How we give you an estimate

There are as many ways to provide information for an estimate as there are moving companies. Some movers only want to know how big your place is (i.e. 1 bedroom apartment, 3 bedroom condo, single family home), some ask how many cubic feet of stuff you have, some have a form for you to fill out. We favor a questionnaire format that we either send you by e-mail or ask you over the phone.

We've developed our questionnaire over a long time and over many, many moves and estimates. Some of the questions we ask are just the basics that all moving companies ask, like addresses and telephone numbers. Some of the questions come from moves where we didn't ask a question and it didn't turn out well. Its important to learn from your mistakes! Now, our questionnaire isn't perfect and we can't ask every question - its long enough as it is! We do feel, though, that we've come up with a comprehesive set of questions that covers most moves.

That being said, we rely on you to tell us if we've missed something. Maybe you've got a full bar with 8 stools in your basement and you want it to come with you or an antique globe that requires special care. We don't have questions for that, so we hope you'll mention it.

Once we have the information for your move we create an estimate. There are two factors to this. One is the information you provide and the other is comparing it to similar moves that we've already completed. We've done a lot of moves over many years so we've probably done a job similar to yours at least a couple of times, which helps us compare details and come up with an estimate for your specific job.

If you have any questions about how the estimate breaks down you can always ask us to clarify for you. The other imporant thing to remember is that we only charge the time it takes to do the job. So, if we come in under estimate, that's all we'll charge you for.

Parking Permits - Boston

We get a lot of questions about parking permits. The following should cover most of the questions we receive from customers.

If you live in Boston and its neighborhoods - this includes Allston, Brighton, Jamaica Plain, Charlestown, the South End, etc. - then you can get a parking permit through the City of Boston. We can take care of it for you for $90, which includes the price of the permit itself. When we get a permit for you that means we go to City Hall, purchase the signs and the permit and put the signs up for you 48 hours in advance. That's the least amount of time before the date of your move that you can request a parking permit. We tend to get them even earlier than that if possible, but we do wait until 48 hours ahead of time to put up the signs. We learned through experience that putting the signs up much earlier than that often leads to the signs disappearing or getting ruined, whether that's due to weather or someone who wants to park in that spot is anyone's guess.

You can also go get a permit from City Hall yourself. If you choose to go this route we send you a copy of our street bond letter which is on file with the City. You would then go down to City Hall at least 48 hours in advance (their offices are closed on weekends) and head to the 7th floor and go to room 721, the Boston Transportation Department, which is right near the elevators. They'll ask you to sign in and then you'll wait for one of the people who work there to come and call for whose next. Bring them your copy of our street bond letter, tell them what date you want and what the address is. They will also ask you how much space you need for the truck. All this information will be on the street bond letter we send you. You will have to pay by check. The BTD charges $4/sign, so typically $8 total. After you receive your signs go down the hall to room 714. This is the Public Works Department and they will have received your information from BTD. Present your street bond letter to them and they'll hand you a permit to sign. They'll also tell you the fee, which can be paid by check, money order or cash. The fee is variable based on the size of the truck, number of meters being covered, etc. If you live on a street with meters you'll need to note the meter numbers we'll be blocking with our truck. That information is very helpful to us as well if we're the ones getting the permits. Once they have payment and you've signed the permit they'll hand you your copy of the permit, which you should keep available for the day of the move.

Keeping the permit paperwork is very important for the move. Any time we deal with permits we bring it with us on the jobs. There's a lot of important information in that little packet. First, the actual permit should be displayed on our truck dashboard. Its kind of an insurance policy for the parking signs. Second, there's information in there about what to do if someone is parking in your marked off spot. If you notice there is someone parked in your spot the day of your move let us know as soon as possible. Then, call 911. I know that sounds ridiculous but its right there in the City issued permit paperwork. You call 911, let them know its not an emergency and they will direct your call to the appropriate person. This will start the wheels in motion to get the offending car towed. Towing cars takes a long time and is often not the best course of action, but it is always an option when you've got the permit to be there. Often, because it usually takes an hour or more to get a tow, we double park or find another space to put the truck. Having the permit should keep us from getting a ticket if we have to park somewhere funny because another car is in our place.

Once you have your signs and permit paperwork you can go about the business of physically posting the signs. As I mentioned, its best to do it as close to the 48 hour mark as is reasonable. We can only speculate, but we've seen our parking permits "lost" due to others wanting to park there (particularly in bad weather or when there's huge piles of snow everywhere), meter maids taking them down to issue us a ticket, other moving companies taking them down, etc, etc. The less time those signs are up there the less time there is for them to disappear.

Actually putting them up can be a challenge. We recommend zip ties or heavy duty tape such as packing tape. As you can see in the photo above, sometimes there's just nothing to hang them on and you have to get creative. This particular customer used string run between two trees and then attached a broom to the sign to weight it down. There are many, many spots in Boston where good sign locations are few and far between. Do what you have to do to put them up. I've adhered them to fences, light posts and trees, to name a few. Don't put them up on fire hydrants, bus stop signs or anything else that might get you or us in trouble.

There are some other challenges to parking permits as well. One thing to think about is whether or not you live on a private way. They're all over the place in Boston and City Hall can't issue permits for them because they're not owned by the City. If you live on a private way you'll have to kindly ask your neighbors to leave space for our truck. Its also important to be aware of street festivals or closings. The City will not issue a permit for a road that's closed off due to a street festival or road work. Also, if someone else has already requested a permit for the same spot on the same day you will not be able to get a permit. In that case, just you can hopefully just request a spot a little further up or down the road or around the corner. You can check for already issued permits on the City's website. With that in mind, there are certain times of year where that is more likely than others. September 1st, everyone's least favorite day to move, is going to be a tough day to get a permit as you get closer to that day.

That about covers it for Boston. If you have any questions or you think I left anything out let me know. Or, if you have any tricks we'd love to hear about them!

WGBH

This winter we started advertising with WGBH on 89.7. Its our first foray into radio and we're so glad we're working with WGBH for this project. Forget the fact that we feel good about where our advertising dollars are going, we're just tickled that a radio station we already listen to is playing our ads! Every Monday and Tuesday (at least for the next few months) you can hear us on 89.7 five times a day. How cool is that? We actually heard it ourselves for the very first time last week and it was very exciting. So exciting we accidently forgot to pay attention to the content and just yelled with glee instead. The ads have been running since December but somehow, despite vigilant radio listening on Mondays and Tuesdays, we always managed to miss the ads. Hopefully we'll also be getting some "proud WGBH" sponsor decals made up by the awesome guys at Cyr Sign and Banner to put on our trucks. Because we are very proud to work with WGBH and to do a small part to keep their awesome programming going.

Moving Tip #1: Organization

People often ask how they can reduce the cost of their move. The number one answer is organization. The more organized you are the faster things will go and the less you will pay.

There are a couple of ways to go about being organized. First, label your goods. I've heard of people using colored dot stickers or simply writing on the boxes. I had a friend who got crafty and used paint sample strips from the hardware store to color code her boxes. My mother always favored the A, A-1 type method. Use whatever you want as long as there's some sort of system. Once the movers arrive, clue them into your system and make sure they don't have any questions.

Another way to be organized is to know where you want everything at the new place. This may sound a little silly or too elementary, but many times we run into customers who end up unsure where they want this or that and it takes time for the guys to continually move things around. Once you get to the new place, make sure you stand close to the door and direct the guys to put things exactly where you want them. Putting things down once instead of multiple times definitely cuts down on time and cost.

Better Business Bureau

Well, we finally did it. We joined the Better Business Bureau. They'd been calling us for years, but we just decided to take the plunge. You can check out our page here.

This is another way for customers to get in touch with us as well as to let us know how we're doing. The best way to reach us for either, though, is still e-mail (help@intelligentlabor.com) or phone (617.864.0620).

Digging out.

Do you feel like we're getting more snow this winter than we have in years? It feels like when I was a kid and we would get at least three or four snow days every winter. I loved that. As long as we stayed within that happy grey area that didn't mean more days tacked onto the end of the year because that was no fun.

Anyway, we've been doing a lot of digging out since that first snow storm. We purchased a snow blower last year to help out on jobs. Moving in snow is a tough job, so having the snow blower around to carve out parking spaces for our trucks and clear out sidewalks and walkways for our guys is a huge help. Of course, we always keep shovels on our trucks, too, just in case. Sometimes they're actually better for the job at hand than a snow blower. We've also got these rubber mats like the ones used at restaurants on slippery kitchen floors or behind the bar. We put these on the ground and/or on the lift gates and ramps our our trucks so the guys don't have to walk on wet, slick surfaces. Its made a real difference.

So, what do we do if for you if its snows on the day we're moving you? There's a couple of different ways we can go about it. One is that we can change the date of your move. That snow storm we had last week that dumped over a foot of snow on the area? We'd probably want to switch the date of your move (and I assume you would, too). Weather like that isn't very safe for driving or moving and can actually make your final bill at lot larger because everything takes longer in a blizzard. If the snow isn't that bad or its the day after a storm (so there's lots of piles of snow everywhere) we'll definitely be able to work around that unless you'd still like to switch days. As I said, there's snow shovels on every truck and the snow blower can be called in if we need it. Often, though, its not that hard to work around once its no longer actively falling. Besides the rubber mats we use for safety we can also put down some of our moving blankets in your house to keep the floor clean and dry while we trek back and forth between the truck and your house.

Of course, you can always call or e-mail us to ask specific questions about a snowy move or anything else moving related. We're at 617.864.0620 or help@intelligentlabor.com.

Angie's List Super Service Award

This is very exciting! We won the Angie's List Super Service Award for 2010.

They even sent us some cool decals we can put on our trucks. It may sound like we're tooting our own horn here, but really we're just super proud. It feels great to be noticed for all the hard work we do and we really appreciate the recognition. Plus, it means we get to thank our customers. The Super Service Award is based on customer reviews so it was all of our Angie's List customers who helped get us here. Thanks guys!

Best of Boston

That's what we'd like to be voted. Boston Magazine complies a reader voted list of the best Boston and surrounding areas have to offer. The categories are not set in stone so some years there'll be certain things and others not. For instance, there was no moving company named Best of Boston last year. In previous years there have been winning companies and we'd like to get this category back on the list (preferably with us as the winner)! We think we have what it takes to win this thing and we sincerely hope you do, too. The vote of confidence would really mean a lot to us. Ok, enough with the shameless self-promotion. If you'd like to take the time to vote for us we'd really appreciate it. Here's the e-mail you can send a nomination to: bestofboston@bostonmagazine.com. Thanks for your support!

An Organization We Love

We're a member of Cambridge Local First (CLF) and we think its the cat's pajamas. If you've never heard of the group, its an organization that promotes buying from and using local businesses over national chains and big box stores. They put out a guide to local businesses every year. You can also check them out here: http://cambridgelocalfirst.org/. There is also a chapter in Somerville. They feel (as do we) that shopping locally strengthens our economy and builds a strong community. To that end, here are just a few of the ways in which we support our local business.

- We buy our office supplies at the fantastic Bob Slate Stationer.
- We work with Didriks, a home decor store.
- Our handyman supplies come from Masse's Hardware.
- We take our trucks to Dudley Automotive in Arlington (true, not Cambridge, but a great independent business)
- All of our businesses cards are done by Budget Copy.
- Our business accounts are through Cambridge Savings Bank.
- Anderson McQuaid lumber yard supplies most of the wood we need for handyman projects.
- Iggy's Bakery feeds all of our guys all of the time. As a company we probably spend the most money here!

So, if you're interested in shopping locally definitely check out Cambridge Local First and Somerville Local First directories. Both organizations are an excellent source for where to shop independently.

An introduction

Yes, this is a blog about a moving company, but it won't contain all there is to know about us. For instance, if you'd like to review our Certificate of Insurance or our rates, that's on our website, www.intelligentlabor.com. If you'd like to read reviews of our work you can find that on Angie's List (it requires a paid supbscription), Yelp and City Search. We also have a Twitter account @ILandM. So those are all places to learn more about us and what we do. If you have any questions for us you can reach us at our phone number - 617.864.0620 - our e-mail - help@intelligentlabor.com- or through this blog and Twitter. We'd love to hear from you and we look forward to sharing information about moving and our company with you!