Brandon Bronaugh grew up on the South Side of Chicago, dreaming of playing basketball for the Bulls. But fate had a different plan — one in which Bronaugh would become a business owner and a television show host.
Bronaugh founded LifeCycle Transitions, a Massachusetts company that cleans homes for people who hoard. Clearing thousands of homes has helped Bronaugh develop an expertise on why people hoard and what steps can be taken to prevent it. Bronaugh's expertise also helped him land a hosting gig on A&E Network's "Hoarders," a TV show about Americans with compulsive hoarding disorder.
He never intended to become a TV host. He was raised in a single-parent household with seven siblings, and his mother taught him compassion and service to others.
"As a kid, I had this very soft voice, and I was incredibly sensitive," Bronaugh told Homes.com. "A lot of that sensitivity translated well to the work that I would do later in life."
A move east and an epiphany
Bronaugh eventually left Chicago and moved to the East Coast to work in business development and sales for companies like Yodle, which Web.com acquired, and Office Depot. He said he amassed so many clients from those jobs that he decided to start his own business.
Bronaugh's company began as a service that cleaned properties for banks that needed to resell homes. The gig was going well for a while, Bronaugh said, until one day when his chief financial officer called him and said the company wasn't turning a profit fast enough.
"So, when she gave me that phone call, it was a phone call of doom, saying, 'Listen, we can't cover payroll,[and] we're not going to be able to keep the place open," he said.
The chief financial officer gave Bronaugh the news after he had just finished cleaning out a property, he said.
"I'm sitting in front of this house, and I'm almost ready to turn in the towel and I had an epiphany moment — it was almost like God was talking to me," Bronaugh said. "He said, 'You need to start a transition company.'"
Bronaugh said he made that pivot, and now his firm has cleaned homes nationwide.
Tips
The true key to tidying up someone's home from a hoarding case is addressing mentally or emotionally what caused the person to stop cleaning in the first place, Bronaugh said. Without that piece, a company could step in and clean the house, but it would get messy again in no time, he said.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
What advice would you give someone with a hoarding family member but is afraid to address the situation?
The secret is to speak to the person with the utmost compassion, understanding and clarity. You can say: "I'm concerned. I'm worried about you. I want more, and I want better for you. I'm not judging you. I'm not persecuting you. I just want to help you."
The hardest thing is to tell people to clean their house. It's not only uncomfortable, but it's embarrassing to you and the person.
Wouldn't it be easier to clean it for them?
I've heard the stories of people sending their mom and dad or whoever on these wonderful cruise ships, and then they come back and the whole house is done. Never do that. Never ever go into these situations and clean up the house and get rid of all the things.
You're not fixing the underlying problem. You're circumventing and negating the fact that they're doing this for a reason. What you just did by sending them on a trip and taking all those things away from them is taking away their belief system and also their security.
How do you make sure your home doesn't get messy in the first place?
It starts with noticing the behaviors people exhibit every day—from getting ready to leave for work in the morning to undressing after work. Turn around and take a mental note and a mental vision of what you're leaving behind.
To prevent hoarding, people must first take stock of what they leave on the floor or unwashed. If chores are often left undone, they need to change that behavior. One example is how people eat dinner at night.
When you do cook, what do you do with your dishes? Are you the kind of person who leaves a dish and falls asleep on the couch while reading your favorite novel or watching your favorite program, and then is in a rush to get out the door the next day, maybe you forget that plate on the table? Or are you the person who, when you finish eating, goes to the kitchen, washes the dish, and puts it away? Or do you put it in the sink and wait to get it done tomorrow?
What advice do you have for people who accumulate clutter in a "junk room" and live in a messy home?
Junk rooms don’t happen overnight. They build up slowly — often during some of the hardest seasons of life. Maybe it was grief, a health scare, a move that didn’t happen, or just too much life happening at once. Whatever the reason, the “junk” isn’t just clutter — it’s often emotional residue that hasn’t had the time, space, or support to get processed.
So, when I work with families, I tell them: Let’s stop trying to clean it up and instead start by thinking pragmatically while reacting strategically. Our goal isn’t to just clear stuff; it’s to uncover space, not distance. That space isn’t just physical: It’s emotional, mental, and often, deeply tied to healing. ... Sometimes, the stuff on the floor is tied to the stuff we haven’t said out loud yet.
Here’s what I advise anyone with a junk room:
1. Rename the space
Before you touch a single item, rename the room. It’s not a “junk room.” Call it your "reading nook," your "home office revival," or your "wellness space." The new name should reflect the functionality. People protect rooms with purpose, so let’s make it useful. Think of the shelving and the counters as prized real estate, and ... if something stays, then something else must go.
2. Use the 10-minute reset rule
Set a timer for 10 minutes. Start with one drawer, one corner, or one box. That small action lowers the emotional barrier to entry. You don’t need to finish the room. You just need to start — and that’s how momentum is born.
3. Ask a different question
Instead of “Do I need this?” ask yourself: “Is this helping the life I’m building or anchoring me to a past I’ve already grown past?”
That’s when transformation starts to happen. Not just for the room but also for the person standing in it.
Can you describe the worst hoarding case you've cleaned?
(Five years ago, an animal services specialist had been tasked with rehabilitating pigeons in a small town in Connecticut. The woman developed a mental health issue while conducting the rehab work, and the woman's brother called Bronaugh.)
So, I walk into the doorway, and I was in disbelief from what I saw. I saw about 3,000 to 10,000 birds flying around in this single-family home. There were feathers and fecal matter flying everywhere. It was the saddest case I've ever seen.