Larry O’Toole built Gentle Giant Moving Company into a major independent moving company by protecting culture, hiring for character, promoting from within, and removing bad fits quickly. This playbook shows moving company owners how to apply those lessons in their own moving business.

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How to Build a Moving Company Culture That Bad Movers Cannot Survive

Most moving company owners know one bad mover can damage a customer, a crew, and a reputation fast. Larry O’Toole, founder of Gentle Giant Moving Company, built a company with more than 600 employees, 26 offices, and over $60 million in revenue by making culture a daily operating system.

His lesson is simple: your culture is not what you say. It is what your crews allow, repeat, and protect when you are not there.

What Should Your Moving Company Culture Actually Be Built Around?

Gentle Giant uses the acronym HEART for its core values:

• Honesty
• Enthusiasm
• Above and beyond
• Respect
• Teamwork

The important part is not the words. The important part is the behavior. A moving company owner should be able to point to a mover and say, “That is what respect looks like,” or “That is what going above and beyond looks like.”

Core Values Checklist for Moving Companies

• Can your movers explain the values in plain language?
• Do your crew leaders talk about them before jobs?
• Do you praise movers when they live the values?
• Do you remove people when their behavior breaks the values?
• Do your values help you make hiring and firing decisions?

How Do You Stop One Bad Apple From Becoming the New Standard?

Larry warned that the biggest danger is not one bad mover. The real danger is when good movers stop complaining about the bad mover. Silence means the team has accepted the lower standard.

If someone steals, slows down hourly work on purpose, hides from hard work, or disrespects customers, the crew should know: “This person does not belong here.”

The Bad Apple Warning System

• Stage 1: One bad mover creates noise. Good movers complain.
• Stage 2: More bad movers create frustration. Good movers question leadership.
• Stage 3: Complaints stop. The team assumes this is the new culture.
• Stage 4: Good movers leave because the job is no longer fun or fair.

Your job is to act before Stage 3.

How Should You Hire Movers When You Are Short on Labor?

The hardest time to protect culture is when the schedule is full and you need bodies. That is when many moving companies hire people because they can drive, load, or collect payment, even if their character is questionable.

Larry’s advice: resist the shortcut. Skills are useful, but poor character spreads faster than training.

Hiring Decision Guide

• Hire for: work ethic, trust, kindness, hustle, teamwork, and physical ability.
• Be careful with: experienced movers who bring bad habits from another company.
• Watch fast: most character problems show up in the first few days or weeks.
• Move quickly: do not wait three months if the issue is clearly character.

How Can You Test Work Ethic Before Sending Someone Into a Customer’s Home?

Gentle Giant is known for using Harvard Stadium as a physical and character test. The point is not just speed. The point is effort when the work gets hard.

Larry said a company does not need a stadium. The test could be a warehouse routine, hill run, beach run, or another physical challenge. The goal is to see attitude, effort, and whether the person pushes through discomfort.

Simple Mover Tryout Framework

• Pick one physical test connected to the demands of moving.
• Explain the test clearly before the person starts.
• Ask about physical limitations before the test.
• Watch effort more than final time.
• Look for people who keep going because they want to finish.
• Celebrate no-shows because they saved you from a bad hire.

How Do You Keep Quality Consistent Across Different Crews?

Larry does not like permanent A teams, B teams, and C teams. When crews stay fixed, quality becomes uneven and bad habits can hide inside friendships.

Instead, moving crews should rotate. That makes it harder for one person to control the group, slow the pace, or protect bad behavior.

Crew Rotation Rules

• Mix crew members so everyone works with different people.
• Do not let one weak culture form inside one truck.
• Use strong crew leaders to model the standard.
• Watch for workers who only perform with certain leaders.
• Make the customer experience feel the same no matter which crew shows up.

How Do You Hold Movers Accountable Without Crushing Morale?

Larry gave a clear rule: do not give negative feedback at the end of a hard moving day. When someone comes back hot, tired, and worn out, thank them for the effort.

If a job needs special attention, coach before the crew leaves. Then follow up after the job by recognizing what they did right.

Feedback Script for Moving Company Owners

• Before the job: “Today this job has a few things we need to handle carefully.”
• Set the standard: “We need extra attention on these items and how we communicate with the customer.”
• After the job: “Thanks for listening this morning and taking care of it.”
• When receiving feedback: Teach movers to say, “Thanks for the feedback,” instead of arguing.

What Should You Do When a Branch or Team Starts Slipping?

As a moving business grows, some locations may drift from the standard. Larry’s answer is not to accept lower quality. Send strong people in to help, even if it costs money.

Protecting culture may require flying someone in, housing them temporarily, or taking a short-term loss to keep commitments to customers.

Culture Repair Checklist

• Identify where the standard has dropped.
• Remove people who clearly do not fit.
• Send trusted leaders or movers to model the right behavior.
• Protect good employees from carrying bad ones.
• Do not sacrifice long-term culture for short-term moving sales.

Quick Win: One Culture Move You Can Do Today

In less than 30 minutes, ask three of your best movers this question:

• “What is one behavior we should never allow on our crews?”

Write down their answers. If the same issue appears more than once, that is your next culture problem to fix.

How to Apply This This Week

• 1. Write down 3 to 5 values your best movers already live by.
• 2. Turn each value into a visible behavior your crews can recognize.
• 3. Create one simple physical or warehouse-based tryout for new movers.
• 4. Rotate crews this week to prevent hidden bad habits.
• 5. Praise one mover publicly for showing the culture you want repeated.

The big lesson for every moving company owner: culture is built by the people you hire, the behavior you reward, and the bad habits you refuse to tolerate.

To hear the full conversation with Larry O’Toole, watch the original video Building a Business with Heart: Larry O'Toole's Success Story and visit the 2 College Brothers Moving & Storage YouTube channel.

What is Grow Your Moving Company Podcast?

Follow the host, Wade Swikle from 2 College Brothers Moving & Storage, Moving Titan Retreats, and Titan Up Training as he showcases successful moving companies from around the world and offers valuable insights on increasing revenue and operating efficiency. They aim to help the independent mover dominate their local market.