Preparing for a Safe Move.

Mov­ing? A few tips to help!

Most of us at some point in our lives will have to pack up our belong­ings and MOVE! Those of us that have tack­led a move know that it can be a time of great stress.   Not all moves are cre­at­ed equal, the uni­ver­si­ty stu­dent mov­ing home for sum­mer is not equal to the Fam­i­ly of 6 mov­ing after liv­ing in a home for 10 years…across the coun­try.

If you are plan­ning the big move, have you cho­sen your mov­ing com­pa­ny care­ful­ly? Let’s talk about some dos and don’ts of find­ing a qual­i­fied mover.

When you begin your search for a Mover, refer­rals from a friend are a great place to start. There is great val­ue in first­hand expe­ri­ence of a job well done. If your friends work col­leagues have moved recent­ly ask them about their expe­ri­ence.  Both good and bad expe­ri­ences are valu­able.  It’s good to know who NOT to hire, as well as the pos­i­tive refer­rals.

Cre­den­tials mat­ter when you are con­sid­er­ing who to entrust with han­dling your pos­ses­sions.  Is this com­pa­ny insured? Do they belong to the movers asso­ci­a­tion? Do they have Bet­ter Busi­ness Bureau his­to­ry? Are they licensed?  Are their trucks and facil­i­ties open for your inspec­tion? Are they big enough to han­dle your job? Is the com­pa­ny and the work­ers bond­ed?  Have they been in busi­ness for at least 3 years?  All these ques­tions and more require answers that sat­is­fy your con­fi­dence.

Once the above ques­tions are answered to your sat­is­fac­tion the next step will be get­ting a quo­ta­tion.  As a home­own­er this can be tough.  Be real­is­tic about how much you are pre­pared to do on your own or in advance.  If you are going to need help pack­ing etc be hon­est and upfront about it and plan accord­ing­ly. If you have some­thing of high val­ue or that will need spe­cial han­dling, let the com­pa­ny know in advance.  Once you have decid­ed on what is to be moved, many movers will pro­vide you with guide­lines or a sur­vey that you can use to orga­nize your­self in advance of a quote.   Once you have com­piled all the infor­ma­tion, ask for a quote in writ­ing, prefer­ably a bind­ing quo­ta­tion.  An onsite vis­it by a Mov­ing com­pa­ny rep­re­sen­ta­tive is the pre­ferred method. Get all promis­es, quotes and con­tracts offered from the com­pa­ny and rep­re­sen­ta­tives in WRITING.

Even though this is a very busy time for you, take the time to read all the fine print on the quote and con­tract includ­ing lia­bil­i­ty details and poten­tial extra charges such as stor­age fees etc.   Keep orig­i­nals and or pho­to­copies of the con­tract and receipt of all pay­ments read­i­ly avail­able to every­one that will have deal­ings with the movers.  This mes­sage is sim­ply encour­age­ment to do your home­work and is not a guar­an­tee of sat­is­fac­tion.  Due dili­gence pays!

Once you have the dates set, make sure the home you are mov­ing to is secure. Make arrange­ments with your local secu­ri­ty com­pa­ny to have the alarm sys­tem installed and mon­i­tored before or upon the arrival of all your pos­ses­sions.  When you are new in a com­mu­ni­ty, espe­cial­ly in a brand new devel­op­ment you are vul­ner­a­ble to bur­glars.   Let’s pro­tect that new home!