At the time of moving, people often wonder whether they are self-reliant enough to move on their own. After all, self-help reduces a lot of expense. However, hiring an efficient moving company guarantees wholesome care of your specialty items that might not be possible for you to move without specialized set of tools. Also, a moving company makes the move quick and easy. It might take double the time for you to make the same move! No wonder this question baffles people. However, practically it cannot be a one-way answer. It depends on various factors such as available time and money, value of the items, complexity level of the move etc. Self-move is still thinkable if you are moving inside the town as opposed to an inter-state or even an intra-state move (different towns). Before your family members make a unanimous decision, you should all compare the different scenarios that might arise either way.Certain questions that you should ask yourself are:
- Which is your most important criteria?
Is it time, money or the safety of your valuable wine glasses and piano set? You need to find out which is the most important factor.
- How many items do you intend to move?
The more items you intend to move, the more shall be the cost if you hire moving services. But, you cannot afford to move a lot of items on your own. So, the former is the best option you have. Discard the old or useless items and then analyze.
- How much is the distance between the two homes or apartments?
If you plan to move on your own, you need to consider the cost to rent a truck along with the gas costs and mileage. You can compare this commutation cost with that in case of hiring a moving company. Also consider that in the latter case, your efforts are cut down by manifolds.
After contemplating over these three factors, you can contact the top moving companies or those ones of your choice and get the free moving quotes from each one. You can even look for finding quotes online. However, while hiring a moving company, you need to make sure it is reliable, reputed, cost-effective, credible and affordable.
In certain cases, time might be more of an important factor to you than expenses. With the ease of having a set of skilled team to pack, load and ship, unload and unpack your goods for you, it takes much less time as compared to when you do a self-move.
Some questions that you can direct at these moving companies:
- What are the overall services that you provide?
- What is the estimated time within which the shift shall be completed?
- Do you have specific methods and tools to handle specialty items?
- What is the estimated cost of the overall move?
- Is packing material included in the packing expenses?
- What are the additional costs that can add to the overall moving cost?
Sometimes, you know you can get extra help from your neighbors, friends, relatives or colleagues. It is a smart idea only when you have minimal items. Handling of specialty items does not specifically need a large man force but needs specialized equipment and techniques which only professionals know about. However, whatever decision you make, you should always be in the habit of saving all your receipts and making sure to claim your move on your tax return.
Here is a comparative analysis of self-move and hiring a moving company:
Advantages of Self-move
- Cheaper means
Your budget is cut down if you handle the move yourself. The only cost involves that in renting a moving truck, filling gas from gas stations and mileage rates. The expenses are much less comparatively.
- Freedom in packing
You do not need to pack all your belongings perfectly. You might even save your efforts and money in purchasing the right-sized boxes and seals which is not required for certain items. You can pack the way you want. You just need to load these items on the rental truck.
- Be in control of your items
You are in complete control over the entire moving process. You can handle all the boxes yourself to make sure that nothing breaks in the process. You have the flexibility to decide when to begin, when to halt and when to end. You can even change the scheduled day of moving is there is a bad weather, without any hassles.
Advantages of Hiring a moving company
- No self-effort
You do not have to indulge in the physical labor. They are in-charge of every possible step in the process, even making a proper plan to move before actually starting the process. They have been trained for several months or years and are experts. It reduces your stress-level. No painful muscles and no worries occur.
- Efficiency
When the moving company is legitimate, you can trust the movers with your delicate items. They are professionals and have special set of equipment and techniques to handle the shipment of your antiques and heavy items. They are punctual and systematic and arrive on time on the scheduled day. In the long run,
- Quick and easy move
Hiring a reputable moving company saves a lot of your moving hours. The specially-trained movers make it seem fast and real easy. Even in the face of dire situations such as bad weather, they have solutions and back-up to handle the movement of your items.
These were some of the basic plus points of both the methods. However, self-move is way too challenging when you are moving from one town to another. The shifting gets convoluted when your entire family is shifting that includes heavy items and specialty ones as well. You need to do all the laboring yourself. You never know when some unwanted twist emerges. You do not have the professional expertise to handle such unforeseen conditions such as experiencing a bad weather in the midway. Moreover, your planning might not be up-to-the-mark. In a nutshell, when you have heavy loads and items, go for a moving company. There are many affordable movers today. You just need to research and weigh your options.
