About AstuteMoving.com

The concept of astutemoving.com.au germinated in 2004 during conversations between myself (Gavan Smith) and Justin Little. I had previously spent 20 years working in the furniture removal industry, having started as a one truck operator who had built his business into an eight truck operation moving thousands of people a year. During this time I had represented the furniture removal industry in Victoria before the Trade Practices Commission (the forerunner of the ACCC), the Office of Fair Trading and Standards Australia in my role as both a committee member of the Victorian Furniture Removers Association and as its' chairman. The Victorian Furniture Removers Association was at that time an independent association which operated in Victoria alone under the auspices of the Victorian Transport Association.

After speaking to thousands of consumers during the quoting process when I was giving on-site quotes during my time as managing director of my own company, I realised that there was no independent advice which enabled the consumer to evaluate their quotes and to assess what they were being told by the furniture removal industry. At the same time in my role as both a committee member and chairman of the Victorian Furniture Removers Association, I was continually hearing from furniture removalists of their frustration that there was no way for the consumer to disseminate which of the information they were being told by various removal companies was correct.

At the time of our conversations in 2004 Justin Little was an undergraduate student who was enrolled in a double degree in business and IT at Latrobe University. It was only his understanding of website design and the direction which information based websites could take over the next 10 to 15 years which allowed this project to proceed. Justin's ability to project manage the building of astutemoving.com.au was only matched by his patience during the various twists and turns that I took this project down. Justin has since been headhunted to fill a position in a large multinational company. He still acts as a consultant to bring various projects which were conceived during the development stage of astutemoving.com.au online.