How Much do Moving Companies Make? Contractor Salary

How much do moving companies make? Moving companies make an average of $33,150 per year for each two-person crew in a van they employ.

Below, we’ll look at the finer details of a moving contractor salary and profit potential.

What moving contractors charge

Moving contractors generally charge by the hour. Most companies charge about $90 per hour for their labor and transportation. Sometimes, this fee can include packing and unpacking items if requested.

• Most 2-person crews will complete 1 to 2 jobs daily and produce $720 in revenue for the company.
• With 240 work days per week, that crew will produce $172,800 in revenue annually.

Employee wages

Moving company workers get paid $20 per hour on average. After accounting for payroll taxes and workers’ compensation, your “all-in” cost comes to about $25 per hour. 

So a full-time employee working 240 days per year will cost $48,000. And a 2-person crew will cost $96,000 per year.

Transportation costs

The following costs are associated with a moving company’s vehicle fleet:

• Gas
• Maintenance & repairs
• Commercial vehicle insurance
• Depreciation
• State taxes
• Financing (optional)
• Extended warranties (optional)

Adding up these costs and dividing them by the number of miles driven in the same period will give you a per-mile cost of about 75 cents (not including financing).

One crew in a van will drive about 800 miles per week. That results in a yearly cost of $28,800.

Marketing costs

Marketing costs tend to be around 8% of revenue. So the marketing costs to keep a crew producing $172,800 per year will be around $13,824.

Profit

So how much does a moving company make? With the above figures, we can calculate that a two-person crew in a van will make roughly $34,176 in yearly profit.

Yearly revenue, expenses, and profit for a two-person moving crew and a van:

Revenue	$172,800
Employee Wages	$96,000
Transportation Costs	$28,800
Marketing Costs	$13,824
Gross Profit	$34,176

Overhead costs

The $34,176 per crew from above is just gross profit. Now we need to subtract overhead costs to find net profit.

Overhead costs for a moving company include the following:

• Accounting
• Insurance
• Equipment & tools
• Scheduling software
• Office staff

If a moving company only has one crew, these overhead costs will largely eat into the profits. But spread among multiple crews will result in a manageable 3% of revenue.

That leaves us with $33,150 in net profit per two-person crew in a van.

Factors Affecting Revenue

If you cannot fill your crew’s time five days a week, 8 hours per day, you will bring in less money. You must get as much work as possible in a day to maximize profits. 

You can do this by offering discounts or special rates and deals. You can raise your rates as your reputation grows and word-of-mouth leads start to pour in.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Moving companies can make a good profit if they can keep up with the service demand. On average, a typical move will take around 8 hours and generate $720 in revenue.

You could be in a great position to make even more money with the right marketing techniques and scheduling efficiency strategies.