Pallet Refurbishing Business Income — How Much Does It Make?

Monthly Revenue

$5K–$20K

realistic range

Startup Cost

$5K–$20K

to get started

Hourly Rate

$30–$60

per hour billed

Complexity

1/4

skill required

The Business

Pallet refurbishing buys damaged wooden pallets for $1-3 each, repairs them (replace broken boards, re-nail), and sells them for $7-12 each. The US ships 2 billion pallets per year, and 30-40% need repair annually. Businesses that receive shipments on pallets are happy to sell their damaged ones cheap. The work is simple and repetitive — a single worker can refurbish 50-100 pallets per day.

How to Start

Find a yard space for storage (even a large driveway works initially). Contact warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing plants to buy their damaged pallets. Learn basic repair — it's nail gun and circular saw work. Sell to pallet brokers or directly to businesses that need shipping pallets. Volume is the game.

REAL EXAMPLE

A pallet yard in Ohio buys 500 damaged pallets/week at $2 each, repairs and sells at $9 each, grossing $15K/month with 2 workers.

Equipment Needed

▸Pallet dismantler/nailer
▸Circular saw
▸Forklift or pallet jack
▸Storage yard space
▸Truck for pickup/delivery

Licensing

Business license only

Monthly Search Volume

800

people/month search for this business

READY TO START?

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Revenue Calculator

Jobs per Week300

Revenue per Job$7

Weekly Hours40 hrs

Startup Cost$10,000

Weekly Revenue

$2.1K

Monthly Revenue

$9.0K

Annual Revenue

$108.4K

Monthly Profit

$7.0K

Break-Even

2 months

Hourly Rate

$53

Monthly costs: $2,000/mo (insurance, fuel, supplies)

CHRIS'S TAKE

“Pallet refurbishing is the ultimate low-skill, high-volume boring business. The math is stupid simple: buy at $2, fix in 10 minutes, sell at $9. Do that 100 times a day and you're making real money with zero intellectual complexity.”

PRO TIP

Build relationships with major warehouses and offer free pickup of damaged pallets. They're currently paying someone to haul pallets away — you'll get your raw material for free.

READY TO MAKE IT OFFICIAL?

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ACQUISITION ROUTE

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TOOLS TO RUN THIS BUSINESS

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