How to price moving jobs from the inventory, the crew size and the access

Moving customers often ask for an hourly rate on the first call, and it is tempting to answer with whatever the company down the road charges. The hourly rate is the last number you calculate. A move is crew labor hours, a truck, materials, travel and the risk of damage, and each of those can be estimated from an inventory and your own records. This guide builds a local move price from those pieces, shows where minimums and travel charges come from, and covers the federal rules that shape interstate estimates. If you have not yet worked out a loaded wage and an overhead rate, start with how to price service jobs.

Which costs make up the price of a move?

• Crew size and clock hours. Multiply them and you get labor hours, the unit your wage and overhead are paid in.
• Truck. Truck size, and whether the inventory needs a second truck or a second trip.
• Travel. Yard to the pickup, and the drop-off back to the yard. The crew is paid for it either way.
• Access at each address. Flights of stairs, elevators that must be reserved or shared, the walk from the door to where the truck can park, narrow halls and tight turns.
• Disassembly and reassembly. Beds, cribs, tables, desks and anything that will not fit through a door whole.
• Specialty items. Pianos, safes, gym equipment and heavy appliances, priced as flat add-ons with any extra crew or equipment they need.
• Packing. Packing labor by room or by box, plus boxes, paper, wrap and mattress bags sold by the item.
• Storage. Monthly space plus the extra handling in and out.
• Long-distance factors. Weight or volume and distance, under the rules and tariff that apply to the route.

Federal rules for interstate moves use the same building blocks. The consumer guide in Appendix A to 49 CFR Part 375 calls packing, unpacking, appliance servicing and piano carrying "accessorial" services, and defines a flight charge as an extra charge for carrying items up or down stairs. Even if you only move locally, pricing those items as named lines makes your quotes easier to compare and harder to dispute.

How do you estimate a move from an inventory?

Start with a room-by-room list of what is moving, with the large and awkward items named. Turn it into a load estimate using your own records: how long your crew takes to wrap and load a typical bedroom set, a sectional, a garage of bins, a kitchen of packed boxes. Some movers track volume in cubic feet per item and keep a load rate per crew size. Others track time by room type. Either works if it comes from your jobs and you keep logging.

Then adjust for access at both ends. A second-floor walk-up, an elevator that holds two dollies at a time, or a long carry from a building's back door can each add a measured percentage to load or unload time. Log the access conditions with every move so those factors come from your records instead of a hunch.

Add the drive between addresses at the time of day the move will happen, since a midday crosstown drive and a rush-hour one are different numbers. Add disassembly and reassembly from your logs for the specific pieces. Log load and unload as separate lines, because access and carry distance differ at each end.

Crew size is a choice you price, too. Adding a mover shortens the clock but not in proportion, because doorways, stairs and the truck ramp become bottlenecks. Compare logged moves of similar size with different crew sizes, and quote the crew that gives the lowest labor hours for the access involved.

Finally, ask how ready the customer will be. A house that is fully boxed when the crew arrives and one where the crew finds a half-packed kitchen are different jobs. Say in the estimate what the price assumes (every box packed, taped and labeled by room, beds stripped, drawers emptied of anything heavy or fragile), and what happens if packing is not done.

Worked example: a two-bedroom local move with three movers

This table is hypothetical from top to bottom. Its times, wage, overhead, fuel, supplies, reserve and margin exist only to make the math visible; none is an industry rate or a local price. Use your own books for every line.

Look at the crew rate line. It is the number customers compare, and here it comes out of the costs instead of going in. If your published crew rate is below what your own version of this table produces, every move at that rate is short. The minimum rows show why short moves need a floor: travel and setup are nearly the same whether the crew carries a studio or a house. Run your own lines through the job price calculator, and get the labor and overhead rates from the hourly rate calculator.

What rules shape a moving estimate?

For interstate household goods moves, federal regulations decide how estimates work, and each rule has a cost you should price. What follows is a general summary and not legal advice.

• A survey comes first. Section 375.401 requires a survey of the goods and a written estimate built on it, unless the customer waives the survey in a signed writing before loading. The current consumer guide in Appendix A says a physical survey can be conducted on-site or virtually, and that the mover may not change an estimate after loading.
• Binding estimates. Under 49 CFR 375.403, a binding estimate must be in writing and based on the survey unless the survey was waived, you may charge for providing one, and you may not collect more than the binding amount, apart from services the customer adds after the bill of lading is issued and limited charges for impracticable operations. A binding estimate moves the risk of a slow job onto you, so price that risk into it.
• Non-binding estimates. Under 49 CFR 375.405, these must be reasonably accurate, in writing and free, and must say the customer will not be required to pay more than 110 percent of the estimate at delivery. Section 375.407 requires you to release the shipment once the customer pays that much, and the consumer guide in Appendix A says the mover bills any remaining charges after 30 days from delivery. An optimistic estimate therefore delays your cash and invites a dispute.

Moves inside one state follow that state's rules, which vary widely. Some states require household goods movers to file their rates. Virginia's DMV, in its sample tariff guidance for household goods carriers, says tariffs generally must show all rates, fares and charges, and that before changing rates a carrier must notify DMV at least 30 days ahead and receive authorization. In a state like that, peak pricing, travel charges and minimums have to be written into the filed tariff before you use them. Check with your state's transportation or utility agency.

Valuation, claims and the damage reserve

Damage is a cost of moving, and the price has to carry it. For interstate moves, Appendix A describes Full Value Protection as the level the initial estimate must include, and says it will increase the cost of the move. The customer can waive it in writing for Released Value, under which the mover is liable for no more than 60 cents per pound per article, at no charge. The same appendix says the charges for Full Value Protection must be shown in the mover's tariff, so they belong in every interstate estimate. Local moves follow state rules on liability, so learn yours.

Whatever the rules, track what claims really cost: repairs, replacements, deductibles and the office hours spent resolving them. Divide the yearly total by the number of moves and carry it as a reserve on every job, as the example does. Prevention shows up on the other side of the ledger. Blankets, door jamb protectors, floor runners and training for new movers are overhead, and they are how the reserve gets smaller.

Minimums, travel time and peak dates

Set the minimum from the fixed time on every move: travel both ways, laying floor protection, the walkthrough and the paperwork at each end. State it as minimum hours or a minimum charge, and say it before booking.

Charge travel one of two ways. Either bill the drive at the crew rate as travel time, or set a flat trip fee by zone around your yard. Both are honest if they are disclosed up front. Folding travel invisibly into the hourly rate means close-in customers pay for far-out ones.

Peak dates cost more to serve. Your booking history shows which dates fill first in your market, and in those weeks crews work long hours. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, covered employees must receive overtime pay at no less than time and one-half for hours over 40 in a workweek. The DOL's motor carrier exemption fact sheet explains an overtime exemption that can apply to some drivers, driver's helpers, loaders and mechanics working on vehicles in interstate commerce, and a small vehicle exception: the exemption does not reach employees whose work, in whole or in part, affects the safe operation of vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less. Whether it covers your crew depends on your trucks and routes, so ask the DOL or an employment attorney, and price peak weeks at the labor cost you will really pay. Our guide to overtime rules for field crews covers the basics.

Then price the calendar on purpose: full rates on peak dates, lower rates midweek and mid-month where demand is thin, and a deposit that holds a peak-date crew. A crew held for a Saturday that cancels the night before can mean a day of wages with no revenue.

Video survey, photos or an in-home visit?

For most local moves, a live video walkthrough with the customer is enough to build the inventory, as long as your state's rules for intrastate movers allow it. Ask them to open closets, show the garage, attic and basement, and mention anything stored elsewhere. Record it if they agree, and attach the inventory to the estimate so both sides know what the price covers.

Go in person for large homes, estates, office moves and anything with heavy specialty items or difficult access. The visit takes time, so count it in overhead. Avoid quoting from a phone description alone. If you must, give an hourly estimate with the crew size, the assumptions and a written range, and confirm on arrival before the first item moves.

Moving pricing mistakes

• Quoting the competitor's hourly rate. Build your own crew rate from labor hours and costs.
• Free travel time. The crew is paid from the moment it leaves the yard.
• Access ignored. Stairs, elevators and long carries are the difference between an easy and a long day.
• No damage reserve. Claims happen; spread their cost over every move instead of eating them one at a time.
• Peak dates at slow-week prices. Overtime and full calendars make peak days your most expensive to staff.
• Estimates nobody checks. Compare estimated and actual hours on every move and update your load rates.

Inventories, estimates, crew assignments and actual hours are easier to compare when they live in one system. We built a custom CRM for our own service companies first, and that comparison of quoted against actual hours is one of its main jobs. For the rest of the trade, read the moving industry page and how to start a moving company. If you also haul leftover items, how to price junk removal jobs covers load-based pricing.

Frequently asked questions