If you’re about to move to a new home, you’ll likely want to prepare by having everything planned in advance, and by reserving the best moving company you can find in your area. Moving is known for being terrifically stressful, so we recommend doing everything possible to prepare long in advance to make moving a breeze.

Don’t get us wrong–it’s probably going to be stressful no matter what you do! But, if you prepare in advance, even for the stress and how you will deal with it, the whole thing can be a lot smoother and more relaxed.

Here are a few tips:

1. Go with a company that offers FLAT PRICES, often referred to as a binding price.
2. Make sure the binding price you’ve been offered for your move is detailed and includes the list of services required to get you from your old home to your new one. Lower end moving companies, and even companies with less experience in the industry, will often leave out items from their quotes in order to offer a lower price. This is worst case scenario. Come move day, they are finding a million things they didn’t consider and forcing you to pay for it, because after…what can you do on move day? This is why the industry got a bad reputation years ago, because some movers were taking advantage of customers by providing incomplete quotes. The best way you can deal with this is by starting far in advance with your moving and getting multiple quotes. This is one of the services we offer.
3. Online reviews are not the best. Like anything on the internet, we all need to be careful and do the best due diligence possible on the information we’re getting. Fortunately, there are resources that help a lot. For instance on interstate moves, you can look up your company’s DOT number. It’s normal to see complaints; don’t let this deter you. BUT, if the number of complaints is very large in a short number of years in business, well, that’s bad.
4. Speaking of reputation, one HUGE metric of the company you pick is how long they’ve been in business. There are many small moving companies out there that ruin their reputation and simply shut down, just to start a new one. A company that’s had the same name for 5 or more years is a better bet. And really, the longer the better.

If you’re move is for an entire house, the costs will be significant, so do your due diligence as discussed above, and also follow these tips:

• Check out their website: One of the hallmarks of a reliable business is clear website. Don’t worry if the site isn’t your favorite color scheme, but do judge it for its clarity and utility, and also to learn about the business and how long they have been up and running. Also, websites can let you know how up to date the company is with the latest technologies, and this can make a big difference in your move. Better companies have better tools. A company that still does everything with a pencil and paper is not the same as one using state-of-the-art technology. Choose wisely.
• What services do they offer. Most moving companies handle full-service moves, and small furniture moves. However, the best moving services should be able to provide various services, or guidance to local vendors that can assist you with something they don’t offer. For instance, your moving company likely doesn’t have professional organizers or junk removers on staff, but typically they can point you to the right place.
• They have the right equipment and materials. There are many reason movers make moving easy. The first is that they move customers every day and know what they doing. The second is that they are often quite strong. And the third is that they have the correct experience and equipment to make things easier. Hammering in a nail is very easy, except if you don’t have a hammer! The same is true for moving. With proper equipment, moving heavy items is made much easier and more efficient.
• They have a means of computing their quotation honestly and securely. Another great way of identifying a highly recommended full service moving company is to identify their policies when it comes to forming quotations for their customers. You can ask them how much they’re charging for their moving and storage services and ask them to form a quotation for you. Chances are, their quotation should be based on the weight and quantity of your household goods. However, if they’re saying they have affordable moving and storage, their price matching needs to be conducted fairly and in a transparent way. In a way, you can ask them if there are any price discrepancies when it comes to moving cross country, or if perhaps they’re going to charge “extra” stuff during moving day. If they’re doing the latter, you need to be wary of these companies.

The Best Movers: Look For Reliability, Quality

With the above tips in mind, it’s important to remember that the best movers you can hire for your move are the ones that aren’t just available or cheap. Rather, you need to make the most out of your buck and look for movers that can provide you with the kind of quality work and reliability that will ensure everything you need in your move is accounted for. Hopefully, the above tips have zeroed in on the best qualities your movers need to demonstrate in order to let you know that they’re the best in their field.