How Much do Moving Companies Make? Contractor Profits

How much do moving companies make? Moving companies make an average of $33,150 per year in profit 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 customers by the hour. Most companies in the United States charge about $90 per hour for their labor and transportation. Sometimes, this fee can include packing and unpacking furniture and other 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 with experience 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 come with a price tag of $96,000 per year.

Transportation costs

The following costs are associated with buying a moving truck and maintaining them.

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

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

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

Marketing costs

A marketing budget is necessary to get your brand in front of customers when word of mouth will no longer support your growing sales goals.

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.

Google search and Google Ads are the most common marketing channels for moving companies.

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 and bookkeeping
• 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.

Some larger moving companies also rent warehouses to store their moving trucks and moving supplies. Franchises also have to pay royalties.

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 from years from providing excellent customer service.

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.