I had a move from Salem, OR to Dallas, OR and, as I was leaving a 2nd story apartment building into…read morea ranch style house, I decided I was too old and broken to move things myself. I also didn't want to enlist friends and family to help, as, again, it just wasn't the stage of life I'm at.
I used Yelp! to make a blanket inquiry of local moving companies, asking for a quote. I received a lot of very similar responses, ranging between 150-195 an hour for moving services, with a minimum of 2 or three hours.
PNW Moving quoted me a little different. It was $265 for the truck, mileage and fuel, and then it would be $100 an hour for two movers, with a minimum of two hours. Every hour after that would be at the $100 an hour rate. Before I booked, Ignacio sent me a text saying he could offer me a 10% discount on the rate.
I expected my move to take about four hours (spoiler alert; it took six), even though Ignacio, the owner, thought it sounded like three. So I figured the hourly rate of $100 would work in my favor when time inevitably went over. In the end, it did. My total cost was $805 for the move, versus $900 or more.
On the day of, my lead mover was Rueben, who was on the spot with getting things moved. They taped up boxes I didn't have tape for, moved things around to get stuff loaded, and worked non-stop to move my two bedroom apartment out of the second floor. Anything I pointed at and said needed to go, went.
I won't say they ran around like The Flash, but they didn't loiter either. I had a lot of boxes and smaller items, so they made I don't know how many trips up and down the stairs, trips I'm sure as heck glad I didn't make.
All of our stuff arrived in location clean and undamaged. Our hallway in the new house is very small (1950's built home, so space was designed different) and they got a bunk bed and several large dressers into a back room without damaging the walls or the items. We wanted a large couch to go in that room, but after several attempts, including taking the feet off the couch, it just wasn't possible. Rueben apologized profusely, but the man can't change the laws of physics and space.
All in all, it was money very well spent. A few things I was aware of, that could have just been asides, but some things that I noticed:
1: I put down a $100 deposit for the day of the move a few weeks before the actual move date. I had to remind Ignacio that I made this payment on the day of the move when he told me the final total.
2: I also had to remind Ignacio that he offered me the 10% discount, which I didn't initially ask for. He initially told me he didn't remember making the offer, but I had the screenshot of the text, which I sent him, and he said it was in his notes, and the discount was honored, so it all worked out in the end. I wouldn't have asked for the discount if it hadn't been offered in the first place.
3: There was a rather large time gap between when the guys left my apartment and before they got to my new house. I left about five minutes after them and stopped at a local McDonald's drive-thru for a soda. I then drove the same distance and got to the house, where we waited about twenty to twenty five minutes before they arrived. Enough time passed where I was wondering if something happened, like an accident or something. When they arrived, it looked like they had made a brief stop at 7-11 or a convenience store. I don't begrudge getting a snack and drink and all that, but that time was included in my overall time that I was charged for. In the end, I didn't make a point of it to Ignacio, and because of the discount and the stellar work the guys did, I didn't feel like it was something egregious, but it was something I noticed and had thoughts about.
All in all, though, my move day was smooth and hassle free, all my stuff got taken care of, and I only had to go up and down the apartment stairs one time the entire day. It was definitely money well spent.
