NJ to CO (Denver, Vail: movers, house, to buy)

[dee-nj]

hi all- we have a potential opportunity to move to the Denver area in the next few months! I have searched the forum but all posts about moving costs are older. Has anyone done the move recently (1600 miles) and have a ballpark idea of cost (with pack + without packing included) + a reputable moving company? We currently live in a 3 br house + have 2 small children.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Once we know if this is happening, I will have more questions about location + school districts 😉

[Quietude]

I moved a large household (2+3+4 cars+2 large dogs) from CA to CT in 2011, and a subset of that (2+3 cars+2 large dogs) from CT to CO in 2017.

I simply can't recommend ABF/U-pack highly enough, unless you have the budget for professional packing and moving. Their fractional-trailer system lets you use just as much space as you need. I did all the moving in 2011 and hired a couple of apes at each end in 2017 for the heavy stuff. You can play with quotes on their website.

Happy to answer as many questions as I can, and there are others here with varied experience.

[dee-nj]

thanks! i’m pretty sure our budget will cover the cost of professional movers. but will definitely keep that in mind!

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by dee-nj

thanks! i’m pretty sure our budget will cover the cost of professional movers. but will definitely keep that in mind!

A pro service end to end will cost about three times as much as ABF, even with some loading help at each end.

[dee-nj]

I understand that. So then just for measure, what’s was the most recent cost for you?

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by dee-nj

I understand that. So then just for measure, what’s was the most recent cost for you?

I'd have to look. I ended up almost filling a 23-foot trailer, and it was $3200 from eastern CT to Denver.

We packed much less efficiently coming from CA, and 2-1/2 trailers was right about $10k.

[dee-nj]

thanks!

[Mike from back east]

We used a major van line for a cross country move in 2005 and all told we ended up spending about $10k and I did a lot of the packing.

If you hire a mover you really need to insist on a BINDING estimate, that way you know exactly what the move will cost, up front, with no surprises at delivery time. There are plenty of horror stories about people not getting a binding estimate and at delivery time they're told they need to pay thousands extras or else their goods will not be delivered. Stick to the major van lines and get a binding estimate.

If you have expensive furniture then by all means I urge you to spend a bit extra and insure it for full value, else you get $1.25/pound for that family heirloom Stickley that got burned up a semi-truck wreck or warehouse fire.

Be ruthless about cleaning out the house and getting rid of excess stuff; sell it, donate it, etc.

Consider bringing little if any furniture unless it's heirloom or special. It's almost cheaper to buy new when you get across the country.

[Dogmama50]

We moved RI to Vail about 9 years ago for a company move, 3 bed house, about 10,000lbs of stuff and I think it was around $8k. I packed and unpacked mainly because I've done it a lot (17+ moves) and I'm pretty good at it, we drove our cars so that wasn't factored in either. The company has a contract with United Van Lines the driver was great but he got some local guys from the RI office to help load and they were questionable at best but the driver handled them well and watched them carefully.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Consider bringing little if any furniture unless it's heirloom or special. It's almost cheaper to buy new when you get across the country.

I see a little too much emphasis on this point. It's one thing if you have a houseful of fairly junky old furniture that dates to your grad school days. And it's definitely true of things like kit-assembly desks, bookcases and hutches, and most lower-end Ikea stuff.

But a piece of furniture doesn't have to be that expensive as long as it's in good condition and you like it to make it worth shipping, against spending some theoretically lesser amount on a replacement. A $2k sectional is not going to cost anywhere near $2k to ship, for example.