How Much Does It Cost To Hire Movers?

You are about to move to another home and you don’t know what to expect in terms of pricing? This can be really frustrating because when you are unsure about the cost to hire professional movers, then you won’t be able to set up your moving budget accordingly. Even worse, you don’t even know if the money you have saved up will be sufficient to cover the inevitable moving expenses.

There are just too many unanswered questions in your head that won’t let you focus on the myriad of moving tasks ahead of you. How much does it cost to hire movers? What is cheap and what is expensive? What is normal for professional movers?

You do need a good comparison base in order to know what your viable options are when seeking professional moving assistance. Finding and hiring reputable professional movers is not an easy task – most of the moving companies provide free moving quotes, but what does the final amount tell us? Understand how the moving price is formed and you’ll be able to save big on your move as well!

How much do movers charge? In most cases, your house move will fall into one of the two main pricing categories – Local Movers or Interstate Movers. Read on to learn the estimated cost to hire movers so that you are truly prepared for the financial side of your upcoming residential move.

Local Movers Cost

Local movers charge by the hour – this is the very first thing you need to remember if you’re moving locally. But what does that mean for you and your budget? It means that the price estimate you should receive by local moving companies should be based on an hourly cost and estimated hours to complete the move.

How much does it cost to hire movers for a local move?

• The average cost to hire movers for a local move is $40-$50 / hour per mover but the precise hourly charge will depend on your exact location in the country, the season and day of the month you’re moving home, and the local moving company you’ve decided to use.
• For hiring 2 men and a truck, you should expect to be charged from $85-$90 / hour to $95-$100 / hour. As mentioned above, the exact date of your move will have a considerable influence over the professional local movers rates. Busy dates are the more expensive ones – move-out dates that fall at the beginning and end of the month, especially during the summer.
• Sometimes local movers charge additional fees and you should ask in advance about them to make sure the estimate you get is as close to the final movers cost as possible. An example for such an extra charge is the travel fee – the time the movers require to get to your location and back to their base of operation. That fee is often charged as 1 additional hour of labor.
• How much does it cost to hire movers locally? A mini move (for example, moving out of a studio) that takes about 3 hours will cost you approximately 3 hours + 1 hour travel time = 4 hours x $85 comes to a total of $340 in the best case scenario.
• When moving out of a 2-bedroom home, you should be ready to shell out more. Let’s assume that 2 movers work for hours to get the job done, then that’s roughly 6 hours + 1 hour travel time = 7 hours x $85 comes to a total of $595in the best case scenario. Oftentimes, an extra mover will be required for working on 2+ bedroom homes, so the price can go even higher.
• Most local movers will ask for a deposit when scheduling the move so that they can reserve the date for you. Contact your local moving company to learn more about their deposit policy.

Keep in mind that it’s important in advance to know how much local movers charge. Click here to have a free moving cost estimate by professional local movers.

What are the price factors when moving across the country?

If you’re moving to another state, be it a neighboring one, then you’re about to complete an interstate household move. And, because of that, the first thing you should know is that the price of your cross country move will be calculated rather differently than moving locally – it’s all about the price factors and how they will influence that final moving bill.

And more importantly – why should you care? Well, the good news is that once you’re familiar with how your interstate moving cost is formed through the interconnection of the various long distance price factors, then you will be able to find and use good cost-saving techniques to your advantage.

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  Moving across the country is no joke, and neither is the price.
  Home size + shipment weight. Generally speaking, the larger your home is, the more items it will hold, and therefore – the heavier the shipment will become. In contrast to the local movers price /calculated on an hour basis/, the cost of all interstate moves /state to state moves/ are determined by the weight of the items to be shipped.
• Special items. The general cost to hire movers will suddenly go up if you own an upright piano, for example, and you decide to take it with you. The same is true for other types of specialty items as well – a pool table, a hot tub, a big metal safe, antique furniture, and so on. Make sure you show to your moving company everything that you plan to move to the new house or apartment.
• Extra services. In order to have your price calculated with any good degree of accuracy, you will need to inform beforehand your cross country mover whether you will require any additional moving services – packing, unpacking, temporary storage, disassembly and reassembly of furniture, custom crating for extremely valuable items, and so on. Only then will your long distance moving company be able to give you an accurate price estimate. And only then will you have the peace of mind that you won’t run into any bad surprises when it’s time to pay the company at the end of the move itself.
• Move distance. Of course, the actual distance between the two homes will affect the cross country moving cost. However, that factor is not something you should really worry about because you don’t have any direct control over it.

Interstate Movers Cost

As already mentioned above, the cost to hire movers in town and the cost to hire movers out of state will be rather different. And because of the numerous price factors that influence a house move across the country, it’s virtually impossible to calculate on your own the cost to hire movers for an interstate move.

Request cost estimates from various cross country movers and have the company representatives visit your home so that they can provide you with accurate moving quotes that will reflect the amount you will pay after your household items are delivered to the new home.

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Use the moving cost estimator at the top of the page to get accurate price quotes from top-rated cross country movers.

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How much does it cost to hire movers across country?

Use the following average costs to hire movers for cross country only for referential purposes.  Do yourself a favor and ask reputable cross country moving companies for in-house surveys, followed by the issuance of precise quotes.

• If you are moving out of a 1-bedroom apartment, your household items will most likely weigh around 3500 pounds. Expect to pay approximately $2500 for a move distance of 1000 miles with no extra services included.
• If you are moving out of a 2-bedroom home (plus a garage and a basement), your stuff will usually weigh about 5000-6000 pounds. If you move it to about 1000 miles away, the cross country move will cost you about $3500-$4000 for the complete move.

Should you happen to receive a moving quote for a lot less than those amounts, you may be dealing with non-professionals have deliberately lowered the costs just to book your move. And if that is the case, then you could be asked for more money once they have picked your stuff, right before the delivery.

Click here for a complete Interstate move estimate to know how much it costs to hire movers cross country.

How much does it cost to hire movers? The extra charges explained.

As you can see from the example moving company costs above, this question can have very different answers depending on your move locations, type of move (local or interstate), and the professional moving company itself.

Here are some additional and often unexpected fees and charges that come into play when calculating the average cost to hire movers:

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  Expect to be charged extra if the professional movers are unable to use an elevator on moving day.
  Charges for handling bulky items – this category includes pianos, organs, canoes and other items with either extraordinary proportions that take a lot of space or very heavy items (that weigh more than most items for the same volume. Some companies have a flat fee for moving pianos and organs. It is very important that the company knows about these items in advance as the movers may be unable to move them if they come unprepared on moving day.
• Long carry fee usually applies due to the impossibility to park near the door to your building or because the walking distance from your apartment to the moving truck is very long. Having too much distance will prolong the move significantly and movers may change more. If possible, try to reserve a parking spot or to arrange a parking permit and reserve the best parking spot prior your move.
• Cancellation fees might be charged if you cancel your move after previously booking it. Sometimes that could apply also when you want to change the moving date and the mover cannot accommodate you on that new date. This fee is usually equal or less than the deposit amount you have with your mover to book the date.
• Storage fees usually apply when you request delayed delivery of your items. In those cases moving companies will have to store your belongings. Depending on the moving company, this fee could be a significant charge.

There are also some uncommon charges that you should be aware of. Best practice would be to ask your moving company about these and try to negotiate better terms in advance.

• Express delivery charge or Exact delivery date charge – this usually applies when you want a fast delivery with a state to state move or when you request an exact delivery date for your cross country move.
• Disposal fees (environmental charges) usually apply when you request unpacking of your belongings and the moving company will have to dispose of the used moving boxes and additional packing materials left from the relocation.
• Extra stop charge usually occurs with local moves, when you pick up or drop off furniture from multiple locations. This will cause the movers to drive additional distance and spend more time.

This is why you are strongly advised to get estimates from multiple moving companies as every company has its own set of parameters when estimating the move cost. Also, negotiating a discount in advance is another option worth exploring.