Do It Yourself Moving
November 26, 2009 by admin
Filed under Moving Tips and Advice, Moving Truck Rental, Moving company rates, Moving labor
In today’s economy many of you are turning to do it yourself moving. You are looking at your alternatives in saving money because you don’t want to pay a full service mover to move you: And truthfully no one can really blame you. However, there are certain truths about do it yourself moving that may sway to using a full service mover instead of doing it yourself.
When looking at do it yourself moving you need to look at the costs of it. Now don’t get me wrong; you can save yourself a lot of money by moving yourself, but you also have to figure in the hidden costs of moving yourself versus paying a full service mover.
Moving Truck Rentals:
Renting a moving truck for your move requires a bit of planning. I have written reviews on the moving trucks that you could rent for your move. U-Haul, Penske, Budget, Ryder and even Enterprise all rent moving trucks, but I don’t recommend them all for certain moves.
For instance, for your local, in-town moves U-Haul will give you the best service and rates, but Penske and Budget are better for your longer and larger moves going across the state.
Now for your out of state moves I recommend either Budget or Ryder. Penske is also a good choice but they are a little more expensive. Ryder is great if you can bring the truck back to the original location. Ryder does not do one-way rentals. Budget and Penske do.
You can expect about 10 to 12 miles per gallon of fuel. This is true for U-Haul, Penske, Budget, Ryder and Enterprise. However, realize the newer trucks that you would rent from Budget, Penske and Ryder may actually get up to 15 mpg.
Rental rates are all pretty much the same as well ranging from $20 for the smaller trucks to $60 for the larger trucks per day. One way rental rates will be determined by availability and distance. Moving from Michigan to California may cost about $1000 during the winter months, but may cost about $1800 during the busier summer months.
And finally, don’t forget about the mileage costs. U-Haul is always the most expensive. You will pay about $.79 to $.99 per mile, while with Budget, Penske and Ryder you can haggle them down to $.11 and $.12/mile. The more miles the more it will cost.
Of course you have to return the moving trucks back with the same amount of fuel as you had when you left.
Moving Help:
In do it yourself moving you are going to need moving labor to load and unload your truck. Whether it is you personally, friends and family, or hire help you are going to need people to help with the loading and unloading.
Doing it yourself is always be free. However, this will add a lot of time to the the rental. I have heard of it talking as much as a week to load a moving truck. The more help you have the better (and faster) it is.
You may not have to pay your family and friends with real dollars, but it will cost your something e.g. food, beer, etc.
But understand, when you have family and friends loading and unloading the moving truck, they are not professional movers so the loading and unloading will not be great, and the chance of damage to your possessions are far greater.
If you don’t have access to family and friends then you may have to hire professionals. Typically you will have to pay about $40/hr for two men and most moves take about 3 to 4 hours for loading and unloading together. You can expect to pay about $200 in labor when it is all said and done.
You can find good labor with either Hire-A-Helper.com or MovingHelper.com. These laborers are all rated so you know before you hire them if they are good and reputable right from the start.
Or you could go to Craigslist and hire moving help from there. While you may hire good reputable moving help from here, it will be less reliable then the above places.
When hiring off Craigslist look for ads that are professional in appearance and structure. The more time they have put into an ad the more likely they are a good moving company.
At the very least they should include their name, phone number and an email address. If the ad doesn’t have at least those three things in it move on…it is usually a scammer.
Finally, who will drive the moving truck rental for you. You or somebody else. If you don’t have a lot of experience driving large trucks then you should have somebody that does do the driving. Driving through a big city or mountains can be tricky if you don’t have the experience. Of course by sticking to the freeways you will be mostly okay.
Now lets do the math for a typical move and see how the figures add up with a do it yourself move or hiring full service move.
In our example lets move you from Lansing, MI to Detroit. Fairly typical. Lets figure out the the do it yourself move first (this moves is for a 3 bedroom house):
Rental truck: $40/day
insurance: $15
Gas: $83
Mileage: $148.5 (150 mi @.99/mi)
Labor: $200 (hired laborers)
Misc: $30
Total: $433
Of course this may not be your move. Maybe you are just in town, or you are moving out of state. And in those cases the figures would be different obviously. But the idea is still the same.
Full Service Movers:
Full service movers are movers that will do the job, start to finish, themselves. They bring everything to the move and do it all. You can sit back and relax watching the football game while they slave.
Typically you can expect movers to charge between $70 to $95/hour for two movers. And for three movers between $90 and $120/hour.
In towns moves these hourly rates are typical. However for moves that are 40 miles or more some movers will follow a tariff. Some won’t depending if they belong to the Movers Association for their state or not. So in those cases you could pay about $1500 for move from Lansing to Detroit may be more depending on the time of year.
But in all cases these rates include the truck, men, dollies, blankets, straps, tools, plastic, insurance, fuel, etc.
So lets take the same example above and compare it to a do it yourself move:
Service: $425 ($85/hr for 5 hours) (not a Movers Association move)
Movers Assoc move: $1500
So based on the above you can see by hiring a full service mover you could actually have a cheaper move than by doing it yourself for this situation.
Do it yourself moving is only cheaper if you are doing an in-town move. You larger and longer moves you will actually save money by using a full service mover.
So before you go a rent that U-Haul call up some full service movers and compare. You’ll get a lot better service with full service movers then by doing it yourself…that is for sure.
Do it yourself moving is an option, but don’t forget to look at all your options first.
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Wanted Moving Help
October 27, 2009 by admin
Filed under Moving News
Superior moving professionals are all you get with U-Save Moving. We are dedicated to your stress free moving experience. No matter the size of your move, whether you have an office or residence, or whether you moving just around the corner, across the state, or to the other side of the country we can assist you with affordable moving solutions. Call us today at 330-887-2834.
U-Save Moving is a professional full service moving labor company. Why spend $500, $700, $1000 or more to move your possessions when it can be done for a fraction of the cost with the same or BETTER quality?
- Rates starting at $40/hr
- Local/State Wide Moves
- Out of State Moves
- FREE Moving Estimates.
- FREE furniture assembly/dissembly.
- NO Mileage Fees.
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- Short notice moves.
- Affordable hourly and Flat rate fees available.
- Senior, Military and Student discounts.
- No job too large or too small.
- Residential or commercial.
- Open most Holidays and Weekend
And we are always on time for all our appointments
Call U-Save Moving Now at 330-887-2834 or visit our website at Professional-Moving.com to get a free moving estimate. While you are there go through our extensive library of moving articles to learn everything you can about the moving industry. Or check us out on Twitter and Facebook, also you can see photos of all our recent moves on Flickr. I bet you won’t any other moving company this reachable or connected!
So if you wanted moving help, then give us a call…
U-Save Moving
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You Call. We Move. You Save
October 17, 2009 by admin
Filed under Moving News
10% discount when you book the day of your FREE estimate
U-Save Moving
www.professional-moving.com
330-887-2834
Superior moving professionals are all you get with U-Save Moving. We are dedicated to your stress free moving experience. No matter the size of your move, whether you have an office or residence, or whether you moving just around the corner, across the state, or to the other side of the country we can assist you with affordable moving solutions. Call us today at 330-887-2834.
U-Save Moving is a professional full service moving labor company. Why spend $500, $700, $1000 or more to move your possessions when it can be done for a fraction of the cost with the same or BETTER quality?
- Rates starting at $40/hr
- Local/State Wide Moves
- Out of State Moves
- FREE Moving Estimates.
- FREE furniture assembly/dissembly.
- NO Mileage Fees.
- NO HIDDEN FEES.
- NO EXTRA CHARGES.
- Short notice moves.
- Affordable hourly and Flat rate fees available.
- Senior, Military and Student discounts.
- No job too large or too small.
- Residential or commercial.
- Open most Holidays and Weekends
And we are always on time for all our appointments.
Call U-Save Moving Now at 330-887-2834 or visit our website at Professional-Moving.com to get a free moving estimate. While you are there go through our extensive library of moving articles to learn everything you can about the moving industry. Or check us out on Twitter and Facebook, also you can see photos of all our recent moves on Flickr. I bet you won’t any other moving company this reachable or connected!
U-Save Moving
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Perfect Job U-Save Moving
October 17, 2009 by admin
Filed under Testimonials
On time. Very fast, perfect job.
Eric Nitz
17 Oct 2009
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U-Save Moving Did A GREAT Job!
October 16, 2009 by admin
Filed under Testimonials
[U]-Save Moving did a great Job!
On time, fast, friendly!
Whenever I need a mover I’ll be sure to use these guys.
Good Job!
Melanie Williams
16 Oct 2009
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I Highly Recommend U-Save Moving
October 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under Testimonials
Excellent Job! I highly recommend!
Sam Patil
13 Oct 2009
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We Could Not Be More Impressed With U-Save Moving
September 25, 2009 by admin
Filed under Testimonials
We could not be more impressed – Jae, Bryan and Jeff were so hard working and professional. They should be your only consideration for Movers. We will use them again, no question.
Ashley & Brett Foster
25 Sep 2009
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U-Save Moving Was Great
September 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Testimonials
Jae & Travis were really nice and were on spot, on time and moved in stuff within 30 mins. which took me 5 days to load.
They were great.
Sree Raj
22 Sept 2009
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They Made A Stessful Move Much Easier
September 5, 2009 by admin
Filed under Testimonials
These guys made a very stressful move much easier. They are fast, dependable, and excellent prices. I would use again.
Ray and Lisa Reidt
5 Sep 2009
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Where To Find And Get Moving Labor Services
April 5, 2009 by jburnham
Filed under Moving labor
As opposed to full service moving companies, moving labor services can provide a high quality and inexpensive alternative to moving.
What are moving labor services:
Moving labor services are individuals and/or moving labor companies that provide labor for your moving needs. They are different from traditional full service moving companies because they do not provide a truck in which to transport your possessions.
Simply put: they are there just for the grunt work of the move. They can and will drive the moving truck that you provide, and they can and will pack/unpack your belongings as well. Nor are these types of moving providers licensed and insured like traditional full service or long distance moving companies.
Moving labor providers can preform much of what other moving companies can perform. They can do the following:
- Packing/unpacking
- loading/unloading
- assembly/reassembly
- blanketing and wrapping furniture
They can handle everything that other moving companies can. They have many similarities in how they operate and bill customers. You’ll find services very comparable with only one slight difference. Because these moving helpers do not provide the truck their hourly and/or flat rate fees are much lower, thereby giving you a much needed break in the pocketbook.
Where you can find and hire moving labor services:
There are typically for major places that you can find these moving helpers:
These are the best sources for find moving labor services. I’ll briefly go each one so that you know what you can expect from each.
Craigslist: Most of the moving labor providers list their services here. It is cheap but very effective. Many of you probably have already looked here in your search for moving help. However, too many moving scammers also list their “services” here, so you need to be on the lookout when using this resource.
Yellowpages: Great source for finding reliable and trustworthy moving labor services. However, few moving labor helpers have any kind of presence here. You may have to long and hard to find a company like this there.
Movinghelper.com: The moving truck rental company UHual owns and runs this service. Basically this is a directory of moving labor providers. The cool thing about this resource is that the moving help is customer rated, so you can “kick the tires” as they say. You can also pick and chose which moving help providers you want by price and/or reputation.
Hireahelper.com: Is exactly like movinghelper.com except that you not only find moving helpers there but you can get excellent day labor, housecleaning help and landscaping help as well. All the helpers that are listed in this directory are also customer rated so know in advance there person reputation.
Beware of the moving and labor broker scams:
There are many companies out there that have look and feel movinghelper.com and hireahelper.com. These companies have one major difference: They do not allow you to see the performance of these moving labor providers. So you may get a good company, or most likely, get a very bad company.
I would stay away from any moving labor services that will not let you see the moving help providers reputation in advance. You will not have any control if you these labor brokers.
Helpful articles that will help with your moving decision:
I have written quite a lot on the moving industry in this website/blog. You could spends hours, if not days going through all the information that I provide. So I decided to help you. Below is a listing of articles that I have written that will help you with you moving help.
Moving and Labor Broker Scam on Craigslist
Qualities A Moving Company Should Have
How Moving Truck Rentals Can Be A Cheap Moving Option
Moving Helpers Can Be A Real Help Moving
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