Nate and Cam Whitaker – Ngāti Mahuta

The website MovingPros, set up by two brothers, Cam and Nate Whitaker, helps to make the tedious task of moving house “far less stressful” at a point that really counts – sorting out and selecting a moving company.

“We’ve built an online moving comparison platform where customers moving house can compare and book a trusted moving company easily from one place.

“MovingPros is to moving what Trivago is to hotels, where it’s quick and easy to compare moving companies and find the one that fits your needs – and one you can entrust your belongings to.  No need to ring up multiple movers, submit your details multiple times and cross your fingers you end up with a reputable mover,” says co-founder Nate Whitaker.

“It’s gratifying that MovingPros has been well received by New Zealanders – since its launch in September last year, the website has handled thousands of moving requests across New Zealand,” he says.

“MovingPros is a very simple and user friendly website that asks you to enter your moving needs just once to receive multiple quotes from professional movers.”

The brothers launched their website after swapping notes on their own unfortunate moving experiences.

“Finding a reliable moving company to help with my move was a painful process,” says Cam.

“I started ringing round countless movers to get quotes, half of which didn’t even answer the phone.

“When I finally got through they were either fully booked or I had to repeat my inventory over and over again.  I found it to be so frustrating and time consuming I knew we had to do something about it.”

“I had a similar experience and the local moving company I selected not only turned up late but also damaged some furniture in the shift,” Nate adds.

The two brothers, “entrepreneurial besties,” who also run the successful digital marketing company eMagic, put considerable emphasis on quality control so as to meet the highest possible consumer standards.

All moving companies are vetted and quality checked before being accepted as members on the site so there are “no cowboys allowed.”

Nate says this ensures that “we only connect customers with the most trusted moving companies with well-established track records – which provides peace of mind.”

According to search data from Google there are over 25,000 moving customers searching for moving services online every month in New Zealand.

While performing market research the brothers found based on the past three years of house sale and rental bond data (from the REINZ and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) there can be up to 800 moves a day across New Zealand.  That’s over 24,000 moves every month on average which closely matches the online data.

Since its launch, MovingPros has partnered with over 150 moving companies across New Zealand.

“We have not only assisted Kiwis with their moving needs, we have helped trustworthy moving companies to book more jobs and receive the recognition and exposure that they deserve,” Nate says.

The brothers say that because MovingPros helps to solve the transport and shipping inefficiencies in the residential moving space within New Zealand this provides massive employment opportunities.  Not just for current moving companies to expand their own operations and hire more staff, bring in more owner/operators but also for anyone interested in being self-employed and creating their own removal company.  So employment and also self-employment are two big drivers for the entrepreneurs.

As both founders are of Māori descent (Ngāti Mahuta), one of the goals is to inspire others (especially rangatahi) to live their dreams and go out and make their mark on the world.

“We want to act as business leaders within the Māori community and help other Māori entrepreneurs and businesses to succeed and reach their full potential.  Māori have always been incredible entrepreneurs but many are isolated in the regions and simply don’t have access to adequate support, expertise and knowledge to get started on their own business journeys,” Nate says.

The home-grown brothers are also proud to be a part of the new Te Wānanga O Aotearoa-led business accelerator programme Kōkiri, selected with 9 other emerging Māori entrepreneurs.

With aspirations to create a 1 billion dollar business by helping to solve the transport and shipping inefficiencies in the residential moving space both within New Zealand and globally, the brothers urge anyone who’s faced with moving home, to ‘compare before you book a mover’ – have a look at MovingPros and how simple the website is to use, and what it can do for you.