Additional Charges and Hidden Costs in Moving

Moving tends to be expensive: if you've decided to hire a professional moving company, be prepared to part with a hefty sum of money - from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending how far you go and how big is your move. But the high costs are not necessarily unfair: any relocation job involves hard labor, fuel expenses, packing supplies costs and insurance premiums. The tricky part is to properly estimate how much your relocation is going to cost you before the actual move. Apart from expenses you know you'll incur, there are some additional charges you might not be aware of.
- Extra heavy items. If your possessions include an upright or baby grand piano or a professional pool table – those items are extremely heavy and need to be lifted by at least 4 movers to avoid damage and prevent injury to the workers. Most relocation companies charge an additional fee for moving specified items of excessive weight so be prepared to pay anywhere between $50 to $300 extra for the service.

- Wide or large items. Some furniture items are not only heavy but also wide in dimension. A sectional couch, a huge antique chest, your granny's closet may not fit into your doorway. If that is the case, you need to notify your movers in advance and they will know to bring hoisting equipment. Basically hoisting is the process of moving a large and heavy furniture piece on the heavy-duty ropes through a window or balcony. It's usually done at an extra charge, which can be as high as $250. So make sure to take the measurements of your large items and the width of the doorway. If a piece can survive disassembling, that's a more suitable option as long as it doesn't take too much time.

- Narrow street or driveway. It happens that movers are unable to park their vehicle in front of your entrance: either the driveway is too small, or the street is so narrow that the moving truck (or trailer in case it's a long distance move) cannot enter it. If movers have no choice but to park in the distance, it will take them longer to carry the items to your house and there may be an additional charge for that. For interstate relocation, if movers are unable to get close enough to your house with their trailer, they rent a small truck and charge you an additional fee for the shuttle service.

- No elevator If you live in a building, it makes a huge difference for movers whether it has an elevator or not. Carrying furniture and boxes up multiple flights of stairs is an extra hard labor. Not all the relocation companies charge extra for the stairs, or they consider it an extra fee beginning from a certain level (e.g. more than 2 flights of stairs is an additional fee). So make sure you specify your situation when receiving a moving estimate.