Marcus Richards
We are a comparison and booking site for man and van/removals. Our fully automated website allows customers to compare over 1000 Man with a Van companies across the UK, book securely with a small deposit, get instant free quotes and save time and money.
We have a dedicated UK team on the phones to answer any questions and help with the bookings, we strongly believe in ‘old fashioned’ customer service where speaking to a real person helps – no call centers or chat-bots!
Tell us about yourself?
Until a year ago I was a lead Laravel developer and have been a professional web and database programmer all my career.
I now work full time as Director & developer of Find My Man and Van. I started this site as I believed there was a need for a friendlier, fairer platform than already existed, for both customers and removal service providers.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
To keep going, setting up a business is hard work and there are times when it seems the odds are stacked against you, push through and believe in the end result.
What problem does your business solve?
The need to search out and call round dozens of man and van companies for a quote
What is the inspiration behind your business?
We saw a gap in the market for a friendly, fair platform with low commission for removal service providers and a personal hands-on approach to customer service.
What is your magic sauce?
Moving home is a stressful experience and we believe that having a real person on the phone to help with any questions or issues that arise is vital.
We have a UK based, family run team on the phones and the web site is geared towards a friendly approach to helping find the right man and van for the customer.
We also felt that the commission the leading comparison sites charged service providers was too high, we wanted to establish the same relationship with our providers as we do with our customers and for this reason we set our commission at half that charged by similar sites.
We feel our Trustpilot rating and the relationships we have with our registered removal companies reflects the success of this approach.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
To continue to grow in terms of web presence and services offered, whilst maintaining our core vision of a friendly, personalised service.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
The biggest challenge has to have been Covid and the restrictions and accompanying downturn, which coincided with my leaving my full time developer role shortly before to concentrate on Find My Man and Van.
This was both financially and psychologically difficult, but we came through with the knowledge if we can survive those challenges at a time of initial growth then our business vision is a robust one.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
Man and Van drivers/companies who want a fair platform to receive work through should sign up on our site at https://findmymanandvan.co.uk/driver-register. We offer low commission rates and a friendly team to help you with any queries.
