Companies like Makespace and Clutter have fully encroached upon the old-school industry of storage, but the even more ancient moving industry has been left relatively untouched.
Until now.
A company called Crater, founded by former Moveline employees, has created a tool called SurveyBot to help moving companies enter into the digital age.
As it stands now, it costs a moving company around $250 to send a representative to a home to offer a quote to the customer. If this is handled over the phone, the quote is subject to change, which is a likely outcome.
SurveyBot is a software program that can be embedded on any moving company’s website that enables video chat between a moving representative and the customer. The software not only facilitates this video chat, but takes inventory as the chat is going on, ensuring that whatever quote is given to the customer is the amount that they pay.
Crater charges $20 per transaction for all the deals the moving company does using this video chat software, bringing the cost of surveys way down.
And because all Crater does is offer software, the company is able to expand worldwide without having to set up various infrastructures in different geographic regions.
For example, Crater just signed on Pickfords, which is the oldest moving company in the U.K.
The company bootstrapped for a while, and after receiving $300,000 in seed funding, has reached cash flow neutrality.
You can learn more about Crater/SurveyBot here.