Starting A Moving Company – Cost, Profit Margin & Business Plan

How To Start A Moving Company Business?

Starting a business require a lot of hard work, research, budgeting, legal procedures, client and customer acquisition along with investments and what not! Many of us aspire to be an entrepreneur but few only have that guts and ability to sail through the water while the storm is hitting hard. Moving business is one of such business which is lucrative in terms of profit as well as work but forming a good moving and packing company requires a lot of efforts.

In this article, we are going to tell you, all the aspiring entrepreneurs, who want to dig into this packing and moving business in India, about –

• Scope of Moving Company business
• Difficulties it may face
• Effective Business Plan
• Legal Requirements
• Investment Strategies
• Profit Margins
• Client Acquisition and Marketing of Business (Both online and Offline)

By the end of this article, you will get a brief idea on how to go about building a successful moving company business in India and things you need to work upon for doing so.

Scope of Moving Company business

The best part of this business is that there is endless work if you can hit the right place and at the right time. We, people of India, are no more restricted to a certain city or town; we are always on the move. If you see the statistics, you can find, almost over thousands of people shift, move to a different location, in a different city (intercity) every day. There are even many families shifting to their new homes within the city (intracity) every now and then. This is why a moving company can really do well if they get the right clients.

• People shift to new cities every now and then for work, a personal reason which is the main source of business for a moving company.
• There is very few or negligible barriers to entry to this industry.
• The initial investments are comparatively lower and you require low maintenance cost and less no. of employees.
• The profit margins are lucrative if you can make it big with time.
• This industry is not going to disappear in the near future and probably never.
• The skills require for this business are nominal that is very few technical skills are required if you are not taking it to the digital platform. Logistics and technological up gradation can be done while you start making a profit.
• Having an own moving company is much more encouraging for the independent brains who want to make living out of logistics, marketing, transportation and packing and moving business. You can also do it without leaving your day job, isn’t that great?

Difficulties Moving Business May Face

Well, nothing is this world comes free of troubles or there are no advantages you can have without compromising a bit. Moving business has its own drawbacks and some of them are –

• With free entry and exit in this industry, this business is very competitive. If you want to make it big, you really need to work too hard and at the same time, you need to step very intellectually. Your move will decide whether you are fit to stay in the market or not.
• There are already many reputed brands in the market which are serving the clients for a long period of time. If you want to take a piece out of their profit, you really need to offer other services like unloading and arrangement of stuff in the new place, etc.

Effective Business Plan

Any business needs an effective business plan to reap the desired amount of profit and reach to the targeted customers. Moving business is one of the most popular startup businesses during the recent years because of people who are crossing the local boundaries to explore opportunities across the country and abroad.

The effective plan for starting a moving business in India has to be comprised of –

Rare Idea: Moving business companies are cropping up here and there nowadays. As there are not many rules to be followed or many legal compliances to be met, amateurs with little to no knowledge of this industry are opening local services every now and then. It has already made the market for this service/s saturated. If you want to really make a living out of this business, all you need to do is to be a true professional when it comes to your work. Clients and customers like good services provided by experienced people and moving business require expertise in handling and managing the stuff one is shifting. You must plan to provide a certain range of exclusive services for your customers like round the clock service, unpacking service, organizing stuff in the new place/apartment, unloading etc. Taking good care of the things you are relocating on the behalf of your client will give you an upper hand on those amateurs trying to dig out the profit margin.

Training: Though it is not a compulsion, but if you want to provide expert services to your client, then you need to take training on how to move, relocate, load unloads and another aspect of this business. You need to train your employees too so that they can handle the work efficiently. Professional training can boost the revenue of your company by a great margin. You and your employees must be well aware of materials you require to pack particular stuff so that they don’t get damaged and so on so forth.

Space Requirement: While you are starting the business, you might not require big space as you can directly load the items from the client’s home/office and other places and transfer it to the destination provided by the client. But while expanding the business, the space requirement is a must. When the number of clients increases, you will require enough space to store the items in between the move. Look out for spaces which are not damp as it might damage the products. Compare a few warehouses to understand which one will suit your need and purpose.

Vehicle Purchase/Hire: The most vital thing in a moving business company is the vehicle which is used to transfer the goods. In the beginning, you might hire a truck for shifting the items of your clients and when you can save a portion of your revenue, you should invest it in purchasing a truck to cut down your monthly expenses of the hiring charges. With the expansion of the business, you would require buying a fleet of trucks to provide the required and timely services to your clients.

Insurance for the Client’s items/stuffs: This is really important if you are trying to become a quality moving partner for the clients you have and you want to acquire. Providing insurance for the items the client is shifting gives them an assurance that you are a true professional by making them assured of no damage to their items and even if there is any such damage, you will reimburse the cost of that item and in turn you will also not be at loss as the insurance company will actually reimburse your money lost for the damage.

Legal Requirements

For registration purpose of a moving business company in India you will require:

• PAN card of yours and your partners in case it is a partnership or LLC firm.
• Address Proof
• Photographs of the owner/s
• ID proof of all the owner/s
• Business seal/banner which will be used as the logo of your company and will be registered with the registrar of companies, India.
• After registering with the state, you need to apply for the EIN which is the Employer Identification Number with IRS.

You should also make a proper contract which you and your client must enter before you take the charge of their items to be a shift. This ensures both the party of the quality of the service.

Investment Strategies

Investment for Moving Business Company in India can be brought by many means –

• Bank Loan: For purchasing truck, taking space or warehouse on rent you need a lot of money. A bank loan can serve these purposes well. There are different types of business loan available in nationalized and private sector banks which you can avail.
• Investments by Angel Investors/ Venture Capitalist: If you think your moving business going to be one of the unique ones and it will gain targeted customers within stipulated time period, you can approach the angel investors with your idea. With the help of their investment, you can make your company big and also list it on the stock exchange with the passage of time.
• Savings: For the initial startup, you might invest your savings into the business.

Profit Margins

As mentioned in the beginning of the article, moving business is one of the lucrative businesses you can have in India at the present time. The profit margins might vary from 30% – 50% and it might increase with the time.

Client Acquisition and Marketing of Business (Both online and Offline)

The business survives for the right clients and how you acquire and retain them. With the online marketing techniques, you can promote you business on social media as many people might be on your lists that are planning a shift to a new city or location. Retaining the clients only depends on the nature and quality of your service.

For running a successful moving company, you need to put your best efforts along with following the above-mentioned business plan and meeting other requirements.