Moving during a remodel

$175 per hour for 3 movers, $235 for 4 on larger homes, the same every day, with a 3-hour minimum and 15-minute increments. Moves between two addresses more than 10 minutes apart include double drive time for the drive between them. Packing supplies are charged as used; full packing is the Golden Package at $70 per hour added to the move.

A kitchen remodel, new floors, a seismic retrofit or a whole-house renovation all start the same way: the rooms have to be emptied. Depending on the scope, that means shifting furniture within the house, moving it into storage for weeks or months, or moving the whole household out to a rental. Each option is a different kind of move, and they are priced differently. This guide walks through them.

For floors or a single room, furniture often just needs to go to the garage, a back bedroom or a part of the house that is not being worked on, and back again later. That is a same-location job: there is no double drive time because there is no second address. It is billed by the hour with the usual 3-hour minimum. Two short visits, one before the contractor starts and one after, are two separate jobs, each with its own minimum.

For larger projects, the contents go into storage. Our storage is climate-controlled, which matters for wood furniture, rugs and electronics over a long project. It is billed as a flat monthly fee counted in 30-day periods from the day your things go in, rounded up, with a minimum of one period. It is never discounted, even when a discount applies to the moving work. Ask David for the monthly fee for your volume. Plan for the project to run long; most remodels do.

When the whole home is under construction, families often move into a rental for the duration. Then the move has three legs: house to rental with what you need day to day, house to storage with everything else, and both back to the house at the end. One job can deliver to more than one address locally; there is no extra-stop fee, only time.

The move back in is the dangerous one for a remodel: new floors, fresh paint, new stair treads. Our crews protect floors and stairs with carpet runners and moving blankets, and shoe covers are available on request. Tell us what is newly finished so the foreman knows. Schedule the move back after the contractors have finished, not between their last visits.

• Get the scope and schedule from the contractor, with a realistic end date.
• Decide what stays in the house, what goes to storage and what goes with you.
• Pack and label storage boxes so you can find things months later.
• Photograph rooms before work starts.
• Book the move-out a few days before demolition.
• Book the move-back only once the work is signed off.