Hiring Movers vs Moving Yourself. Is moving yourself the cheapest option? We wanted to explore the pros and cons of hiring movers and moving yourself so you can know which option is best for you.
Pros & Cons of Moving Yourself VS Hiring Movers
So moving yourself can have lots of pros and cons so lets get into if this is your cheapest option and look at some variables that might change whether it is worth it or not. Moving yourself isn’t always going to be your cheapest option. Whether or not a DIY move is your best option depends on the variables we are going to look at below and talk about how each variable could change your best option and change what moving option is best for you and your wallet.
1st Moving Variable: Your Hourly Wage & Moving Time Restraints
This is important to figure out first so that you know what your time is worth. If you work salary or hourly then you need to figure out based on the your moving timeframe if you can accomplish it without taking work off. If you need to take off work then your work wage needs to be included in a DIY move as you taking time off work to move may be an expense due to the money you could be earning if you didn’t take that time off. Self employed individuals need to know the value of their hourly time to know if it is worth it for them to taking time out of working to move.
Moving time frame is incredibly important to consider since moving can be time intensive and you might not be able to get the move done in time without hiring movers. There have been many times my moving company was hired last minute to help someone who was planning on moving themselves, but got in over their heads with it all. The average time for movers to pack up a room is around 1 hour per room, with storage rooms and kitchens being closer to 2 hours per room. Packing yourself takes more time because you tend to put more thought into packing and so your tend to double the packing time with it being about 2 hours to pack up a room with kitchens and storage rooms taking closer to 4 hours. Remember that a closet and pantry would be considered room so you need to count them as such. So now you just have to do the time math.
Moving yourself:
[_____ (# of standard rooms/ closets) x 2]
+ [_____(# of kitchens & Storage rooms) x 4]
= # of packing hours
[_____ (hourly wage) x _____ (# of packing hours)
= Approximate cost of moving yourself
Hiring a Moving Company to pack:
[_____ (# of standard rooms/ closets) x 1]
+ [_____(# of kitchens & Storage rooms) x 2]
= # of packing hours
[_____ (moving company hourly wage) x _____ (# of packing hours)
= Approximate cost of moving yourself
After completing the math you need to decide if you have the time to do the packing yourself or if you need to hire movers. Keep in mind that you can always hire movers to come and just pack up one room if you just need a little extra help. Speaking also from personal experience, packing can get really tedious and so expecting to pack for 8 hours straight on a day off can be a bigger project then you think.
2nd Moving Variable: Reliable Free Moving Help
I am going to be blunt and say that none of you friends or family are excited to come help you pack up your belongings and move them. They might say they are excited, but in reality they would rather do something else I would bet. So you knowing your friends you need to determine first who is reliable and wont back out of helping you move and leave you in a pinch and also who is capable of helping move your stuff and pack it up with the same care and attention you would or close to it. After being brutally honest with this assessment of your friends or moving help you can better decide if you can successfully move yourself or if you need to hire movers.
Finding reliable movers is also something that you need to consider. Hiring a moving company in advance with guarantee you a non-overbooked slot in their calendar and help ensure your movers will show up, make sure to confirm with your movers the day before they come, and lastly a moving company that takes a deposit on your move has a greater obligation to show up then a moving company that doesn’t.
3rd Moving Variable: Ability to Move & Weather
You need to be honest with yourself. If you are a month off of shoulder surgery or have a bad back or don’t have great cardio then you have to be honest with yourself that it either isn’t worth the risk of injury or it might be too much of a struggle to do it yourself. Also consider the same factors with the friends or help you are inviting to come help you. If you don’t know your moving help well enough then you might be guilting someone who struggles with back pain to come and move your stuff and you are putting them at risk. So really assess you and your help and whether they are up to the task and can handle to furniture you have with the equipment you have.
Weather around the time of your move can change whether or not you need movers as well. My moving company operates in Eastern Idaho as well as in Saint George, UT. These locations each have different moving challenges. Moving in Idaho can be tough in the winter months with snow and rain. Those make for a slick ramp. As a moving company we have special mats, ramps, and tricks to moving in the snow. Slipping on a ramp with a fridge on a dolly will not only badly injure the person, but also the fridge. With the trucks as well we come prepared with tire chains to get out of muddy and snowy conditions. In Saint George, UT we deal will high temperatures. The trucks essentially amplify the heat outside and can sometimes be 10 degrees hotter in the truck then outside. This just adds to the exhaustion of moving and that is why we hire athletic individuals who can handle those kinds of working conditions. Keeping the weather in mind is really important when deciding whether or not to move yourself.
4th Moving Variable: Moving Liability (Is it worth the risk?)
Something people moving never think about is the liability you take on when you have friends and family help you move. Do you have insurance to cover or do you want to deal with a situation where someone get injured helping you move. Imagine yourself in several of these real life moving scenarios.
First imagine your dad comes to help you move and is unloading a truck. He is walking backward carrying a heavy couch. While so focused on gripping the couch and moving backward he misses the ramp with one foot and falls out of the moving truck landing on his elbow and shattering it. He now has to leave your move and go the the hospital because he is in a crazy amount of pain and that is the only person you had to help you move and you have to be out of your house by the end of the day. All the moving companies you try are already booked up for the day and now you have no options.
Second scenario you are moving a gun safe up some stairs with a buddy. You are sliding it up the stairs when it hangs up on the top step. It is so heavy and you are running out of energy. You try to get it to go over that top lip of the stairs and your hand slips and the weight of the gun safe comes on top of you and your friend. It not only breaks your ankle, but also your friend is pinned under the safe and it has put a huge hole in the wall of the home you just sold.
Third scenarios is you hire some neighbor kid to come help you with your move. He is dollying a glass curio cabinet that belonged to your grandma. You didn’t know he had grabbed it from the house and so you are not there to help him because you are taking apart beds. So while going up the ramp he is off on the ramp with one of the tires of the dolly and the cabinet starts to tip off the dolly. His reaction is to jump off the ramp and catch the cabinet so it doesn’t hit the ground. His hand goes on the glass and it breaks around his arm and puts a a big gash in his arm and the cabinet breaks in pieces all over the pavement.
These are a few scenarios that are similar to one’s i have seen in real life and could happen to you on your move. How would you handle these situations. Are you going to take care of their hospital bills or insurance? Are you going to be able to leave your move and take them to the hospital? With this cost plus the cost of replacing the furniture that got damaged would that cost have covered hiring movers? By moving yourself vs hiring movers you are excepting a risk and liability that you have to be prepared for. Most moves these kinds of things don’t happen, but there will be some chance something can happen and you have to be willing and able to absorb that risk. Hiring movers takes that risk and puts it on your movers.
5th Moving Variable: Type of Furniture Being Moved
There are three factors that need to be considered with regards to the furniture you are moving and if you need to hire movers or not. The factors to consider are the weight of the furniture, the actual or sentimental value of your furniture, or the technicality of your furniture.
Weight is an easy moving factor to consider. With the weight of your furniture are you and those helping you able to handle, with out too much concern, the weight of the furniture in moving those items from point A to point B. Keep in mind too with the amount of stuff you are moving that you will have the energy and strength to handle all of it. Will you and whoever is helping you be able to move your heaviest items even after moving everything else?
Sentimental and actual value of an item is important. Movers are professionals of their field and they are trained to move difficult, expensive, and fragile furniture. Moving companies also carry valuation that protects you in case something does get damaged. So really you need to look at the replacement or repair costs if your tv or antique china hutch get damaged. Hiring movers you are not only having the safeguard of their valuation coverage, but also they are going o have the know how and moving equipment to not only move your furniture safely in and out of the truck. Hiring quality movers who know how to pack a moving truck so that everything is blanketed and protected from damage in transit is important. I personally have seen a whole load collapse when furniture wasn’t loaded properly and furniture got damaged. Is the cost of damages going to offset hiring movers.
Technicality of moving can refer to the layout of the house making moving more difficult such as a set of stairs with a landing or even a narrow hallway. Handling heavy furniture through tough areas increases the risk of doing damages to furniture, walls, railings, etc. Having help or hiring movers that are skilled can reduce damages. Technicality can also refer to specialty furniture like grand pianos, pool tables, and grandfather clocks that need either special equipment to move or need to be moved in a special way. If you have any items that seem technical to move, you need to see if it is in your wheelhouse or not and whether you should hire a moving company to help you. Note also that some moving companies won’t move specialty items and you may have to hire specialty items movers.
6th Moving Variable: Distance
So this the really the last main variable to look at that determines whether it is cheaper to move yourself or hire a moving company. When moving the closer you move the cheaper things are. If you are moving next door then you can probably do the move cheaper yourself. However the further distance you are moving the higher the chance of your belongings getting damaged inside the truck. With ever bump the moving truck hits and ever turn the moving truck makes you have a chance of damages happening. Professional movers are trained to load trucks tight and can minimize these damages. If you take on the risk of moving yourself you have a higher risk of things getting damaged. For example someone moving in a colder climate might not take into account that plastic gets more brittle in the cold and so stacking too heavy with totes will result in a stack of totes collapsing. In warmer climates you might have things melt to the roof or totes collapse because the plastic softens with the heat and the stacks will collapse. These are things that I train my movers on when loading trucks among other things.
Another factor of distance is the cost of transportation. Some customers will assume that container shipping is the cheapest option and will way overpay and they may not know that containers ride rougher and have more touch points which increases the risk of damage to belongings. Going the truck route and driving yourself is often the most economical, but mover’s wont cover their loads if you drive it because they can’t ensure that you won’t drive recklessly. Also at times if you have a smaller move they can add it onto another move and sometimes make it cheaper then it would have been to move yourself with a rental truck.
Is it Cheaper to Move Yourself Rather than Hire Movers?
So really it comes down to how far you are moving and how confident you are in yourself and those helping you to properly load a truck, move heavy items, and not get injured. So if you choose to go the DIY move route then you are accepting the risks that go along with moving yourself. If you hire movers you take the risk off yourself. If you have really cheap furniture and very capable family and friends then it probably is cheaper to move yourself especially if you are going a short distance. However if you have nice or expensive furniture items then hiring movers will probably be worth it.
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