Get a moving quote
Get a quote
Curriculum · Growth
Bretton and Dan close the series on the advanced models — franchises, buying existing companies, and national van lines — weighing the brand credibility and leads against the royalties, fees, and loss of control each one costs you.
“Every advanced model trades independence for leverage. A franchise buys you credibility; a van line buys you long-haul volume — both take a cut and some of your control. The question is never which is best, but which trade you actually want.
— Bretton & Dan, LocalMovers.com
A business-in-a-box: immediate brand credibility and leads, but up to 15% of your income goes to royalty and marketing fees. You buy speed and pay for it forever.
Franchises set a solid floor for your business, but they tend to cap out as lifestyle operations rather than multi-million-dollar expansion plays.
Experienced movers expand into new markets by acquiring middle-of-the-road companies and leveraging the brand equity and customer base already in place.
National networks — Allied, United, Atlas — let you act as a local agent for massive interstate loads, plugging into a system you could never build alone.
Unlike a franchise, a van line agent stays independent and keeps their local name, sharing revenue only on the long-haul shipments they handle.
Agents pay roughly 10% in long-haul fees and often lose direct control of the customer relationship — the network owns the customer, not you.
Premier van lines typically want two years of operation, ~$50K in cash, a physical warehouse, and $1M in liability coverage before they'll talk.
Allied has the easiest requirements, Atlas sits in the middle, and United is the premier, hardest-to-join operator. Match the bar to where your business actually is.