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Signed, sealed, delivered—you've just closed on your dream home. Soon, your upstairs neighbor's nocturnal drum sessions will be but a distant memory. But first, you've got to deal with the most daunting part of moving: moving.
You could call up a few reluctant friends, curse your way through eight hours of strenuous misery and hope your inherited fine china is still intact upon arrival. Or you could delegate the task to people who know what they're doing and save yourself some major headaches (and backaches). Here are five reasons you should hire a moving company—and a few tips on choosing the right one.
Time
The single disadvantage of hiring a moving company is that you have to shell out some cash. But remember, time is money. From planning to execution, handling a move yourself takes a lot more time than outsourcing it. Think about what you could do with all those extra hours. Hike Mount Olympus. Take your kids to Lagoon. (Or more realistically, clean your baseboards and get your deposit back.)
Stress
Moving is stressful, regardless of whether or not you get professional help. But having to do it all yourself can put you in a worse mood than getting frisked by TSA because your kid stuck a knife in your carry-on. Decluttering, packing, renting a truck, loading, driving, unloading, unpacking—all these tasks can get overwhelming. Even asking your friends and family to help is stressful. Outsourcing your move can help you keep some sanity during hectic times.
Insurance
Moving companies offer insurance, which is also a major stress reliever. Two choices are usually available: released-value protection and full-value protection. Released-value protection comes free of charge and provides minimum coverage up to $0.60 per pound. Full-value protection allows you to get a replacement or reimbursement for any damaged item, says move.org. It usually comes at a premium.
Pain
Taking on a move yourself doesn't just take a toll on your mental health — it can also cause you physical hurt. Back injuries are easy to pick up when lifting things like couches and fridges. Dealing with such heavy items requires proper technique, fitness and strength—one small mishap and you can say goodbye to pickleball for the rest of the year. Let someone who is trained and experienced with lifting heavy, bulky and awkward items handle it.
Expertise
You might be able to Tetris everything into your Suburban for your son's soccer tournament in Arizona, but fitting all your belongings in a U-Haul is a whole different ball game. Movers do this job every day and know how to load their trucks safely and efficiently. Plus they have the tools for the jobs: hoisting straps, ramps, pallet jacks, trucks bigger than the apartment you're moving out of. You, on the other hand, have a dolly with a bad wheel and twelve Allen keys from IKEA.
When you hire a moving company, you can watch the experts in awe as they fit that couch with the missing sectional piece fit seamlessly in between your dresser and piano.
Choosing the right company
OK, so this article was effective and you've decided to hire a moving company for your next move. Yay! But now onto the next problem: how do you choose a good one? Easy: reviews and interviews. First, ask for referrals from the people you trust. Look up the company and see what people are saying about them. The one-star reviews are often more telling than the positive ones; read them and see how the company reacted to them. Look for honesty and ownership of mistakes.
Once you've found some rock-star candidates, conduct some phone interviews. This prospective company will be the CEO of literally all of your things for a few hours so do not go easy on them. Look for expertise, professionalism and friendliness.
Best of Utah Moving and Storage
One of the companies that checks all the boxes from the previous section is Best of Utah Moving and Storage, which has a whopping 1,500 five-star reviews on Google and just won a Best of Salt Lake award in 2020. They also donate 50 meals to Feeding America per move and 50 more per review, totaling 60,000 donations in just the last six months.
As a bonus, Best of Utah Moving and Storage also has a 10,000 square foot climate-controlled facility for storage—no need to awkwardly ask your mother-in-law if you can use her basement to store your things.
Ready to move out? Contact Best of Utah Movingand Storage and see just how dedicated they are to customer satisfaction.
