A $1 million month. A 27% operating margin in an industry that averages 9-10%. Three brands pacing $9.2 million together.
None of that happened by luck. It happened because these owners picked a few habits and ran them every single day, on busy weeks and slow ones.
At SmartMoving SUMMIT 2026, we spotlighted 10 moving companies who are breaking records, growing their teams and giving back to their communities. Different markets, different starting points, same pattern: good business is a daily habit.
All 10 handle residential and commercial moves, local and long-distance, and all 10 run on SmartMoving. Here's what else they run on.
Swamp Rabbit runs on giving back, rain or shine.
Chris Sweet started Swamp Rabbit in 2020 with one truck and no roadmap. This July, he hit his first $1 million month.
The foundation under that number: years of donating 3% of revenue to local charities like Habitat for Humanity, a culture strong enough to keep his original hires around, and a reputation that lets Swamp Rabbit charge $30-40 more per hour than local competitors. Customers pay it. As Chris put it when he announced the milestone: "We're incredibly grateful, but we're not finished."
"No good deed goes unseen. Whether you market it or not, there's a ripple effect and people want to do business with you."
– Chris Sweet, Owner
SmartMoving customer since 2021
Specialty: local moves and climate-controlled storage
Big Lick runs on a pay ladder every crew member can see.
Winston Davis opened Big Lick in 2024 with $20,000 and zero trucks. Year one: just shy of $1 million. Year two: $2.1 million. This year, he's pacing $4.2 million.
But Winston will tell you profit matters more than revenue. Big Lick runs a 27% operating margin in a business that averages 9-10%. The habits behind it: a pay ladder the whole crew can see, a promotion path that moves sales reps up off the truck instead of hiring blind, and a recruiting engine that keeps him from ever getting caught short-staffed.
"There's never money drama. Everybody knows what everybody makes."
– Winston Davis, Owner
SmartMoving customer since 2025
Specialty: residential interstate moves
Rooke's companies run on answering every call.
Rooke Crouch didn't just expand into new markets. He built three separate, local-feeling companies, and together they're pacing $9.2 million this year. Cavalier alone has tripled revenue in four years.
More growth brought a real problem. Leads jumped from 5,400 to 9,200 year over year, and his team was buried in voicemails they couldn't return fast enough. Instead of hiring his way out, Rooke brought in Smart Scout to catch the calls his team couldn't. Missed calls dropped 90%, without staffing a single overnight shift.
"We're not trying to kill our team… We're trying to get better every day, even if it's very incremental."
– Rooke Crouch, Co-owner
SmartMoving customer since 2021
Specialty: building hometown brands on one shared operation
A Smart Move runs on a standard that never bends.
Lindsay Curtis didn't start with a truck. She started with $200 in boxes and a box-rental business she bought sight unseen. Thirteen years later, A Smart Move handles everything from one-bedroom apartments to $33 million estates, with nearly 1,000 five-star reviews and four straight years as Forbes' Best Mover of San Diego.
The standard behind it: every piece of furniture wrapped top to bottom, no exceptions, and spot checks on any job at any time. That consistency is what turned a side hustle into a company clients trust with a $33 million home.
"There's only one way to do it, and that's the A Smart Move way."
– Lindsay Curtis, CEO
SmartMoving customer since 2023
Specialty: full-service move management
Just-In Time runs on never asking the team to do what the owner won't.
Justin Hart started Just-In Time in 2005 with a rental truck and whatever roommates he could drag out of bed. Twenty-one years later, he's pacing north of $7 million, projecting $9 million within two years and $15 million within ten.
He's built it on people who stay. His first hire from 2007 is still there, and his ops manager is 15 years in. Justin's rule hasn't changed since his one-truck days: never ask a team member to do something he wouldn't do, or hasn't done, himself. Just-In Time recently posted its best revenue month ever, and Justin already expects the next one to beat it.
"You earn the respect of your team, and you treat them with that respect, because you've been in their shoes."
– Justin Hart, Owner
SmartMoving customer since 2021
Specialty: international, senior and military moves
Element runs on knowing which work is worth taking.
Sixteen years ago, Elle Nesher and her husband sold their candle manufacturing business and started Element to serve the high-end clients other movers shy away from. The bet paid off: $6 million in revenue and 45-50 employees at peak season.
Part of that is a warehouse that receives, inspects and stores furniture for interior designers and builders, work that doesn't need a single truck to roll. That's how Element does more revenue with 10 trucks than some competitors do with 20. Elle's advice for other owners: "Not all money is good money." If a client or a job feels off, trust your gut and walk away.
"Our look, our website, our trucks: we engineered it to say, 'This is who we're attracting.' And that's who comes to us."
– Elle Nesher, Owner
SmartMoving customer since 2022
Specialty: high-end moves and interior designer delivery
Ox Strong runs on hiring marketers, not movers.
Zach Kielbasa started Ox Strong as a side hustle with college buddies at the University of Florida. Then one job changed everything. Called in to help an elderly couple whose belongings another mover had dumped on their lawn, Zach realized the job was never really about boxes and dressers. It was about customer service. Now his rule is: "We don't hire movers. We hire marketers."
That shift built a company that's six locations deep in four years: three corporate locations plus three franchises, with more in the works. It also landed Ox Strong on the Inc. 5000 list two years running. And the pink uniforms aren't just branding. They're backed by real dollars donated to breast cancer support every year.
"On training day, before we even get into moving, we teach how to approach the customer. If something goes wrong, how do you handle that?"
– Zach Kielbasa, Owner
SmartMoving customer since 2021
Specialty: student moves and franchising across Florida
Graceful Moves runs on an owner who does the hard thing first.
Greg Gray built Graceful Moves from a few hundred dollars into a company pacing $3 million, backed by 1,500 five-star reviews. For years, he did it while avoiding cameras, realtors and networking events.
Then a rough stretch in 2022 made something clear: the guy avoiding all of it wasn't the guy who could get his team through it. So Greg took speaking classes, went to seminars ,and hired coaches. He started filming selfie-style videos and showing up in the realtor and industry rooms he'd been dodging. Now he films at least seven videos a week, sometimes 20 in a single weekend, and people call him "the social media guy."
"The guy that's going to get my team out of this hole is not here now. I have to change and become somebody else."
– Greg Gray, Owner
SmartMoving customer since 2020
Specialty: premium residential moves
Solomon and Sons runs on getting uncomfortable.
Moriel Hoffman co-owns Solomon and Sons, a $15 million moving company that started in 2016 and has grown every year since. No down years. Today it runs 30 trucks and 75 employees, holds an international moving license, and has won two Better Business Bureau Torch Awards for Ethics.
Community work has been Moriel's push since the one-truck days: breast cancer walks, the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Halloween party, toy drives. Next milestone: $20 million. Her advice for getting there: "The only way to grow is to get uncomfortable."
"Sometimes there's bad eggs in your company, and you have to be able to identify them and not be afraid."
– Moriel Hoffman, Co-owner
SmartMoving customer since 2023
Specialty: international and corporate relocation
Grosse Pointe runs on charging what the work is worth.
Taylor Lydon had zero moving experience when he bought Grosse Pointe in 2020: a heritage brand with real history and operations stuck in the 1980s. He rebuilt it around white-glove service and modern tools without losing his veteran crew, including two who've been with the company more than 20 years.
The numbers followed: 60% growth over the past five years, on track for $3 million in 2026, and four storage facilities, with 65% of revenue now coming from warehousing. To Taylor, storage is the best way to even out a seasonal business, and he thinks every moving company should offer it.
“Once we stopped undercharging and leaned into a white-glove brand, the right customers found us. And they paid what we’re worth.”
SmartMoving customer since 2022
Specialty: storage and warehousing, including commercial record storage
Look past the revenue numbers and the same thing shows up 10 times. None of these owners got here by working harder than everyone else. They picked a few habits (a standard, a rule, a pay ladder, a price they won't drop) and ran them every day until the results showed up.
The habits are theirs. SmartMoving is the system underneath that keeps the calls answered, the crews scheduled and the numbers visible, so the owner can keep running the habits instead of putting out fires.
Want to see these habits up close? Our Day in the Life series goes inside two multi-million-dollar moving companies to show the routines, leadership teams and systems behind them.