Moving Companies? Moving Tips?

Finally talked the Missus into moving north!

We’re meeting with a realtor today, and started the purge yesterday. It’s amazing how much stuff a family can accumulate, especially a family with a lot of hobbies lol

I’ve always said once you’re over 30 it should be against the law to make your friends help you move.

I’m fully capable of doing it on my own (truck and bigger enclosed trailer), but it’s the time factor that I’m lacking, so I’ll need to hire out one big load to shave off trips.

Do any of you guys have a recommendation on who to use?

think its there name…….2 guys and a truck!!!!! they move peoples stuff!!!!

Never used them, but have heard good things about Graham Moving out of Cokato, MN. Their website says they serve greater MN.

glenn57 wrote:

think its there name…….2 guys and a truck!!!!! they move peoples stuff!!!!

X2 on 2 guys and a truck!!!

We used 2 guys and a truck when we moved. Best money I’d spent in a long time. They loaded and unloaded the stuff where it was suppose to go.

I sat in the garage with a couple of buddies and drank beer and watched all the crap get moved in. Was way better than when I did it myself the first house

I used 2 guys and a truck May 2022 when I moved too. They did a good job and it took about 4 hours to load all my furniture up, haul it 6 miles, and unload it into the new house.

Its unreal how much “stuff” a guy can accumulate when you have to move. I loaded box after box of items and I can’t even remember how many times I said to myself “why do I have this?”

Depending on how far of a drive it is, you could rent a truck yourself and hire people at each end to load/unload. Might be a better deal than paying for the time for a single crew to drive back down for 4 hours after the move is done. That’s a long day with a lot of labor hours.

No matter what it costs pay to have it done. I’d rather attend a Democratic Convention than ever move myself again.

Only other option is drop a 40′ container and load and unload at your leisure.

I’ve heard a lot of horror stories of moving companies holding onto the loads until you pay twice what the quote was. I’d vote for 2 men and a truck.

Thanks for the references guys. I called Two Men and a Truck and a local moving company from the area we’re looking at.

They both sounded like they knew what they were doing and how to quote a move for a 2,3,4 bedroom home.

I told them all I want is to get a truckload from point A to point B, and asked if I could pay hourly.

Both were cool with that gave me their rates. The local company was 25% less and the owner seems like a good dude. Likely going with him but open for more suggestions

queenswake wrote:

Depending on how far of a drive it is, you could rent a truck yourself and hire people at each end to load/unload. Might be a better deal than paying for the time for a single crew to drive back down for 4 hours after the move is done. That’s a long day with a lot of labor hours.

I thought about that too, but my concern was people showing up, and showing up on time at both places.

Also, I can take a truck/trailer load up myself the same day with my own truck/trailer and pay them to help load/unload hourly.

The local guy’s rate is $150 an hour (2 dudes), that’s worth it’s weight in gold over asking friends and family to give up a weekend lol

B-man get the quote in writing. Look it over twice. You and someone from the moving company both sign it and keep copies of contract. Final payment when delivery is complete.

On moving day it helps all parties to lay some floor protection down main traffic ways, and take video of walls and condition of certain furniture items for reference in case there’s any damage.

I’ve seen wayyyyyyy to many damaged floors and other items by crap movers.

Deuces wrote:

On moving day it helps all parties to lay some floor protection down main traffic ways, and take video of walls and condition of certain furniture items for reference in case there’s any damage.

I’ve seen wayyyyyyy to many damaged floors and other items by crap movers.

Very good advice!

Just stay away from WE HELP U PACK AND MOVE. I won’t go into it but it was a horrible experience on several levels.

Thanks again guys

We sold the house tonight!! Time to get packing

B-man wrote:

Thanks again guys

We sold the house tonight!! Time to get packing

Now who the hell is going to fly a Canada flag and American flag above the Stacy ramp

Bearcat89 wrote:

Now who the hell is going to fly a Canada flag and American flag above the Stacy ramp

Looks like your up BC. Congrats again on the move Bman!

I worked for a moving company for 4 years in college. 2 guys and a truck will get the job done but I would personally recommend A1 moving company. Where you are moving to/from will definitely impact your quotes from company to company. Some companies will basically price themselves out of certain longer distance moves they don’t want to do, so get quotes from a few places for sure.

After working for the moving company for 4 years, there is one thing for certain when people go to move. They always, I repeat always, underestimate how much stuff they have. Especially if its been a while since you last moved.

I’ve been purging my house for the past week. Throwing stuff away actually feels great.

Another experience with 2 Men and a truck. Glad to hear the good experiences. But, the lady we bought our house from hired them. The 2 guys didn’t speak a word of english. The broke the basement door off the lower hinge bringing the washing machine up. Along with some other damage, didn’t fess up to any of it. The finally gave her $125 that I told her I would fix everything for that amount. Because she had just lost her husband. The worst was a heirloom China cabinet. When they got to her new house 3 states away. It had somehow vanished. Her son watched it go on the truck. Only 2 option we could think was it was badly damaged, and they dumped it, or they sold it. Think it’s a franchise, so quality is up to the individual for the most part. I would get reference on the particular crew. Not just the franchise. Good luck. I was the only one in my group of friends driving a pickup when everyone else went to college. That sucked!!

stevenoak wrote:

Think it’s a franchise, so quality is up to the individual for the most part. I would get reference on the particular crew. Not just the franchise.

2 guys and a truck is definitely a franchise with many locations, so experiences and service will vary. If anyone is on the fence and moving in the metro, go with A1 moving company. I can personally vouch for the guys that run the company as well as many of the drivers. Its not uncommon for the owners of the company to be out on jobs and they are as good as it gets in the moving industry and that trickles down throughout that company.

My only tip is to purge and have a garage sale or sell whatever you don’t want now. When my parents moved to the cabin they had a garage sale after moving, and I swear they sold half the stuff we just moved.

I recently moved from Georgia to Maine. One big lesson I learned was to downsize aggressively; it’s incredible how much stuff you accumulate that you don’t really need. This not only saved me on moving costs but also made unpacking much simpler. Another tip that helped was naming my moving boxes clearly. It made organizing and finding things in my new home much easier. For the moving company, I went with Three Movers, found through a helpful guide at https://threemovers.com/12-long-distance-moving-tips-that-are-dangerous-to-ignore-while-moving/. They were reliable and cost-effective; the move cost me around $5,000. These steps really helped streamline the process and kept stress levels manageable.

My tip would be just hire a company to do it all. They will come in box everything up, label it then load it up no hassle for you at all then unload everything and set it up at your new place. My dad just had this done a couple weeks ago. $3000 for everything and it was done in 2 days. He didnt have a lot and they had to drive 140 miles one direction. They charge by the hour per guy both ways and how many trucks. But that was money well spent. If my family and brother had to do it it would have been a nightmare.

CaptainMusky wrote:

My tip would be just hire a company to do it all. They will come in box everything up,

I would not recommend having the moving company box things up. They aren’t nearly as careful with your fragile stuff as you’d likely be. And the “insurance” they offer on things breaking during the move isn’t what many think. They pay out based on the weight of the item, not the value, unless you specifically identify valuable things you want covered ahead of time and specify what the value is.

Johnny wrote:

I would not recommend having the moving company box things up. They aren’t nearly as careful with your fragile stuff as you’d likely be.

The company my dad used was. It was a bunch of women that came the first day. Carefully boxed everything up, making sure to package with appropriate packing etc. Then the boys came the next day to load it all up. Not all are created the same for sure, but to lump them all together isnt true. It would be best to ask how they take care of it I suppose which he did and was well aware of how they did this.

I never followed up on this thread, but I ended up moving myself.

The owner of the house at the time was nice enough let me store a ton of stuff ahead of time in the shop, including the boat

Every weekend for a month I would fill my enclosed trailer during the week after work. On Saturdays I would run the trailer up, toss the stuff in the shop, drop the trailer, hook onto the boat, then go fish Lake Superior for the day

Once done fishing I would drop the boat back off in the shop and take my empty enclosed trailer home for another round the next weekend.

I even coerced Bearcat and Mason into a round. They took our extra vehicle loaded up with dead animals and we hit the lake after unloading the trailer.

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B-man wrote:

I even coerced Bearcat and Mason into a trip. They took our extra vehicle up loaded with taxidermy and we hit the lake after unloading the trailer.

Nice, with the size of Mason Ron should consider hiring him out for those services.

Purging can definitely be a daunting task, but it’s always refreshing to declutter. I totally get what you mean about the 30+ moving rule haha.