BATAVIA — Glenn Brandenburg thinks outside the box — literally.

        While designing and building shipping crates is the core of his company's business, Custom Built Crates performs myriad other moving-related tasks. Removing a piano from a home's third story? The firm can set rigging equipment on the roof and lower it down. Moving a hot tub from a fenced yard? The company has disassembled fences when the tubs wouldn't fit through the gates, then replaced the fences.

Scott Mackay cuts wood for a Custom Built crate in the back of a company truck as Eric Brandenburg, son of the owner, uses a nail gun to assemble one at a moving site. (Dick Swaim photo) | ZOOM |

        Mr. Brandenburg learned long ago that there's far more to moving than boxing up the china and throwing a few blankets around the china cabinet. He spent more than 20 years driving a moving van all over the country, a career in which he installed appliances, assembled chandeliers, set up swing sets and hung pictures.

        “All drivers used to have to do all the things associated with a move,” he explained. “But as time went on, (moving) companies didn't want to take responsibility for all that, so now they outsource it.”

        About 11 years ago, Mr. Brandenburg found himself on the road with a van bound for Spokane, Wash., the day after his father's funeral. Deciding he wasn't going to live that way any more, he handed in his notice. His employer suggested that he go into business for himself, doing all the things he'd learned as a mover.

        Since then, Mr. Brandenburg works close to home, but he's still in the driver's seat and his business is on the move. The company's success seems to stem from three Cs: control, communication and creativity.

        From his Batavia headquarters, the moving specialist keeps tabs on his crews in the Tristate and in Louisville, an office that serves central Kentucky and southeastern Indiana. Custom Built Crates employs anywhere from 12 people in the winter to 20 or more during the busy summer season. But Mr. Brandenburg prides himself on knowing every one of them and is confident that they will always handle assignments professionally.

        “I've got quality people,” he said. “I know what they can do and what they can't, and how fast they can get it done.”

        Assisting Mr. Brandenburg in the office is Sarah Teague, who handles all accounts receivable and keeps the Kentucky schedule flowing. But the rest of Custom Built Crates' work, from building crates to prepping furnishings, is largely done at the customer's site. Crew members work out of five specially equipped trucks and five enclosed trailers; hauling is done with three utility trailers.

        “I've got electricity and heating in my truck; I can go out in a field and work,” explained Eric Brandenburg, who has worked with his father for several years.

        Ms. Teague estimated that Custom Built Crates averages 3,000 jobs annually. While approximately 40 percent of customers are individuals who contact the company for specialty crating services, the other 60 percent may not even know that Mr. Brandenburg's crew is part of their moving team. That's because Custom Built's services are contracted by moving companies or relocation specialists. To minimize confusion and reassure folks who are nervous about moving, said Eric Brandenburg, communication is essential.

        “Communication is probably our Number 1 concern,” he said. “You want to let people know how things are going to be done and what we're going to do. There's so many different people who get their hands into (the move).”

        “Glenn is the most unique person in that he never says no,” said Sharon Westphal, nationwide operations manager for Movers Specialty Service in Philadelphia. “He's one of our primary contractors in Cincinnati, and has a wonderful work ethic that I thoroughly enjoy.”

        While building crates may seem rather routine, creativity is required constantly to solve problems, said the company owner. At one point during his years with the moving company, Mr. Brandenburg made a list of all the skills he had mastered and all the tasks he'd been asked to perform. That list became a blueprint as he launched his company and trained new employees.

        “I just taught the guys as I went,” he said. “I remember one time I had to figure out how to take down a banister and then put it back again. We've even taken a sofa apart to get it through a door, and then reassembled it.”

        There have been exceptions to on-the-job training. Eric Brandenburg spent a week at Movers Specialty Service's headquarters, learning how to prepare pianos and grandfather clocks for shipment. He's since become the company's point man for those items and other large commercial crating jobs.

        “Let's get it done!” is Glenn Brandenburg's mantra, said Ms. Teague. Her boss agreed.

        “The only thing we won't do is run 220 (current) or hook up gas lines from the street,” he explained. “We try to do whatever, in my years as a driver, I found to be a problem.”
        Photos by DICK SWAIM
       Glenn Brandenburg (right), founder of Custom Built Crates, lends a hand to employees James Hamblen (center) and T.J. Askren as they load a glass tabletop into a crate.
       

P&G pins hopes on patch
Custom Built Crates is on the move
Homeowner insurance coverage often exceeds policyholders' expectations
Industry notes: Real Estate
Tristate Business Notes
What's the Buzz?