Moving Company or DYI
 

Well guess the mods for the 4Runner are going on hold. Wife and I decided to pack up our shit and buy a house in the city we grew up.

Not really far on an island but when we bought this first house we were coming from my parents house and had a very small amount of shit. 10 years and 2 kids later you can imagine the amount of crap we collected. First move I UHauled it in one truck load and did it all on my own. This time it is not happening.

So debating on using a moving company or PODs. Any used a moving company and things to avoid with them?



Supposed to say DIY of course damnit.

uhaul
 

I usually just hire movers to load the uhaul or sometimes they have their own truck. Nowadays with yelp and google I feel like it's super easy to find a very reputable moving service that you can trust and it just saves so much of the hassle.

Movers are trying to be efficient and fast as possible, so make sure to wrap and cover any expensive furniture very well. Be very liberal with labeling your boxes "Fragile"

I just have a hard time paying someone for something I can do myself. Less money for mods especially since this house is going to hurt my wallet for a bit.

I know it will be 10x faster and 10x less work. Maybe I'll have them just move the big stuff and I'll pre-pack our boxes.

Moving Company or DYI
 

Well, being that i just recently went through this dilemma i’ll chime in with my experience on the matter.

Wife and I decided to move to SLC, Utah area from Dallas(~1200 miles) and with selling our house and all it landed right around the 1st of Jan when we actually drove out.

We considered Uhauling it ourselves or a POD of some sort and eventually landed on the POD. Her dad really wanted to “help” us drive out which was nice but also an inconvenience for our situation being that i wanted to drive her truck(15 frontier), dollying my 4runner and not take another vehicle at that time.
His idea was to uhaul everything with a transporter and drive the truck separate which was annoying for us as we’d be split up for at least part of the drive.

Anywho, did the math and i’ll give you my numbers as well as my opinion and why i went the way i did.

Got quotes from PODs and Packrat.
16x8x8’ POD(equivalent to 20’ uhaul) dropped off in Plano, Texas, picked up a week later and dropped off in Layton, Utah about 10 days later.

PODS = 2450 all in(sealed wood sides plastic top - $10k in coverage for contents)

Packrat = 3200 all in(steel, no cheaper option)

Uhaul = ~1400 rental for 5 days + gas + one-way plane ticket for her dad to fly back

We started out really considering the uhaul until i realized the savings weren’t going to be much and the convenience of loading/unloading a POD and not having to drive it outweighed any money we’d keep.

I will say, we packed the POD about as full as you possibly could and that was after getting rid of a ton of stuff that we felt we didnt need.

Even after the POD left we filled the 4runner to the headliner as well so i would say play it safe and over order on the size if you can. We were barely able to make a 16’ work in the long run and we didnt take any appliances or extra bedroom sets.

All that being said, i would do it exactly the same all over again. We had a few nights at the new house before our POD showed up where we only had an air mattress but once it showed up it was all good. Its very nice to take your time loading and unloading and not quite being on the clock like you are with a uhaul. Also, not driving a uhaul through the snow and ice to get to Layton was a huge plus, It was sketchy enough pulling the 4R through it.

Very positive experience and i highly recommend it. It was super convenient and a very easy process.


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Think we are going the PODs route also. But going to store it at their facility as I need to sell my current house before buying a new one.

I can't see my self paying someone to pack my stuff. I can load it up into the POD they can just move it from point A to B for me.

Yup! Its a pretty good little system. We thought we’d need to store but it took over 10 days to arrive in UT and ended up working out perfectly.


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Helped friends load a POD couple years ago, You pack it tight like a jig saw puzzle
it holds alot.

I have moved cross country three times with PODS. I pay a moving company to load one for me.

I shit you not the three times I've done it, only one thing was ever broken (small ugly vase my ex's mom gave me).

I've moved cross country 2 times in 4 years. and moved a total of 3X in those 4 years. I prefer the Uhaul route with hired loaders (2-3 guys, 5 or 6 hours). The in-city move, we paid them to unload too. It was still less expensive than a POD.

With that said, I cant imagine PODS on your island are expensive. But for me, I like to move on my own time. I would hate having to take extra days off work just to prolong moving in because I'm waiting on a delivery. I'd rather just get it over with. With hired movers, as long as you have most stuff packed, you can easily move everything in a day. No matter how much stuff you have.

Well thats the thing this is not going to be a quick move.

We need to empty our current house and move into my Grandparents empty house. Thankfully it is fully furnished so most of my shit will stay in the PODs. Gotta then sell our house and buy the new one. Looking at couple months at least.

I need the cash from my first house sale to put even more down. I don't want to be paying $5k a month in mortgage alone.

I just moved my parents to Utah with a 26' Uhal truck and based on our experience I would say rent your own truck and drive it yourself but hire separate movers to load the truck. You are essentially buying 4 guys for 4-5 hours total to load the truck (~$500) then a separate crew to unload.

I would not pay a service to provide the truck and drive it, that is where huge cost gains come in. The cost for the movers/loading crew will be entirely dependent on the number of rooms and in your house. Getting a quote should be easy.
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This wont work for me as I technically will be moving twice.

I'm moving to grandparents empty house to sell mine. Then buy new and move again. Since my grandparents house is fully furnished pretty much everything will stay in the PODs until we get our new house.

I guess I don't understand. If you want to save money rent your own truck and drive it, hire the movers to load / unload. Even if you have to do it twice.

If you are willing to PAY $$$$s to have a full moving service then you will pay much more for that service.
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Sorry my fault for not being clear.

I was more looking for experiences on how personal stuff was handled than cost. And because I kind of have to move twice I'm concerned about moving the big stuff twice or storing it. But then if I need something from the PODs/moving company its an inconvenience.

With my parents we boxed up everything and the movers, what they handled was all the furniture, TVs, lamps etc. But everything else should be boxed up already before the arrive.