As soon as you learn that you’re moving out soon, one of the very first questions you have to ask yourself is whether you should hire movers or do it yourself.
Both house moving options have their share of advantages and disadvantages, and you may be stuck in a tricky situation where none of the relocation scenarios seems obvious enough.
So, how do you choose what’s best for you and your family when you’re not sure which way makes more sense in your particular house moving case.
To illuminate the right path for you, here are 10 times when it makes much more sense to hire movers instead of attempting to organize a Do-It-Yourself move.
1. You’re moving long distance
The distance between Point A (the place you’re moving from) and Point B (the place you’re moving to) plays an important role in deciding how you will organize the upcoming house move.
Unless you’re moving to a neighboring state, in which case you could try to pull off a DIY move, it makes a lot of sense to hire interstate movers to transport your belongings when moving to a town or city that’s located in another state.
Remember that moving across the country is no joke – the moving costs and risks would just be too high if you chose to rent a moving truck and drive it hundreds or even thousands of miles across the North American continent.
Local moves – moves that stay within a radius of 100 miles and never cross any state lines – may be managed by a self-move. However, long-distance moves are the realm of professional moving companies that possess the skills, knowledge, and equipment to move household belongings over great distances quickly and safely.
A classic case when it’s much better to hire professional movers is when you just don’t have enough time to prepare properly until the move-out date.
Sometimes you may be wondering whether to hire movers or move yourself… until you realize that you only have a few days or so before you have to move away. And when you know that you won’t be able to make it on time, then it’s the right time to get in touch with a top-rated moving company.
Professional packers and movers are known for their efficient work – it’s their job and they do it day in, day out. Therefore, it makes all the sense in the world to hire professionals to get the job done quickly, especially when it comes to the time-consuming task of packing a house for moving.
When faced with an emergency move (aka a last-minute move), then once more reputable movers should be the ones you turn to for assistance as you’re not trained to handle so much work in such a short period of time.
It’s important to know that organizing a Do-It-Yourself move has its limitations. For example, if you want to take with you too many household items – like the content of a 3-bedroom apartment or a large house, then you’ll find it impossible to load all those things inside a medium-sized rental truck.
Furthermore, you’ll have to ask at least 4-5 of your friends to help you pack, lift, carry, and load all that stuff into the moving vehicle.
Most of the time, it’ll come down to your own sound judgment. Once you’ve inventoried your belongings and got rid of the things you don’t like or won’t need anymore, then you should be able to assess whether you should be able to handle the number of possessions you’re set to transport to the new home.
Moving furniture items is seldom a good idea, but if you’ve already made up your mind that you’re not parting with any of your furniture, then it’ll make much more sense to use the services of furniture movers.
Are moving companies worth it? Yes, they surely are worth it when you’re moving any specialty items that are too risky to be transported without professional assistance.
If you ever wonder whether you should hire movers or do it yourself, then solve the dilemma by simply asking yourself if you wish to move any special items such as
Some of those special items are too valuable (antique furniture pieces may be priceless) while others are too fragile and expensive (a piano can have more than 7,000 moving parts inside that are tuned to perfection while one wrong step could damage a grandfather clock forever).
There are those specialty items that are too big and too heavy to be handled safely by non-professionals. For instance, a hot tub is really, really big and can weigh up to 800 pounds depending on the model. A pool table usually has 3 top slates, and each slate can weigh between 150 and 200 pounds.
5. You can’t rely on your friends for help
There may be times when you won’t be able to gather up your bunch of loyal friends to help you pack boxes and move heavy furniture pieces. Even when you do have good pals who are generally ready to give you a hand, they may be unavailable during the exact period of time when you’ll be moving out.
As a rule of thumb, moving house is not meant to be managed by one person alone. Even if you could somehow pack it all entirely by yourself (packing stuff can be done by one person provided they have enough time), you’d put yourself at great risk on Moving day – the unpredictable and dangerous period of moving between two homes.
The thing is that you should be able to tell pretty early whether your friends will be willing to help you move or not. And if things don’t turn out the way you hope, then it’ll make much more sense to hire a moving company than to endanger your own safety and the safety of your family by attempting a risky DIY move.
Moving day can be a dangerous time for a few well-known reasons:
bulky and heavy furniture items are being carried around the house and taken outside to be loaded onto the moving truck;
big and heavy appliances are sometimes being taken out of the home, often refrigerators and washers;
too many boxes are being moved around and some of those containers can be rather heavy, especially the ones filled up with books.
Moving day can be dangerous.
During a DIY move, accidents can happen in the blink of an eye, especially when lifting furniture is involved. And Moving day accidents can easily lead to various personal injuries ranging from minor ones (muscle soreness and bruises) to serious ones (pinched nerves, back injuries, twisted ankles, etc).
If you’ve never had to move furniture before, you don’t have the required moving equipment, or you can’t rely on your friends for help, then it makes perfect sense to hire experienced movers to tackle the toughest jobs – the tasks that involve plenty of risk for inexperienced people.
Don’t risk your health unless you know exactly what you’re doing.
Managing a self-move often comes down to self-confidence. And confidence always comes with experience – the more experienced you are in something, the more confident you will be when doing that something.
The same principle is valid during a move as well. If you’ve never had to move house before, then you won’t really know what it takes to organize a successful DIY move and you’re likely to doubt your abilities to pull it off without professional help.
While you shouldn’t have any problems packing up your books in small to medium-sized boxes (just bear in mind that books are rather heavy when packed together), you’ll likely find it really challenging to disassemble your furniture, protect it well for transport, and load it up onto the truck.
With little or no experience at all, you’ll also find out that moving any special items is a serious problem too since you’ll have no idea how to protect them properly during the bumpy haul.
As a first-time mover, it’s only normal that you won’t have the necessary experience to move on your own. But that’s OK – by hiring professional movers, you’ll get the chance to watch and learn how things are done the right way, and you’ll eliminate any risks of injuries for you and your family.
The stress of moving is real and only people who have never had to move house before can underestimate its huge impact during a residential move.
But why is moving so stressful?
The answer is simple: there are just too many stressful factors when moving to another home:
Money. Moving is an expensive affair and your savings could be at risk.
Time. The buildup of stress will increase as Moving day looms over.
Risk of injuries. Bad injuries can happen in split seconds.
Risk of property damage. There’s always a risk of damaged floors, walls, or doors.
Leaving friends behind. The most difficult part of a move for some people is moving away from their good friends.
Fear of the future. You worry that things may not turn out the way you want.
Post-move adaptation. You’re moving to a new place – strange, unfamiliar, and scary in a way.
It’s a fact that some people tend to handle stress better than others. But if you happen to be a person who feels really stressed out even before the actual move-related work has begun, then you should really consider doing yourself a favor by not having to go through all those stressful situations.
And how do you turn your move into a stress-free experience? Just transfer all the moving stress to professionals who know how to handle it well.
A time when it makes a lot of sense to hire movers is after a breakup or a divorce.
After a relationship has ended – peacefully or not so peacefully, the two people can no longer stay together, so the only way to move on is for one of the parties to move out. And if you happen to be in such a bad situation, then you’ll most likely have to choose between a stealth move and a clean break.
Organizing a stealth move is a good option when you’re ending a bad relationship and you just know that your partner will try to make a scene on the day of the move. So, to save yourself plenty of drama and to maintain your sanity, you’ll want to do a stealth move – moving a few boxes at a time. Note that such a scenario is possible only when you’re moving across town or moving locally.
Arguably, the best option to end a relationship is to move out as quickly as possible in one single attempt. This way, you’ll be able to move to another city in another state, far away from bad memories so that you can get the fresh start you so desperately need.
When you need a clean break, then your best bet is to hire professional movers to help you move out quickly and effectively.
Moving to another country is the most difficult type of relocation due to the great distance involved and the complexity of the international move itself. Therefore, it’s important to remember that using the services of an international moving company is a must when moving to a different country.
A top-rated international mover will help you prepare the tons of paperwork needed to complete a country-to-country move. Also, the pros will assist you in other critical areas during the relocation such as advising you on how to pack for an international move or even doing the packing for you so that your valuable items reach the final destination perfectly intact.
Using the quality services of international movers is especially important when you’re moving overseas to another continent altogether. They can even arrange to transport your vehicle to the new country if that is what you want.
*At MyMovingReviews we will connect you with a professional moving company. Please note that we may not be affiliated with
and you may be speaking with another licensed provider.
Best movers nearby
We use cookies to optimise your experience.Accept and close or Learn more
Share your thoughts by leaving a comment