How do I check a moving company’s packing and crating revenue before buying?

A moving company’s financials may show revenue as a single figure. Packing, crating and the other add-ons can be folded into it, which hides what each service earns and what it takes to deliver. If these services are part of what attracts you to the company, ask for them to be shown separately and then check the work behind them.

Ask how each service is booked

Find out whether packing is quoted as a separate charge, bundled with the move or billed by the hour. Ask the same of crating, materials, disassembly and storage-in-transit. Then compare the invoices to the bookkeeping. If the accountant allocates revenue by a rule of thumb, ask what the rule is and whether the seller can pull the real invoice detail instead.

Look at the cost side

Add-on services carry their own costs: boxes and paper, crating lumber, labour hours and sometimes damage claims. Ask where those costs are recorded. A line that looks attractive on revenue may be thinner once materials and labour are taken out. Ask whether the company buys materials in bulk, and whether any stock on hand is counted in the sale.

Find out who does the work

Crating and careful packing are skills. Ask whether one or two people do most of it, whether they are employees or contractors, and whether they would stay after the sale. If the owner sells the add-ons personally to customers, ask how that relationship would pass to you. A good seller will have thought about this.

Check repeat and referral patterns

• Which customers buy add-ons every time, and which only once.
• Whether agents or insurers send specialty crating work.
• How storage-in-transit is handled, and whether the company owns or rents the space.