Moving company does all the heavy lifting

Mr. Mover in Saukville is considering expanding its office space by moving into the former Bublitz’s Restaurant on South Foster Drive.   

“We haven’t acquired the building, but we want to eventually expand,” owner Nick Meier said, noting he has received an occupancy permit for the building. “We want to grow with the community’s needs because we’re the only moving company in the county.”

The company at 500 N. Progress Dr. set up shop in the village’s industrial park in 2013 and has been helping residents and businesses relocate for 24 years. 

Meier said the business uses its 8,400-square-foot warehouse to store household furniture for homeowners between moves. 

“It’s a small warehouse, but it’s very tall and it’s real critical for how we stack our vaults,” Meier said. “I was looking for something small and tall, and we found that here in Saukville.”

The company can store the contents of an entire room in a 7-by-7-foot wooden vault, which is primarily used for customers who are undergoing home remodeling projects before moving into their updated abodes.  

“A lot of people will have us handle their home move for new construction,” Meier said. “They sold the house and they’re building for nine months, so they need a place to store their furniture and other items.”

Meier said the majority of the company’s business comes from residential moves, but it also provides commercial services for schools and businesses throughout the state.

Last August, workers had two days to move desks, chairs and other classroom pieces from the former St. Mary’s campus into St. John XXIII Catholic School’s new addition. 

“We were on a time crunch because the teachers had to be in the next day,” manager Luke Kazmierczak said.

Winter can be a quiet time in the moving industry because home sales drop off, Meier said.

“We follow that market to a large degree,” he said. “People don’t want to move around the holidays.”

During the downtime this season, the company has been helping local causes. On Dec. 17, workers collected food and personal care items at the Meijer store in Grafton for Family Sharing of Ozaukee County’s holiday wish list. The movers made the event a contest by splitting into four teams to see which one could collect the closest to 500 pounds.

They also went to businesses in the county to pick up toys for Kapco’s Metal Stamping’s Kids2Kids Christmas Celebration to benefit low-income children. 

Over the years, Meier and Kazmierczak said they’ve moved some unique items, such as a $50,000 painting of a cow. Another time, they had to construct platforms out of pads to lift a safe “an inch at a time” up a flight of stairs.

“The difficult pieces always stand out. There was a wood lathe in a basement that I still have nightmares about,” Meier said. “Manpower helps, but a lot of it definitely depends on how you are doing it.” 

Meier said you don’t need to be a bodybuilder to be a mover. 

“Some of the best movers are the wiry guys, especially for residential moves because you can get tucked into tight places and stairways. Those 130-pound guys are the best,” he said. “We’ve had bodybuilders come in here and they’re sore for the first two weeks.”

In addition to the heavy lifting, Meier said, the amount of walking required on the job can take a toll on a mover’s body. On average, a worker walks 10 to 15 miles per day.

“What’s kind of interesting is for half that distance, they’re carrying something,” he said.

The company has 19 full-time employees. During the busy summer months, the workforce doubles with seasonal employees who are primarily college and high school students on vacation.

One of Meier’s summer employees is a female wrestler at Grafton High School whose brother drives one of the company’s nine trucks.

“She’s incredible. She fits in great with the guys,” Meier said. “I guess a lot of people think you have to be a man to be a mover, but she’s proving a lot of folks wrong.”

Meier, who is a Grafton High School alumnus, started working at the company the summer before his senior year. At the time, the company was owned by Craig Nettesheim, who started the business in a pole barn in the Town of Grafton in 1995. Nettesheim, who later developed a software company called Mr. Mover, sold the business to Meier in 2006. 

Meier said he has considered having the company become affiliated with a national van line to offer services outside the state, but there’s a lot of red tape.

“It didn’t seem like it would be the best fit for us, and we do our best independently,” he said. “We want to excel at what we’re good at, and that’s moving local households and businesses.”