Long Distance Move

twmjr

Hey H/A -- here's a long distance topic that has nothing to do with relationships...

In a few months, my wife and I will be moving from NJ to South Carolina. Between having a one year old and having some heavier furniture (including a piano), I am heavily inclined to look for a long distance moving service as opposed to trying to do everything ourselves. Has anyone used any of those services? What were your experiences/would you recommend one in particular?

Also happy to hear any particular tips/advice/things to look out for etc.

Thanks all!

mts

Shop around, get quotes.make sure you understand the different types of quotes. some are just an estimate and some are an NTE or not to exceed.
definitely look at reviews and get recomendations since there are a lot of shady movers out there.

my last move we used mayflower which otherwise was one of the cheapest, though our hand truck dissapeared (which is quite common)

pack yourself as much as possible, since them packing adds a crazy amount of money.

hsu

My brother only moved 5 miles, but he used a Pod, which is a 12' storage container. They drop it off at your old home, you pack it up, then they pick it up, drop it off at your new home, and you unpack it. In all, he had the Pod for about a month, and he mainly used it as storage, while he worked on the new house, before fully moving in.

Tofystedeth

Some movers specialize in moving pianos. Depending on the quality of your instrument you might look at that. Someone here a couple years ago had a real horror story about a moving company but I forgot which one it was. Let me see if I can find it.

Quid

If you can afford it go with a moving service. Even if it's just down the street go with a moving service. Especially since it sounds like you have loads of heavy stuff.

Though the best compromise would probably be a small trailer for all your small stuff and a moving service for anything that doesn't fit.

mts

did you guys read the part where he has a 1 year old. that means unless he is moving to a place were he has family, that if he doesn't get a mover, it is going to be 1 person moving everything themselves.

fortunately, you probably don't have to worry about your kids emotional state at 1 year. moving is super stressful for little people

twmjr

Thanks, all...appreciate the points so far. The Pod thing might be an interesting option if we pair it with getting help loading/unloading, but I feel like that might end up costing more than getting someone to do the loading/unloading and transport all in one.

The piano is what's killing me. If it wasn't for that, I could get by pretty easily...I guess to tofystedeth's point, I could pay to get that moved and handle the rest with a simpler solution like the pod.

lunchbox12682

Also make sure you document the condition of important/expensive items before and after for any insurance claims (your own or the mover's).

Tofystedeth

twmjr wrote: »

Thanks, all...appreciate the points so far. The Pod thing might be an interesting option if we pair it with getting help loading/unloading, but I feel like that might end up costing more than getting someone to do the loading/unloading and transport all in one.

The piano is what's killing me. If it wasn't for that, I could get by pretty easily...I guess to tofystedeth's point, I could pay to get that moved and handle the rest with a simpler solution like the pod.

As someone who spent entirely too much time in middle school arranging pianos and moving them from one room to another, the less you have to push/pull/hoist one of those things yourself, the better.

Foomy

Is it a particularly expensive piano or one with a lot of emotional attachment?

Because most moving companies charge by the pound for longer moves, when my parents moved the last time the cost of moving it + the labour for piano movers was almost as much as just getting a new one, so instead they just donated it to a charity.

Djeet

I've moved an upright piano and it is not a 2 person job. Got 3 dudes from work to help me and it sucked. Neither of us wanted the GD thing but it was a family piece and had no home.

The best furniture moving experience I had was related to moving stuff in an estate settlement. They wrapped everything that had exterior finish in these wooly blankets and then in plastic wrap for shipping and had all the ramps, levers, dollies, and straps needed to do it right. They also included enough manpower to do everything safely. Never had that during the dozen or so times I've had to do residential moves.

Rowwie

My fiancé and I moved from Vancouver BC to Calgary AB to Winnipeg MB and from Winnipeg MB back to Vancouver BC. We drove. We had movers for Vancouver to Calgary, moved ourselves in a U-Haul from Calgary to Winnipeg and had movers again for Winnipeg to Vancouver. We drove ourselves and our two cats in our car each time except Calgary to Winnipeg when we left the car in Winnipeg flew back to Calgary and then drove the U-Haul to Winnipeg...
I have also moved from Vancouver to Saskatoon and back.
Hire movers. Make your lives easier. We will always hire movers after the Winnipeg move... it was so terrible and we are very experienced movers. 7 places around the country in 3 years.

chromdom

If you do hire movers, be sure to get a firm delivery date; I had to spend an extra two weeks in a hotel because the mover didn't bother to deliver my stuff until the very last day of their window.

twmjr

Thanks to all for the tips; I think I'm going to end up renting a Uhaul and hiring help on either end for loading/unloading. All of the other options (like the PODS system & other, similar ones) will end up with a 4 to 6 day window in which our stuff is in transit...and trying to stay/sleep in a hotel room with a 13 month old for a week sounds way less than ideal. The only other option would be one moving company doing everything, but the quote I got for that is about twice as much as renting the Uhaul and movers for loading help.

schuss

twmjr wrote: »

Thanks to all for the tips; I think I'm going to end up renting a Uhaul and hiring help on either end for loading/unloading. All of the other options (like the PODS system & other, similar ones) will end up with a 4 to 6 day window in which our stuff is in transit...and trying to stay/sleep in a hotel room with a 13 month old for a week sounds way less than ideal. The only other option would be one moving company doing everything, but the quote I got for that is about twice as much as renting the Uhaul and movers for loading help.

If you can - get a Penske truck. Nicer trucks that are generally better maintained.

twmjr

Thanks for reminding me -- I'd seen a Penske place near here and meant to check out their pricing. The quote from them is around $600 less than Uhaul...

mts

yea, any sort of long move get a penske. did a NJ to Cali move in one. way more comfortable than any other rented truck

Steev

Yeah, when my wife moved from Florida to Illinois, she got a Penske. We had compared a lot of the features of the trucks, and Penske seemed superior.

Only issue we ran into was when we tried to return the truck. The place we returned it to had stopped taking Penske trucks a few weeks earlier! Fortunately, that got sorted with little frustration.