During moving the most important question that you may be asking yourself is what is the average moving cost that you may have to pay for your moving. Depending on the distance of your move you have a local and cross state move and that would give two different types of pricing explained below.
Average Full Service Moving Costs
When you are moving at a smaller distance the average cost of moving for you is going to be calculated by hour. Once you receive your moving estimate, it should have a price based on the calculated hours of work of the movers and it should have a price per hour. Sometimes movers may apply an additional fee so definitely ask movers any question related to the price of your move. A service that may have an additional cost, for example, is moving furniture up and down the stairs as it requires extra time for work on behalf of the movers. For any service that you need or any price that you would like to know put forward the question about it to the moving company.
Ask movers to give you an estimate of your moving costs. Once you get a feedback from a few companies you can compare the prices and take a final decision on which one to hire.
If you are moving on a longer distance, think about choosing a long distance mover. The average cost of moving will be higher in this case since the moving estimate will be based on the weight of the transported items. When the movers come and load their truck, they measure how heavy it is and then they finalize your average moving bill. For example, if you are moving from Northern Virginia to Boston the price for a 3 bedroom house with things with 10,000 lbs weight would be about $7,500. Again, this price includes the work of two people and the transportation with a truck and is without packing. If a mover wants to charge a price that is significantly different than this one beware not to be scammed.
For the weight in this example packing cost would depend a lot on where you are going to purchase your packing supplies from. Average moving prices for packing are explained with examples further down in this article.
Average Moving Cost to Make the Move Yourself
Moving locally is going to cost less than moving to another state. Also, usually one hour more is going to be charged for you on behalf of the moving company and this is travel time – the time the moving experts need to reach to your living place. The average moving cost per hour varies between $85 to $95 depending on the moving date. This is the average cost for hiring two men and a truck. Usually, in summer it is more expensive to move as well as at the end of the month. So checking how much the hourly rate for movers is is one of the things to do before moving. You may wish to use our free moving cost estimator to learn that.
In the meantime look not only for a cheap mover but also for a reliable one. Check on reviews online and see if the moving company is accredited. Being prepared with these important questions will relief a lot of stress off of you.
Average Moving Cost to do it Yourself
Signing for an insurance would be one of the small costs and it is about $100. Also, include in your calculation a cost for hotel. Especially if your moving is at a bigger distance or out of state, you will certainly have to spend at least one night out. Depending on the prices in your area the approximate cost for one night at a hotel would be on average about $80.
You may also decide to hire additional help for the moving to pack, load and unload the moving truck with your things. Based on the average cost per hour at about $90 for 3 people for 4 hours you would have to pay $320. This is one of the highest costs of all costs along with hiring a truck and paying for its fuel. You may also wish to ask your friends to help you with packing, loading and driving to your new home but still consider using professional help by people who have much more experience in moving than you.
The average moving cost for hiring a truck to take you from Northern Virginia to Boston, for example, would cost you approximately between $650 and $750.
If you decide to hire a truck for moving, this would cost you on average between $650 and $750 which is a price that does not include fuel cost. From Northern Virginia to Boston, for example, you would have to pay $3/gallon for gas so for 800 miles if you use about 80 gallons for a truck that would be a total of around $240.
You may decide to use the services of a professional cleaning company to do the cleaning instead of you but the price for that will be calculated separately from the price of your moving.
Average Moving Costs for Packing
To use the same example as above, for moving a 3 bedroom house you will need about 40 boxes. Packing supplies for moving cost differently but on an average, a small box would be about $2. You may also wish to buy some furniture pads to protect your belongings during transportation and they cost about $8 each. This means that the average cost of packing materials will vary between $170 and $220 for a 3 bedroom house.
These are the calculations for average moving costs for your upcoming move. You can find more tips on hiring movers here. Is there anything more you would like to know about? Let us know in the comment below.
It’s a quite close estimate Pamela Smith. Are you also concern with this business? The cost of removal may increase or decrease due to the heavy things like Sofa bed fridge etc.
I am a mover and just wanted to comment on the packing and materials. Most customers significantly underestimate how long packing takes and how much materials will cost to properly pack. In my opinion it would cost between $400-$500 in packing materials to pack a 3 br house properly. You would need wardrobe boxes, dish barrel boxes, misc boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, tape, shrink wrap, picture crate boxes, and flat cardboard for flatscreen tv’s, etc. If packing yourself also moving blankets. If you value your items this is what you need, if not you risk a loss.