How to Start a Moving Company?
Nowadays, moving companies organizing relocation services from one place to another are quite popular. In this case, we are talking about transporting household items of people who have decided to move to another place of residence. We are also talking about the transportation of various equipment, and office furniture, in case the organization decides to change the place of its location; about the transportation of bulky items and a variety of scenery from one place to another. If you decided to find a moving company, here we will tell you how to implement that and how you can make money on moving.
If you want to start a local moving company with one or two trucks and take orders only from private clients, registration as a Sole Proprietorship or Limited Liability Company (LLC) should be good enough. In the case of the intention to create a large company and focus on corporate or government clients, it may be better to consider a Corporation as a type of business entity. If you want to familiarize yourself with all possible business entities and compare the conditions click here.
When the decision of the type of business entity is made, to implement the registration of your future moving company you can go to your township administration website and fill up the form online. For instance, to register a company in Boston you want to visit this website.
Out of this stage, you will have a Certification of Formation and a federal tax identification number. Right after that, you have to take care of getting general liability and commercial auto insurance policies.
When the first step is done, you should get a US DOT Number (U.S. Department of Transportation), this number is required for moving companies and Completing FMCSA Application Process. You can get through this process online on this website.
Trucks this is your main tool in the work. They can be rented or leased, but it’s better to have your own, and it is always possible to find a good price for used vehicles. You may have several pick-ups with a cargo trailer, however, the need for machines of this type will be much less. Still, people order Moving Services when they need to transport a lot of large items. It will also be nice to have navigators in each of the trucks, for the convenience of drivers and to ensure fast and accurate delivery of goods to the desired location. Truck bodies should have special fasteners so that you can fix furniture and other things that can be beaten or scratched during intensive movements of the truck. It’s better to have your brand identity on your truck. You can order the creation of a company logo and its application to the exterior of a truck body in any advertising company.
Therefore, you have to pay special attention to working equipment: dollies, blankets, tape, furniture belts, ropes, and some other packing and wrapping materials. Permanent availability of this equipment will not only provide fast and convenient work for movers but also will make your company looks professional in the customer’s eyes. Here you can find a catalog with moving equipment and acknowledge a price range for it.
Employees of the moving company will be drivers (foremen), movers, accountants, and managers.
You should carefully choose movers and foremen so that you can rely on their responsibility and punctuality. Since they work with clients directly, they represent your company, so their quality directly influences the following reviews of your company.
The manager will always be in the office and coordinate the work of all employees, as well as answer incoming calls. To provide convenient work for the manager and yourself as an owner you should pay attention to Software for moving companies, today it is a necessary business tool in moving business.
The work of drivers and porters is most often paid per hour. In some companies, they get a certain percentage of the total order value, but this is less common. The remaining employees receive a monthly fixed salary. Accounting can be outsourced. At least in the early stages of your accountant in the state, you definitely will not need it.
It would be nice if you put all your employees in a corporate uniform containing the symbols of your company. In the eyes of clients, this will once again confirm that you are a serious organization.
Your clients can be other companies and organizations, as well as private persons. Among organizations, moving services are most often used by banks (since they often open new branches) and franchise companies (new locations also appear at the speed of light). Companies that are forced to move their office to a new address will also be your customers. Individuals use this service when they move to a new house or apartment, or they need to take some of their things to a vacation place. Therefore, do not limit your services only to the local directions, get ready for long-distance moving.
Different moving companies approach differently to the issue of payment for their services. However, the most common way to charge your clients is setting up the price of the services per hour of work, no matter what the nature of this work will be and what things will have to deal with, but it is better to warn your customers about what time it will take to disassemble their furniture, load it into a car, transport, disassemble furniture in a new place, etc., so they will not be surprised when you sign a bill. Sometimes, you may set a flat rate for a popular destination for potential customers.
To advertise your moving services, first of all, create a company website. This may be an ordinary business card website. Include on it a list of all your services, pricing, and information on how to contact you. Be sure to write that your company is solely responsible for the safety and integrity of the items you carry. This will instill potential customers in you.
Work on the SEO of your website in Google and other search engines, advertising on search engines, social networks, and forums.
Do not forget about offline marketing, older people still use newspapers and magazines. You can also promote a company by advertising on city billboards. Always distribute your business card and flyers.
Make sure you heat your previous clients with new promotions, so you will obtain loyal customers.
Moreover, there exist several ways how to get free moving leads; here is the article -> free advertising for moving companies.
In conclusion, I would like to sum up all the steps and answer one of the most common questions an entrepreneur asks before starting up the moving company: how much does it cost?
We will consider a case of starting up a small local moving company:
In total, to start up your local moving company you need approximately $15,000 – $20,000;
You must remember that you should have an extra budget for unexpected expenses, while your company has a period of self-financing!