Moving cost Chicago to New England

[ImThinkin2019]

Hoping for some help here. We're moving a fully furnished 4 bedroom house with lots of tools, snowblower, and garden implements. I'm seeing moving quotes just under $10K. We don't want to do anything other than pack boxes ourselves, so we need help.
Can anyone suggest a way to get the cost down, based on their experience?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Big_Hitter]

move less stuff? I believe long-distance moving rates are set by the mile and by the pound.


I moved 1800 miles about 5 years ago and it was 15K ish.

 

[haha]

move less stuff? I believe long-distance moving rates are set by the mile and by the pound.


I moved 1800 miles about 5 years ago and it was 15K ish.

I haven't moved much, and I have never moved much stuff. My brother had a large house full, but he handled it by selling everything and starting fresh after the move. His wife didn't throw up any objections.

 

[Big_Hitter]

We had a crap ton of stuff and have even more stuff now


Regarding the cost of the move, that's something that the (new) employer usually pays for.

 

[ImThinkin2019]

Regarding the cost of the move, that's something that the (new) employer usually pays for.

Yes, but my new employer will be ER. That particular employer watches his/her expenditures very carefully and tries to get the biggest bang for the buck.

 

[DROPOUT]

Best bang for the buck.

Get your own rental truck (the biggest you'll need) [IE: Uhaul, Penske, etc...]

Hire local guys to fill it. Drive to your destination ... Hire Local Guys to unload.

I can't see this costing more then $2-3k at MOST.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Yes, but my new employer will be ER. That particular employer watches his/her expenditures very carefully and tries to get the biggest bang for the buck.

well you could always rent a big Penske van and diy if you want to save $$$ - long distance moves are expensive

 

[Big_Hitter]

Best bang for the buck.

Get your own rental truck (the biggest you'll need) [IE: Uhaul, Penske, etc...]

Hire local guys to fill it. Drive to your destination ... Hire Local Guys to unload.

I can't see this costing more then $2-3k at MOST.

the key to moving is correctly packing the van - I've seen poorly packed vans unloaded with a lot of broken stuff, heck even the correctly packed van has broken stuff sometimes - I'd be careful hiring some guys off the street to pack it

 

[Big_Hitter]

plus when you hire a pro to move you the stuff is insured, that won't happen when you DIY - we have a lot of antiques so I'd just pony up the extra $$$

 

[Bestwifeever]

Friends had an estate sale before moving from Chicago big house to NYC apt. Didn't sell everything, just what they didn't want to move. Probably made enough to pay for the movers.

DS moved from Chicago to Texas and the movers wouldn't unload until he paid $1500 over the estimate (he got it down to that--they wanted $3k more. Good luck.

 

[DROPOUT]

the key to moving is correctly packing the van - I've seen poorly packed vans unloaded with a lot of broken stuff, heck even the correctly packed van has broken stuff sometimes - I'd be careful hiring some guys off the street to pack it

I'm not talking random guys.

Plenty of legitmate moving & storage companies in each local will do it for $25 - $100 per hour depending on the amount of guys needed. And they know what they are doing ...

Rough estimates:
Rent Truck for 5 days ... 1 Day to load ... 2-3 Travel ... 1 day to unload
39.95/day for the largest Uhaul Truck with mileage Fee. Approx 982 miles from Chicago to Boston (i just picked a random city)
Packing Truck: $500 - 2 guys full 8-10 hours
Unpacking Truck: $500 - 2 guys full 8-10 hours

Looking at:
$199.75 + tax (Uhaul)
$775 in Mileage (paid to UHaul)
$1000 Total for Load/Unload
$250 in gas at most

Roughly $2,225.00

 

[travelover]

Here is my plan for a move next summer, of 2500 miles.

Sell everything that DW will let me sell, give away the rest.

Hire a local mover / packer to pack a trailer from ABF with the remaining furniture and boxes.

Hire a local mover / packer to unload at the destination.

Buy new stuff as needed off Craigslist, Costco etc.

 

[utrecht]

We recently moved from Dallas to Ft Lauderdale. We rented a U-Haul and did everything ourselves (friends helped load and unload the truck). It cost about $1150 or so for the 26' truck and maybe $300 for gas. Right around $1500 not counting 2 nights in a hotel.

One thing I can tell you is that there is no way in hell you will fit a fully furnished 4 bedroom house in a 26' truck, which is about the biggest you can get from one of these rental places and drive without a CDL. I wouldnt be surprised if you totally filled 2 of them.

There's no way I would hire movers. The cost is outrageous, they wont guarantee you when it will get there and, like someone else said, they can hold your stuff hostage if you dont pay overages which are total BS.

 

[45th Birthday]

Best bang for the buck.

Get your own rental truck (the biggest you'll need) [IE: Uhaul, Penske, etc...]

Hire local guys to fill it. Drive to your destination ... Hire Local Guys to unload.

I can't see this costing more then $2-3k at MOST.

That's exactly what we did, partly to save money, but mostly because we didn't have a huge amount of stuff (sold some, moved other stuff to another house earlier, had an estate sale), and we couldn't get anyone to agree to take it straight where we wanted without unloading/reloading/consolidating, etc. Destination was a bit unusual also.

OP, I can recommend an excellent company in your area to load for you.

 

[45th Birthday]

the key to moving is correctly packing the van - I've seen poorly packed vans unloaded with a lot of broken stuff, heck even the correctly packed van has broken stuff sometimes - I'd be careful hiring some guys off the street to pack it

Agreed, we've used the local movers referenced above to pack for two long-distance moves and not one single thing has been damaged or broken. They can also fit an amazing amount of stuff in.

I also agree that you will likely need at least two 26' trucks.

 

[Bamaman]

I have a friend that owns a large moving company. It's a screwy business. The estimate you've received is just an estimate--charges are by the mile and weight and the cost of supplies and hours required to pack. It could be $10K or $15K if they underestimate the weight of your stuff.

My last 235 mile move was 3x the average family's move--$20K. I filled a tractor trailer and a half which included my cabinet shop and a bunch of heavy tools.

 

[Meadbh]

Find a job in New England that has moving expenses as a benefit. You may have to work for a year or so to avoid having to repay the moving expenses, but since your name suggests your plan is/was to ER in 2019, that should be doable.

If you can't find a job with moving expenses covered, find any job and deduct moving costs from your taxes.

 

[easysurfer]

How about that PODS thing?

 

[Bikerdude]

Sell the snowblower and any other heavy items that can be easily replaced when you get to your new home.

 

[aja8888]

Find a job in New England that has moving expenses as a benefit. You may have to work for a year or so to avoid having to repay the moving expenses, but since your name suggests your plan is/was to ER in 2019, that should be doable.

If you can't find a job with moving expenses covered, find any job and deduct moving costs from your taxes.

Last time we moved and the company paid for the move, I had to pay income tax on the moving cost. But it was still cheaper than paying the whole bill.

 

[braumeister]

I'm in the camp of "don't lowball yourself."

When I was still a dumb 2nd Lieutenant, I became close friends with my commander's wife. I guess I seemed so clueless that she kind of adopted me. Among the things she taught me was "Expect that you'll lose 10% of your belongings on every move either to theft or damage."

Over the next couple of decades, her words of wisdom proved very prescient.

I had another 10 PCS moves during that time and on average I had either theft or damage wipe out at least 10% of my household goods every time. The military works on the lowest bidder system, so a typical move would be done by some guy who owned his own semi and stopped at the local day labor market on his way to my house. His "helpers' were frequently alcoholics who were paid by the hour so they stretched the job out interminably.

Complaining to the base transportation office was useless since they heard the same complaints every day and simply offered their sympathy while ignoring them.

OTOH, my DW went through only a few moves and always hired a reputable local company. She had practically zero theft or damage.

 

[utrecht]

We packed ourselves and loaded the truck ourselves. Not one single thing broke on our move from Dallas to Ft Lauderdale. We had one small nick on a chair leg and that was all. Just one more reason to do it yourself.

 

[38Chevy454]

The ABF U-pack is a good way to do it. You basically just rent the trailer space. They drop trailer at your house or you load at the truck yard for lowest cost, you load it up and then they drive to destination and you unload. You only pay for as much of the trailer as you use, and after the estimate, you can add or subtract "feet" of trailer within a range for credit or additional fee. Since it is a big truck trailer, there is no real weight limit, put as much as you can fit as tight as you can get it. Then they give you a big flat plywood to seal your stuff into the trailer. Then ABF will load partial freight to fill the trailer and maximize the load going to your destination. You get full tracking of the progress.

You can hire some local loading guys to do the heavy lifting, even packing if you want. Although the best advice is what several have suggested, getting rid of it and not moving is the easiest.

I did the U-Pack to move some stuff from CA to NM, I thought it was fair price and lot less than a U-Haul or similar truck rental. I had lot of heavy garage stuff and also some estate stuff. It was beyond what employer would pay for, so it was on my cost.