After you buy your new home in the Lowcountry, the journey has only just begun. Next, you have to plan the move, and when you are planning a move, there are many decisions to make.
One of the first is to choose a mover you can trust and one who can do the job right.
Planning Your Move
Planning your move to help things go smoothly and alleviate stress is essential. It helps to keep things organized and divides responsibilities for the entire family so they know what to expect. A plan can also help develop a timeline to know when certain things need to be done to adhere to the schedule. The most important thing a plan does is improve efficiency, lowering stress and anxiety for everyone involved.
While there are many things to consider when planning a move, none is more important than selecting the right mover. This can make or break your move. Choosing the right one will make the move feel like smooth sailing. Choose the wrong one, and you might have damaged or lost items or scheduling nightmares.
How do you choose the right one? There are a lot of things to consider when trying to select a mover. Here are our top six items to look for below:
- Experience
- Capacity and ease of scheduling
- DOT licensing and insurance
- Recommendations and reviews
- Look for a fun, friendly experience
- Go local
Experience
Why is experience necessary when hiring moving companies? The answer should be obvious. With experience comes knowledge and understanding. When a moving company has experience, customers can rest assured they can handle complicated moves efficiently and handle fragile items properly. They are also more likely to handle any potential challenges quickly and easily.
Key reasons experience matters when hiring movers:
- Efficiency
- Damage prevention
- Route planning
- Customer service
- Problem-solving
- Specialized item handling
With higher efficiency, movers can assess any situation and create a loading and packing strategy to ensure nothing is damaged. They can also navigate challenging property layouts and tight spaces without worry.
Experienced movers can also minimize the risk of damaging fragile belongings by loading and packing them securely.
Proper route planning also comes with experience. This saves time and fuel and makes the move easier.
With experience comes the understanding that moving is stressful. Experienced movers know that clear communication can minimize stress. Addressing concerns and answering questions becomes second nature to them.
One of the best skills that comes from experience is handling delicate items. Whether moving antiques or sensitive items, like grandfather clocks, pianos, or artwork, experience matters.
Capacity and Ease of Scheduling
When hiring a moving company, it’s important to consider their size. Obviously, the smaller they are, the less openings they’ll have. If they have only a limited number of trucks, they won’t have the same capacity as larger companies. It’s essential to consider how far out you’ll need to book them to ensure your move happens on schedule.
DOT Licensing and Insurance
Moving companies should be registered with the Department of Transportation (DOT) for interstate movers. This ensures that they follow the proper guidelines and have been vetted as a professional moving company.
Accreditation and insurance are crucial for moving companies because they demonstrate professionalism, reliability, and financial responsibility. It also ensures that customers can be confident that their belongings will be protected and arrive at their appropriate destination promptly. It offers peace of mind to customers that they will be compensated if any damage occurs to their items and that the company will be held accountable.
Recommendations and Reviews
This is a great way to learn more about a potential mover you’re considering. These are honest and unfiltered opinions of the general public. They are their stories about their experiences with the company.
When reviewing recommendations and customer feedback, looking at customer ratings, experiences, and detailed feedback, it is essential to note the good and the bad.
How did the movers treat their belongings? How did they treat them during the move? Did they deliver as promised?
Make sure to prioritize companies with the highest ratings and reviews detailing a company’s professionalism, careful handling of belongings, and on-time arrival.
As always, be leery of companies with a lot of negative reviews. Suppose there are numerous complaints about missing items, damaged belongings, poor communication, or unprofessional behavior. Moving is stressful enough without having to deal with those things.
There are several great websites that provide reviews for movers, and social media is always a great place to look. The top four are listed below:
- Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Yelp
Important things to consider when checking reviews and recommendations:
- Positive points
- Negative points
- Check for accreditation
Positive Points
Consider reviews highlighting punctuality, professionalism, and clear communication from the movers to indicate that they will do a good job for you.
If you have a complicated move or special considerations the movers need to be aware of, look for reviews highlighting their ability to accommodate special requests.
Negative Points
Be wary of reviews mentioning damage to belongings, excessive charges, delays, lack of communication, or issues with the moving crew’s behavior. No one needs the added stress of unprofessional movers to the list of things to deal with during a move.
Accreditation
People often don’t consider checking to see if a moving company has the proper accreditation and insurance. While this might not seem important, it truly is. A company with the appropriate certification and insurance protects itself and your belongings during the move.
Below are the key reasons why moving companies must have insurance and accreditation:
- Legal compliance
- Protects your belongings
- Demonstrates legitimacy
- Claims handling
- Builds trust
The moving company can compensate customers for any damaged or lost items with proper insurance. This helps build trust because if the customer knows that anything goes wrong, there is a recourse to make things right. This mitigates the risk and allows the customer to feel confident in the company.
In many states, moving companies are required to carry insurance to operate legally. This includes liability covered for any potential damages. If the mover you are using doesn’t have this, and something happens, you might not receive damages.
Companies with appropriate accreditation and insurance coverage have demonstrated an established set of standards for quality and service, indicating their expertise and credibility.
When companies have the appropriate coverage and are adequately insured, it shows that they are legitimate businesses. Insurance companies won’t insure companies if they don’t meet standards. If they have accreditation and insurance, they are reputable and can be trusted to move your belongings.
Look For a Fun, Friendly Experience
While moving can be stressful, there is no reason your moving company has to be all gloom and doom. They should be personable and able to take the time to answer any questions you might have. The movers shouldn’t tell you they don’t have time to address your concerns about the move. They should be polite and professional because if they do well, you’ll use them again for your next move and recommend them to your family or friends.
Go Local
While it might seem natural to support local businesses, not everyone does it. In the case of movers, it can mean the difference between overpaying and getting a good deal. Local movers can provide competitive rates because of their proximity to your new home. This means they can save money on transportation costs, which get passed on to you. The cost savings can be surprisingly significant, which could make a big difference during an expensive move.
As you begin to plan your move and are looking for professional movers, look no further than Smooth Move. We are reliable and experienced movers serving the Lowcountry.
Don’t hesitate to call. Let us make your next move, a Smooth Move in 2025.