Do it yourself or movers

[sponger42]

Having had movers move me once, but having moved myself a half-dozen times, I will evermore opt to DIY any move. I was "forced" to use movers in order to meet a required start date. I wouldn't have been able to start work on the day required if I'd had to pack a truck myself, drive it across the country, and unload myself.

Instead, my company hired a mover for a "full service" move. I cleaned up the apartment a bit, but really left all the packing to them.

I can't say that it's a total disaster, but I'm not at all happy with the way things went, and I'd never pay for a mover, myself. Since this was a rush job, I didn't have time to donate or sell off a lot of junk that I would have preferred to leave behind. I also was gone when the packing occured (I was already working 3000 miles away), so I couldn't oversee the packing.

Finally, when the unpacking occured, I was also working, so I couldn't oversee the unloading.

This resulted in a laundry-list of complaints:
- Fragile items were thrown in random boxes with no padding while trash was meticulously wrapped in 100's of lbs of paper.
- Boxes were labeled at random, not by contents, and not even by room, so I've currently got a room full of mystery boxes.
- Clothes were tossed in dirty trash cans rather than being put in wardrobe boxes and many items not meant as cargo containers were used to transport my goods, rather than boxing up everything.
- The crew unloading did no unpacking, they simply stacked everything at random inside the new apartment, even though it was supposed to be a full-service move.
I understand that the unloading crew was stymied by the loading crew's crappy job of labeling (so they had no idea what to put where), but that's not supposed to be my problem.

Anyway, my experience indicates that you need to hover over movers and tell them how and where every single item should be packed and unpacked. If I'm going to do that, why not save everyone the aggravation, get some exercise, and do it myself?

[sll3454]

If you do get local movers, they might give you a price that would change if the job lasted over a certain number of hours. That's what my local movers did. I was confident that we wouldn't go overtime, and it wouldn't have - except that they wanted to "stop and grab a sandwich at 7-11" on the way. That little trip added about half an hour and cost me an extra fee. So if there is some sort of time limit, make sure it doesn't include the lunch stop!

[silibran]

Consult with places like Two Men and a Truck. I've used them twice, over a period of some years. Once we had a large dresser to move down stairs and onto a truck, and into our new home. I worried that someone would get hurt moving that thing. We had the movers move selected items that we could not manhandle.

My second experience was not as good. Young kids came out to move my mom. They broke a lamp, but the owner paid. With small movers like TMAAT, you need to make sure who will be moving stuff. But if you use them for things that are really heavy, the rest of your move might be easier for all.

[Shorty458]

Originally Posted by silibran

Consult with places like Two Men and a Truck. I've used them twice, over a period of some years. Once we had a large dresser to move down stairs and onto a truck, and into our new home. I worried that someone would get hurt moving that thing. We had the movers move selected items that we could not manhandle.

My second experience was not as good. Young kids came out to move my mom. They broke a lamp, but the owner paid. With small movers like TMAAT, you need to make sure who will be moving stuff. But if you use them for things that are really heavy, the rest of your move might be easier for all.

We have two men and a truck here. Thanks for the info!

[Eazine]

$600 moving a 5 bedroom home and 2 car garage with two movers. That includes moving a W&D out of a basement and many other heavy items plus assembly and disassembly of items too big to remove. We also had to pay for our baby grand piano which was a flat $200 fee that is included in the costs above. It took them 7 hours in 100 degree weather, we also tipped them and bought lunch and water. Hiring movers was the best money I spent - they were very professional and careful with our stuff.

[ideasonfinancing]

I suggest you just rent a truck and do everything else. It is more fun even if it does not look likes so. Quickness depends on how many and how big your things are. If you really are not comfortable taking over, I suggest you get a company with 2 or more trucks to finish all in a day and all in just a trip.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I spend the money on movers, but I am old and not in shape :-) Plus, I didn't want to ask friends to help me - again - last time i moved.

The problem with a short move like yours is that the professional movers usually have a minimum charge. Like 4 hours. And here for 2 men and a truck it's running around $80/hour last time I checked a couple months ago (I'm also looking at another move). Plus, they'll expect a tip of $20 each for a job like yours.

I just moved from my upstairs apartment to a downstairs apt in the same building last time I moved, but I still paid for movers. I pack and unpack, but they move it.