I booked Jackson of All Trades after getting several moving quotes because their $150/hour rate was…read moreone of the more affordable options, and a friend had used them before and had a good experience. Overall, my experience was a mixed bag with some definite pros and cons.
My appointment was scheduled for 8:30 a.m., which I chose intentionally because this was an August move in Austin and I wanted to get as much done as possible before the worst heat of the day. At 8:06, one of the movers texted to let me know they were having truck problems and would be arriving between 9 and 9:30. They kept me updated, but ultimately didn't arrive and start until 9:30, a full hour after my scheduled time. Unfortunately, losing that hour meant much more of the move ended up happening during the peak afternoon heat I had specifically tried to avoid with the early appointment.
They also called when they arrived because they weren't sure where to park, even though I had provided parking instructions in my confirmation email. They arrived in a U-Haul rather than one of the company's branded trucks, which I assume was related to the truck trouble.
The two movers themselves were incredibly nice and pleasant throughout the entire move. They took good care of my furniture and wrapped and protected pieces thoroughly. Nothing about the handling of my belongings made me nervous, and I appreciated the care they took.
That said, the pace was slower than I expected. For context, this was one person moving out of a one-bedroom apartment, not a family or large household, and I had done a LOT to prepare. Everything was fully packed, approximately 30 reusable moving boxes were staged together for easy loading, I had pre-wrapped some furniture and I even moved about 15 vacuum bags out to the truck myself. My old building did require navigating hallways and an elevator, which understandably added time to the load-out. On the other end, however, the truck could park directly outside my new ground-floor apartment with access through both the garage and front door, so unloading was about as straightforward as it could be.
The move ultimately took about 6.5 hours. By the end, the Austin heat and humidity were understandably taking a toll and the pace had slowed considerably. Since I was paying by the hour, I eventually told them to leave some furniture for me to reassemble and some items for me to move into the correct rooms myself because the time and cost were continuing to climb and I needed to stop the clock.
This is where I'm a little torn on whether I'd use them again. The hourly rate was considerably cheaper than several other quotes I received, but after a 6.5-hour move, I think the final cost probably ended up being similar to what I might have paid for a more expensive but more experienced or efficient crew. Sometimes a lower hourly rate isn't necessarily a lower total moving cost.
Still, the guys were genuinely kind, took good care of my belongings and got everything safely from one apartment to the other. I especially appreciated them powering through a brutally hot Austin moving day. If half stars were an option, I'd probably land at 3.5. I'm rounding up to four because I really liked the crew and appreciated the care they took with my things, but the hour-late start, communication/organization issues and the overall pace would make me hesitant to book again.
