he was a cook under her.
Between them, they have 45 years of stovetop experience.
When their company downsized, though, they became unemployed — Joe in July 2011 and Heidi in October. They looked for similar work in Flagler but came up empty.
It was time to regroup.
During their off months, the couple did a lot of bike riding, all through Palm Coast and its trails, and they couldn’t help noticing the abundance of vacant houses, some foreclosed, others empty rentals.
They started looking in the windows, where, consistently, they’d find clutter. Abandoned furniture, construction debris, garbage. Even in strip plazas, where companies crumbled and had to close suddenly: same thing.
“It’s sad,” Heidi Tassone said. “We’ve seen a lot of homes that are vacated. The people, you know, they had to leave, unfortunately. And a lot of things get left behind.”
But also storefronts, Joe added. “When (a) business fails, they don’t make it, they leave everything in the store,” he said. “So the (new) owners, they have to remove the stuff. But who do you call to remove the stuff? Well, you call us.”
He explained that J&H does indoor and outdoor cleanup, taking away large trash items, unwanted landscaping and hazardous waste, which sometimes has to be deposited at four separate junkyards. They’re also permitted handymen, and can paint and do repairs. They even mow lawns and do light yard projects.
And if a household has a death in a family, or has junk in the attic but no time to clean it, J&H will take care of that, too.
“We’ve always wanted to try to be our own business, be our own boss,” Joe Tassone continued. “We don’t want to go through life thinking, ‘What if?’ … The feeling of being independent is great.”
So they took a shot. They bought a trailer. Heidi, who calls herself “artistic” and has published a few short stories, designed a logo. They printed business cards and visited the Business Assistance Center. And just a couple days ago, they attended their first Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates and leads-group meetings.
Little by little, the couple have invested in their new venture, made connections, started fresh. They know that building a company out of their home won’t be easy, but they feel up to the challenge.
“I used to tease (Joe) and say ‘I’m the muscle and he’s the brain,’” Heidi Tassone said, explaining that he comes up with the plans and she executes.
“What I’m not good at, she’s good at.” Joe added, and vice versa.
The Tassones tell the story of a nice, but abandoned, house they passed in a neighborhood in the P-section. Nearing its front door, they realized there was something smeared over its facade.
They realized it was feces.
“How can you sell the house like that?” Heidi asked. Likewise, she added, why would anybody want to live next to a house like that? She pointed to the bundles of money the city spends to keep Palm Coast clean, and says J&H is about respecting that, promoting it and ensuring that the assemblage of streets make up a genuine neighborhood, not just an anonymous suburb.
“We are a town at heart, and that also makes us a family,” she said.
“We live here,” Joe Tassone added. “Let’s keep it clean.”
For more, call 445-1758 or visit www.JandHJunkRemoval.com.
