No matter how many times I have moved, I still have to ask myself whether the next one is going to be a complete DIY or whether we are going to hire movers.
To be clear, hiring movers can mean:
- Hiring a full-service moving company to handle every part of your move from start to finish
- Hiring a moving company to transport your goods, but you are responsible for boxing and loading, then unloading and unboxing
- Hiring a local moving company for labor to help you load things into a rented moving van or your personal vehicle
Deciding between these two comes down to:
- Size
- Location
- Budget
- Time Frame
- Preference
So let’s go over the pros and cons of moving yourself versus hiring movers, and when each situation might be best for you.
Get Estimates
Before moving yourself or hiring movers, you need an estimate. If you are considering hiring movers from something like full-service moving companies or even day labor to help you load something like a POD, you need an accurate understanding of how much stuff you have and how many boxes you need.
Every time you have an in-person quote when potentially hiring movers, they send someone to your house, and you probably don’t realize that that particular someone is usually a sales representative who works on commission, so their goal is to get that quote as high as possible while still getting you to sign on the dotted line.
And a fun fact, if you indicate that you are moving for work and the move is being paid for (even if you specify reimbursement) by your job or the military, many of those sales staff are actually quietly encouraged to inflate that figure as much as possible.
Now, that means the estimate for the size of your personal goods, the weight, and the number of boxes will be equally inflated.
That’s why I like the MoveBuddha calculator (online) because I get a more accurate estimate and I don’t just get things like “50 boxes” but rather, a breakdown of “12 dishpacks, 4 picture boxes, etc…”
Moving Yourself vs. Hiring Movers
As I said, in my experience, there are three main categories, and I call these my “categories of consideration” for each move: budget, time frame, and personal preference.
Size
When you move, the cost is primarily based on the size or weight of your personal goods. Moving companies charge you by the weight because that directly influences how heavy the load will be, the size of the container they need, and the gas.
Moving yourself also means considering how many boxes you actually have, how your furniture will fit together, where to slide mattresses, and so on.
When to hire movers…
If you have a large amount of personal goods, maybe you run a business from home, so you have specialized materials, or you simply have several children and a spouse, with a fully fleshed-out workshop in your garage, a DIY move might be a little out of reach.
However, as I said, there are a lot of options for hiring movers, whether that’s hiring movers to transport your goods in a freight container, but you have the responsibility of packing and loading, or whether that’s hiring movers to help you load gear into a rented cargo van.
When to move yourself…
If you are young, single, or otherwise don’t have a lot of personal goods, a DIY move is totally within your reach. When you don’t have a lot of stuff, it’s not going to take as long or cost as much to handle a move, especially if you can fit everything you own in the back of your car.
Location
Where you are moving to and from will also impact how difficult that move is, and if you are hiring movers, how expensive.
The average person moves over a dozen times in their life, but this ranges from a move to college, where you load up the back of your car, to moving your whole family to a new state to help an aging parent. So consider how long the distance is and whether you are comfortable/able to drive your personal vehicles and potentially drive trailers or moving vans; remember renting a moving van or a trailer attachment doesn’t come with any training, which is a terrifying and true fact.
When to hire movers…
If you are moving a substantial distance, across the country or across the globe, you will likely want to hire movers.
Movers who work specifically with cross-country or international moves will know what things to look out for, what you can or cannot bring with you, and how certain items have to be declared or packaged. This can save you a big headache.
When to move yourself…
If you are doing a local move, handle it yourself. Even a large-scale cross-country move can be handled on your own if you have the time and mental fortitude.
But, I cannot stress this enough, if you are hauling a trailer or driving a large rental van, and you’ve never done it before, drive with an empty rig around an empty parking lot for a while and watch a lot of videos so that you have some idea of how differently things work, especially when it comes to speed and braking.
Budget
You will absolutely save money by moving yourself versus hiring movers, but it will come at a cost, a time cost.
Fun tip: There are a lot of ways to learn how to properly package your personal goods for a move with online tutorials, as well as how to properly box things so they don’t get broken when stacked. This is an easy way to make sure that you move all your stuff on your own with as much success as possible, whether you are hiring movers to help you load or not.
When to hire movers…
If you have a somewhat flexible budget (or better yet, someone else is footing the bill), then hiring movers can take a lot of stress out of trying to DIY your move. Why? Movers might give you a comprehensive bill that covers things like:
- Boxes
- Specialty boxes
- Packing material
- Moving blankets
- Moving equipment
- Labor
- Travel
All of these are things you’ll still need to cover for a DIY move, but individually. There are certainly ways to cut corners, like getting used boxes or relying on clothes and towels as packing materials, but I wouldn’t advise it. Moving companies use specially designed boxes with stronger walls so they stack without crumpling, and their packing materials are often denser and less likely to be damaged than your clothes or towels.
When to move yourself…
If you are on a tight budget, a DIY move is going to be the best way to save money. Now, that comes in a direct exchange of your time. But if you can forgo the time, setting aside a few hours in the evening most nights or several weekends in a row, you can save yourself a lot of money as compared to hiring movers.
Time Frame
Your time budget is just as important as your financial budget. Most people have some warnings so they know approximately how many weeks or months before they have to move for work, but if you are moving to move closer to your children or your aging parents, you might have a little bit more free time to make multiple trips to a somewhat close location in order to move yourself.
When to hire movers…
If you are on any sort of timeline, especially a tight timeline for a military move or a new job, hiring movers gets things done faster. This is true no matter the type of moving company you hire–one that hauls it for you so you don’t have to drive or one that sends you labor to help load.
When to move yourself…
If you have a lot of spare time, then you can save money by boxing and loading your goods on your own.
If you have time, you can even research comparative DIY options like buying a used truck or trailer where you live, loading it up, and then selling it once you get where you are going. If you have a lot of time, you can even buy a car trailer and build a cargo box on top of it to haul your goods.
Preference
The final factor is what you’re most comfortable with, and that means whether you are comfortable letting other people into your home or trusting other people to help load and move your furniture or personal goods. Maybe you are like my father, a control freak with severe OCD, and you can’t let anyone else touch your things, or your head will explode.
When to hire movers…
If you don’t care who handles your personal goods, then hiring movers can be worth it. This is the better option under this category of consideration.
When you hire movers, whether that’s day labor to help you pack or load a trailer, or movers to help you load a POD or U-Pack freight container, you won’t really have control over who touches what or how things are packed.
The more people you have, the faster the job gets done, but speaking from personal experience, you might learn when you get to your new location that the movers you hired didn’t quite wrap your kitchen chairs the way you would have expected or didn’t think to take the drawers out of your dresser before loading, making everything a lot heavier.
Again, if you’re going to hire movers on both ends of your move and you don’t really care who handles what or how things get packed, this is a good option.
When to move yourself…
If you have particularly large, valuable items, anything that has any sentimental value, then consider a DIY move. That might be a sentimental set of tea cups you bring in your car with you, but it might be a full collectible set of first edition books, war memorabilia, or an antique set of tools.
Remember that moving companies, no matter how well-rated they are or how hard they work, are still companies. And companies use contractors, and those contractors use subcontractors, or just day labor. No matter, they won’t know about the sentiment that your valuables have as well as you do, and they won’t take as good care when packing or loading either.
Summing Up
Moving yourself vs. hiring movers comes down to personal preference, time, budget, location, and size.
- If you are young, with few items, do the DIY.
- If you are a busy parent, moving a family on a time crunch, hire movers.
- If you are moving to a new state, and you have a valuable collection of personal goods, consider a mix.
Always start with a moving calculator so that you can see roughly how much it would cost in terms of time and money for both options. That will also help you estimate the difference between full-service movers and freight movers or day labor that you hire to help on moving day.