What to Know When You Need Moving Help by the Hour

Moving is difficult, everyone knows that.

It’s so difficult that it’s virtually impossible to complete a move on your own – except on very rare occasions (when moving just a few boxes with personal belongings and nothing else).

Even if you don’t have a lot of things to relocate; even if you’re only moving across the street; even if you have decided on a self-move – you will still need moving help.

You may need help with the heavy lifting, with loading and unloading, or with driving the moving vehicle – or you may need help with a specialty item (piano, hot tub, antique armoire, etc.) or a specific challenge (taking your furniture up the stairs to your third-floor apartment).

Either way, you need to ensure adequate moving help.

Your best option is to hire professional movers, of course – they have the specialized equipment, expert skills, and rich experience to take proper care of your items and complete your move in the safest and most efficient way possible.

Their services, however, are not cheap – so, if you can do most of the work yourself and need only a little help, you may feel that hiring a moving company is not worth it.

In such a case, you can opt for a DIY move and ask friends for help. Yet, your friends may not be able (or willing) to provide the help you need. 

Fortunately, there is still a solution – you can get moving help by the hour.

Hourly moving help: what is it and when do you need it?

As the term suggests, hourly moving help is moving help available by the hour.

This means that you can hire trained and experienced movers by the hour – to complete a specific moving task.

Moving help by the hour is provided by both labor-only moving companies and full-service moving companies that offer labor services. In both cases, the hourly movers have professional training and adequate experience, so they do an excellent job.

Hourly moving help is a great option when you don’t need professional movers to take care of your move from start to finish but need assistance with a particular moving job:

1) Loading and unloading

If you can pack and unpack your items yourself and have adequate means of transportation (a pickup truck, a rented moving truck, etc.), but need help with the heavy lifting.

In such a case, you can hire movers by the hour to take your heavy household items and moving boxes out of your home, carry them to the moving truck, and load them securely into the vehicle (and then unload your belongings and take them into your new home upon arrival).

The pros know how to safely lift and carry heavy items and have specialized equipment (such as moving dollies and moving straps) that helps them complete the task in a safe and efficient manner.

They also know how to properly load a moving truck and secure the items in it.

What’s more, the pros can easily overcome obstacles such as narrow doorways or steep stairs – they have rich experience and know what to do in such situations (remove doors from hinges, turn large items at certain angles, use shoulder lifting straps on stairs, etc.).

Having professional help with loading is extremely beneficial, not only because it will save you all the heavy lifting and hard work (and, thus, reduce the risk of personal injuries and damages to your items and your property), but also because it will ensure the moving vehicle is properly packed (so it will fit all your stuff at once and your items won’t move around, bump into each other, or topple over during transit).

How to Load a Moving Truck the Right Way

2) Packing and unpacking

If you can perform your move yourself, but don’t have the time to prepare all your belongings for shipping and unpack them after the relocation (or don’t feel confident that you will be able to provide proper protection to your items).

You can hire professional helpers by the hour to pack up your home or just to take care of some difficult-to-pack items (fragile items, sensitive items, oddly shaped items, etc.).

The experts use proven packing methods and quality packing materials, so they will ensure the best possible protection for your belongings. You can rest assured that even items that are very vulnerable to damage (antiques, artwork, musical instruments, etc.) will survive the move intact and unscathed.

Besides, the pros work with an enviable speed and can pack your entire home within several hours.

And if you need your items unpacked as quickly as possible after the move, hourly moving help is, again, your best bet.

Using professional packing help will save you a lot of time and effort and will ensure the safety of your items.

Professional Packing Services – The Secrets of the Pros

3) Furniture disassembly and reassembly

If you’re not sure how to disassemble (and then reassemble) a large furniture piece that needs to be taken apart – or if you don’t have the right tools for the job.

Large furniture may need to be disassembled for moving or storage, so it becomes safer and easier to pack and move.

If you’re not up to the challenge, you can hire moving labor professionals to do the job for you.

The pros have the specialized tools and technical know-how to dismantle your furniture (and then reassemble it when needed) in the safest and most efficient way possible.

How to Disassemble Furniture for Moving

4) Moving a specialty item

If you need to take a specialty item (a piano, a hot tub, a big safe, a grandfather clock, etc.) to another location, but don’t have the equipment and/or skills to handle it safely.

It is very common to hire movers by the hour to take care of a specialty item – such items are very difficult to pack and move, so they’re better left to the professionals.

5) In-home moving

If you want to rearrange your furniture, take some larger household items to another part of the house, empty a room for repairs, etc.

In all such cases hiring movers by the hour is your best choice – your items will be taken to where you want them to go without any effort on your part and without any risk of damages or personal injuries and you will only pay for the time the job actually takes.

You may also want to hire help by the hour when taking items to and out of storage, re-organizing a storage unit or a garage, decluttering your home, setting up events that require furniture or other large items to be positioned at the site, etc.

To put it in a nutshell: Hiring hourly moving help is the best solution when you require assistance with a moving task that only takes a few hours to complete. The job will be completed expertly and safely and it will cost you very little as you will only be paying for a few hours of moving help.

How to get hourly moving help

Luckily, it’s very easy to get moving help by the hour.

There are a lot of moving labor companies that specialize in providing labor services and most local moving companies will gladly offer you hourly moving help.

All you need to do is compare the available options and choose the best one for you:

• Step 1. Use our Moving Cost Calculator to get contacted by several reputable moving labor providers. You will get quotes for the services you need;
• Step 2. Compare the estimates and check the credentials and reputation of the companies (check their BBB ratings, read moving reviews left by previous customers, etc.);
• Step 3. Choose two or three reputable moving labor providers that seem to best suit your requirements and your budget and discuss your specific needs with them in greater detail – specify the type of moving assistance you need (loading a moving truck, taking a grand piano to the upper floor; etc.), inform the moving laborers of any possible obstacles or difficulties (tight spaces, no elevator in the building, etc.), as well as of any special requirements or preferences you may have, find out what happens in case of damages, etc.;
• Step 4. Pick the best moving helpers for you and book their services.

Good to know: Booking two helpers for two hours is the most common choice when hiring moving help by the hour.

How much do movers cost per hour?

Needless to say, hourly movers charge by the hour – after all, the whole point of using moving help by the hour is to pay per hour of work (as opposed to a flat rate or moving rates based on distance, weight, etc.).

So, how much do movers charge per hour?

Every company sets its own rates but, on average, you can expect to be charged between $60 and $80 per hour per mover.

Therefore, if two movers work for two hours on your move, then you will have to pay somewhere between $240 and $320.

Each additional laborer will cost you an extra $60-$80 per hour.

Keep in mind, however, that even though all services are offered by the hour, many companies have a two-hour minimum.

The billing time starts when the hourly movers arrive (so it’s important to ensure that your moving helpers can start work as soon as they arrive at your home) and the work hours are calculated in 15-minute increments.

Usually, there are no additional fees or charges when hiring movers by the hour (even the use of specialized equipment (dollies, straps, hand tools, etc.) is included in the hourly rate), so you shouldn’t be worried about unpleasant financial surprises.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire Movers Per Hour?

Good to know: Can you hire movers for one hour?

Obviously, it’s easy enough to hire movers for 2 hours – plenty of moving companies offer that option and the process is very simple and straightforward.

But what happens if you need movers for one hour? If you only need help moving a large piece of furniture upstairs, for example – or any other job that takes very little time to complete? In such a case, will you be able to hire movers for one hour only? Is that possible?

The short answer is – yes, it is possible to hire movers for just one hour. Yet, it won’t be very easy to secure moving help for such a short period of time.

Providing one hour of moving help is not really worth it – your moving helpers will only get paid for one hour of work but may lose a lot of time (and fuel) getting to your home and back. Thus, many companies choose not to offer that option.

It will be, therefore, more difficult to find movers willing to come to help you for only one hour – and even if you do, their hourly rate will likely be higher.

Bonus tip: It will be easier to find moving help by the hour – even for only one hour – if you can be flexible with your timing.

Movers are busier during the summer, on weekends, on national holidays, and at the beginning and end of months – that’s when most house moves take place, so moving services are in high demand, and professional movers are fully booked.

Therefore, it will be very difficult to get moving help by the hour during these busy periods – and much easier outside of them. There will not only be a greater choice of available moving helpers, but you may even be able to get a better deal – many hourly movers will be willing to lower their prices in order to secure a job during a slow time.

So, it will be easier – and cheaper – to get moving help by the hour on weekdays rather than on weekends, in the middle of a month rather than during the first or last days of a month, and in spring, fall, or winter rather than in summer.

It may even be worth taking time off work to save money on hourly moving help. 

Why Moving in the Off-Peak Season is a Great Idea

And remember – the less time your professional helpers work on your move, the less you’re going to pay.

So, do your best to limit the time the hourly movers spend on the job.

That is, do as much of the work as you can yourself (or with the help of family and friends) and prepare everything necessary so the movers can start working as soon as they show up (if you have hired movers to load a moving truck, it’s crucial to make sure the vehicle is already in front of your home when they arrive.) Just don’t forget to tip your moving helpers if they do a good job.

All things considered, getting moving help by the hour is a very convenient and very cost-efficient option – it combines the peace of mind that comes from having a job done professionally with the flexibility and affordability of booking help by the hour.

Yet, if you need more extensive help (because you don’t have the time – or the strength, or the know-how, or the resources – to deal with so many and so arduous moving tasks on your own) or just don’t want to risk it, you may want to consider hiring full-service movers for your relocation – the pros will take care of your move from start to finish, so you won’t need to lift a finger and will have nothing to worry about.

So, be sure to research all your options before you make your final decision about your move – and get a moving quote to see how much hiring professional movers will actually cost you (you might be in for a very pleasant surprise).

Best of luck, whatever you decide!