How to estimate a moving job

Every moving estimate rests on an inventory, and the inventory is the estimate. Volume decides the truck and the crew, access decides how long the volume takes to move, and everything that goes wrong on moving day is something that was in the house and not on the list.

Survey first, price second

  1. Take a room-by-room inventory

    Every item, including what is in the garage, the loft and the shed. A survey done over the phone is a guess with a signature on it, and the items people forget to mention are the heavy ones.

  2. Convert the inventory to volume or weight

    Local moves are commonly priced from volume and crew hours, long-distance ones from weight. Either way the inventory is the input, which is why it has to be complete before anything is multiplied.

  3. Size the crew and the truck against the day

    Two movers and one truck is a different cost curve from four and two. Underestimating the crew does not save money, it adds a second day.

  4. Walk both ends of the move

    The destination is half the job and is the half most often unseen. A tight stair or a parking restriction at the delivery address costs exactly as much as one at the origin.

Access is what turns volume into hours

Flights of stairs, a long carry from door to truck, a lift that has to be booked and padded, a street with no legal place to park — each of these is time spent moving nothing. They are priced as named surcharges rather than absorbed, because they are the difference between an eight-hour day and a twelve-hour one on identical inventories.

Packing is a service, not a courtesy

What moves a moving number up

  • Items needing disassembly and reassembly — beds, gym equipment, modular furniture, anything wall-mounted
  • Pianos, safes, appliances and other single items that need their own equipment or their own crew
  • Storage between collection and delivery, which is handling twice plus the storage itself
  • A shuttle, where the truck cannot reach the door and everything transfers to a smaller vehicle
  • Valuation cover above the basic released rate, which the customer chooses and should see priced

Hold the price for thirty days, and not across a peak

Valid for 30 days, with one qualification worth writing down: the date itself is a price. The end of a summer month is the busiest slot in the trade, and a quote given for a quiet Tuesday does not survive being moved onto it. Say that the figure holds for the date quoted, so that changing the date is a re-quote rather than a disappointment.

Start from the moving services estimate template

Common questions

Is a moving estimate based on volume or weight?
Local moves are usually priced from volume and crew hours, long-distance moves from weight. Both are derived from the same room-by-room inventory, which is the figure worth getting right.
Why does a phone estimate go wrong so often?
Because the items people forget to mention are disproportionately the heavy and awkward ones, and because nobody describes their own stairs accurately. A survey that sees both addresses is what makes the figure hold.
Should stairs and long carries be separate lines?
Yes. They are time spent moving nothing, and they can add half a day to an otherwise identical inventory. Naming them means the customer can see why two quotes for the same house differ.

Where to next