Sam Hoffman, owner of A-ABF Hauling in Skokie, Ill., started in the junk removal business more than a decade ago as an offshoot to his then-primary business, carpet pad recycling.

Since then, he’s helped customers free themselves from clutter, junk and garbage. Angie’s List members have appreciated the help; their reports helped A-ABF earn the 2008 Super Service Award.

What are the advantages of using a hauling service rather than doing it yourself or having a charity pick up the junk?

There's a limited amount of things that most charities will take. And a lot of times, they're backlogged on pickups, which can be bad for customers who may be pressed for time. That's where we come in.

We're a one-stop shop: we recycle, donate and clear out the garbage. We'll donate items to charity resale shops and get the receipts for donated items made out in the customer's name.

Most people think the main things they can recycle are plastic, glass containers and paper. We recycle all metal products. We'll go into a house, bring in containers and sort through everything.

When we go into a typical kitchen, we'll find things we can recycle such as a drawer full of old silverware. We usually find pots and pans, too, which we'll donate. If they're all scratched up, we'll recycle them. We sort everything piece by piece. The items will be donated, recycled or thrown away.

There really is no typical job. We do everything from cleaning out houses when someone passes away to hauling away remodeling debris. We can also demolish and take away decks, porches or hot tubs. The one thing we see the most is probably general household stuff: pots and pans, appliances and furniture.

The only thing we don't take is hazardous waste or chemicals, such as kerosene, gasoline or oil-based paints. There isn't an average job cost.

We provide costs on a case-by-case basis. The price depends on how much we can recycle, how close we can get the trucks to the house, and whether we're loading up near the garage, in the back of the house or down stairs. Customers may book the job online or over the phone. Our minimum cost is $75.

We prefer that homeowners not do anything before we start our work; people shouldn't have to sort through everything to get it ready for us. We encourage people to move whatever they want to keep out of the way and let us do the sorting and loading. We have our own system and we want to make it more convenient for them.