Long distance home movers / recommendations

[ONE-A-DAY]

We are moving across the country so the usual route of ask some friends and grab some beers and trailers and move from one home to another across town isn't going to work this time. Looks like we would have to go with one of the national carriers, anyone have any recommendations?

Thx, Walt

 

[wallnutz]

Don’t have a recommendation, but some advice. Get every little detail in writing. If you are packing the boxes write down everything in that box.(on the box and on a separate paper) Give all the copies to the movers so they know you know where everything is located. Have a complete list of everything going in the truck. Watch if you can. It’s well documented that some of these moving companies are ripping people off or holding their belongings for ransome demanding more money before they will deliver.

So it sounds like you guys found a place. Good on you to be able to go for it.

 

[TimeBandit]

Drop a few Apple Air tags in different boxes that way you will know where your s*** is when they start lying to you!

It seems like one of those things were the most expensive might end up being the best after all.

Years ago we moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and somehow all my Fenwick fishing rods went missing I'll never forget that

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Don’t have a recommendation, but some advice. Get every little detail in writing. If you are packing the boxes write down everything in that box.(on the box and on a separate paper) Give all the copies to the movers so they know you know where everything is located. Have a complete list of everything going in the truck. Watch if you can. It’s well documented that some of these moving companies are ripping people off or holding their belongings for ransome demanding more money before they will deliver.

So it sounds like you guys found a place. Good on you to be able to go for it.

Thanks we are pretty excited, big adventure. No mortgage on the place since Havasu real estate has done so well for us over the last few houses. 2 hour time difference means my wife can take me out for ski run before work to get my day started.

 

[Ziggy]

Pack it up yourself in Pods with your locks. They transport and drop at new location.

 

[hallett21]

Cousins just paid 14k Malibu to Wisconsin. 1,000sq ft place.

 

[JDKRXW]

We are moving across the country so the usual route of ask some friends and grab some beers and trailers and move from one home to another across town isn't going to work.

Thx, Walt

Sure it is, but always remember .... there are 2 favors that MUST be paid back immediately and without any excuses when the same friend asks: helping re-shingle a roof and moving.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Pack it up yourself in Pods with your locks. They transport and drop at new location.

No pod franchise in Havasu, 4000 foot house, would take quite a few pods i think.

 

[Deckin Around]

Damn, 4000sq ft is going to be a $40k move my guess

-Label boxes with Numbers not description of items. Keep separate logs of box #'s and items within and locations. It is also easier that way to count boxes/check them off to see if any are missing and still easy to tell the movers "boxes 1-24 are kitchen"


-Who owns the packing material? Some clients just moved from Florida and had to put stuff directly into storage. They had to pay for 200 moving blankets at $9 each and artwork protection ? otherwise the moving co would have unwrapped it all and put it in their storage unprotected.

 

[RCDave]

Proceed with caution....The moving industry mainly consists of the russian maffia!

 

[Nordie]

Sell everything and buy new...movers are pretty much criminal. My grandma paid for movers from Arkansas to Naples Florida. They were basically already asking for more money before they opened the back of the truck. Then once they opened most of her antique furniture was damaged or broken. The sheriff's office got involved and they changed their tune then.

I'll never forget what I witnessed that day...

 

[Ziggy]

No pod franchise in Havasu, 4000 foot house, would take quite a few pods i think.

Must be a similar alternative such as a box or container type?

 

[pronstar]

Daryl Flood moved us.
Easy and painless.

Texas Moving Company | Long Distance & Local Movers | Daryl Flood Moving & Storage

Full service Texas moving company since 1982, Daryl Flood has successfully moved thousands of families down the street and across the country. Get a quote today.

darylflood.com

Some things we learned:
Let them pack it so that it’s insured.
They won’t insure things they don’t pack.

Set aside an area for things that they aren’t moving. This eliminates any confusion when they arrive to pack it up.

 

[angiebaby]

We went through U-Pack. They were much less expensive than PODS. Additionally, PODS was about 6 weeks out and we didn't have that kind of time. With U-Pack, they dropped off two 28' trailers. We had almost a week to fill them. They say 3 days, but they are really flexible. You just call them when you are ready to have them picked up. We planned our 3 days over a weekend so as to have 5 days. We filled one trailer and about 14 feet of the other. They only charge you for the amount you fill. You put up a plywood wall with your lock on it and they fill the rest with freight so the truck isn't empty. They have to put their lock on the doors, obviously though. They didn't care how heavy it was (Sportin' Wood had a full shop of tools), they just asked that it was somewhat centered. We put the safe in it but carried the weapons and other valuables in our personal vehicles. They have a variety of insurance plans, based on your needs. When we got to Idaho, we scheduled the delivery to our site and again, they were somewhat flexible. The only complaint is that one trailer came one day (Friday) and the other another (Monday), but that actually worked to our benefit in the end. I think it was about $7500 from Reno to Sandpoint, Idaho (850 miles). PODS quoted us almost $12K.

The downside to this is that you have to pack it, of course. If you don't want to do that, then I got nuthin'. But I have heard that the moving companies often charge by the weight, give you an estimate and then bump it way high after it is loaded and they actually weigh it. By that time, they have you over a barrel and you are kind of forced to pay whatever they say. I'm excited for your adventure!!

 

[coolchange]

Drop a few Apple Air tags in different boxes that way you will know where your s*** is when they start lying to you!

It seems like one of those things were the most expensive might end up being the best after all.

Years ago we moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and somehow all my Fenwick fishing rods went missing I'll never forget that

THIS

 

[Todd Mohr]

My last big move, Reno to Chandler, I used U-Pack. They park a semi trailer at your house for 3-4 days and you load it yourself or hire local movers. When it arrives at your new place you have 3-4 days to unload. I used 1 trailer for a 2000 s/f home and it cost me $2400 5 years ago. I hired help to load and unload at 250 each end. This is part of U-haul. Worked good, all stuff showed up undamaged, we were careful when loading and I had good help.

 

[CLdrinker]

Walt consider taking some time off work and doing it yourself. Maybe if your boys can get free time away from their lives to help out.

Buy a big ass enclosed and make a few trips then sell the trailer.

Moving companies suck! And are expensive.

 

[Orange Juice]

We are moving across the country so the usual route of ask some friends and grab some beers and trailers and move from one home to another across town isn't going to work this time. Looks like we would have to go with one of the national carriers, anyone have any recommendations?

Thx, Walt

FYI,
They won’t ship your firearms. Or ammunition.

 

[mjc]

buy a 53 ft trailer and get @Rvrluvr to haul it then sell the trailer when you are done.

 

[traquer]

I'm in the same boat... Thinking to buy a used box truck and make a few rounds and then sell it.

My dilemma is I'm moving to Texas in like April, and my parents to the same area later in the year. Do we take it all in one big lump (and they live here without a lot of stuff in the meantime), or do we split it into two moves at almost double the cost and time? Then we have the large things to move like the cars and boat etc.

We're not taking any furniture, only boxes. Bulk random stuff like snowboards, fishing roads etc. we're gonna pack ourselves using cardboard and shrink wrap. Guns and ammo and business files and personal important stuff are going in the suburban

 

[Bigbore500r]

We are moving across the country so the usual route of ask some friends and grab some beers and trailers and move from one home to another across town isn't going to work this time. Looks like we would have to go with one of the national carriers, anyone have any recommendations?

Thx, Walt

Call these guys:

Stratton and Sons
(888) 335-4393

Stratton and Sons Moving & Storage | Los Angeles | Pasadena | Burbank

Stratton and Sons moving and storage will handle your belongings carefully, professionally, and efficiently. Los Angeles | Pasadena | Burbank | Glendale

www.strattonandsons.com

They specialize in your type of move, and have handled alot of buisiness for family and friends of ours for decades. Ask for Paul, Eric or Tyler. Tell them Jerry referred you

 

[evantwheeler]

FYI,
They won’t ship your firearms. Or ammunition.

Why anyone would let either of those two things out of their possession, let alone notify anyone other than their immediate family where the firearms & ammunition exist is beyond my comprehension. "Hey russian mover guy, I have this box with 10k rounds of .223 and about 20k in bad ass AR15 rifles. Be extra careful with it please". You've gotta be kidding me.

 

[Rondog4405]

FYI,
They won’t ship your firearms. Or ammunition.

Yes they will. No ammo though

 

[Rondog4405]

Damn, 4000sq ft is going to be a $40k move my guess

-Label boxes with Numbers not description of items. Keep separate logs of box #'s and items within and locations. It is also easier that way to count boxes/check them off to see if any are missing and still easy to tell the movers "boxes 1-24 are kitchen"


-Who owns the packing material? Some clients just moved from Florida and had to put stuff directly into storage. They had to pay for 200 moving blankets at $9 each and artwork protection ? otherwise the moving co would have unwrapped it all and put it in their storage unprotected.

The current procedure..since finding a driver these days is a chore. Is to paper pad the furniture and load into lift van wood crates.. then on a freight trailer. The moving business is totally upside down right now. Drivers don't wanna come into cali.. so a move now takes double if not triple the work.. and handling of household goods.

 

[Orange Juice]

Yes they will. No ammo though

I had a couple 10/22’s and they said no.
I took them on the airplane as checked baggage. What a hassle.

 

[Rondog4405]

I had a couple 10/22’s and they said no.

I'm a packing contractor for a united/mayflower agent in corona. We mostly do military relocation with the occasional cod. We pack and move firearms all the time. We use a change of custody form.. and it's all good to go. Ammo is a absolutely negative.

 

[Rondog4405]

We are moving across the country so the usual route of ask some friends and grab some beers and trailers and move from one home to another across town isn't going to work this time. Looks like we would have to go with one of the national carriers, anyone have any recommendations?

Thx, Walt

How far are you going walt?

 

[DRYHEAT]

I would be more than happy to safely dispose of your ammunition here in Havasu.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Cousins just paid 14k Malibu to Wisconsin. 1,000sq ft place.

Holy hell

How far are you going walt?

Havasu to Alabama

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Call these guys:

Stratton and Sons
(888) 335-4393

Stratton and Sons Moving & Storage | Los Angeles | Pasadena | Burbank

Stratton and Sons moving and storage will handle your belongings carefully, professionally, and efficiently. Los Angeles | Pasadena | Burbank | Glendale

www.strattonandsons.com

They specialize in your type of move, and have handled alot of buisiness for family and friends of ours for decades. Ask for Paul, Eric or Tyler. Tell them Jerry referred you

Called, they wont pick up in Havasu

 

[hallett21]

Holy hell

Havasu to Alabama

Yea I was shocked. 3 estimates too.

But you’re basically paying 3 guys for 6-8 days of work (I assume they are paid the same whether they are driving or unloading). Hotel rooms and fuel it adds up quick.

 

[traquer]

Call these guys:

Stratton and Sons
(888) 335-4393

Stratton and Sons Moving & Storage | Los Angeles | Pasadena | Burbank

Stratton and Sons moving and storage will handle your belongings carefully, professionally, and efficiently. Los Angeles | Pasadena | Burbank | Glendale

www.strattonandsons.com

They specialize in your type of move, and have handled alot of buisiness for family and friends of ours for decades. Ask for Paul, Eric or Tyler. Tell them Jerry referred you

Thanks this looks like good people after browsing their site thanks for referral

 

[Rondog4405]

Wa

Holy hell

Havasu to Alabama
[/QUOTE

Holy hell

Havasu to Alabama

Are you doing your own packing or do you need it?

 

[monkeyswrench]

Sounds like you just need more beer and pizza!

I moved 400 miles, 4000sqft to 2000sqft. Bought a gooseneck enclosed and did about 6 trips. I was lucky though, I didn't have to be out of the last one, and was working on this one, so bringing things in smaller increments was perfect.

 

[Singleton]

My mom did Prescott to Northern Wisconsin and it was 18k and that was 20 years ago.
They used a small company out of Prescott. Gun safes are heavy SOB’s to move.

Dad did Phoenix to Chicago in 99. A few executive moving companies exist. He had 4 semi’s and a car carrier for his vehicles. It was over 75k, paid for my the firm.

 

[EmpirE231]

I'd do an estate sale, then buy all new stuff.

 

[Nordie]

Walt consider taking some time off work and doing it yourself. Maybe if your boys can get free time away from their lives to help out.

Buy a big ass enclosed and make a few trips then sell the trailer.

Moving companies suck! And are expensive.

This is exactly what I will be doing when we leave Vegas, buy an enclosed and sell it when I hit my destination. You can damn well move for free. My buddy Brandon, he doesn't really post here much used the semintrailer deal and they charge you by the LF of how much you use in the trailer. Seemed like it could be a good deal.

I just plan on selling everything except the important stuff and my tools.

 

[DaveH]

two words........ESTATE SALE.

my .02 would be to get rid of as much as you possibly can and not move it.

by new furniture when you get there.

 

[Sherpa]

When are you moving? We’re going to Alabama end of April. I’ve got a 35’ gooseneck flat

 

[Runs2rch]

This is exactly what I will be doing when we leave Vegas, buy an enclosed and sell it when I hit my destination. You can damn well move for free. My buddy Brandon, he doesn't really post here much used the semintrailer deal and they charge you by the LF of how much you use in the trailer. Seemed like it could be a good deal.

I just plan on selling everything except the important stuff and my tools.

Where are you going after Vegas? We just moved to BC. Not sure if we are staying longterm yet.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

When are you moving? We’re going to Alabama end of April. I’ve got a 35’ gooseneck flat

Mid march

 

[FCT]

Buy a 40 foot high cube container. Pack it yourself and then have it moved. And then sell off the container and recover a good amount of your cost back or have a extra shed for storage when it’s all said and done

 

[gqchris]

two words........ESTATE SALE.

my .02 would be to get rid of as much as you possibly can and not move it.

by new furniture when you get there.

I was thinking this also, Fresh Start, but the wives usually are the ones not keen on this.

 

[C_J_J_C]

A coworker of mine just retired and moved from California to Tennessee. After calling around he found it better in every way to buy an enclosed trailer, higher packers, pay for someone to tow it, and unpack it themselves. He ended up less than 1/4 the cost after he resold the trailer and never worried about his belongings.

 

[Bigbore500r]

Thanks this looks like good people after browsing their site thanks for referral

They are great people, boaters, and they love america!

In fact, I think a member on here has a 28 Ultra named "TCB" that used to be owned by Paul / Eric Stratton

 

[hallett21]

@shippingguy

I’d lease a full tractor trailer for a week if possible.

Pay movers in havasu to load it in a day or two.

Schedule movers in Alabama to unload it.

Not sure how hard that is to orchestrate

 

[rivermobster]

Good luck Walt!

 

[traquer]

@shippingguy

I’d lease a full tractor trailer for a week if possible.

Pay movers in havasu to load it in a day or two.

Schedule movers in Alabama to unload it.

Not sure how hard that is to orchestrate

Yeah I was just thinking this through and figured buying one would be a major headache, but this still seems like too much effort. I'd rather spend a few days working and make a few grand and not have to juggle all this logistics.

 

[C-Ya]

I jump in on this thread……. I have some experience too!

First…… The advice to sell bulky items is spot on! Don’t move worthless items unless they have sentimental value.

Here is my moving story……

My wife and I moved from Phoenix to Orlando in May 2013. We were fortunate because the entire bill was being paid by her law firm and was considered a corporate move. We used Mayflower because they were and probably still are, one of the Big 3. We sold our custom high rise condo furnished, which got rid of many large items, but we still moved our bed and mattress. The furniture was custom designed for the condo, so it would have been ridiculous to keep it. We sold as much stuff as possible. We still ended up with a pretty full moving truck. The grand total of our move was 21k. However, if my wife and I had been paying this bill, I might not of had our entire Art Collection professionally crated up, since this took a ton of time and also took up a lot of space on the truck, it was expensive too! In later moves, we just wrapped the art in blankets and moved it with our own vehicles. We then flew to Florida on Friday before Memorial Day, rented car, then headed for our first major Florida boating party in Naples Florida all weekend. Drove back to Orlando on Tuesday and met the moving truck. The next day our cars arrived by auto transport truck.

We made our own manifest and numbered every box. Make sure you list EVERY item in numbered box. It will make it easier to find later. We then put colored tape on all the boxes. Each color meant it’s destination since some of out stuff was going into our furnished rental and other stuff was going into our storage unit. Others colors determined if it would possibly be needed in near future or could be packed on bottom, with no need to get too any time soon. We must of had 30 or more garment boxes……. My wife is a hell of a clothes shopper. It was ridiculous!

We had no problems whatsoever with Mayflower. But here in Florida, moving scams are rampant. When we moved from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale, I only hired labor at both ends to load and unload, while I drove the rented box truck. I think I rented from Penske or Uhaul. That move cost less than 1k, since we did it ourselves. Mainly because I did not want to get scammed by a mover.

When we 1st decided to move to Florida, we weren’t sure if we would like it, so we were only going to rent our condo, so that we could move back into it, if we decided Florida wasn’t for us……. But all we could find was Drug Dealers that wanted to rent it for cash. We turned those offers down. Here is the rental video we made…… in the background is all the art we had crated up for our move.

I sure miss this place……. Many years of great memories! Enjoy the video. My wife and I put a lot of work into remodeling the condo you are about to see!

 

[cheezpanel]

Holy hell

Havasu to Alabama

We're doing this same thing in June/July. San Diego to Tennessee. Just bought an enclosed car hauler for the wife's car and the few things we'll be taking; we're planning on getting rid of everything before we go. The boat, Polaris, skis etc are out in AZ at the river, so still trying to figure out how that's going to play out.
Where in Alabama?