My parents are moving out of their longtime mountain home to a more realistically sized location and closer to their physicians. Now its time to hire the movers...which I know nothing about.

I've always done moving myself and with friends, now that we're all a bit older and not quite as 'limber' as we used to be so, its time to work smarter, not harder. I know nothing about hiring movers, there's plenty of horror stories of destroyed property, lost drivers and such. What do I need to know and consider? Moving distance is about 150-miles, what are the rates and charges that can pile-up?

I just moved from Carlsbad NM to the Dallas area. There were only a couple of moving companies to choose from in the Carlsbad area. One of them specifically advertised Carlsbad to Texas moves. Asking around, I heard good things about them.

They quoted me a flat rate, and there were no added hidden charges.

I did all the packing up myself, they just loaded and unloaded on either end and supplied/ drove the truck.

They did a really good job, and I tipped them well.

I would think that your move would be short enough to consider "local". You might research it that way. Most of the horror stories I've heard have been big company cross-country moves.

Before we sold our house to move into another that was still nearby, I began packing boxes and built a wall of them from wall to wall and up to the ceiling, then started another layer. When it came time to move, the friends and I only had to move boxes and take apart a few beds.

If they're moving anything of significant monetary value, I'd inquire about their insurance and replacement if something is damaged or broken. Often times insurance payout is some silly ass shit like $.50/lb.

There are a lot of horror stories about moving companies. For example, giving you a low ball rate then at the time of moving, the person starts up charging for every little thing like there's a step here, oversized item there, delicate china there. They hold you hostage like not unloading the stuff at the destination or worse, unloading it on the sidewalk and letting you deal with it.

I would ask for recommendations from friends and / or browse through Yelp or Google reviews. A good company would give get an idea of the stuff being moved before giving you a quote. Charging in increments of 15 minutes.

I would box the stuff that can be boxed myself and label them I use bankers boxes for the most part as they can easily be managed and stacked. We moved this February and used a company that advertised their movers are firemen. Where I am, they have firemen movers, firemen fireplace repair and inspection companies, etc.

How much stuff do they have? As they are only moving 150 miles I would look into renting a truck yourself and just hiring to load and unload it and drive it yourself. No worries about getting lost, delivery times, etc. I've done this a few times without incident.

Last year we sold our primary 4100 sf home and moved everything into a warehouse that I own while we waited to close on another home.

To pack and move everything into storage it took 2 trips in a straight truck and cost about $8k if I remember correctly. We used the local Allied movers and they did a great job. No damage.

You can call any moving company and they will send an estimator over to give you a price.

Pack anything of value yourself. After my move, all my DVD cases were empty. Many of those Swarovski critters were missing. Pay attention and don't have faith in the movers.

When I escaped from Oregon a few months ago I used an online moving outfit because, well, I didn't know any better. The last time I moved before that was 30 years before and involved friends and pickups (just across town though). I won't make that mistake again. Go with an established, long time professional mover.

I packed everything myself except for the furniture and other big stuff. The stuff I packed came through fine. The stuff they packed, not so much. Desks and bedroom dressers got bashed around to the point that joints were starting to come apart. My gun safe had the opening handle bent outwards. Not sure how that could have happened, something would have had to be shoved behind the handle and then levered out. I was halfway surprised to find that the lock still worked (old school combination dial).

Stick with long established companies. Allied, Mayflower, one of them. The final price from the online companies isn't significantly better anyway, once it's all said and done.

OP,

Wish I was closer to help. I have moved more than enough.

Local movers typically charge $100-120/hour for 2 guys with a minimum of 2 or 3 hours within a certain mileage included. That included mileage typically isn't much, though.

quote:

Originally posted by xd45man:
Pack anything of value yourself. After my move, all my DVD cases were empty. Many of those Swarovski critters were missing. Pay attention and don't have faith in the movers.

Yep. Always pack your own stuff.

Anything valuable gets moved by yourself unless it's too heavy (such as a piano, safe, etc.). Always move firearms, guitars, computers, jewelry, etc. yourself.

When my dad wanted to move, downsize, sold home, we went through something similar.

There are packing services most areas they can be expensive but they do a good job of wrapping up things that are fragile and marking boxes, so if you don't have the time or man power and your parents can't do it, might be a good option.

We had everything boxed up, stacked, labelled and ready to pick up in advance.

We used a local outfit with good references that moved the boxes and furniture, took down the bed, put it all back up for a decent fee for my dad, who moved about 50 miles.

Least expensive is spending weekends boxing everything up, then getting friends to help load, move and unload. But I'm not in college anymore and a 12 pack and pizza isn't enough pay...

Depending on where you live, many U-haul dealers offer moving services, over and beyond just renting you a U-haul truck.

It will most likely be one of the larger full service U-haul dealers that offer propane, hitch installations, etc etc etc. Not the dinky ones that only have a few on their lot to rent.

There are options and levels of service. You can get a crew out to load up the U-Haul for you, they leave, you drive to your destination, the new U-Haul dealer sends a crew out to unload it and carry things in for you.

You can often times get them to come in and pack up everything you want done, provide all materials etc. There are outfits that do this well, as noted above, and do it without hassle, trouble, headache, and won't steal from you. Than again, some are not that way. You'll just have to call around or drive up and visit with them.

Alternatively, and I have done this, is talk to some experienced Realtors for referrals. Often you'll get an excellent recommendation for a local company from them that will help.

Moving companies? I don't know man, that road is fraught with dishonest scummy operators. Things happen and not for the best.

About 7 years ago I had a super nice glass table, rather expensive, that my niece wanted. I called around, got some referrals, and got a guy out who only did one thing: He crated up, from scratch, anything you wanted. He showed up in a nice van, stocked with wood, plastic, cardboard, padding, etc. Within 15 minutes he had built a crate, fully padded, super strong, put the glass in it, and was gone in 15 minutes. He was affiliated with a large national well known moving company, but was not employed by them, the local office loved him for his reliability and quality work. The glass arrived just fine at my nieces, no issues at all.

You just need to put on your detective cap, ask around, do the best you can to separate the chaff from the wheat, make your best decision, and go for it.

Good luck to you.
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So, we're going to pack everything up ourselves. Fortunately, we did quite a bit of packing and garage sale clearances last year so, I think we're ahead of the game in that regard. The next couple of weekends, we'll be packing up the kitchen and the everyday items, along with putting protective corners on furniture then shrink-wrapping them. The very valuable or, delicate stuff, I've declared to everyone we'll transport those items ourselves, its the bulky furniture and endless boxes (my dad prints the internet ) that I'll leave for movers.

Looks like I'm running into issues where most mover companies are regional, thus the distance requires contracting with two separate companies from either end of the distance and, cross-docking vehicles to exchange cargo. Am I better off just getting a big national brand?

quote:

Am I better off just getting a big national brand?

That might reduce the finger pointing if there are any problems.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:


Looks like I'm running into issues where most mover companies are regional, thus the distance requires contracting with two separate companies from either end of the distance and, cross-docking vehicles to exchange cargo. Am I better off just getting a big national brand?

Just the bolded part makes it a no-brainer - use a single national mover.

quote:

Moving distance is about 150-miles, what are the rates and charges that can pile-up?

I can't imagine you can't get some outfit to move you 150 miles. (unless you live way out in the middle of nowwhereville with no moving companies around).

I'd keep checking around. Cross dock is silly and you do NOT want that.
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