We all know that hiring someone to take care of large tasks for us is the easiest thing to do, but cost is always the deciding factor. With the multitude of expenses that can come to bare during a move, it behooves you to seriously compare the costs involved.
Here we will break down the costs of hiring a pro mover to handle your relocation. Please note that cost can vary depending on the amount of stuff you have and the number of bulky items that need moved.
Example: One-bedroom apartment in New York City.
Layout: One-bedroom with a queen bed. Two closets. One bathroom. One kitchen. One living area. Two flat screen TV’s. Regular amount of furniture.
For our example, we’ll examine the costs of hiring a professional moving company to do a full service move for you. This type of service includes all the packing materials such as boxes and packing tape, a team of movers, the truck, and the loading and unloading of your belongings. The team will also pack your boxes for you or assist you if you still want to be part of the process. They will ensure proper packing of fragile items, secure doors and drawers, and take the utmost care to not damage your current or new home.
As stated above, costs do vary, but on average this service would run the everyday customer roughly $795 U.S. Depending on your financial situation, that may seem like sticker shock at first, but let’s break down that cost. That price buys you 2-4 professional movers with experience in packing, carrying, loading, and unloading. A moving truck for however long the quoted move will take. All of packing supplies you’ll need and a customer service liaison to help you plan every aspect of your move.
Then there are the things you can’t price out. Your time. Your safety. Your sanity. Time management experts agree that whenever you are doing something yourself, you should assign a value to your time. They suggest a minimum of $20 per hour, truly valuing your time. Safety is priceless and the value of not being stressed to gills cannot be expressed in dollar form.
Now that we know the cost, lets compare. Using U-Haul as a source for packing supplies, the apartment mentioned above would cost roughly $300 to pack. Using the $20 per hour reference, lets assume it would take you two, twelve-hour days to accomplish the packing and moving, that’s another $480. Now we need a place to put all that stuff. A typical moving truck, rented for two days in New York City adds an additional $240, assuming you’re able to get everything done in two days. That also doesn’t include fuel or tolls, broken items, damaged walls and doorways etc.
Even with just the basics handled, your cost to move yourself already exceeds that of hiring a professional. How? Simple. A moving company owns their trucks, buys their supplies in bulk and can reuse certain materials, are efficient and quick, minimizing labor costs, and have done this countless times before, adding to their proficiency.
In conclusion, it’s almost always cheaper to hire professionals to help with moving. You save time and money and reduce stress.