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.