short distance moving (Durham: apartment, rental, movers)

[ralnc]

I'm looking for recommendations (recent experience based) on short-distance movers (a few miles), or similar service. We are moving from one apartment to another, and I think my husband will need help with moving the washer and dryer - the rest he can do on his own using a few trips with a pickup truck, or a rental truck if we are pressed for time / bad weather. The units are only 200 lbs apiece...but the move is not a ground floor to ground floor move, and will involve taking the units up and down the stairs from/to a 2nd floor apartment.

DH thinks he can buy a two-man moving harness sling thingy and get a big friend to help , or use a board and pulley system and do it himself . Neither of these options are particularly attractive from the standpoint of not wanting to deal with a broken washer/dryer so I would rather pay someone to move those things (and if I can convince DH of that, I can probably wear him down on other things I don't want destroyed).

Thanks for any suggestions!

[LoopDeLoop]

you might be surprised that he could pull the washer & dryer up the steps on a dolly (which you can borrow from a friend or rent from u-haul if you don't own one). years ago when i moved into a second-floor apartment my dad was able to pull both the washer & dryer up the stairs with me spotting only (no pushing). the trick is to be sure it's tilted back to keep it from tilting forward & falling down the stairs.

if your husband had a friend helping him by pushing it up, he'd likely have no issues if he used that dolly & strapped the appliances on snugly. although, be sure to have the spotter/pusher stand to the side in case the appliance were to tumble. i suppose that would depend on the width of the steps.

[frankpc]

TROSA

http://www.trosainc.org/businesses/moving/index.htm (broken link)

They recently did a short four hour move for my parents for around $500.
Washer/dryer included Great experience.

Frank

[CHTransplant]

U-Haul will rent an appliance dolly that you can tightly strap an appliance to. Still nice to have two people, but can make the job much easier. You'll notice it has "tracks" near the bottom which are designed to allow you to pull it up and over stairs.

http://www.aself-storagedepot.com/im...ance_dolly.jpg

[NM posts]

I say TROSA as well! Just used them again for the second time. They're excellent. It was a sweltering day - the guys were friendly and worked SO hard. Very reasonable prices and it supports the program.

[LoopDeLoop]

Originally Posted by CHTransplant

U-Haul will rent an appliance dolly that you can tightly strap an appliance to. Still nice to have two people, but can make the job much easier. You'll notice it has "tracks" near the bottom which are designed to allow you to pull it up and over stairs.

that's exactly the sort of dolly that i was talking about. & even better that it has the feet on it. if you go with TROSA, i will say that we had friends move about 2 weeks ago & their TROSA experience was not the best. the movers were several hours late & the cost was several hundred more than the estimate (though i believe they got that straightened out after a bit of back & forth). FWIW, this was the first negative experience i've heard someone mention with them which was surprising after all the decent reviews.

[aa_730]

I know last year some of our friends used two men & a truck and they were quite happy with them.

Two Men and a Truck Durham, NC | Mover Durham, 27705 | 919-617-9038

Good luck with the move...

[cry884]

We're using TROSA... I will report back as to how it goes.

[mdp_az]

We used All The Right Moves and were very impressed with the quality of service and the price. HIGHLY recommended!

[Ellen Pitts]

Another possibility is to put an ad on craigslist for manpower. It should be fairly cheap to pay a guy or two for a couple hours of labor than to pay a company to do the whole thing. Be sure to check references.