First of all, if you are under the impression that you need a large staff and commercial sized trucks to start a moving business, forget everything that you think you know about the moving industry. Fortunately, you are completely wrong.
In a residential area, about 90% of moving jobs are for furniture pieces or household items. Moreover, individuals and families are always looking for an affordable moving service and are reluctant to get in touch with full service moving companies that can be quite costly. Such customers look for small, affordable, and local moving companies if they want to move a couple of pieces of furniture, such as sofas and tables.
In order to supplement your income, you can start a small moving company with a moving van or a truck and provide services on the weekends. You may be surprised when you see the amount of money you can make from doing small moving jobs in your neighbourhood. However, it is important to know the ins and outs before you open your very own moving company.
Skills required
In order to start your own moving company, the only two skills that you need are diligence and good health. Believe it or not, you don’t need to have strong muscles to do heavy lifting in order to operate your small moving business.
You can hire one or two helpers who are moderately physically fit to help you with your moving operations. Anyone who is in good health can help lift sofas or other furniture pieces and household items. You may need to train the helpers to make sure that you both are on the same page.
Startup expenses
If you already have a loading truck or a pickup van, most of your expenses will be your investment in the fuel tank and loading/packing equipment and tools. Moreover, if you plan to provide interstate moving services in order to earn a little extra money, you will need to have the required permits and licenses, such as DOT Authority. However, it is important to remember that most of these costs will only be a one-time thing, and you will get what you will be paying for.
You can promote your new moving company for free on sites, such as Craigslist. Leave flyers and brochures around the neighbourhood and get in touch with furniture stores to discuss the possibility of delivering furniture pieces to their customers.
Monthly income
Your monthly income will depend on how much time you are ready to commit to your new moving. While you should be able to make a good amount of money by doing moving jobs on the weekend, it is important to remember that small moving companies do not charge as highly as full service moving companies. The charges of every moving job that you do will depend upon the size and weight of the items and the miles traveled.
Monthly expenses
You might agree that the only monthly expenses of a moving business is the gas and mileage. However, in addition to the charges for providing moving services, many small local moving businesses include gas and mileage in their fee. You could include this type of pricing structure and your overall monthly income should remain unaffected by gas and mileage expenses.
Please note that due to increased mileage and frequent jobs, you may have to repair your moving truck or van. So, it is always a good idea to have some of your profits from each month saved for such problems.
Time to break even
If you already had a loading truck or a van, your startup expense will be minimal, the time to break even could be as little as one week. However, if you do buy or rent a moving truck for your company, it will take a little longer to break even.
Potential bumps down the road
You may experience some bumps down the road when you start your moving company. For instance the housing market may slump and now fewer people in your neighbourhood need to move. You could offer other services and deal with such problems, such as junkyard hauling.
In today’s world, a lot of people participate in events like rummage sales and streamlining in order to deal with storage expenses. Plenty of people are always looking for moving help, trucks and vans to transport their unwanted belongings to the junkyard.
The moving business can be an easy weekend business for you, especially if you own a truck or a van. If you intend to keep your moving business a side hustle, you should always look to minimize expenses for a significant increase in your overall monthly income.