Common seller tricks in moving
A listing may annualize a peak-season month and treat directory or lead-vendor jobs as if they were organic repeat customers.
- Summer volume used as the year-round run rate.
- Claims and damage payouts understated or handled in cash off the books.
- Heavy dependence on paid lead sources whose contracts and cost per job may not transfer on the same terms.
- Crews of seasonal labor with no plan for who shows up in June for a new owner.
- Interstate work implied when the authority is only local, or the other way around.
Which numbers to verify
Look at jobs, revenue, and claims by month for at least two full years. Split local, long-distance, and packing. Reconcile deposits and credit-card batches. Ask what you pay for a booked job from each lead source. Recast the owner’s estimating and crew-lead days. Labor in peak months should include overtime and temp help, not a quiet February payroll annualized.
Licensing and key-person risk
Local movers and interstate movers live under different rules. USDOT and state household-goods authority, insurance minimums, and tariff or written-estimate rules all apply. Confirm the authority matches the work claimed, and that a change of ownership does not leave you unable to legally move a household on Monday.
Equipment and condition
Trucks, lift gates, pads, and dollies take abuse. Inspect them and confirm ownership. Leased trucks with mileage limits can erase the profit of a busy summer. A warehouse or vault, if they offer storage, has its own lease and liability.
Seasonality and the calendar
This is one of the most seasonal Main Street businesses. May through August can be the year. A close in September without a winter plan is a long off-season. Staffing is seasonal too: the crew you need in June may not exist in January, or may not return.
Customer concentration
A corporate-relocation account, a realtor relationship, or a single lead vendor can be a large share of jobs. Paid directories can be turned off or repriced. If one apartment complex or university contract is a big slice, read the terms.
Questions to ask before you make an offer
- Please show jobs, revenue, and claims by month for three years, split local versus long-distance, with deposits to match.
- What licenses and interstate authority are in place, and what is required for a new owner to operate?
- May I review the claims history, reserves, and insurance loss runs?
- Which lead sources produce jobs, at what cost, and will those contracts continue in my name?
- How is peak-season labor hired and paid, and who will return next summer?
- May I inspect trucks, leases, mileage caps, and lift-gate condition?
- How many estimates and packed jobs does the owner still run personally?
- Is there a warehouse or storage line, and what is the lease and liability picture?
- Are there BBB, licensing, or attorney-general complaints outstanding?
- After an LOI, may I speak with your accountant and a crew lead?