How much does it cost to hire movers?
You are about to move and you don’t know what to expect in terms of pricing? What is cheap and what is expensive. What is normal for professional movers. Finding and hiring real professional movers is not an easy task. Most of the moving companies provide free moving quotes but what does the final amount tells us.
In most cases you are in one of the two main pricing categories – Local Movers or Interstate Movers:
Local Movers Cost
Local movers charge by the hour. The estimate you should receive by the moving company should be based on an hourly cost and estimated hours to complete the move. Sometimes movers have additional fees and you should ask in advance about them to make sure the estimate you get is as close as the final movers cost. Usually mover charge 1 hour as a travel fee (the time the movers get to your location and back from the destination) with the regular hourly rate. Most professional movers rates are from $85/hour to $95/hour depending on the date. Busy dates are more expensive (in the end of the month, especially in the Summer). These prices include 2 men and a truck. So a sample mini move of 3 hours will cost you approximately 3hours + 1 hour travel time = 4hours x $85 in the best case scenario comes to $340 total. Most movers will ask for a deposit when scheduling the move so they can reserve the date for you. Click here to have a free moving cost estimate by professional movers.
Interstate Movers Cost
How much does it cost to hire movers cross country?
The cost of the interstate moves, movers cross country and state to state moves are determined by the weight. Usually the moving company will determine your moving weight by asking for the complete furniture and boxes list on the phone (or by email) in order to prepare the moving quote for you. When providing your household items list try to be exactly accurate to have the closest possible moving estimate. Some movers charge light and bulky fees if you have too big items with relatively low weight. For example if you are moving from a 2 bedroom house (with a garage, basement, living room, kitchen, etc) in most cases your stuff will weigh about 5-6000 pounds. If you move it to about 1000 miles away it will cost you about $3500-$4000 for the complete move. If you receive a moving quote for a lot less than this amount, you are dealing with non professionals or they deliberately lower your costs just to book and you. If this is the case you should expect a raise once they have picked your stuff and before the delivery. Click here for a complete Interstate move estimate to know how much does it cost to hire movers cross country.
How much does it cost to hire movers
This question could have very different answers depending on your moving locations, type of move (local or interstate) and the moving company.
Hiring movers is never easy, especially if it is your first time doing that. Make sure that you do your research on any company that you are considering. You’ll want to make sure they are licensed and bonded, as well as check with the Better Business Bureau. There are lots of scammers out there and there are quite a few good ones there. Research and planning are the key here.
I think the best answer to this question is truly “it depends”. The best thing to do is talk to friends and family who have recently moved, and get quotes from a few different moving companies.
Wow, I’m not sure where those rates came from, but that’s not the norm. I agree, most moving companies charge more than they should, but $85 for two men & a truck is incorrect also.
I own a moving company and we too dislike the higher rates that most charge, which is why we only charge $45 Per hour with a $35 Service fee.
We pride ourselves on being the lowest cost mover in town and we also guarantee our rates and will beat competitors rates if they offer a lower cost in writting.
You can save a nice chunk of money, by renting a moving truck and hiring movers for labor. Labor only services usually cost half the price of a full service move. If moving locally you can use one company to do the loading and unloading. Moving out of state, you can use one company to load and another to unload at your new location. There are many places online to find companies offering labor services, such as movingstaffers.com, hireahelper.com, and movinghelp.com to name a few.
Hansen’s Helping Hands
Bellingham, WA
The BBB is the best source to find a reputable mover in your area.
I don’t recommend renting a moving truck and hiring local labor. It takes experience and skills to make a move flawlessly without any broken or scratched items. If you want your stuff to be in the same condition you had it in, hire professional movers.
Besides the issue of type of move, cost is a deriative of value. Professional movers tend to ask for more than a small local unknown company.
We are looking for movers to move our stuff around 3 miles…we have a 2 bed room apt…we live in aurora,il
Hi Brandy, thank you for your question. You can find a list with moving companies from Illinois here. These movers are functioning, licensed and you can also read reviews about them in order to find the best one for you. Good luck with your moving!
The cost for hiring movers is going to deepened on the amount of bedrooms you are moving from one place to another, movers base their prices on the bedrooms because that will determine the manpower and time frame, movers most often give you a by hour quote.
The cost of interstate move is calculated and vary by 3 major options: 1. by the pound – regardless the milage and you only take part of one whola big truck load; 2. by the millage – regardless how many pounds as you take the entire truck load; 3. by the cubic foot – also you share the big truck with other moved people and only pay your part depending on how many cubic feet you took in this truck.
Great article, very thorough. This article definitely shows how finding movers isn’t as easy of a task that one would think!
It depends how far you want to move and which company you want to hire. Some companies are giving quality services at affordable price.
Very well written post.
I have been working with moving companies since long and in my opinion, cost of moving depends on lots of variable factors like distance, volume of goods, season (specially in india) and finally the urgency.
Thanks.
A well written and insightful article. But what about the movers that charge by volume vs weight and miles? Many us in the industry wouldn’t even suggest it as an option, but there are companies that charge like this.
Moving cost really depends on scale,size,and complexity of your move. Rest it depends on type of move,as corporate moves generally cost more than residential moves as these moves are more complex in nature.