First Move Assessment vs Culture Index: Which Actually Fits a Contractor?
The short answer: Culture Index is an advisor-led program. A Culture Index Executive Advisor works with your leadership team, and every hire is scored against a behavioral benchmark built from the Culture Index Survey.12 Culture Index does not publish pricing. First Move Assessment fits a contracting business that wants to buy assessments one at a time, at published prices, and see which move a candidate reaches for first in the exact trade seat it is hiring for, scored against a written standard for that seat.
We checked every Culture Index fact on this page against Culture Index's own public website on 14 October 2026. Programs and terms change, so confirm with Culture Index before you buy. Sources are listed at the bottom.
Who each one is for
Culture Index. Culture Index's home page carries the title "Analytics Over Instincts," and says that "every hire is scored against a behavioral benchmark."1 Its approach runs in four steps, Assess, Diagnose, Plan and Execute, and Culture Index says that behind every one, "an Executive Advisor who has been in the seat guides the work from start to finish."2
First Move Assessment. Built for owners and managers who do their own hiring in nine trades: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, garage door, pest control, commercial mechanical, residential cleaning and commercial cleaning. Each seat has its own written standard, from the field crew through the office, up to the chief executive.
What each one measures
The Culture Index Survey has two sections of 174 descriptive words each and takes about ten minutes. It measures behavioral traits that Culture Index names Autonomy, Social Ability, Pace, Conformity, Energy Units, Logic and Ingenuity.3 Hires are scored against a behavioral benchmark for the role, with the advisor's guidance.12
First Move Assessment measures work instinct: the move a candidate reaches for first when the work gets hard. The candidate reads situations from the seat and picks the move they would make first. The report scores them out of 100 against the seat's written standard, with a margin of error printed beside the score, and shows where their instincts pull away from what the seat needs. It does not test skills or trade knowledge, describe personality or check backgrounds.
What that means in practice: the Culture Index Survey describes a person's behavioral traits from the words they choose. First Move Assessment puts the candidate in situations from the trade and reads which way they lean on the calls one seat runs on: check first or jump in, fix what keeps causing the problem or the one in front of them, handle it or pass it to the right person.
The research behind each
Culture Index publishes a technical report from April 2026. Its psychometrics page reports reliability coefficients from 0.86 to 0.96 and says the survey "shows no evidence of bias against different races/ethnicities."3
First Move Assessment is built on situational judgment, a hiring method with 30 years of published evidence. Candidates face real situations from the seat and pick the move they would make first. What the published research on the method has found:
- A meta-analysis pooling 118 results found situational judgment tests predicted job performance at .26 (McDaniel, Hartman, Whetzel and Grubb, 2007, Personnel Psychology).
- Tests built around teamwork situations predicted at .38, and leadership situations at .28 (Christian, Edwards and Bradley, 2010, Personnel Psychology).
- The approach lines up with decades of research on tacit knowledge, the practical know-how that separates experienced performers (Sternberg and Wagner, 1985; Lievens and Motowidlo, 2016).
The limits page explains how these findings on the method relate to this assessment.
Where Culture Index is ahead: Culture Index publishes reliability figures and a bias finding for its own survey.3 First Move Assessment makes no equivalent claim about itself.
Trade-specific content
Culture Index describes people through traits and scores hires against a behavioral benchmark for the role.13
First Move Assessment is trade-specific all the way through. Each situation is written from inside one seat in one trade, in that trade's own words: a night crew cleaner alone in a locked building who finds a floor that is not on the route sheet, or an estimator with a bid due and a scope question the general contractor has not answered. A dispatcher is read against what a dispatch board demands, a bookkeeper against what the books demand.
Pricing
Culture Index does not publish pricing. Its site offers a free diagnostic and a conversation with the team.12
First Move Assessment charges per assessment. One assessment is $149. Packs run $595 for 5, $995 for 10 and $1,995 for 25. The Practice License is 100 assessments a year for $4,950. Every seat costs the same, assessments never expire, and the first one is covered by a 30-day refund. Full details are on the pricing page.
The honest math: with no published Culture Index price, no side-by-side number is possible. Ask Culture Index for its price, then divide it by $49.50 (Practice License) or $79.80 (25 pack) to see how many First Move Assessments it would buy.
Setup and support
Culture Index. The work runs through an Executive Advisor, who reviews the data with your leadership team across the four steps.2
First Move Assessment is self-serve. Your account email arrives within a minute of buying, and you set a password from it. Pick the seat, type the candidate's name and email, and the link goes out. The candidate finishes on their phone in about 10 to 20 minutes, with no app and no account, and the report lands in your inbox. No advisor engagement is required to read it. Questions go through the Contact us form on the homepage.
Frequently asked questions
Is First Move Assessment a Culture Index alternative?
For hiring in the trades, it answers a different question. The Culture Index Survey describes behavioral traits from two lists of 174 words.3 First Move Assessment reads the move a candidate reaches for first in situations from one trade seat, scored against that seat's written standard.
How much does Culture Index cost?
Culture Index does not publish pricing.12 First Move Assessment is $149 for one assessment and drops to $49.50 a candidate on the Practice License, with every price on the pricing page.
What does the Culture Index Survey measure?
Seven traits: Autonomy, Social Ability, Pace, Conformity, Energy Units, Logic and Ingenuity. The survey takes about ten minutes.3
Do I need a Culture Index advisor?
Culture Index's approach is led by an Executive Advisor who guides the work from start to finish.2 First Move Assessment needs no advisor: you send the link and read the report yourself.
Is Culture Index good for hiring technicians?
Culture Index scores hires against a behavioral benchmark for each role.1 First Move Assessment reads a technician against situations written for that seat in that trade, such as HVAC service technician or plumbing service plumber.
Which one covers commercial mechanical and cleaning companies?
First Move Assessment has written seat standards for commercial mechanical, residential cleaning and commercial cleaning, including project managers, estimators, house cleaners and night crew cleaners.
Sources
Culture Index facts checked on cultureindex.com on 14 October 2026.
- Culture Index home page: https://www.cultureindex.com/
- Culture Index, Our approach: https://www.cultureindex.com/our-approach
- Culture Index, Construction and psychometrics: https://www.cultureindex.com/construction-psychometrics
Culture Index and Culture Index Survey are trademarks of Culture Index. First Move Assessment is not affiliated with or endorsed by Culture Index.
First Move Assessment reads the first instinct a candidate brings to one seat in your trade before you hire: get the three sample reports.