Freeland business helps to get things moving
Published 1:30 am Friday, February 27, 2026
Keeping his business running for a decade and a half is a big deal for Jeff Hansen, founder and owner of Freeland-based moving and junk removal company Backbreakers NW.
“I was born on Whidbey and being able to have owned a company that’s lasted for 15 years is something I never thought would have happened,” he said.
That milestone is particularly notable given Backbreakers’ recent split from an office it opened in Skagit County in 2021. There were a few “points of contention” with its operations, Hansen said, and an ensuing “business divorce” led to what was the Skagit office becoming an entity entirely separate from Backbreakers.
With that move, Backbreakers returns solely to founder ownership and can renew its focus on serving Whidbey Island; Hansen hopes to open an Oak Harbor office in the near future.
Hansen, born in Coupeville and raised in Freeland, founded Backbreakers in 2011. Hansen had been managing a 1-800-Got-Junk in Bellingham before his father’s passing motivated his return to Whidbey. At that time, Hansen and his brother began toying with the idea of getting a truck and starting their own business.
Backbreakers offers a variety of services, but demand is largely for assistance with household moves. Many of their customers move to other places on the island, Hansen said, although they do transport the belongings of people coming to Whidbey from Seattle or outside the state.
“I would say we move more people to the island than off the island,” he noted.
Three employees usually conduct intakes, answer phones and schedule jobs for Backbreakers, and a crew of nine actually do the moving, Hansen explained. A crew of that size is small but has its advantages in communication. Keeping everyone on the same page is easier.
Pricing, Hansen explained, varies depending on the scope of the job. Small-scale moves of shorter distances may run customers a few hundred dollars, whereas moves taking place over the course of multiple days may be more expensive.
“Our goal is always to be fair, competitive and deliver the level of care our community has come to expect,” he added.
Before any hauling begins, Backbreakers’ movers need an estimate of the volume of items being moved, the layout and size of the home and the access points. Many homes on South Whidbey have steep or gravel driveways sometimes covered by low-hanging foliage, and awareness of those features ahead of time is helpful.
Reliability and respect are important to Backbreakers, Hansen said, qualities he believes are part of why the company has stuck around so long. Despite the organizational changes the company has undergone, Hansen wants the public know know things will be business as usual for the moving company.
“Answering the phone, communicating with our customers, just kind of trying to set expectations so we can deliver what we say we’re going to,” he said.
