The first and most exclusive factor in determining your local moving cost is the actual weight of your shipment. Cubic feet are equally important and in many types of long distance, and international moves especially important. The relationship between cubic feet and actual weight of a shipment is perhaps a subject of much debate in the moving and storage business, but generally speaking the weight of your shipment for a local move is roughly calculated based on seven pounds per estimated cubic foot of your total shipment.
In order to estimate the weight of your shipment we must first know the cubic feet. Not rocket science really, just old fashioned moving technology. In order to measure the cubic feet and determine the weight of the shipment a detailed inventory must first be taken. An estimator typically has a table of measurements or ‘cube sheet’ which he or she will check off items from as they walk through your home and count.
The Table of Measurements is nearly universal and each type of item in your home is pre-designated a standard number. For instance a kitchen or dining chair is normally counted as 5 cubic feet, a dining table 30, a washer or dryer 25… Notice how Professional Moving Boxes all have their cubic feet printed on them.
Many movers today have database backed websites and hand held computers with user friendly inventory forms which calculate the cubic feet and weight for you right there. It takes a lot of practice and a few bumps along the road for a good estimator to become a good estimator, and the wiz-kid with the tech-mate doesn’t always do as well as the veteran with a clipboard.
Many movers today have database backed websites and hand held computers with user friendly inventory forms which calculate the cubic feet and weight for you right there. It takes a lot of practice and a few bumps along the road for a good estimator to become a good estimator, and the wiz-kid with the tech-mate doesn’t always do as well as the veteran with a clipboard.
One thing you must know as a novice inventory taker is you have to be extra careful not to undercount. Padding your own estimate (especially if you haven’t packed the boxes yet) can be helpful in these situations. The average undercount we have seen of unpacked boxes by a shipper is typically around 30 - 50%. A good estimator will take this into account when they provide a telephone or email quote based on your self-inventory and encourage you to update them once you are all packed.
Why take your own inventory? Why not? If you are looking to pay for a service you really need to know what you are paying for and what it is or should be costing you. Always do your best to over-estimate and over-budget if you can, and with any luck have a budget friendly moving day. If you are on a tight budget especially, do as much of the work as you can, and like many local moving clients just have the movers move mostly just the big stuff if you are able. Most folks weighing this option verses renting a U-haul and doing the whole thing themselves find this a budget and back friendly venture. Partial moves go fast, and when all the ‘chowder’ is out of the way and packed nicely in boxes, the movers should be smiling.
Now let’s do some counting - where do we start?
Let’s make this as simple as possible and start with a blank piece of paper. First, we count the rooms up in the house. We include the garage or basement, the patio, shed and front porch. Let’s say our house is 1400 sq. ft and we have a living room, kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms, patio, an office and garage. Okay, we have 8 rooms to count. Now we take the blank piece of paper and section it off into 8 squares. We look up, over, around, under, and behind, and we picture every little thing that will fit into a box. Imagine a box the size of 20” television set or go down to Uhaul and buy a bundle of 3.0 cft. (medium boxes) and get a better visual. Do your best to mentally fill each box with all the loose items which must be packed…books, knick knacks, dishes, towels, linen, pillows; everything that is not furniture. Oh yes, and please don’t pack the books in the 3 cubes, they should only go in 1.5 cubic foot (book cartons) or equivalent. More on packing tips here.
One room at a time count every box and every furniture item until each of the 8 squares on your paper is full of inventory then check it and double check it. Don’t forget to add some boxes to your count just for good measure, if you’re not sure, just double whatever you think it is. You can always subtract later after you are all packed up.
Now that we have our list of items to move let’s go back to the computer and plug them into the moving calculator. When we are finished we find a total of 73 assorted furniture items and around 60 boxes - give or take 15 or 20. We end up with these calculations:
| Total Cubic Feet | 1210 | |
| Total Weight (lbs) | 8470 | |
| Total # Pieces | 133 |
Knowing the weight of the shipment is the best way to start to judge the amount of time the move will require. Sometimes more importantly how many trucks or trips you will need. For instance, we know that the typical high cube 24’ bobtail truck will hold up to 10,000 lbs. of household goods. 10,000 lbs. can be a stretch for most shipments and in many cases it is difficult to get 9,000 lbs. safely loaded into your typical 24’ truck. Although, ‘Superhuman’ feats in the moving business do happen every day – you should never count on them.
"They just kept packing the truck….
and it never seemed to fill up! Amazing!
I have never seen anything like it before in my life!”
and it never seemed to fill up! Amazing!
I have never seen anything like it before in my life!”
I can’t remember how many times I have heard these words or something to their effect after a grinding morning of wondering myself if it would all fit. Every mover has a story that sounds something just like this. “Hero for the day” maybe… or more often the joke on the truck was always, “Man of the Minute.”
Now that we know what the weight of the shipment is we have something to work with to estimate time. For this example we are going to use a normal access location at both origin and destination. We are moving from San Jose up to Marin today so we really have to take our time and make sure it all fits. Everything must be wrapped and stacked perfectly and our truck will be full when we are done.
Estimating can be a bit like driving in the sense we have to pay attention to the miles per hour, or in this case, pounds per hour. In my experience throughout the years, I find that a good local moving team with normal access will move an average of 1,000 pounds per hour per man each way from the house to the truck and from the truck back to the house. We know that loading a FULLY packed truck will often slow this process down by as much as 50% however, the un-loading is most always faster in normal conditions; so it is our law of averages.
For the sake of using round numbers we are going with 8,500 lbs. Your shipment is average stuff, not ultra luxury, but still needs to be protected properly. I say this because we aren’t adding any extra time for extra fine and bulky ‘Danville furniture’ that takes a little more effort to guarantee no damage along the way. In addition all of your furniture items are pretty straight forward without extensive dis-assembly or re-assembly to be done. Normal dis-assembly / re-assembly like removing bed frames from headboards, mirrors from dressers, and hutch-tops are all considered normal.
Here is our calculation for the 3 man crew loading and unloading time only:
8500 lbs. x 2 = 17,000 divided by 3,000 lbs per hour = 5.67 hrs.
Remember: this is a best case scenario as far as access, assembly requirements, and you certainly must be packed and ready to go when the movers show up to your door.
When it comes to driving time, think about
how slow your grandmother drove
just before she couldn’t drive anymore at all.
The loaded moving van may not always arrive as fast as Grandma.
When moving companies charge double drive time, it’s not double what you take to drive, but what it takes the loaded truck to drive from the old place to the new. With a loaded truck especially, the movers have to be sure to avoid all the pot-holes and maintain a safe and reasonable speed to ensure the safety of your shipment, the movers on the truck, and the public as well. Some movers have chosen to discard the "double drive time" method of calculating charges replaced by a flat set up fee + the actual time (Starting at your door) to complete the move. I believe this to be the most straight-forward and honest way to provide local moving services, not to mention an easy to calculate bill. Certainly there are many ways to peel a banana, but this way seems to be the best I’ve seen.
What if I have an elevator? Stairs? or Long carry?
These factors all decrease the amount of pounds per hour per man; some are measureable while others are not so easily measured. For instance if you are moving into a large apartment building with a small elevator on a Saturday, you may find yourself in what is commonly referred to as “elevator heck” something much like the ‘parking lot’ on the bay bridge on Monday morning. Situations like these and others make the local moving estimate a difficult if not impossible calculation, and unforeseen contingencies like non-exclusive use of the elevator should always be considered.
This is probably why I think I have most likely chased off hundreds of customers over the years with the facts when they really just wanted to hear something less expensive, I suppose. At the end of the day, as a salesperson I am happiest when the client’s costs fall within or below my ballpark quote. And perhaps, contrary to popular belief, most movers at least the ones I have known, actually live and breathe for those happy smiling faces and praise for a job well done. Getting paid fairly always helps them too.
I hope this article was helpful for you, and wish you all the best in your upcoming moving adventures.
Please know that a doing a self-inventory and pre-move inspection of your own access and packing needs is never advisable for shippers with full service needs and you should never ever count exclusively on a phone quote for a long-distance or international move.
What I mean to say is you can never beat the experience of an onsite estimate done by a qualified moving professional. The tips and techniques I have listed above are a partial list of the many variables that may be associated with your move and are meant for you to have a greater understanding of the process. This is not an endorsement of any single estimator who does not provide on-site estimates, however, as I stated before, if you are able to assist with your own move and/or you are just looking for certain items of unwieldy nature to be moved and you have completely packed all of the boxes you want the movers to move; the likelihood of finding a discount mover over the phone or email who will provide you a great service are highly probable and in many situations quite economical as well.
Best wishes, and happy packing,
Mike
E-book coming soon: “The Anatomy of a Move”
Secrets of the Moving & Storage industry revealed.
Independent Relocation Consultant
& Small Business Development Specialist
Copyright 2009 all rights reserved& Small Business Development Specialist
