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Getting settled in our new home in Sun City Festival, Buckeye, AZ. Using UPack . . . .
Went very well based on what I expected. Biggest losses on the move as far as stuff packed on the UPack were the following:
Cuisinart Food Processor -- the food container warped from the heat. Had other Tupperware type items which warped and had to toss as the lids wouldn't fit anymore.
A few broken glasses, especially wine glasses (stems broke off). I guess I will have to drink straight from the bottle for the time being.
A decorative plate -- another one is missing, I have no idea where it went.
Most of the broken items were personally packed, so my own fault -- no big deal. We didn't, surprisingly, have any leakage of items. I did have some bottles of lotion that I have placed in large zip lock bags that did have minor leaking but the bags worked great to contain that mess. We had a few candles that I intended not to pack on the truck that didn't melt -- was told that would be a problem.
Everything went on schedule like clockwork! Lots of boxes to deal with at the end of the trip which I am very tired of, but the trash pickup in Buckeye even works on holidays. Much different than home in Iowa, everything gets pushed back a day if there is a federal holiday. So they picked up a lot of the trash today (my day is Tuesday).
Had a startup moving company called Nirvana Moving in Glendale, AZ do the unloading. Nice young men and they did a great job! Obviously, they hadn't done a lot of UPack trailers as they tried to use the ramp upside down. I had to explain to turn it over and around. When I am the knowledgeable one on that kind of thing I tend to get nervous! lol.
The UPack trailer was very clean so that didn't cause any problems at all.
Have had my sister-in-law here all week to help unload and that has been a huge blessing. My wife is pretty much disabled physically because of the after effects of cancer treatment and would love to help but just can't.
I would highly recommend UPack as an option, especially if you can get good movers on either end to help. Cost breakdown:
Council Bluffs, IA to Buckeye, AZ
UPack -- $3,900 18 ft. of the trailer
Firefighters on the Move (Omaha, NE) -- some packing and loading of the trailer $1,333 + $200 tip
Nirvana Moving (Glendale, AZ) -- $355 to unload $150 for tip
Other materials I bought on my own
Packing pads/blankets (45 used) $84.00 was my out of pocket cost after selling them at the end of the move
Other boxes, tape etc. probably around $200
We are still leaning toward a pro moving company but your positive experience is valuable in case they can't do our move date and/or they are astronomical in cost.
Did you get a quote from a pro move company or did you choose UPack from the start?
Do you think you saved half by using UPack and paying for loading/unloading both ends?
Due to age and injuries we'd have to hire people.
Congrats on your move and thx for sharing. I'm thinking about using ABF also for my Texas to S. California move. How big was your house? I managed to downsize my 4 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom including living room and dinning table. I'm wondering how much space I will need on the trailer. According to ABF's estimator 13' should be sufficient but I'm thinking I need more space like 17'.
Do you recommend packing any liquids like soap bottles?
Hi former neighbor! I'm in Omaha and so appreciate you sharing your experience. We are trying to relocate about the same distance so the breakdown was very helpful. We will definitely keep Firefighters in mind for the loading and looking at UBF pods.
We also downsized from a 4 bedroom home to a 2 bedroom home BUT did take all 4 beds because our daughter in AZ wanted two of them. Otherwise we are not pack rats so really had for the size of house probably minimal stuff. We got one pro estimate and it was $18,000 !! We did pack probably 85% of our stuff, really just left stuff I didn't want to figure out how to pack.
For those considering using the ABF trailers, keep in mind that these trailers are taller than your typical moving trucks. It is amazing how much you can fit in one of those. My husband almost made it a game to see how much less he could use than what they predicted we would need. Remember to fill cavities. There is no reason to move an empty washing machine and dryer when you can stuff it with bedding or coats. We made sure to have some smaller boxes packed to fit in the body of bookshelves (if they were not IKEA that could go flat again). Place artwork/mirrors (boxed) between your standing mattresses and/or box springs.
We have used them 3 times to move cross-country and have never had an issue.
I had Roadway movers move my stuff 1000 miles and it amounted to $1 per pound for a two bedroom house (stuff weighs a lot). I packed everything. No real breakage issues. I made it to the house about 40 minutes ahead of the truck and they made two other stops in Texas to unload. I think there were four houses of stuff on the truck. I moved some basic stuff a couple weeks earlier with a U-Haul trailer and the wheel came off...almost a disaster.
We moved from Las Vegas to Texas using ABF, it was an easy move. I started packing up weeks before the move, hired a moving team to load the truck and hired firefighters to unload it, nothing was broken everything made it fine. We did get quotes from other moving companies, we saved anywhere from 2500-5000 depending on the company we called. We moved a 3 bedroom house .
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