You value simplicity:

Let the doctors do the doctoring, the lawyers do the lawyering, and of course the movers do the moving!

You’re time is worth something:

Lets assume your time is worth about 25$/hr. You have a 1 bedroom appartment.

The steps to move a 1 bedroom appartment may look like this

1. drive to rental lot, rent a truck, maybe rent or buys some moving supplies because     you would like the job to be done properly and not take any longer than necessary,     drive back home, find somewhere to park.
2. begin loading the truck with the help of a friend who is equally capable and also      worth 25$/hr. do this properly, it would be unfortunate for anything to break in       transit
3. Once properly packed and completed loading, drive to offload address
4. Find somewhere to park, avoid infractions of any bylaw or strata authorities
5. offload truck, maybe with a tight elevator booking time so it would have to be fast
6. drive the truck back to the rental lot, but first fill it with fuel, probably diesal but make certain its the correct fuel as using the same fuel as your personal vehicle can destroy engines on another vehicle. now retrieve personal vehicle and drive back home
7. hope you did not miss any damages to the rental equipment and do not get charged any additional fees

After spending all this time are you even saving money? you’re a professional, do what you do best and delegate the rest!

Your health is worth something:

Moving is hard work, movers who are in the industry for a long time are not normal people. Even if your physique is not lacking an you are physically capable of being a good mover it does take some practice and guidance. With the possibility of an injury are you even insured for if you get hurt on your own time?

You accept the fact that the last time you moved was 10 years ago:

Everyone gets older, in this case let the younger generation take care of you!

The post When to Hire a Professional appeared first on Power Movers.

1. To spend
2. To save

You can spend money on moving and you can also save it. Below follows some reasons to DIY and save that money.

You’re young and in college:

At this time in your life you have more friends than money..

you also probably collected your furniture from the alleyway nearby or for free somehow, in any case its intrinsic value is most likely to be low in general.

You Live on the first floor:

Great for 2 reasons!

– you do not require an elevator booking

– you do not need to traverse stairs

Bad for 2 reasons

– you’re still not a mover and the evidence of this will become apparent soon

– your move-in address may have stairs and an elevator

Your time is not worth very much:

We get it, but take care of yourself regardless. Getting in a rush and causing irreperable damage to your spine is not worth avoiding a strata fine or parking ticket!

You are insanely strong:

Movers can easily have 100X the experience in moving compared to someone who has never been employed as a mover. The techniques and finesse acquired in a relatively short amount of time in this profession yields drastically more efficient move times. The next best thing to professional movers are athletes who can make up for professionalism with sheer power!

It really is not all that much stuff:

All your stuff fits in a pickup box? In this case it comes down to vehicle rental and whether you are capable of renting or borrowing one. if its doable in 1 or 2 trips skip the professionals and get it done!

The post When should you move yourself? appeared first on Power Movers.

How much will my move cost me??

A reasonable question but oddly in the industry of moving, that depends mostly on you, the consumer… and possible hoarder of possessions that no longer serve you.

If this was the 70’s with reasonable fuel prices and you had nothing but a backpack to your name you could hitchhike the entirety of north america paying nothing but good company!

Today fuel prices are as outrageous as ever, the cost of home ownership or rental has never been higher, and just like you, your movers are struggling for a place to stay in the same economy.

Okay seriously don’t avoid the question at the end of the day how much?

Lets say for example you have a 2 bedroom appartment and after a quick google search you come to the conclusion that the average cost to move that 2 bedroom appartment is around 700$. The truth is that every move is unique and this is as true as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. No 2 people are the same and neither are their possessions.

We at Power Movers are based in Vancouver British Columbia Canada. The average 2 bedroom appartment in the metro area is about 850-1000 sq feet and through the course of 1000s of moves we end up charging between 0.50$-1.00$ per square foot of appartment to be moved. This brings our estimate to 750$ but to guarantee a maximum cost much more information is needed.

You don’t have all that much stuff right?..

Without a detailed evaluation of everything to be moved the mover actually has no idea how much or little you have and a quick google search of reviews will show horror stories of the many times where assumptions were made about verbal contracts and all parties have left angry and feeling taken advantage of, the movers included.

Through much experience and careful evaluation of the job before hand, professional movers can guess quite accurately how long and how much a move will cost either through on site evaluation or pictures.

I know its not all that much stuff, anybody could do it in a couple hours……

Ok, there are 3 kinds interactions that follow this train of thought when speaking to a company.

1. Agree with the client, do not ask too many questions, secure the job and charge whatever they feel the job is worth at the end of the day. If there was nothing but a verbal agreement made before hand or you had anything besides a very detailed “bill of lading” in place then   you are pretty much on the hook for whatever they charge you. even if the mover gives you a hard quote, if you have more boxes than agreed upon or the list of possessions they end up moving is in any way different from what was agreed upon then they can charge disproportionately more money for the service.
2. Disagree with the client, politely suggest they hire someone who claims to be capable of completing a certain job at a certain price, and secure other clients who will not balk at the cost of a good service well planned and executed to the letter or better. These are the best clients for any business and movers are no different, they will bend over backwards for clients that value their work and are willing to pay them accordingly. To refuse work is nothing personal in business, it is often the mark of confident and experienced professionals.
3. The best mover is one with a detailed breakdown of what the costs represent.

– How much will they charge for fuel?

– How much will they charge for mileage?

– Do they charge anything for supplies if they are reusable like dollies, or disposable   like mattress bags or wardrobe boxes?

– How long will it take to loadup?

– How long will it take to unload?

– Does the cost cover moving everything into every room or do they just leave   everything on the porch?

It is common to make a lot of assumptions with moving services at which point the movers and clients they serve often end up frustrated or upset because there was a failur to communicate. It is best not to assume anything unless it is explicitly written down.

It can seem like a pain to be so detailed and answer all the questions but a good mover will, ask the most questions, and supply the most details about the service they will deliver to you.

The cost this mover provides is actually what your move will cost, anything else is a gamble with the odds stacked against you, lets leave it at that.

Who will you hire?

An inexperienced mover will say anything to land your job even if it is not possible for the price quoted. This is not always done with malicious intent, most of the time these movers are hard working people (it is a hard job) and if they go over the time and cost quoted they may cut you a deal. In the event the Mover who quoted the job is not on site on moving day or they simply do not care to honor that quote they may charge much higher than originally promised. by the time the job is done it is too late to argue the cost or hire someone else, the work is done and must be payed for. an uncomfortable prospect for anyone who was sold an unrealistic expectation and delivered a very expensive reality. There is a common saying that goes “if you pay cheap, you pay twice” and that can ring especially true for immoral movers in the industry actually counting on the pay twice mentality to make a quick buck. Sell everyone low prices, but double them on completion because so many clients are willing to fall for this and pay up month after month trying to save a few hundred dollars but spending much more.

Real professional movers account for less than half of the actual movers available. A quick search on craigslist will yield results all month of tempting 60$/hr rates littered with buzz words like “experienced”, “professional”, “Best rates”, “insured”, “short notice”, “fast”, “reliable” etc etc. Thats not to say there are not great movers available on craigslist but at a bare minimum they should have a website with some real content on it. The first things you should ask your prospective companies for are their “COI” or “Certificate of Insurance” document, and “Workers compensation Board” Clearance letter. By asking for those two documents and verifying that the company is a member in good standing with both their 3rd party liability insurance underwriter as well as the workers compensation board of british columbia, you can reasonably expect they will assume liability for any damages or injuries that may occur during the course of a move. Many clients do not realize this but depending on where you live movers may not be required to be insured to do work legally for you and it is your assumed liability for if any persons or property are damaged at either your old or new address while under your employment.

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