A Day in the Life of a Moving Estimator

I spent the afternoon walking through a quiet house at the edge of Boston, notepad in hand, trying to piece together the puzzle of someone’s move. It always starts the same way: step into a garage or basement stacked with bins, boxes, and the occasional piece of mystery furniture. This one had it all — sectional couches, a tall IKEA cabinet that might need to be taken apart, and a rabbit hutch out back that may or may not make the trip. The fridge was still on the “maybe” list.

Every room tells a story of decisions still in progress. Will the large cabinet come, or will it stay for the next buyer? Do we pack the kitchen, or will they handle it themselves? Those lingering “I don’t knows” are part of the job. They keep me on my toes, because the right crew size and truck depend on those details.

The storage unit  added another layer. Fifty or sixty boxes stacked floor to ceiling, some filled with books, others with odds and ends from a life in transition. Access wasn’t great — the kind where you have to wrangle a rolling staircase just to get to the door. It’s the sort of thing that looks minor on paper but always adds time on moving day.

As I walked through the house, I couldn’t help noticing the delicate pieces: the large TVs, framed artwork that clearly mattered to them. Those are the things that need extra care, and the things people worry most about handing over to strangers. I always make a point to explain how we handle them — double-wrapping, padding, taking no shortcuts. It’s part reassurance, part reality check.

By the time I left, I had the move sized up: a 26-foot truck, four Safe Responsible Movers, seven to nine hours depending on how the packing plays out. On paper, the math is simple: $299 an hour plus the travel fee. In reality, it’s a day of careful lifting, disassembly, packing, and a race against the clock.

Driving away, I wondered, like I always do: will they book? Sometimes people shop around, sometimes they wait until the last minute. But if they do call back, I know the crew will be ready. We’ve handled basements with tighter stairs, storage units with worse access, and moves where the kitchen wasn’t packed until moving day.

That’s the quiet part of the business most people don’t see — the estimates, the planning, the mental calculations about stair angles and ceiling heights. It’s not as dramatic as loading a truck on September 1st in Boston traffic, but it’s where the move really begins.