Customizing Your Move with Professional Movers

Amid all the excitement of buying a new home lays a decidedly less glamorous chore: moving there. It’s kind of like getting ready for a stroll down the red carpet at a Hollywood premiere and having to drive yourself there in a 15-year-old sedan.

You can make it easier on yourself by hiring professional movers. But you’ll still have some details to work out, including what level of moving services you want. To some extent, that will be determined by how much you want to pay.

When you hire professional movers, the base price usually includes just loading, transportation and unloading. You’ll have to pay extra to have the movers pack your possessions. The charge for the full packing and unpacking service generally is based on the weight of the load, according to the industry’s professional organization, the American Moving and Storage Association, and includes the cost of all but specialty cartons for things like mirrors and marble tabletops.

You can get custom packing services from professional movers if you pack some of the items yourself and unpack yourself, according to the industry group. In that case, the charge is based on the number of boxes or cartons used.

Even if you pack yourself, you’ll have to pay for boxes if you aren’t able to scrounge enough from the office and the grocery store. Consider at least buying wardrobe boxes – mini-closets with a metal bar where you can hang clothes on hangers – and dishpacks for breakable kitchen items like plates and glasses.

You’ll also need to decide whether to buy additional protection in the event your goods are damaged by the professional movers. Under the basic protection included in the cost of your move, the movers are liable for only 60 cents per pound if something is damaged. In other words, you could end up with only $60 for your broken, 100-pound couch. Full replacement-value coverage costs more, but could be a good investment.

One advantage to hiring professional movers is they can store your goods if you need to move out of one house without moving immediately into another. The charge for storage is based on the weight of the load and how long your goods are in storage.

Another option to consider is something called self-service moving. You pack all your goods, load and unload the truck, but a professional driver transports it. The price is based on the number of miles traveled and how much space your load takes up on the truck. (Long-distance full-service moves are based on weight.) As you might guess, the price is less than for a full-service move.

You can hire professional movers for long-distance or local moves, but remember that pricing is different for short-haul local moves. In that case, you might be charged by the hour rather than by weight.

Either way, hiring professional movers can at least make you feel like you’re arriving at the fancy Hollywood premier in a limo instead of an old sedan.