The small removalist companies that are having a big impact

While many of us might picture a couple of burly men and a truck when thinking of a moving company, a few small businesses are challenging this traditional removalist model – and they’re having a big impact.

Queer Move, which was founded around four years ago, helps move members of Melbourne’s queer community (and their allies). Founders Myles Farmer and Camel Love started the 100 per cent queer-owned and -operated business after working in the industry and realising that those who identify as queer or non-binary didn’t always feel safe calling regular removalist companies – or working for them.

“There’s a lot of toxicity in the removalist industry,” explains operations manager Kathryn “Moose” Kaehler. “It’s a lot of toxic masculinity, a lot of homophobia, it’s a lot of heteronormativity … and we wanted to provide a service where people within our community could call up and know that people within their community were going to show up and make everyone feel really safe and comfortable.”

The company’s pink truck, which has the word “queer” splashed across it, is designed for the twin purposes of standing out to the queer community and deterring clientele who might not share Queer Move’s values.

“We are very happy to service a marginalised group of people – several marginalised communities,” Kaehler says. “Queer people, trans people, sex workers, people in [domestic violence] situations or NDIS – we really want to be able to help people that have otherwise been forgotten or dismissed or at least not considered by larger companies.”

Meanwhile, in Sydney, there’s another bright pink removalist truck getting around – in this case, operated by Gina Tsigaris from Move it with Gina.

Tsigaris belongs to a very small pool of women-run removalist companies in a male-dominated industry. She got into the business around 20 years ago. At the time, Tsigaris was a newly single mum with six children (her youngest child was six months old) in need of an independent income. She worked as a packer first before discovering that her skills running a family and household made her an expert at helping people move house.

“It’s not because I’m female, but because I’m a mother of six,” Tsigaris says. “I understand how a house flows. That’s the experience I have: raising my six children.”

Tsigaris wound up buying and driving a truck and, with the help of one “offsider”, moving furniture like refrigerators and couches herself. These days she has two trucks and a team of removalists, but still helps out with moving large items when needed.

“I do have a message for women out there who want to do removals,” she says. “It’s all in the mind and how you look after your body. I’m not big and bulky, but I can do a move and keep going even better than a bulky guy that doesn’t have experience. There is a technique of how to move things and that comes from experience and good training.”

Like the team at Queer Move, Tsigaris and her operations manager, Gabriel Carlota, go out of their way to help their clients feel at ease during one of the most stressful events of their lives.

“I spend a lot of time with them on the phone prior to the move and the pack, to comfort them, to reassure them that everything’s going to be okay and [explain] how we do things,” Tsigaris says.

Sometimes the work involves providing drivers for domestic violence survivors, refugees and others in need through organisations like Movers Against Domestic Violence and Re-Love (formerly The Run for Good Project). These companies help source furniture donations (sometimes from companies such as Koala, who donate returned mattresses) and deliver it to people in difficult circumstances.

Sydney’s GG Tasker is a removalist company that works predominantly with people in need. Founder Gerald Gordon started GG Tasker in 2018 as an all-rounder removalist company, but was soon contacted by a not-for-profit requiring assistance.

“He would start doing all the deliveries and seeing all these women and homeless people setting up their new places to live safely with their children and things like that, so it was really rewarding for him … to see how much they were helping the community,” says GG Tasker’s Caroline Sanchez.

From there, Gordon and his team’s reputation grew as a company that could be relied upon to help vulnerable people in delicate situations.

And while GG Tasker also takes on private moves, its priority is working with charities and people in “emergency” situations. Sometimes these people need assistance getting their belongings quickly and safely out of their homes; at other times they require donated goods to be delivered to their new addresses. Either way, Gordon makes himself available 24/7 so that no one has to go to sleep without a bed.

“That was just a policy that he felt really strongly about – that he didn’t want them sleeping on the floor in their new places,” Sanchez says.

The company is also regularly recruited to assist with moving furniture for people seeking asylum or experiencing homelessness or disability. As such, Gordon’s team is trained to be especially friendly, respectful and compassionate – qualities necessary in a removalist industry that’s becomingly increasingly empathetic and diverse.

Specialist removal companies

Mobile Truck Rental
Hire your own moving truck. Available all along the east coast of Australia.

Removals for Hope
For those experiencing domestic violence, homelessness and disability, seeking asylum or on a low income in NSW (and beyond).

Eco Removals
This Melbourne-based company uses reusable green boxes instead of cardboard boxes.

The Finishing Touch
An all-women team of packers and unpackers servicing the east coast of Australia.

Moving Art
Aidan Hill specialises in moving art along the east coast.

Piano Moves
These east-coast piano moving experts also offer piano hiring and tuning services.

Legacy Removals
A Melbourne-based moving company that specialises in moving antiques.

Dumbo Move
A Melbourne company that caters to small (one- to two-bedroom home) moves.

Interstate Removals
Australia-wide interstate removalists that provide remote live tracking.

Smartbox
If you’re not yet ready to move into your new place or don’t have room for everything, this company (operating in Melbourne and Sydney) can deliver a storage box, help you pack it (if need be), pick it up and store it in their warehouse.