Moving solutions (Seattle to Austin)

December 2, 2006 11:18 AM

My wife and I are moving our household (us, two cats, lots of crap) from Seattle to Austin. Do you guys have recommendations on movers?

We'd like one of two situations, ideally: 1) movers come get our crap, drive it to Austin, and store it - we call when we're there and someone comes and delivers it; or 2) movers come get our crap, stick it in storage in Seattle. We call when we have a nice place in Austin and then they drive it down (or we call a few days before we sign a lease).

posted by xmutex to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Since movers are really consortiums of local moving companies, it's hard to create a general rule. But in my several moves using different movers, I found Allied Van Lines to be absolutely excellent---presumably because of a careful choice of local affiliates and perhaps additional training they offer. Once I discovered them, I used them for several moves, always happily. However, please note that I haven't moved for some years, and things change.
posted by LeisureGuy at 12:13 PM on December 2, 2006

While I can't give you specific moving company praises, a place that you might want to look is

uship.com

I've sold things on ebay and people have used companies and people found on uship. It seems to be a great place to find indpendent movers and shippers.

Hope this helps! Good luck!
posted by allthewhile at 1:11 PM on December 2, 2006

You may find movingscam.com to be a helpful resource, if perhaps a bit overwhelming. They should have listings for all the movers in your area, and if with some luck and dedicated searching, you'll probably be able to find reviews on the site for many of them.
posted by brett at 1:23 PM on December 2, 2006

Why not try one of those PODS systems. There are several companies that do the same sort of thing. They bring you empty shipping crates/containers, you fill them and they deliver them when you are ready. I've never used them before, but it always seemed like a cool idea.
posted by necessitas at 1:33 PM on December 2, 2006

If you're looking for a lower-priced option, you might check out some of the "you pack/they drive" companies. We used Selfmoves USA when we moved from Austin to NC this summer, and they were excellent (and offered a bit of flexibility on the receiving end).

And feel free to email me if you need any Austin advice. It really is a nice place to live.
posted by paleography at 2:20 PM on December 2, 2006

We've moved across the country three times, plus we've done a 'house to storage to new house' move once, where the majority of our property was in storage for about 6 weeks. If I were you, I would seriously consider taking an advance househunting trip to Austin instead of using that money to pay for storage.

How to best explain this... the moving companies will charge you each time they have to touch/deal with your belongings. If you want to put your things in storage, in effect you'll pay for two moves – one for Seattle to storage, and one for storage to Austin (regardless of where the storage actually is, Austin or Seattle). It's better if you can move your property in one smooth motion, where the truck never has to be unloaded and reloaded.

The cost isn't really the thing, though. The bigger problem is that each time the movers handle your things, there's more risk of damage to your stuff. In our big moves, the most damage to our belongings was from the one where we had them taken to storage prior to finding a new house. You want them to handle your things as infrequently as possible and you want the move to be as quick as possible, to minimize the damage potential – and there will be some damage. We've never moved without at least $500 worth of damage to something. We've had broken lamps and mirrors, a dresser that had a huge gouge on the side, broken china and crystal – you get the idea. Also, you'd be surprised how difficult it is to properly pack a shipping/storage container. If it's not full – and I mean full, so nothing moves or shakes inside – you'll almost certainly have damaged property when you open the container.

It's a risk/reward tradeoff with the cheaper moving companies; you pay less upfront, but they won't pay for damage to things they did not pack or crate themselves. We decided after the damage done from our storage-to-new house move (which was our first big move) to have our things packed for us from then on because it's less hassle and less risky to our property. We've moved short distances and done it all ourselves, but I wouldn't move more than 200 miles without professional help.

Get three or four estimates from different companies and figure out if an advance trip to Austin would be a better use of your funds. Consider all the factors carefully, not just the upfront cost. Good luck, and welcome to the southwest!
posted by lambchop1 at 2:44 PM on December 2, 2006 [2 favorites]

I've never moved via mover, so take this with a grain of salt, but you always hear horror stories about moving companies lying about where your belongings are and how long they're going to take to get to the city where you are. If you end up going with the storage solution, I'd think it would make way more sense to have your stuff stored in Austin - that way it's already in the city you're moving to, and even if it's delayed getting there, you probably didn't want it yet anyway. Then when you call for it, they can't pretend that it's still in California.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:45 PM on December 2, 2006

I second the movingscam.com rec. When I moved cross-country the information found on that site was invaluable.

I DIY-ed my move, using one of those you back-they ship companies. I went with Broadway Express and would recommend their service. After getting several estimates from full-service movers I saved thousands by doing this route (w/out any loss or damaged property). But I suppose I should say that I earned, rather than saved, that money; packing the stuff and loading (and then unloading) the truck is a lot of work. If your moving expenses are covered by your employer then do not go this route!

Remember: lots of small boxes are better than fewer big boxes. And distribute that weight evenly, your body will thank you later.
posted by herc at 6:04 AM on December 3, 2006

When I moved within the Seattle area, I used Hansen Brothers (no, not the Hanson Brothers). I've moved many, many times, and this guys were the best I've ever worked with.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:16 PM on December 3, 2006