Whether moving into a new home or relocating your business to a new facility, moving can be a pain.

Luis Toledo founded Midwest Moving and Storage, Inc. a full-service moving company in 1983. Known for his energy, passion, and outgoing personality, Luis always found a way to bring some fun into the painful moving process.

Tom Pera is the General Manager for Midwest Moving and Storage, Inc. and has been with the company for seven years. When we sat down with Tom to discuss the benefits of being located in Elk Grove, it's palpable this company believes in friendliness, complementing Elk Grove's philosophy of being a "Beyond Business Friendly" municipality.

Tom talked about the benefits of Elk Grove's highly connected transportation hub, the strong workforce, and his appreciation for EGV's investment in infrastructure:

Q: What makes Midwest Moving and Storage different?

A: Just about over ten years ago, the company started primarily focusing on moving businesses. 85% of our business is relocating other businesses and government agencies. Two of the biggest things we're known for are moving high-end laboratories and large office and industrial firms. We're certified to do it, which is uncommon to find. We even fly our specialists out to places like Arkansas to move them, though a significant amount of our work is done right here in Elk Grove Village.

Q: What are the benefits of being in the center of a highly connected transportation hub?

A: Since this is the most highly connected hub in the Midwest, we can go anywhere. There's nothing we can't access. We can go downtown Chicago, we can travel west, we can head north — all within minutes. It's easy for our staff to travel wherever business calls. Since we're Union, we also do a lot of work in the city.

A ton of great service opportunities come from being located in a highly connected area. We provide Fixtures, Furniture, and Equipment (FF&E) services for hotels under renovation, such as the Western River North downtown. Since a lot of furniture comes from overseas, we can easily pick it up via shoreline railway or the airport saving both time and money for the customer.

Other services we provide include white glove services; for customers who do home deliveries, and hotshots; where freight is required to arrive on the same day. These are services that are made possible because of our location.

Elk Grove is where we love to be, but it's not just because of the transportation benefits. There's also a very strong workforce here with many skilled workers.

Q: What are other great benefits of being located in Elk Grove?

A: The relationship with Elk Grove is strong. We're involved in the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce where we gain a ton of knowledge and there are several Elk Grove business events to attend each year.

Over the years, I have built a great relationship with Josh Grodzin, Elk Grove's Director Business Development and Marketing. Currently, our company is looking to focus on our Logistics program. One of the first things I did was reach out to Josh for recommendations on how to move forward. The very same day, he responded with a list of things we needed. He has helped us find skilled workers like transportation managers and traffic managers. He's been an excellent resource. He's always looking ahead, understands the latest trends, and has a ton of knowledge on the local market conditions.

I've also always been impressed with Elk Grove's commitment to better infrastructure. Our facility is very close to Busse Woods where we do company picnics and other business-related events. It's a beautiful area that both our staff and customers enjoy.

Another benefit is our neighbors. If we wanted to, we could literally walk around with our business cards and make business and/or create partnerships.

Whatever we need, we have within Elk Grove's industrial park.

Q: What are the biggest concerns business owners have during the relocation process?

A: First is security, but second is reducing the cost of relocation downtime. Business owners want to know how quickly they can get the business up and running again and if there's any opportunity to shorten downtime.

For instance, we moved a manufacturing company that had four lines of manufacturing products. The reason they selected us was because our methodology decreased downtime more than any other service could. We created special crates that could move their equipment in 30-foot sections whereas another moving company could only move in 10-foot sections. We've learned that you don't have to break your business down all the way to move it properly without any damage.

Questions for Tom Pera? Send Tom an email at tpera@midwestmoving.com

For more information on the benefits of being located in Elk Grove, please take a look at this month's In Case You Missed It for the full 2015 PAGI report.