It’s not every day one gets the opportunity to become an overnight success. But that’s exactly what happened for Saugerties resident, former dumpster rental company owner, and entrepreneur, Michael Martino. Martino was able to sell his business at a substantial profit, freeing him up to spend more time with his family and other passions in life.
Martino owned Liberty Dumpster Rental Service of Kingston for four years before selling it late last year to Kostrikin & Sons Construction of Rochester, N.Y., which also owns Tri-State Portable Toilets of Wappingers Falls. Martino said he couldn’t be happier with the deal.
“I’m very proud of what we accomplished,” said Mr. Martino. “It was a tremendous opportunity. We started it from scratch and built a profitable company in a fairly short amount of time.”
Martino, who relocated to Ulster County with his wife and two children about 10 years ago, got into the dumpster business quite by accident. He said he wasn’t looking for a new career path when he bought Liberty Dumpsters in 2008, but stumbled upon an available franchise after his wife’s sister passed away.
“I didn’t think too much about it at first,” Martino said. “And then I came across that (franchise) sign one day during lunch and decided to give it some consideration…That night we went home and talked about it as a family – my son is 14 and my daughter is 11. They like to do things outdoors and we wanted them to make an informed decision.”
Martino said the family agreed it sounded like a good opportunity, but also decided not to do anything in haste; they would give themselves some time before deciding whether or not it was right for them. He added that both his children had friends whose parents were entrepreneurs, so they already knew what they were getting into.