How is storage billed?
As a flat monthly fee in 30-day periods from the day your things go in, rounded up. Storage is never discounted.
Moving furniture out so your home can be staged
Clearing a Bay Area home for staging: what to move to storage, what to keep, and how interim storage is billed (flat monthly, 30-day periods).
Staging changes the moving plan
In much of the Bay Area, homes are staged before they go on the market. The stager brings in their own furniture, which means yours has to go somewhere first, often weeks before you have bought your next home. For some sellers that means one move into storage and a second move out of storage later. For others it means moving out of the house entirely while it sells. Here is how to plan either one with a mover.
Decide what leaves and what stays
Start with the stager's plan. Usually personal items, family photos, bulky or worn furniture and overflow from closets and garages leave. Sometimes a few good pieces stay and are used in the staging. Walk through with the stager and mark each room. Anything you will need in the next few months, such as daily clothes, kitchen basics and work equipment, should stay with you or go to the place where you are living, not into the back of a storage unit.
Interim storage
When there is a gap between moving out and moving in, interim storage holds your belongings securely between homes. Our storage is climate-controlled. 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. Storage is never discounted, even when a referral or repeat-customer discount applies to the moving work. David sets the monthly fee based on how much you are storing; ask him for pricing when you request your quote.
Two moves, planned as one
Moving into storage and later out of it are two jobs, each billed by the hour. Packing well for the first move pays off twice: boxes that are labeled, sealed and the right size stack well in storage and come out quickly. If you want help packing, the Golden Package adds $70 per hour to the move and includes all supplies and packing labor. Wardrobe boxes are free to use during a move but come back with the crew; if your clothes will sit in storage in them, you buy the ones you keep, at $25 each.
Rates
Each move is $175 per hour for 3 movers or $235 for 4 movers on larger homes, the same any day, with a 3-hour minimum and 15-minute increments. No deposit for local moves; payment at the end of each job by cash, money order, Visa or Mastercard. If your listing agent referred you, the 7% real estate agent referral discount applies to the moving work.
Staging move checklist
- Get the stager's list before you book the movers.
- Separate three groups: storage, take with you, sell or donate.
- Label storage boxes by room and contents on two sides.
- Keep a simple list of what went into storage.
- Ask about a free on-site inspection; you get a not-to-exceed price.
- Leave the house broom-clean for the stager and photographer.
After the sale
When you know your next address, we deliver from storage to the new home. If the new home is in the Bay Area, that is a local hourly move. If it is elsewhere in California or out of state, long-distance moves originating in California are priced by weight. See long distance.
Questions and answers
Is your storage climate-controlled?
Yes.
Can I keep wardrobe boxes in storage?
Yes, if you buy them: they are free to use during a move, and $25 each if you keep them.
Does the agent referral discount apply to storage?
No. The 7% agent referral discount applies to the moving work, not to storage.