Aside from going to the dentist and doing taxes, moving rates right up there as one of the most dreaded tasks. But that’s where professional movers come in and when it comes to customer service, Grace Moving is one of the best in the nation. The south Modesto moving company was recently recognized as one of the top three movers in the nation for customer service.

Grace Moving is an agent for Wheaton World Wide Moving Company, which determined that it earned a very high net promoter score through customer feedback across eight categories.

Any score above 60 is considered strong but Grace hit 87, the highest of 350 moving companies in the nation.

“We were the highest quality agent in the system,” boasted Clay Smith, who performs estimates for Grace Moving. “We were the very top of the Spire (award) of the net promoter score. They gave us a special plaque for that.”

Owners Sally and Patrick Bolger started Grace 27 years ago by circumstance. At the time she was working as the marketing director at Bethel Retirement Home in Modesto and frequently coordinated moves made by seniors. Frustrated that many movers wouldn’t show up because the jobs were smaller and not considered worth their time, Sally arranged to move one 103-year-old lady and the results earned her kudos. Her connections with the senior living community led to her getting Patrick involved as a mover.

A light bulb went off in her head and they decided to start a moving company.

“It started very small part time when he was off from his other job,” said Sally.

Grace set up shop in an industrial building sandwiched between Seventh and Ninth streets at 800 Janopaul Lane. Twenty-seven years later, they expanded to physical locations in Clovis, Sonora and Tracy.

The company expanded to long distance moves in 2008, initially as a Van Lines carrier. Now the company’s long distance moving is under Wheaton World Wide Moving Company. Moves to neighboring states like Arizona and Nevada are typically made with Grace’s trucks while farther distances, say back east, are accommodated by Wheaton fleet trucks.

The moving industry changes with economic conditions and currently volume has decreased with a lackluster real estate market and sluggish new home construction. Fewer people are buying and selling because interest rates are still high so the need for moving services has slowed.

Clay Smith, an estimator on staff, noted that movers are usually 30 to 60 days behind the market since it takes time to close.

“If we see the market up-ticking, then we know the next 30, 60 days is gonna be pretty aggressive on sales and moving,” said Smith.

Sally Bolger said about 30 percent of moves involve retirees “where it used to be 80 percent.”

There is no down period for seniors who move. According to Smith: “December is usually our really slow time but seniors really don’t care what time of year it is and they’ve got money. In other words, they’re a viable consumer niche and as we all know that market is growing as more people are older.”

He added that Sally has a heart for seniors and wants Grace to be as stress-free as possible to them.

Smith said the senior moving market for Grace has been like six to eight neighboring counties but that they accommodate moving anywhere.

Primarily Smith’s job is moving offices and out-of-state moves. He comes up with long distance move estimates by weight, not hourly. That insures a person is not overpaying for truck sizes.

The most successful moves are the ones where the estimator is allowed to visit the home (or business) to get an idea of how involved the job is. Grace can also perform estimates virtually with a customer walking through their home while on a cell phone video conference.

“It’s one of the things that sets us apart,” said Sally. “Movers don’t want to do in-person visits anymore. For the most part they don’t want to go to your house and look at it. We still love that. If somebody doesn’t want us to do that we have that available, video, but the first thing we want to do is, ‘can we come and look at it’? Because that makes all the difference in the world.”

For one thing, it can eliminate surprises that could crop up and bump up costs from the estimate.

She also noted that most moves made to neighboring states use a truck dedicated solely to that move and isn’t shared with somebody else’s goods which is “where a lot of problems happen.”

Currently, about 10 to 15 percent of Grace’s sales volume is related to out-of-state moves. Three years ago that number was about 25 percent when many Californians were fleeing to Idaho.

“Literally in 2022 and 2023 we had a truck going to Boise I would say every two weeks. And now last year it was Arizona and Nevada.”

That leveled off with the rise of home prices there.

Smith believes that Grace is the largest mover in the three-county area “because we just have such a good business.”

The actual movers who do the physical work are the backbone of the business, he explained, so they are constantly under scrutiny to be patient and kind and courteous with customers.

“Some of these guys have been with us a long time,” noted Smith. “They’re actually proud of what they do, I mean, they really are and so they take it as a badge of honor.”

Office assistant Jennifer Odom has won the praises of the couple for following up with customers during and after the move.

With three “Agent of the Month” plaques on the office wall, what is next for Grace? Smith said the goal is to become Wheaton’s “Agent of the Year.”

The business also provides storage services in its large warehouse in case there’s delays in moving into a house or office space.

Patrick Bolger oversees operations and maintenance on trucks, sometimes dealing with mechanical breakdowns.

Grace Moving may be contacted at 209-821-1520.