Wayforth’s facility at 2107 Loumour Ave. in Scott’s Addition. (BizSense file photos)
After winding down its out-of-town operations and ducking into bankruptcy last summer, WayForth’s CEO says the Richmond-based moving company is now moving in the right direction.
The once fast-growing firm that caters to seniors and formerly had a multistate presence is now operating solely in central Virginia about five months after it moved to downsize and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
CEO Craig Shealy said in a recent interview with BizSense that WayForth has pared back operations to the greater Richmond region to build a new foundation for the company as it looks toward a new year as a leaner operation coming out of its bankruptcy restructuring.
“Our business in Richmond continues to operate and is doing well. We’re looking forward to finishing the whole restructuring process and getting back to business,” Shealy said.
A federal bankruptcy judge recently approved WayForth’s Chapter 11 restructuring plan. Shealy said payments to the company’s creditors are expected to begin in April or May.
“We’re still doing the final steps and doing some things we’re required to do, but we hope to be fully out of the bankruptcy process very soon,” he said.
The moving company comprises two entities going through the bankruptcy process jointly – WayForth Inc. and WayForth LLC. The corporation has $4.1 million in total liabilities, according to bankruptcy filings.
General unsecured creditors are expected to get cash payments equal to the value of both entities’ projected three-year disposable income, according to court filings.
The LLC owes $4 million in general unsecured claims, of which 4% to 6% is expected to be paid back.
Among its largest debts is $1.5 million owed to HF Direct Investments Pool and $1.5 million owed to Livible Investments.
Livible Investments and HF Direct Investments Pool are also both owed $605,000 by the WayForth LLC, and both are expected to recoup 25% to 40% of their individual claims.
The HF entity is tied to HF Capital, which was the lead investor in WayForth’s $32 million capital raise in 2021. Livable was a company WayForth merged with in 2020.
WayForth currently has about 40 employees and 12 moving vehicles. Shealy said the company is actively completing moving jobs and providing other services.
The company is working on an exit from its office at 1518 Willow Lawn Drive by the end of February to bring the entire operation under one roof at its existing operations hub at 2107 Loumour Ave.
The company is also underway on an auction of office furniture, computers, moving vehicles and other remnants of a market footprint that ranged across eight states and other areas of Virginia.
Shealy said the auction wasn’t court ordered and isn’t tied to the bankruptcy proceedings. He said funds already existed to cover the company’s debts but declined to comment further on the topic of paying back creditors. Shealy said WayForth doesn’t anticipate it will generate much from the auction, but the proceeds will go to cover moving costs to consolidate operations on Loumour Avenue.
“The sale is to get rid of things we have in the corporate office and what we accumulated in winding down the other offices,” he said.
The online auction, which runs until Feb. 15, is being handled by Henrico-based Dudley Resources.
WayForth’s remaining territory spans from Charlottesville eastward to Williamsburg, and from Fredericksburg south to Petersburg. Shealy said WayForth would likely spend 2024 operating within that footprint, but then could look to re-enter other areas of the state where it once had a presence.
WayForth moving trucks.
The company could look to one day expand its presence to include markets outside of Virginia, Shealy said, but he expected that any rollout beyond the Old Dominion’s boundaries would be slower than before the summer downsizing, when WayForth grew quickly through a series of acquisitions of competitors.
“At this point, our focus is to be more balanced and conservative than we were in the past,” he said.
Despite WayForth’s own challenges, Shealy said he’s bullish on the overall senior moving industry and chalked up WayForth’s woes to expanding too fast amid labor difficulties.
“We didn’t run into trouble because there’s a problem with this business. There is fundamentally a strong demand for this business. We tried to expand too fast in what was a difficult labor market. We got ourselves caught in a bad position,” he said.
Before its bankruptcy filing, WayForth had sought to broker a deal in which it would have merged with another company in a bid to overcome economic factors that were hurting its business. When that deal fell through, and when investors declined to provide more financial support, WayForth embarked on its round of layoffs and office closures, and ultimately sought bankruptcy protection to get its debt in order.
At the time the company moved in August to cut its multistate operations, it had nearly 500 employees. When the drawdown was initiated, WayForth had a presence in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, in addition to the Virginia markets of Norfolk, Ashburn and Lorton.
WayForth filed for bankruptcy protection in September, and a judge approved its restructuring plan in December. In the weeks leading up to the bankruptcy filing, the founders of one of the companies WayForth had absorbed filed a lawsuit seeking payment for the acquisition. Shealy said that claim has been rolled into the bankruptcy case.
Shealy founded WayForth alongside Pete Shrock and Matt Paxton in 2016 under the name Legacy Navigator. The company rebranded to WayForth and over the years grew quickly through a series of acquisitions.
Shrock left the company over the summer, Shealy said, following Paxton who exited before WayForth made cuts to its operations and filed for bankruptcy. Paxton is known for his appearances on the A&E network television show “Hoarders” as an extreme-cleaning expert.
Wayforth’s facility at 2107 Loumour Ave. in Scott’s Addition. (BizSense file photos)
After winding down its out-of-town operations and ducking into bankruptcy last summer, WayForth’s CEO says the Richmond-based moving company is now moving in the right direction.
The once fast-growing firm that caters to seniors and formerly had a multistate presence is now operating solely in central Virginia about five months after it moved to downsize and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
CEO Craig Shealy said in a recent interview with BizSense that WayForth has pared back operations to the greater Richmond region to build a new foundation for the company as it looks toward a new year as a leaner operation coming out of its bankruptcy restructuring.
“Our business in Richmond continues to operate and is doing well. We’re looking forward to finishing the whole restructuring process and getting back to business,” Shealy said.
A federal bankruptcy judge recently approved WayForth’s Chapter 11 restructuring plan. Shealy said payments to the company’s creditors are expected to begin in April or May.
“We’re still doing the final steps and doing some things we’re required to do, but we hope to be fully out of the bankruptcy process very soon,” he said.
The moving company comprises two entities going through the bankruptcy process jointly – WayForth Inc. and WayForth LLC. The corporation has $4.1 million in total liabilities, according to bankruptcy filings.
General unsecured creditors are expected to get cash payments equal to the value of both entities’ projected three-year disposable income, according to court filings.
The LLC owes $4 million in general unsecured claims, of which 4% to 6% is expected to be paid back.
Among its largest debts is $1.5 million owed to HF Direct Investments Pool and $1.5 million owed to Livible Investments.
Livible Investments and HF Direct Investments Pool are also both owed $605,000 by the WayForth LLC, and both are expected to recoup 25% to 40% of their individual claims.
The HF entity is tied to HF Capital, which was the lead investor in WayForth’s $32 million capital raise in 2021. Livable was a company WayForth merged with in 2020.
WayForth currently has about 40 employees and 12 moving vehicles. Shealy said the company is actively completing moving jobs and providing other services.
The company is working on an exit from its office at 1518 Willow Lawn Drive by the end of February to bring the entire operation under one roof at its existing operations hub at 2107 Loumour Ave.
The company is also underway on an auction of office furniture, computers, moving vehicles and other remnants of a market footprint that ranged across eight states and other areas of Virginia.
Shealy said the auction wasn’t court ordered and isn’t tied to the bankruptcy proceedings. He said funds already existed to cover the company’s debts but declined to comment further on the topic of paying back creditors. Shealy said WayForth doesn’t anticipate it will generate much from the auction, but the proceeds will go to cover moving costs to consolidate operations on Loumour Avenue.
“The sale is to get rid of things we have in the corporate office and what we accumulated in winding down the other offices,” he said.
The online auction, which runs until Feb. 15, is being handled by Henrico-based Dudley Resources.
WayForth’s remaining territory spans from Charlottesville eastward to Williamsburg, and from Fredericksburg south to Petersburg. Shealy said WayForth would likely spend 2024 operating within that footprint, but then could look to re-enter other areas of the state where it once had a presence.
WayForth moving trucks.
The company could look to one day expand its presence to include markets outside of Virginia, Shealy said, but he expected that any rollout beyond the Old Dominion’s boundaries would be slower than before the summer downsizing, when WayForth grew quickly through a series of acquisitions of competitors.
“At this point, our focus is to be more balanced and conservative than we were in the past,” he said.
Despite WayForth’s own challenges, Shealy said he’s bullish on the overall senior moving industry and chalked up WayForth’s woes to expanding too fast amid labor difficulties.
“We didn’t run into trouble because there’s a problem with this business. There is fundamentally a strong demand for this business. We tried to expand too fast in what was a difficult labor market. We got ourselves caught in a bad position,” he said.
Before its bankruptcy filing, WayForth had sought to broker a deal in which it would have merged with another company in a bid to overcome economic factors that were hurting its business. When that deal fell through, and when investors declined to provide more financial support, WayForth embarked on its round of layoffs and office closures, and ultimately sought bankruptcy protection to get its debt in order.
At the time the company moved in August to cut its multistate operations, it had nearly 500 employees. When the drawdown was initiated, WayForth had a presence in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, in addition to the Virginia markets of Norfolk, Ashburn and Lorton.
WayForth filed for bankruptcy protection in September, and a judge approved its restructuring plan in December. In the weeks leading up to the bankruptcy filing, the founders of one of the companies WayForth had absorbed filed a lawsuit seeking payment for the acquisition. Shealy said that claim has been rolled into the bankruptcy case.
Shealy founded WayForth alongside Pete Shrock and Matt Paxton in 2016 under the name Legacy Navigator. The company rebranded to WayForth and over the years grew quickly through a series of acquisitions.
Shrock left the company over the summer, Shealy said, following Paxton who exited before WayForth made cuts to its operations and filed for bankruptcy. Paxton is known for his appearances on the A&E network television show “Hoarders” as an extreme-cleaning expert.