How Many Movers Do I Need For My Move?
Usually, people are led by their own beliefs and tend to put their trust in a moving company and hand them over all of their belongings, but when it comes to the company’s suggestion regarding the number of movers, they hesitate and try to be the ones that decide and choose what is the manpower that they need.
This is a good thing if it comes out of necessity to be cautious about not being scammed, but it can also be a bad thing because you are choosing professionals to take care of the project for you. Why then question their expertise and judgment?
All the companies on the market are handling moves every single day for their clients, and they encounter planned and surprising situations. Those that come as a surprise- they resolve by improvising on the field. After they meet various situations and combinations of different factors, they ARE eligible to say: “You need that many movers”.
So, where to start when hiring quality movers?
Before you make a reservation with a company, do your due diligence and research them. If they turn out to be legitimate and reviewed, don’t hesitate to give them a shot!
After you choose them and research them, it is easy to say that you got yourself an answer to a question from the title “How many movers do I need for my move?” They are the answer because they are the ones who will give you an answer and suggest the best number of people for your type of move.
With so much local transit that is happening, even though a lot of similar moves in nature are repeating themselves, every move has to be approached in a way that this is the first time that is happening. This way the chance for making a mistake turns out to be minimal.
How does a moving company suggest a certain number of movers?
Every company has its own policy when it comes to determining how many movers are needed for a certain moving project. A lot of things are taken into consideration, but there are those that are the most frequent ones and that can’t be avoided.
In some cases, your moving company won’t increase the number of movers but will apply additional fees for a certain service that requires special attention. How they will handle different situations is completely up to them and their working policy.
Although they are all different, there are some ground rules that are common for everyone. These rules will help you to understand how a company selects the manpower for the moving project. Quality movers have experienced a lot of different situations, and they know exactly how many people are needed for each project in front of them
The number of people on the team usually depends on:
- How many bedrooms does your current home have
- If you are packing your personal belongings on your own or hiring movers to do that
- How many square feet does the current place have
- Do you have any excessively heavy items
- Are there any stairs or elevators
- Do you require any special services?
These will be the guidelines for your relocation specialist when you reach out to them. They will ask many questions in order to find these things out and suggest a perfect number of movers for your move.
How many bedrooms does your current home have?
The answer to this question will show to your sales agent what the actual size of your place is. And this will create a base rule for suggesting the number of movers. After that, all the other questions are there to show if any additional helper should be added on top of the initial number when some other variable is included.
Studio/One bedroom
If you are moving out of a studio or a one bedroom apartment, the most common suggestion that you will get from your movers is that you should hire 2 movers.
NOTE: There is no legitimate company on the market that will send out only one person!
Two movers will be enough to handle a place of this size if there are no stairs, heavy objects or packing included. Make sure that you made this clear to your movers!
Two bedroom apartment/house
If you are living in a place of this size currently, and there are no unexpected circumstances, you should probably go with 3 men movers. Two movers won’t be enough, four movers might be overkill if the place is of regular size, so three movers is usually the best and the most cost-beneficial option for two bedroom homes.
Three bedroom house/apartment
Three bedroom places are mostly houses, but there are larger 3 bedroom apartments as well. In this case, the suggestion that you will hear is 4 movers. Yes, a 4 men team will be able to handle multiple things at the same time and finish the job a lot sooner than if you hired fewer people. Don’t think that you need three movers only because you have “lightweight” furniture. It’s not all about the weight. The length of the move is almost always determined by its size rather than the weight of the items in question. Hear your movers out!
Four bedroom home
A four bedroom home is most definitely a house. There is no ground rule about how many movers should be sent to tackle this project. Four bedroom places come in various sizes. Some are equal in size to a three bedroom place, some are so spacious that you could fit 10 bedrooms in it instead.
Yes, if you are the lucky winner with the four bedroom place, you should talk thoroughly about the size of your home with your residential movers. They are the ones that will give you the best advice since they are moving people every day, and this won’t be the first four bedroom move for them.
If you read carefully, it is easy to make a conclusion that the size of your place shown in bedrooms, results in a moving team of one person more than the number of bedrooms. For example:
- 1 bedroom place= 2 movers
- 2 bedroom place= 3 movers
- 3 bedroom place= 4 movers
- 4 bedroom place= 5 movers etc.
This is a guideline for one, two and three bedrooms, and for every home that is larger you will need to consult your moving specialist about the number of moving helpers since these rules can’t really apply to extremely large households.
Are you packing your personal belongings on your own or hiring movers to do that?
Remember the formula from above, because what we will be talking about next will affect THAT number of movers and will be increasing it by one additional helper If you are choosing full packing.
Yes, that’s right, If you want to hire a company to move you and pack you, you will need more manpower to speed up the process.
For example:
- If you need a full pack and move for studio/one bedroom, you will need 3 people at least
- If you need a full pack and move for two bedrooms, you will need 4 people at least
- If you need a full pack and move for three bedrooms, you will need 5 people at least etc.
Again, If you own a larger home, please discuss the details with your movers.
How many square feet does the current place have?
Square footage is another important factor, especially when it comes to larger moves. If the square footage is in the regular range for that specific moving size, then the number of moving helpers doesn’t need to increase.
But, If the square footage is larger than the ordinary, your moving company might consider adding one more person.
For example, the regular size of a two bedroom place is anywhere between 900 square feet and 1200-1300 square feet. If it has more than 1300 or 1400 square feet, that’s almost identical to three bedrooms. It has more space, more furniture, and therefore needs to be handled by more people in order to make the moving process efficient.
This is not something that you have to think about, but it will help to understand why a moving company insists on the exact square footage before providing a price.
Do you have any excessively heavy items
It is logical that if someone has a gun safe that weighs 500lbs can’t hire two movers, even if he has only a studio or one bedroom apartment.
If you have something that is out of the ordinary and needs special attention, don’t forget to mention it and prepare yourself that you will need to pay for either more hours or more movers.
Every moving company has a certain weight limit up until which they handle the objects. Usually that’s from 350-450lbs, it depends. Everything that weighs more than that needs to be mentioned separately, probably you will need to provide photos of the object, manufacturer and to hire more helpers so they can be able to physically move it.
Are there any stairs or elevators
If you live in a place that doesn’t have the elevator, or move into one, and there are more stairs than just one flight, almost certainly your furniture movers will require additional help.
Quality movers are not easy to find, and when you find them you should believe in them and their suggestions, because after all, they are professionals who know the drill here, you don’t.
If they don’t insist on adding more movers, they might ask for a stairs fee, and that’s completely normal in the moving industry.
Do you require any special services?
Special services include those that are not ordinary and common like disassembling and reassembling. For example, piano handling is a special service, hoisting as well.
For any of those and similar ones don’t hesitate to hire movers that are professional and offer numerous teams with proper equipment!
Whenever your relocation specialist gives you the advice to hire more movers, don’t hesitate to hear them out. There must be a good reason. Of course, there is a possibility that they are trying to charge you more and send you more people than you actually need, but even then they will finish the job a lot faster and in the end you will actually save money. It will take less time, less stress..
One thing that we can promise is that we will put your needs first and that we will have “because” for every “why” since that is the most important thing in customer service- to understand what your business is about and to have an answer to every question. Our sales agents will find a perfect team for your move and don’t hesitate to reach out and chat!