Nine years ago we used Brownstone Brothers for a "small" move of some of our belongings from one apartment to another four blocks away in Manhattan. Now, when we had a much more complicated move to accomplish, I remembered that they had been efficient and pleasant so decided to try them again. I am an Army brat and have moved countless times in my life, including in my adult life: once I moved five times in ten years. Moving is a hell that everyone dreads.
This particular move was going to be especially difficult: combining belongings from four different locations (storage and city apartment) onto one truck and moving it all to a country location. Even the destination was difficult: two structures, a house and a converted barn twenty yards apart with deep snow in between. And finally, I had to do it alone: my husband had to be out of town for work and couldn't help.
Brownstone Brothers was amazing. Halona, in the office, calm and courteous, helped me figure out how to make the move work. On moving day, the five men arrived right on time. They were simply marvelous! Cesar, the foreman, was efficient, a tremendous leader of his team, extremely well organized, and above all, patient, even kind, to me as he made sure every box was labeled for contents and for the specific room at the destination. The whole crew was wonderful: five extremely pleasant men who worked together with the efficiency of a machine. Cesar personally labeled at least fifty boxes from my dictation with his clear handwriting. Somehow they got the things in the apartment packed, moved furniture and boxes from three jammed storage units in different locations, and all into the truck in less than eight hours. I was astonished. I hadn't believed it could be done in one day.
The following day they arrived on time at the destination and here we worked closely together to make sure that every object and box went to the correct location. Again, Cesar worked closely with me to make sure every label was accurately read and properly dispatched, while also working with his men to carry countless boxes himself. I got to know the whole crew better: Josh, good humored, using his tall height to carefully wrestle the biggest boxes to where they had to go; Mike, who worked on the truck at lightning speed grouping objects for the others to carry away; another man named Mike, whose charm and easy-going smile made the hard work seem easy; Nurudeen, quietly efficient. And from the previous day, Maurice, who helped sort and move scores of boxes out of storage. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone: they all deserve mention. This is a group of men who have worked together for years. They trust and like one another, are able to work at remarkable speed without dropping or breaking a thing, all with the best possible good-natured attitude. Finally, at the conclusion, the price was exactly as had been estimated by Halona.
Moving is hell, everyone agrees. But when this move was over, I was truly sorry to say goodbye to these wonderful men. Thank you to Cesar and to his whole team for turning a dreaded task into a pleasure. I cannot recommend them too highly. read more