You just booked a $20,000 long-distance move. Not a bad day for sales. But then come the fuel costs, driver wages, equipment expenses, and the time your truck spends on the road.
You made money on that job. Right?
As Josh Jurhill puts it, "I'm pretty sure we made money on it. But did we know if we made money on it?"
Long-distance moving can be a great way to grow revenue, but bigger moves don't always mean bigger profits. The real challenge is knowing which jobs are worth taking, how to price them, and how to build an operation that can handle the growth.
At SmartMoving SUMMIT 2026, Josh Jurhill of Muscular Moving Men shared what he's learned from growing his business from a pickup truck and trailer into an operation handling approximately 150 long-distance shipments a month.
Here are a few of his biggest lessons for moving companies looking to grow their long-distance business profitably.
The short version
Not every long-distance move is a good fit for your business.
“Part of being an expert is knowing your niche… and also knowing the competitor’s niche.”
– Josh Jurhill, CEO, Muscular Moving Men
For example, a moving company offering dedicated box trucks provides a different experience than a national van line operating consolidated shipments.
One offers a more personalized, premium experience. The other may offer more competitive pricing over longer distances.
Neither is necessarily better. It depends on the job, the customer, and what your business is equipped to deliver.
Josh calls this finding your sweet spot: the types of moves where your service model delivers the most value without pricing you out of the opportunity.
Understanding your niche also helps you attract the right customers. Once you know your sweet spot, use these 8 strategies for generating long-distance moving leads to book more of those jobs.
In his session, he compares actual long-distance pricing scenarios to show where that sweet spot starts to shift.
When pricing a long-distance move, mileage and shipment weight are only part of the equation.
A profitable estimate accounts for the full cost of the trip:
Build those costs into your moving estimate template so every long-distance quote includes them.
Knowing your costs is only part of the equation. You also need to know how much profit to make on every job so you can price with a clear margin target in mind.
And just because a move looks profitable on paper doesn't mean it actually was.
At Muscular Moving Men, Josh's team tracks estimated trip margins before trucks leave, monitors expenses during trips, and compares actual results against estimates afterward.
“Knowing your numbers when it comes to operating long distance is paramount.”
– Josh Jurhill
You don't need a fleet of tractor-trailers to apply that lesson. Start by comparing estimated and actual profitability on every long-distance job.
Tracking the gap between estimated and actual profit shows you which jobs to take more of and which ones to price differently. Smart Insights puts job margins in one view, so you can see which types of moves are actually making you money.
In his full session, Josh walks through real long-distance pricing scenarios to show where the profit actually is.
There's always going to be a cheaper moving option. But that doesn't mean you need to compete with it.
Josh compares dedicated long-distance moving services to flying first class. Customers understand they're paying a premium, but they also expect a different experience.
The key is knowing which of those benefits matter most to your customer.
Josh encourages movers to ask one simple question: "What's most important to you?"
Someone relocating for a new job with a firm start date may value guaranteed delivery more than someone with a flexible schedule.
Understanding that difference helps your sales team explain why your service is worth the price.
“Sell value rather than apologizing for price.”
– Josh Jurhill
But even premium service has its limits. At some point, distance, shipment size, and the cost of dedicated transportation can change the equation.
So how do you know when dedicated service makes sense and when another option is more competitive?
Josh walks through exactly that in his full SUMMIT session.
Josh didn’t build Muscular Moving Men’s long-distance operation by taking every job that came through the door. He built it by knowing his niche, knowing his numbers, and building a service model customers will pay for.
SmartMoving helps you track estimated and actual margins on every job, manage long-distance trips, and keep your sales and operations teams working from the same information.
Want to see how Josh runs his day? Watch him in our Day in the Life series.