How Much Does Full Service Moving Cost

How much do full service moving companies cost?

It's hard to disagree with the statement that moving to another home can often be a rather complicated process, to begin with.

If you yourself are about to play, willingly or unwillingly, the leading role in an upcoming residential move, then you should be well aware of the scores of puzzles to solve, endless tasks to take care of, and above all – numerous risks and dangers you may face should you decide to do all the move-related jobs without any professional assistance.

As it turns out, you can easily avoid the habitual complications that tend to accompany the majority of self-move attempts by opting for a good solution that's been proven to work. Yes, you are given the sensible option of having a perfectly organized and smoothly executed house move. The only thing you get to do is use the 3 magic words that should do wonders for you: full-service movers .

And before you answer back that professional moving companies are too expensive and you can't possibly afford their relocation services, we're going to show you why it will pay off to entrust your valuable belongings to top-rated full-service movers. In fact, under specific circumstances, the average moving costs may even come as a somewhat pleasant surprise for you.

What do full-service movers do?

Before we elaborate on the cost of full-service movers with specific price examples , let's first say a few words about what you can expect from full-service moving in general.

In order to be completed successfully, a residential move is all about completing one task after the other until all of the move-related jobs are finished, which should also coincide with the completion of the relocation itself.

In other words, each case of moving house will need a different set of quality moving services to be handled properly, and this is where a full service moving company comes in.

The best full-service movers are experts at finding adequate solutions to moving day problems. The years of experience and a wide range of services will make them the perfect relocation partner you can hopefully afford. And before we cover the issue of affordability, here's a list of what full-service movers do to help their customers move house as quickly and easily as possible.

And how does a full-service moving company work? What's the real story here?

In-home visual inspection. Later in this article, we'll cover the topic of how to find affordable full-service movers , so for the time being, let's assume that you've already picked a top rated mover who fits into your preliminary moving budget and satisfies your needs of quality services. Now, the first service that your reputable full-service moving company should offer you is to visit your home in order to do a thorough visual inspection of the household items you intend to relocate. It's good to know that that in-house visit by a knowledgeable moving expert will serve a number of beneficial purposes at the same time.

How to move a piano to another home? — If you value your piano, your health, and your property, as you should, then hiring a full-service mover is the way to go.

Risk assessment. One of the main goals of having a moving specialist in your home is the risk assessment of your specific move. First of all, the moving company representative is supposed to take a closer look at the possessions you have decided to take with you and determine if there are any concrete risks with their transportation. For example, specialty items such as antique furniture pieces, artwork, a piano, a pool table, a heavy safe, a hot tub, and so on present a higher level of relocation difficulty. Secondly, the relocation expert will assess the exit routes out of the house and will not down any potential moving day threats such as narrow corridors, tight corners, steep staircases, small doorways, lack of an elevator, and similar trouble makers.
Insurance coverage. If you're about to move any items of extraordinary value /high value articles/, you should not only fill out an inventory form for high-value articles, but you should also discuss the issue of purchasing proper insurance coverage for your valuables. Forget about the basic limited liability coverage you get by signing your moving contract and get a full value moving insurance either through your full-service moving company or directly from a reputable insurance company.
Price estimation. Needless to say, the main reason for a relocation expert from a full service moving company to visit your home is to give you an accurate price estimate of the costs you're about to incur. It's important to know that the price of the full-service movers estimate will depend on a few fundamental factors: the move distance, the weight of the shipment, the exact scheduled date, and the number and nature of additional services that will be required. The representative is supposed to issue you a binding or non-binding moving estimate – click here to learn the difference between the two types of quotes if you're not sure which one to request.
Packing + packing supplies. What does full service moving include? Packing, of course! It is an undeniable fact that packing up a home for moving is the most time-consuming and energy-draining task in your personal moving calendar, and in anyone's moving timeline for that matter. It is a complicated job that includes a number of packing challenges due to the various nature of the things to protect, including easily breakable, rather fragile and too expensive items too. Hiring full-service movers and packers will not only guarantee the safety of your prized possessions, but the pros will come on Moving day armed with quality packing supplies of the right type and quantity. Pretty convenient, isn't it?

Furniture disassembly and reassembly — Some moving tasks are better left to the pros.

Furniture disassembly. If you've chosen to relocate any large and heavy pieces of furniture, you'll be glad to know that the majority of full-service movers offer the very service of furniture disassembly. Having your bulky furniture stripped down and its separate components safely packed is enough to ensure that no damage will come their way. Also, the entire move will be much quicker because of that partial furniture disassembly.

Moving vehicle + equipment. It won't come as a surprise that the full-service movers you have hired will arrive on Moving day with a moving vehicle of the right size and capacity, and will also bring the proper moving equipment to get the job done. However, the mere fact that you won't have to worry about those two essential tasks will make everything so much easier for you, don't you agree?
Custom moving day solutions. Moving day is the period when the accumulated stress can escalate and when wrong decisions can bring about property damage or even personal injuries. It all comes down to that single day! And what's best about having experienced professionals by your side on that particular day is their ability to offer custom solutions for any types of problems that may occur. Custom crating for your artwork? Done. Safe navigation of large furniture through narrow spots? Not a problem. Hoisting of specialized items through the window? Consider it done.
Loading + driving + delivery of shipment + unloading. The moment you have reached the informed decision to have a full-service move, you won't really have to fret over how exactly your household items will reach your new home – as if by magic, they just do. How to load and drive a big truck is another thing that you won't have to concern yourself with as that responsibility is now resting on your professional partner's shoulders.
Furniture re-assembly. If you had to have your large furniture taken apart for easier and safer transportation, then you should expect your hired men to put it back together after the move is over and your belongings have already been taken inside your new residence.
Unpacking + disposal of packing materials. Should you opt to have your full boxes unpacked and their contents distributed to their right places, you will save loads of valuable post-relocation time to take care of other pressing tasks. Because it can be done at a much slower pace and stretched over a much longer period of time, unpacking is usually not requested. Still, if you'd rather have it done by professionals for one reason or another, it's good to know that they will dispose of what's left of the packing supplies too.

Full-service moving companies reviews

Provided that you can afford the quoted price (read on to see what to expect price-wise), full-service moving sounds great, doesn't it? All you have to do is leave your move-related challenges to a qualified team of professionals who will know how to handle them. But just where to find top-rated full-service movers?

Full service movers reviews — It's a good idea to look for full-service moving companies with overall ratings of at least 3 stars (out of 5).

Choosing the best home movers for you is a multiple-step process /31.5 steps, to be precise/ that involves a fair amount of research in order to be a successful one. Follow the link above to access our super-detailed checklist for choosing a reputable full-service mover.

Here, we will cover briefly the importance of checking customer ratings and reading moving reviews before picking your professional relocation partner.

Trustworthy moving companies understand how important good online reputation is, and therefore they do their best to offer great services to each and every customer. For the record, whenever a company adopts the every client matters approach in their business strategy, you can expect scores of satisfied customers. And when there are happy customers, positive reviews start to appear here and there – moving companies reviews that recommend these high quality moving services to other would-be home movers.
Before you check out what former satisfied or dissatisfied customers had to say about full service moving companies near you, ask around friends, coworkers, and neighbors if they can recommend you any movers they might have used recently – hired professionals who did a great job with their respective household moves. You should know that this is an excellent tactical move because you're getting valuable information from sources that you can actually trust.
Access one of the largest databases of trustworthy moving companies as of today. There, you can read customer reviews and testimonials of movers arranged by states and cities for your convenience, as well as overall ratings which will help you form preliminary opinions and get first impressions which should matter in your final decision. Also, you can see each company's unique profile and their contact information so that you can get in touch with them directly, for example, to get a full-service movers cost estimate.
Keep in mind that checking out reviews of full service moving companies should serve as nothing but guidelines for you to pick up the mover that will be the right one for you. In other words, you shouldn't base your ultimate decision only on the reviews and ratings you've looked through.
While researching your future full-service mover, beware of possible moving frauds. If you do your homework right, you will be quite alright. Still, it's useful to be able to recognize the red flags of having contacted a dishonest moving company simply because you never know. Take a look at our complete Moving Fraud Prevention Guide to stay on the safe side of things at all times .

How much do full-service movers cost?

How much for full service movers? — Are you ready to learn how much full-service moving companies cost?

When dealing with top-rated full-service movers, you get what you pay for – in most cases, that is. And when trying to determine the full service moving cost, it's only fair to say that no two household moves are exactly the same as far as the final price goes. And to complicate further the satisfactory answer to the question, How much does it cost to hire movers?, let's mention that each additional service requested by you or required to get the job done will influence the final price you'll pay when the relocation is over.

Here's the deal : the calculation of the moving price is done on a case-by-case basis .

As a result, it's almost impossible to know the final price of your local or cross-country move with any kind of accuracy unless you've had an in-house survey by a moving expert and have been issued with a binding moving estimate. In reality, regardless of whether you're moving locally (within the same city, to a neighboring city, or a to a city no more than 100 miles away within the same state) or cross country (Houston – New York City, Houston – Los Angeles, New York City – San Francisco, Las Vegas – Los Angeles, for example), the relocation costs you're about to incur will depend on a few major factors:

Move distance . You cannot possibly shorten the distance between your two homes in an attempt to lower your moving costs, so pay attention to the next influential factor when moving house.
Shipment weight . Inventory your home and get rid of anything you don't need anymore – save loads of money by moving only the things you will really need in the future.
Additional services . The more moving services you request, the higher the final price will be. If unsure, consult with your full-service moving company which services you do need, and which ones you can do without. Why? To save even more money, naturally.

Local full-service movers

As a rule of thumb, local moves are charged by the hour. As a result, you can expect to pay around $60 if one mover works for one hour. How long your particular move will last will depend on a great number of additional factors, including the distance to your new residence, as well as the number and difficulty level of the separate services.

So, how can you actually use this piece of information to get a rough idea of the price you'll pay?

For example, if you're moving out from a studio apartment or a 1-bedroom apartmant, 2 movers are usually enough to get the job done for around 4 hours, so you should end up paying around $480.
A 2-bedroom home should take 3 professionals around 6 hours to complete the move, so that should amount to roughly $1,080.
A 3-bedroom home should take 4 professionals around 7 hours to complete the job, so that should get around $1,160.

IMPORTANT : Naturally, all these example values remain largely approximate, so use them only as a reference. The final cost of your local full-service move will depend on your specific move details.

Long distance full-service movers

Full service moving services are just great, right? You just stand aside and watch the pros do what they do best.

You shouldn't be much surprised that answering the question, How much does cross country movers cost? is rather complicated due to the fact that the two major factors that play the leading role in forming the long-distance moving price – distance and shipment weight – remain nothing but variables. And whenever values remain valuables, any attempts at precise price calculations are doomed from the very beginning.

The best part?

Getting a full-service movers' quote is very easy – all you need to do is contact one of the best long-distance movers you are reviewing at the moment and request in-home visual surveys which should end with you having accurate cost estimates in your hands.

Do not underestimate the importance of on-site inspections, as those visits present the perfect opportunity for you to get first-hand information from experienced professionals, to voice any concerns or worries you might have prior to the move, and more importantly – to judge the level of professionalism that you'll get when the Big day arrives.

Of course, it pays to be prepared for what's coming, so here are what you're supposed to pay approximately for hiring full-service movers to move across the country:

If we can assume that 1) you're moving out of a studio apartment or a 1-bedroom apartment, 2) the items in your home weigh around 2,000 pounds, and 3) the move distance is 1,000 miles, then be ready to pay roughly $1,500 – $3,200 without any accessorial services.
If we can assume that 1) you're moving out of a 2-bedroom home, 2) the items in your home weigh around 6,000 pounds, and 3) the move distance is 1,000 miles, then you'll probably be paying around roughly $3,500 – $5,200 without any extra services.
If we can assume that 1) you're moving out of a 3-bedroom home, 2) the items in your home weigh around 9,000 pounds, and 3) the move distance is 1,000 miles, then you'll probably be paying around roughly $6,300 – $7,800 without any extra services.

And finally, should you find yourself wondering whether to tip your full-service movers or not, you should take a quick look at our Movers Tipping Guide with good pieces of advice on how, when, and how much to tip professional movers.

Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2017, Last updated on November 12, 2021

Joshua Green

Joshua Green is a relocation expert and a moving industry professional, one of the esteemed contributors to MyMovingReviews.com with specialized articles and informative guides which help people organize and execute their moves easily and comfortably. Joshua is a recognized author of two books about moving one of which is Relocating Without Breaking A Sweat - Your Personal Handbook For A Perfect Move. Both books are well received and help thousands of people make the right relocation decisions. He is known to skillfully incorporate his never-ending energy, utmost dedication and raw passion into his works. You can contact Joshua Green at: joshua@mymovingreviews.com

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