And what to do instead
Between down payments, deposits, school tuitions, new furniture, etc, moving is expensive. We get it. A lot of our customers are on a budget and they’re looking for creative ways to save money on their move, but many of those moving hacks we’re taught will save us a lot of money and aren’t worth the time. Here are five ways we’ve all been misled:
Move boxes yourself
You might save a little money moving the boxes yourself, but unless you have a large truck, you’ll end up spending more of your time and effort going back and forth than it’s worth. Boxes are the fastest and easiest things for movers to move. All we need to do is load them onto our dollies and neatly stack them in our truck. Unlike furniture, boxes don’t need additional wrapping.
What to do instead?
If you are able to move some things yourself, move pictures on the walls, lamps and electronics. For a mover to transport these items, they need to be boxed. You can carefully wrap them in blankets, though, and move them in your car.
Ask for one less mover
When you move locally, your hourly rate is based on the number of movers and trucks. It makes some sense that fewer movers will be cheaper, but that’s not usually true. You don’t want too many movers, but you definitely don’t want too few. The move will simply take longer, be less efficient, and may even cost you more money.
What to do instead?
Ask your moving consultant how many movers they recommend. The majority of Bay Area moves require three movers. Small apartments might need just two and large homes will need more.
Help the movers load the truck
You work out. There’s no reason you can’t help, right? The movers have moved down to a science. Let us wrap the furniture and load everything onto the truck. It will go a lot faster that way.
What to do instead?
If you want to help us out, you can clear paths through your house. You can disconnect all your electronics and remove the table legs. Label items based on where you’d like them to be put in your new home.
Insist that the movers use the elevator
If you live on the second or even third floor, the elevator might even cost you time and money. You don’t want to pay the movers for waiting for the elevator when there’s a perfectly good stairway. Also, in many cases, the stairway is able to accommodate larger pieces of furniture.
What to do instead?
Let the movers make this call. If you do live beyond the third floor, though, ask your building management about reserving the elevator specifically for the move.
Going by memory while getting a quote
When you’ve lived in a home for a while, you become blind to a lot of the things that are in it. Some people even seem to think that intentionally leaving things out will save them money. It won’t. You want to have an as accurate estimate as possible so the movers can be fully prepared, which means being as detailed as you can be.
What to do instead?
Take us on a virtual tour of your home. Video your home, noting each item you’d like us to pack. Don’t forget to include the outside of your home.
