MANLIUS — A Manlius business that provides an online portal to track relocation and crating services is planning to double its revenue and number of employees by the end of next year. Relo Solutions Group, a third-party technology platform that can track crating and relocation service providers, will release a new software system in September, […]
MANLIUS — A Manlius business that provides an online portal to track relocation and crating services is planning to double its revenue and number of employees by the end of next year.
Relo Solutions Group, a third-party technology platform that can track crating and relocation service providers, will release a new software system in September, after more than a year of development. The firm allows clients, such as corporations and individuals to request moving and crating services. Vendors, such as moving and crating companies, then are assigned the clients and fulfill those requests.
Relo Solutions Group president and owner Jim Walsh tells CNYBJ that Relo currently employs 10 full-time employees, including Walsh’s wife, Kathy in the finance department. Walsh says that the business is hiring and he plans to employ 20-25 full-time individuals by the end of 2019. He says Relo is a multimillion dollar company and growing revenue at “well over a 100 percent rate.” The firm generates revenue from both corporate clients and its service partners.
“Organizationally we have what we call a BHAG: A big, hairy, audacious goal. We want to grow this thing and grow it big,” Walsh says.
To facilitate growth, Relo has plans to launch new software in September, after more than a year of development. The software called Revision 2 or Rev2 until a formal name is decided offers an easy-access portal for clients to request and be assigned vendors for crating, relocation, renovation, and storage, Walsh says.
“Immediate plans are to complete and deploy our Rev2 Software platform that will be fairly revolutionary for the industry,” Walsh says. “That will enable us to do a lot more work a lot more efficiently.”
Rev2 will offer an integrated platform for vendors to check a mobile app and upload images, videos, and other relevant information about a site or project. Clients will be able to log on and receive estimates, check progress, and request other services, which are conveyed to the appropriate vendors.
The software, which is being developed in India, will be customized for Relo. Walsh says the company has invested nearly $100,000 into the software development.
Relo provides the third-party platform because Walsh says that many moving companies don’t have the needed workers or don’t want to face liability issues. Relo does background and quality checks on the independent contractors and then employs them to fulfill clients’ requests.
Walsh has worked in third-party relocation for nearly 20 years. He founded Relo in January 2017. He previously founded, owned, and operated a different company that provided a similar service until it was bought in 2010. He founded his original company, Alliance Relocation Services, in 1999 and sold it 11 years later to relocation company, Sirva Inc. for several million dollars, though he declined to provide an exact amount. Walsh says Alliance essentially does the same thing has Relo, but with less diversified markets.
Sirva, which acquired Alliance’s employees and client base in the deal, terminated many of the employees. Walsh remained president of Alliance for almost five years after the sale.
“I was effectively retired for a little over a year, but during that whole time I was literally working. I was buying real estate, renovating homes, just keeping myself busy,” Walsh tells CNYBJ. “I’m not one to play a lot of golf, I like to remain engaged in business.”
Walsh founded Relo less than a month after a non-compete agreement had expired with Sirva. Relo, which has been in business for about a year and a half, rehired many of the employees who were terminated when Walsh sold Alliance to Sirva.
“I feel like we haven’t even started yet in terms of what we’re going to be doing,” Walsh says. “It’s all about quality, so I’d rather keep the quality very high and keep the clients very happy while we continue to be financially successful and continue to build the appropriate infrastructure that’s necessary to retain the quality.”
Walsh says Relo currently provides relocation services primarily to corporations and the military, as it’s commonplace for Fortune 500 company employees and military members to relocate. All the work currently is domestic, based in the United States and some parts of Canada, but Walsh says he hopes to potentially expand globally eventually.
Other markets Relo will explore once the Rev2 software is deployed are hotels and hospitality and retail. He says there’s a need for companies like Relo with the opening and closing of retails stores and hotel renovations. Currently, he says it has about 75 clients.
“The moving and storage of corporate location space is a vertical. It’s very targeted. So we will do the same thing, targeted vertical niches, in hotel and hospitality and retail, those are the first two we’ll roll out,” Walsh said. “They’re very unrelated to moving and storage, but they definitely have a need for skilled craftsmen that can help with store closings, openings, store renovations.”
Walsh started Relo, using the same office space as Alliance, which he’s owned since 2003. The location, at 110 Limestone Plaza in Manlius encompasses about 3,300 square feet and has a modern industrial look, Walsh says. Salt Point Services Inc. designed the space. The desks are made of doors from Fayetteville–area homes, with piped legs and glass tops.