Hilldrup’s Mission is to deliver superior service by promoting a culture that is customer-centric, empowers employees and maximizes profitable growth. This Mission defines our approach and strategy to doing business every day. Hilldrup’s Mission, Vision and Values (MVV) are the guiding principles of our organization. From how we treat our customers, to how we treat one another, we look to our MVV for guidance continuously.
We’re focused on our internal and external customers and what their needs and expectations are of us. Being customer-centric means that we can make the right decisions for each client and customer, every time. Empowering our employees is critical to instilling the confidence and trust in our team for them to make the right decisions for the customer in the moment and making things right, right away. We hope that you’ll find this evident when working with our team. Being profitable means being viable. In order for us to continue to serve our customers and to take care of their moves, we must be sustainable to allow us to reinvest in our company and talent. By being financially successful, we’re better able to retain, train and support those who make our moves happen every day.
Our Vision serves as the cornerstone of our organization, to simply: Be the best moving services company, period. If you ask any member of the Hilldrup team what our ultimate goal is, they’ll respond with our simple but bold vision statement. It’s simply what we do and what we’re about.
Hilldrup’s six values include:
Empowered Accountability: You are Hilldrup to the customer. When a challenge arises, we are personally responsible for taking ownership and providing a timely and clear resolution.
Uncompromised Integrity: We show respect and integrity to our customers, partners and each other in all that we do and at all times, even when no one is watching.
Unwavering Commitment: We are committed to our customers, each other and our Hilldrup values with steadfast resolve.
Fearless Communication: Let your voice be heard, and listen!
Infectious Positivity: People want to be around and do business with people who are positive and happy. There are two ways to look at every situation – we focus on the positive side.
Purposeful Agility: Flexibility is the key in developing long-term business success. But we do it with purposeful planning.
Hilldrup is an agent-owner of United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit. As such, we are part of a nationwide network of vetted moving companies that allows us coverage from coast to coast, no matter where you may be moving.
How many employees do you have? Hilldrup is proud to employ over 900 talented professionals across our 10 locations from Maryland to Florida. In the Fredericksburg area, we have 350 employees and owner-operators who work in our office and service our customers in their homes each and every day. In the DMV area, we have an additional 100 employees and owner-operators across those three specific locations.
How does your business give back to the community? Hilldrup has been in the Fredericksburg area for almost 120 years, and giving back is inherent in who we are as a company. Our organization has an internal committee called Hilldrup Cares that vets community partnership opportunities to determine how we are able to support the many worthy causes in the local area. In addition, Hilldrup is proud to have several organizations we routinely support, through donations and volunteerism:
The Hilldrup Move-Up Fund – The goal of the Hilldrup Move-Up Fund is to empower individuals and their families who need a “hand-up” to a more favorable situation. By providing a stepping-stone to a better future, recipients of the fund can feel empowered and hopeful to create additional positive life changes for the betterment of themselves and their families. With the support of The Community Foundation and local non-profit partners, the Hilldrup Move-Up Fund specifically assists those with housing needs who may not have the resources to address time-sensitive issues. Hilldrup therefore identifies families who:
- Are in a situation where funding would make a significant difference in the family’s life,
- Where the funding or support provided will solve a problem of urgent or immediate need, or
- Where funding will help the family maintain secure housing.
Created in 2019, we have been fortunate to provide funds for four years now to deserving organizations. Through our work with The Community Foundation, The Hilldrup Move-Up Fund has also proudly supported the work of Servants At Work (SAWs), which builds and installs mobility ramps to those in need across the local community.
Rappahannock United Way – Hilldrup takes part in Rappahannock United Way’s (RUW) annual workplace campaign. Our employees routinely donate funds to be used for RUW to serve their core audience – ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed). During our 2021 workplace campaign, Hilldrup employees donated over $31,000 to RUW.
Gwyneth’s Gift Foundation – Hilldrup donates annually to Gwyneth’s Gift, an organization that is dedicated to raising awareness of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).
Stafford County Public Schools – Hilldrup is a corporate sponsor of Stafford County Public Schools, and we assist by donating money as well as holding drives (and serving as a drop off location) for their back to school drive, coat drive and more.
Stafford Hospital 5K – Hilldrup is a corporate sponsor of the Stafford Hospital 5K, and our employees and their families come together as a team to run or walk the race. Funds raised benefit the Stafford Hospital Foundation.
Hilldrup has a stage trailer that we encourage the community to utilize – free of charge – for fundraisers and events. We provide the trailer specifically for organizations in need of a large space that can house everything from a band to a judge’s table.
What services or products do you offer? Hilldrup offers workplace solutions, corporate, residential and international moving, plus relocation services and logistics services. Whether your moving needs are for a growing business, a downsizing family or a relocating Fortune 500 corporation, Hilldrup’s award-winning level of service and quality maximizes your most valuable assets: your time and money. To learn more about each of our services, see below:
Workplace Solutions – We offer a complete menu of services including nationwide office relocations, move management, installation and reconfiguration, disconnect/reconnect, warehousing and storage, and vendor management.
Domestic Moving Services – We provide interstate, intrastate, and local moving, packing, unpacking, and storage services in and between all continental U.S. and Canadian provinces and territories. Our corporate moving solutions allows us to have a contract in place for these organizations who intend to utilize our services for their employees’ moves throughout the year.
International Moving Services – Hilldrup is a full-service, household goods forwarder providing international move management through an integrated team of professionals and global service partners. Our Global Partner Network is present in all the major centers of commerce spanning over 160 countries. Our multilingual staff can assist with everything from the move details to customs as well as any documentation that is needed.
Storage and Warehousing – Hilldrup offers 1.5 million square feet of storage throughout the southeastern U.S.; 262,000 of which is climate-controlled. Our state-of-the-art vaulted warehouses are fully lit, monitored, equipped with fire suppression systems, and adhere to strict government regulations. Our storage capabilities include:
Palletized, vaulted storage
Long-term storage, short-term storage, and storage-in-transit services
Climate-controlled storage for temperature-sensitive items
Controlled storage (vaulted storage) for firearms and valuable items
Vehicle storage
Logistics – Our Logistics service offerings include the following:
Final Mile Home Delivery
For many companies, coordinating final mile delivery between the warehouse and your customer’s front door can be challenging, especially for appliances and big & bulky items. Hilldrup offers a unique delivery network to ensure that every Final Mile Home Delivery creates a new level of value for our clients… and in turn earns you the loyalty of your customers. Our offerings include:
Expertise in big & bulky furniture and appliance delivery
Curbside, threshold, room of choice, and white glove delivery options
Warehouse and inventory management
Installation and assembly
Reverse logistics
Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E)
Hilldrup is experienced with providing FF&E solutions for hotel, restaurant and retail projects. Through our company-owned assets, we manage and coordinate the project while handling everything from warehousing to installation with our own service teams. Our team’s efficiency and experience ensures your employees, guests and customers will have limited disruption.
Receiving & Delivery Services
For individuals and businesses who need a place for items to be received, inspected and eventually installed at a home or business.
What is your business’s proudest accomplishment? Hilldrup’s proudest accomplishment is being in continual operation for almost 120 years, having started in Fredericksburg. As a fourth-generation, family-owned business, we are in the fourth generation of McDaniel family leadership. Charles W. McDaniel currently serves as the 3rd President & CEO from the McDaniel family and only the 4th President & CEO since the company’s founding in 1903. We are proud of the health, longevity and strong leadership of our company while we continue to evolve our business and service offerings to meet the unique needs of our customers and the changing world. We are financially stable and an active part of each of the communities we serve; our success wouldn’t be possible without our talented employees, some of whom have been with us for upwards of 30 – 40 years, and their commitment to our customers every day.
What are the company’s top priorities? The world continues to evolve, and as we come out of COVID, the way we as consumers and customers interact and expect business to be done is changing as well. As such, our business is evolving to meet the unique needs and expectations of our customers. We are growing and developing our Logistics division to meet these increasing demands from our customers. Two specific offerings we have in the Logistics space are Final Mile Home Delivery and Hospitality Logistics.
Consumers are ordering online more than ever before, and they have high expectations when it comes to delivery. But for many companies, coordinating that final mile between the warehouse and the front door, especially for appliances and big & bulky items, can be a challenge. That’s where Hilldrup offers a unique delivery network to ensure that every Final Mile Home Delivery creates a new level of value for our clients and in turn earns you the loyalty of your customers.
We have continued to focus and invest in the Hospitality space. We partner with new hotels that are being built or existing ones being renovated, and we assist with all their logistics needs. We look to handle warehousing, inventory management, and installation of FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment) and OS&E (Operating Supplies & Equipment). Essentially everything that you see in a hotel goes through our warehouse and is managed by us. These projects can last anywhere from three months to over a year, and they require dedicated project management and coordination teams. The hospitality industry was on hold for the beginning of COVID, but we are expecting a lot of activity in the next few years as projects have resumed.
We are also continuing to expand our Workplace Solutions division, especially as workplaces are changing both layout and functionality as employees return post-COVID. We provide services such as relocation management, decommissioning, furniture installation, space planning & design and more through our local and nationwide coverage.
The shifting priorities of employees everywhere post-COVID, and in light of the Great Resignation, have made it even more essential to position ourselves as an employer of choice. While benefits and career growth opportunities are vitally important, we are especially focused on embracing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and ensuring it is interwoven into our company values, operations, policies and practices to attract top talent.
How do you keep your employees motivated? As a fourth generation family-owned company, we place great value on treating our employees with the highest levels of respect and care. At Hilldrup, we help one another to grow and develop professionally, promote a culture of recognition and take pride in working with the industry’s best team.
First, and possibly most importantly, Hilldrup provides its employees a company they can be proud to represent. We truly want to be the employer of choice for our employees and for those in our local communities. Our value of Unwavering Commitment has helped make Hilldrup a leader in the industry, and we know it’s our employees who provide this quality work and unmatched customer service for which Hilldrup is known. Hilldrup’s long and rich history in our local communities also lends a sense of stability and loyalty to our employees. We encourage employees to volunteer, and we provide community outreach opportunities throughout the year to build a sense of belonging and instill pride in our team members.
When recruiting, we focus on attracting and retaining the very best professionals. Hilldrup offers competitive pay and a robust benefits package including medical, dental, and vision coverage that begin on an employee’s first day of employment, Employee Assistance Plan (EAP), 401(k) retirement plan with discretionary match, company-paid life insurance, and others. We also provide ongoing training and educational opportunities to help our employees grow and prepare them for advancement opportunities through a variety of avenues including online training, quality labor training, and tuition assistance.
The work our employees do every day is meaningful, and we convey our appreciation frequently. Hilldrup’s recognition programs include service awards, Value of the Year Awards, MVV is Thriving, and United/Mayflower’s Heart of Quality awards.
Our Value of the Year Awards are one of our most prestigious awards, presented to those within our organization who were nominated and selected by a committee of our Senior Managers for living out one of Hilldrup’s six values. Hilldrup’s Values include: Empowered Accountability, Uncompromised Integrity, Unwavering Commitment, Fearless Communication, Infectious Positivity, and Purposeful Agility. Anyone in our organization can nominate any Hilldrup employee for any one (or more) of these awards. Once all nominations are submitted, members of Hilldrup’s senior management team meet to decide the final winner of each value. Each award winner is invited to a dinner with all other winners in recognition of their outstanding display of Hilldrup’s MVV. Each award winner receives an award plaque and a check for $5,000. Hilldrup’s Value of the Year Awards are conducted annually with new opportunities for our team members to nominate and be nominated.
We are also a fun place to work! We’re proud to host a number of events throughout the year as a way to say thank you to our dedicated, hardworking team. Events include our Kick-off to Summer BBQ, Water Balloon Toss, Van Operator Appreciation Week, Crab Feast and our annual Christmas Party.
We also believe that in order to retain the industry’s best professionals, we must continue to challenge, train, and advance our employees’ careers with us. Continuous and consistent training is what keeps Hilldrup and our teams ahead of the competition. As such, we invest heavily in providing the resources, tools and time that our teams need to provide great service to our customers time and time again.
As part of our ISO 9001 certification, every Hilldrup employee is required to complete three training classes per year. Employees in customer-facing positions complete an average of 50-60 hours of training annually, while employees in other positions complete an average of 25-30 hours of training each year.
The pace of change for our world and industry is happening faster than ever before, and we see this as an opportunity. To continue to be the best, we must always be thinking of how best to align ourselves with our customers’ needs. The world isn’t standing still, and neither are we. We encourage our team to grow with us – we know our future success is in the hands of those we hire, retain, and promote.