The venerable NYC-based full-service moving company has established a foothold in The City of Angels, raking in an impressive +25% of revenue year-over-year. This Tinsel Town expansion, which is three years in the making, is the first step in Roadway Moving’s growth from an East Coast institution to a nationwide moving leader. TRD sat down with Ben Buzaglo, Sales Director for Roadway Moving, to learn how this Hollywood sequel is changing the moving game on the West Coast.
Bringing New York Excellence to the Pacific Coast
In May, we covered how Roadway Moving became NYC’s leading full-service moving company by leveraging cutting-edge technology and training to ensure excellence at each stage of the moving process. After honing their system in the challenging NYC market, Roadway Moving began expanding into new territories, setting its sights 2,700 miles to the west and more recently opening their new location in Miami.
“We’ve benefitted from a huge jump start from satisfied clients whom we had previously moved from East Coast to West Coast,” explains Buzaglo, who notes that 40% of the company’s moves over the last 16 years have been long-distance, which has seeded the country with happy customers.
Roadway Moving opened its L.A. operation three years ago with a single truck. Today, the company’s West Coast operation boasts three storage Facilities, 16 trucks, and an average growth rate of 96% year-over-year. This meteoric growth is due in part to Roadway Moving replicating its people-oriented company culture and customer-centric approach on the West Coast, ensuring a personalized, professional experience from the beginning to end of every move. Roadway Moving puts control of the move in the customer’s hands throughout the process, guaranteeing satisfaction by leveraging cutting-edge moving tech as well as strong personal relationships with its customers.
Adapting to the City of Angels
While Roadway Moving entered the Los Angeles market with a well-honed system based on over a decade of experience in NYC, learning the nuances of Southern California took some time. Everything about L.A.’s geography is different, from the layout of apartment buildings (instead of fifth-floor walk ups, Los Angeles apartments tend to cap out at two or three stories surrounding central courtyards) to the streets themselves (the Hollywood Hills’ windy boulevards require different trucks and moving techniques than the predictable grid of streets and avenues in NYC).
Of course, some things remain the same, including the intense training that Roadway Moving’s movers receive and the high-tech tracking system used to guarantee every item makes it safely from origin to destination.
Roadway Moving still applies its signature attention to detail to every move in L.A. From the in-person walkthrough during which Roadway Moving’s experts plan out the move to the custom-built crates that protect high-value items like musical instruments and motorcycles during the move to the consistent branding visible on all of the company’s equipment, the company instills confidence in its customers.
“Appearance is also crucial,” says Buzaglo. “Using clean, new trucks, uniformed movers and high-quality materials is vital, as it demonstrates the respect we have for our clients’ belongings and their overall moving experience.”
The Roadway Difference
Anyone who’s used one of Roadway Moving’s competitors knows how frustrating the moving experience can be when their movers subcontract various parts of the process. That’s why Roadway Moving keeps all functions under the same roof, enabling them to ensure consistent communication and quality throughout the move.
“Moving days can be very stressful,” says Buzaglo, “so we want to put the customer at ease as much as possible.”
Because the client’s main point of contact will be the moving professionals who show up on the actual day of the move to package and carry away their items, Roadway Moving invests a lot of time and money in their teams, starting with advanced background checks and multiple interviews to verify skills, knowledge and culture fit. Team members then undergo an intensive training program that includes hands-on coaching in a staged one-bedroom apartment furnished with everything they’ll typically encounter in a move, along with a bevy of trickier items, from fine artwork to irregularly sized objects.
“They practice wrapping furniture, packing fragile items, establishing the correct weight for different sizes of boxes and more,” explains Buzaglo, adding that even the most tenured movers regularly participate in frequent brush-up sessions.
This meticulous attention to detail is apparent throughout Roadway Moving. With multiple specialized departments involved in the moving process—ranging from Leads and Sales to Move Coordinators, Operations (both Local and Long Distance), and Customer Service—it’s crucial that these teams collaborate effectively.
“Working seamlessly as a unified team is essential,” says Buzaglo. “Our reputation depends not just on what happens on move day, but on the entire experience, both before and after.”
A Foundation for Growth
Based on the fast success of the Los Angeles expansion, Roadway Moving has already opened a second West Coast office in San Francisco, and currently has its sights on other key California communities, including Orange County and San Diego. Yet, despite this desire to blanket the state, they recognize that growth can’t come at the expense of the support that is their calling card.
Due to the sprawling geographic nature of the state, Roadway intends to start with satellite offices to ensure that challenges like traffic don’t negatively impact a move. It’s a strategy that’s worked well with other markets, such as Miami, and that they intend to eventually replicate in a midpoint of the country, such as Chicago or Texas, which will allow them to optimize truck use based on seasonal demands.
“We plan to take this unique California prototype to new markets as a way to successfully introduce the brand, then grow and scale as our reputation spreads,” says Buzaglo.
Would you like to learn more about Roadway Moving’s service and dedication to excellence? Find out about their referral program here and visit them at The Real Deal’s LA Real Estate Forum on September 12th where they’ll be meeting and greeting visitors.