Hiring a Mover: Everything You Need to Know
Moving is a quintessential stressor in nearly everyone's life at some point. Not only are you uprooting your life, but also everything from your most treasured belongings to the partner-less socks you won't bother sorting through.
Whether you're moving for the first time in your adult life or moving for the second time this year, trusting and hiring professional movers can relieve the headache (and backache) of doing it yourself, and also protect your items and furniture in the process. Although doing it yourself may seem like the right choice to save money, there are multiple reasons to find full-service movers.
Why Hire a Mover
1. Relieve stress
Like we mentioned above, the first reason choosing to hire movers is better than doing it yourself is the huge stress relief. Allowing a company of professionals that are able to do the packing and moving will save hours of your time. Instead of procrastinating so late you nearly vomit every time you look around your unpacked apartment or house, you can have peace of mind knowing that someone else can take care of everything, from packing specialty items to pieces of furniture safely and securely. Hiring movers also reduces your bodily stress, since you won't be carrying the weight (literally and figuratively).
2. Time saver
It doesn't matter if you're a single person or an entire family of track athletes- hiring a team of movers will save you time in packing and moving, because they have honed in their skills every day to be the most efficient in what they do. If you have a strict time frame of moving out of one location and moving in to the next, hiring professionals is the time-saving choice. If you are a single person with a fully furnished house waiting to be relocated, it just makes sense to hire movers. A dining table or piano, for example, requires more than one person to move.
3. Insurance
If you choose the correct moving company, your items will be completely covered by insurance if something goes wrong. No matter how careful and proficient the most experienced mover is, there might be an item that breaks during the move. You can rest easy knowing that any specific item, or all items, have coverage. This can be a huge benefit if you own antique, rare, or expensive furniture- even if you can't buy one exactly like it, the value of that item will be reimbursed. If the item was going to break no matter who was moving it, wouldn't it make you feel better to know that 1.) it wasn't you who broke it and 2.) you'll have the monetary value for the item instead of nothing?
4. Savings
Hiring a mover seems like the more expensive choice, right? That can be true- but, before you make that decision concretely, try adding up all the moving costs you'll have if you choose to undertake moving by yourself. Boxes, packing tape, renting an individual moving van, gas, and most importantly your time and energy planning, calling, organizing, and packing are all considered factors when analyzing moving costs. The costs of moving and hiring a moving company can vary depending on geographical location, so always make sure you really are making the most financially sound choice before moving.
These factors can sometimes be forgotten or simply ignored in the business of uprooting yourself, so the baseline is to always analyze the true cost and stress that you'll endure during your move before deciding whether you would benefit from hiring a moving company or not.
How To Choose a Reputable Mover
Once you've decided to hire movers, it's almost an equally important choice deciding which business to trust with your belongings.Experience, policies, and your intuition are some of the most important factors in choosing a reputable moving company. Here are some tips on selecting the most suitable match for you.
1. Begin with word-of-mouth
Sometimes the easiest way to select a company to do your business, and this generally goes for any business, is finding out who your family, friends, and neighbors recommend. If you hear the same name numerous times, it might be your sign. Asking the people you know and trust who they trust has always been the most impactful business-bringing tool, because it's the most effective and beneficial for everyone. A moving company that holds a high reputation will have moving practices that are up to your standards, and will probably hold the most value for their services.
2. Contract & Insurance
Every service-providing business should have a binding contract that outlines their policies and insurance. Anything less than what you agree upon in writing is going to be a risk on your part. Every trustworthy mover is going to do a thorough walk-through and determine the volume of your items, and then give you an estimate. On the contract, these estimates can vary in wording, and that specific wording can make quite a bit of difference.
A non-binding estimate means the movers can charge 10% over the original estimate, caused by unforeseen circumstances. A non-binding to exceed estimate means you will not have to pay over the number they've given you whatsoever, and a binding estimate means it is the exact price you will be expected to pay, unless you add on extra services during the time of moving.
As for insurance, if you have a house full of valuable items, you'll want to select a company that offers full replacement value protection. This means if an item is damaged during the time of packing or transport, the mover will either reimburse or replace that item in-full. The less comprehensive plan is the alternate level of liability. While at no extra cost, the mover is only liable for 60 cents/ pound. It doesn't matter how valuable the item is, the weight is the only factor contributing to the reimbursement.
Why Choose Allied
Choosing the correct moving company to fit your needs can make the difference between an easy, stress-less move or a hectic one. Allied has been a competitive moving company for 88 years, offers the largest range of services in the market, and has 24-hour customer service and resources to assist with every aspect of your move.
Allied offers household moving, long distance transportation, corporate moving, and even international moving. This covers everything including packing, transporting, and unloading. Additional services they offer include unpacking, crating, car and boat transportation, and assembly and disassembly of furniture and any other household items. The company has a 96% satisfaction rate from their customers, and provides a Custom Moving Plan for each client to ensure the smoothest moving process. Allied can even customize the level of packing needed with different tiers, like full-service, fragile, or do-it-yourself packing options. An Allied Personal Relocation Consultant will provide you with an affordable quote according to your moving situation.
With emphasized factors like transparent pricing, insurance coverage, strong references, full service options, and quality customer service, Allied is the smart and cost-efficient option no matter what your individual moving needs are.