Moving labor services fall somewhere between organizing a self-move and hiring full-service movers.
In fact, hiring moving labor can easily prove to be a great option for you, especially when you know that you just won’t be able to gather up enough friendly manpower to handle the heavy load of your upcoming move.
You know your friend Mike would give you a hand with the heavy furniture but he moved to another state like a year or so ago.
Your good neighbor Paul owes you a favor but you had a fight recently over that silly dog of his and now you’re no longer on speaking terms with him.
Isn’t Moving day just a couple of weeks from today?
You may have heard the term MOVING LABOR before but never really given it any serious consideration… until now.
Check out this Moving Labor Guide to learn what moving labor services are all about and why they can prove to be a life-saver thing for you when you yourself are going through a house move – one of life’s most stressful transitional periods.
What is moving labor?
To best explain what the moving labor service is all about and how moving labor help works, let’s break down the entire home moving process into 4 distinctive relocation stages that are easily recognizable even by people who are moving house for the first time in their lives.
Stage 1: Packing. This is the most extensive period during a house move simply because it includes the job of packing all the household items found inside an apartment or a house. And packing for a move, as you probably already know, is the most time-consuming task on anyone’s moving checklist.
Stage 2: Loading. This is the period when all the packed boxes, wrapped-up furniture (often disassembled beforehand), protected household appliances, and other household items will need to be lifted, moved, and loaded into a moving vehicle. It’s exactly during this stage when moving labor will be needed the most to prevent Moving day accidents that may lead to various types of property damage and personal injuries.
Stage 3. Transportation. This is the stage when the loaded household items are physically transported from Point A (current home) to Point B (destination home). Depending on the move distance, this stage can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, even a week or more in some cases. During a self-move, the transportation vehicle will be either a moving truck rented from a truck rental agency or a pick-up truck borrowed from a friend. When full-service movers are used, the haul of the household items will be done with a moving truck provided by the hired moving company itself. One-Way Moving Truck Rental
Stage 4. Unloading. This is the final stage of the house-moving process when the items are delivered to the new address. Similar to Stage 2, this period also requires physical efforts and skills to unload the moving truck safely and take all the things inside the new home, all the way to their destination rooms. Here moving labor becomes essential, again, for the successful completion of the house move.
Professional moving labor can really save the day for you.
Now, if you choose to hire a full-service moving company, the professionals will take care of all these 4 stages for you, thus taking the bulk of move-related stress off your shoulders and giving you more free time to take care of other important tasks such as saying goodbye to your friends, for example.
Of course, the downside here is that you’ll need to pay more for the all-inclusive moving services.
On the other hand, if you choose to organize a self-move, you’re going to have to take care of all the above-mentioned stages on your own – a task that may prove to be more challenging than you first thought, especially when you know that you won’t be able, for one reason or another, to rely on the assistance of your good friends.
And this is exactly where moving labor can save the day.
Think of MOVING LABOR as professional movers who simply don’t have a truck.
In reality, moving labor professionals can give you a hand with Stage 1 (Packing), Stage 2 (Loading), and Stage 4 (Unloading), leaving you only to solve the transportation puzzle of Stage 3.
The good news is that there are a number of clear benefits of choosing to hire moving labor when organizing a self-move.
These advantages can help you make the right choice when you’re following the difficult road of moving by yourself.
1. Convenience
Professional moving labor can be an excellent solution when you just can’t seem to gather up your posse of loyal friends to help you pack up your things and then lift, carry, and load them into the rented moving vehicle.
When your pals are too busy to lend you a hand when you need it the most, you won’t have to panic or despair simply because you know that affordable moving labor is just a phone call away.
It doesn’t get more convenient than that.
2. Reliability
It’s a huge relief to know that you can count on reliable moving labor providers when your friends can’t be there for you. It’s the peace of mind you get when you have that fool-proof Plan B available to you during that tough transitional period.
Remember that the strangers who will come to your home to pack, load, and unload your household items are trained professionals with years of experience in the field.
3. Insurance
If you and your friends accidentally drop a piece of furniture on the floor while carrying it to the moving vehicle, and if that furniture item gets damaged as a result, there won’t be anything you can do to undo what’s been done. The same is true for any type of property damage inflicted during the day of the move itself.
However, when you hire moving helpers, the professionals will be adequately insured, which means that you will be compensated in the event of unlikely damage to any of your belongings. Moving labor insurance is instrumental for keeping that move-related stress under control.
4. Flexibility
The best thing about hiring moving labor only is the flexibility you have when choosing what aspects of the moving process you need help with.
One of the best things about hiring moving labor services instead of using full-service movers is the great level of flexibility that you will get as a result.
Basically, it’s up to you to decide what type of professional assistance you’ll pay for: will it be for the arduous task of packing all your things for a move?
Or will it be for loading the pre-arranged moving vehicle – a tough task that involves a lot of heavy lifting?
Or will it be for unloading the rental truck upon delivery – a job that, too, involves lifting and carrying super-heavy furniture, household appliances, and countless moving boxes into the new residence?
Whatever your specific needs are, the best moving labor companies in the country will be ready to satisfy them.
5. Safety
Your decision to hire professional moving helpers is about guaranteeing safety on the day of the move – the safety of your prized possessions, as well as your own safety and that of your family members. In its essence, paying for quality moving labor means you’ll practically eliminate any risks of personal injury during the most dangerous and unpredictable phase of the home moving process.
The thing is that no matter how careful and cautious you are, one wrong step or one uncalculated movement could lead to a disaster UNLESS you do yourself a favor and transfer the relocation burden to experienced professionals.
6. Lower cost
Thanks to the option of limiting moving laborers’ time only to the tasks you can’t complete on your own (moving heavy furniture, for instance), you’ll be able to tailor your moving needs and pay ONLY for the services you want. This way, you should be able to save an average of 40-50% when compared to using full-service movers.
In most relocation cases, the physical transportation of your household items is the most expensive step when moving to another home. And when that step is eliminated by using moving labor services, you’ll be able to save good money in the end. Of course, you’ll still need to arrange for a moving truck, one way or another.
Before we give you the steps to hiring efficient moving labor, let’s summarize the major services that moving labor companies offer to their clients:
Packing
Furniture disassembly/reassembly is a useful labor moving service.
Packing for a move takes forever and if you fail to convince your friends to help you out, you may find yourself way behind your packing schedule.
You definitely don’t want to have loads of boxes left to be filled on the day of the move so hiring moving labor to help you pack can be one of the best decisions you’ll make during your house move.
Extra-large furniture pieces are supposed to be disassembled properly before you can pack and load them safely. And if you’re not sure how to do it on your own or you just don’t have the time, then get moving labor professionals who can do it for you in no time.
You’ll probably need moving truck loading services more than anything else. Why?
The reason is easy to guess – loading a moving truck is no joke as the job is very demanding physically – after all, all the heavy household items such as furniture pieces, appliances, and filled boxes will need to be taken out of the house and loaded properly into the moving vehicle.
Do you have the skills, equipment, and manpower to do all the heavy lifting without injuring yourself or damaging your possessions?
Yes, the best labor moving companies in the country offer the additional service of truck driving. You arrange a moving vehicle, they drive it to its destination.
So, think about whether or not you can handle the extra stress of driving a big moving truck across the country. Have you ever driven a moving truck before?
Similar to loading, you will probably need moving help at the destination home when all the heavy items inside the truck will need to be safely unloaded and taken inside the new residence.
Whatever you do, just don’t underestimate the difficulty of the truck unloading job.
Similar to local movers, moving labor companies charge by the hour.
When hiring moving labor only, you should expect to be charged between $60 and $80 per hour for 1 mover.
What this means is that the most common moving labor service offered by labor moving companies – 2 helpers working for 2 hours to load and unload household items – should cost between $240 and $320.
Here’s what else you should know about the moving labor rates:
Each additional moving helper will cost you extra. Let’s say you hire 2 movers for $120-$160 per hour. One extra moving laborer will cost you $60-$80 more per hour. In that case, hiring 4 movers will cost you $240-$320 per hour, and so on;
The moving labor companies usually charge a 2-hour minimum;
In most cases, the billing time will start when the moving crew arrives;
The average work hours are usually billed in 15-minute increments;
The best moving labor providers don’t charge any hidden fees so there shouldn’t be any unpleasant surprises for you when it’s time to pay up;
Labor moving companies may or may not charge a travel fee (aka mileage fee) – the time the moving labor team will need to reach the job location. Some labor-only movers do NOT charge a travel fee when the job location (your current home) is up to 40 miles round trip or 20 miles each way. The mileage fee usually equals 1 hour of work;
The use of moving equipment (dollies, hand tools, etc.) by the moving help is free and it’s included in the price;
Generally speaking, the above moving labor prices remain the same for all moving labor services: furniture disassembly (before the move), furniture assembly (after the move), packing, unpacking, loading, unloading, etc.
The better you understand how the moving cost is formed, the better your chances will be at lowering your moving expenses. Now, the moving labor cost will depend on several factors:
specific moving labor provider,
precise location of the home,
extra moving labor services requested by the customer,
special items intended for moving (a piano, a pool table, a hot tub, a grandfather clock, etc.), and of course,
TIME! Time is absolutely crucial when hiring moving labor services.
Moving labor comes in all shapes and sizes.
All in all, it’s important for you to know this because it can help you cut your moving costs even further. How?
By limiting the time the moving labor professionals work on your move.
In other words, the more tasks you manage to finish on your own, the less time you’ll need the moving experts, which in turn will enable you to pay less for the moving labor services you’ve received.
Let’s say you haven’t had any success in gathering up your friends to give you a hand with packing and now you’re thinking about hiring moving labor to help you pack.
If this is the case, then the best case scenario will be when YOU pack up the easiest items to pack (books, clothes, bedding, toiletries, etc.) and leave the toughest things to protect (breakables, furniture, appliances, large electronic devices, specialty items such as a piano, and so on) for more experienced hands.
Now that you know what moving labor really is, what its benefits are, what types of moving labor services there are, and how much moving labor costs, let’s take a closer look at the best way to find professional moving labor services near you.
The good news is that finding professional moving labor in your area should be as easy as ever.
Step 1. Complete our quick quote form. Mark your move size as Partial Move;
Step 2. Get contacted by the best nationwide moving labor companies in your city or town;
Step 3. Compare the moving labor estimates received by the moving labor providers in your area. Check moving labor reviews to verify the online reputation of the companies;
Step 4. Inform the moving labor professionals of any special services you need and any specific requirements you may have. Also, request more information about insurance, dispute settlement, and damage claim resolution;
Step 5. Select the best moving labor provider in terms of rates, services, and conditions.
My boyfriend and I are moving places and I wanted some tips on hiring moving services! I didn’t know you could have more flexibility and decide what type of professional assistance you need when you hire a moving labor service. That fits perfectly for us because my boyfriend has friends moving all our furniture, but I want to hire someone to move our appliances since they’re a little heavier and more expensive!
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My boyfriend and I are moving places and I wanted some tips on hiring moving services! I didn’t know you could have more flexibility and decide what type of professional assistance you need when you hire a moving labor service. That fits perfectly for us because my boyfriend has friends moving all our furniture, but I want to hire someone to move our appliances since they’re a little heavier and more expensive!