Please - Recommendations for Reliable / Honest / Competent Movers? (Orlando, Fort Lauderdale: flat fee, insurance)

[ghtix]

Thanks in advance for any insight – appreciated.

I am posting this on city forums in both areas – moving from and moving to:

Moving from Fort Lauderdale area to the Sarasota area – approximately a 3-hour / 200 mile move.

I have heard & read so many moving horror stories – moving companies that hold your stuff hostage until you pay extra, uncaring & incompetent movers who damage / break furniture & goods, thievery, don’t show up on time, etc. etc. etc.

Through personal experience, can anyone recommend a moving company that is honest, reliable, caring, competent, reasonably priced, and one that you would have no reservations about recommending?

We plan on moving the breakables & valuables ourselves in a rented cargo van. The movers would be moving some furniture (not an entire houseful, as we sold some of it off) and the boxed & bagged non-breakable household items.

Ideally, & if possible, we would also need someone to take down and move a crystal chandelier, and disassemble & reassemble a coral electric fireplace – if within the scope of a mover’s ability to handle.

Any leads & recommendations are greatly appreciated.

[03bluecoupe]

Two Men and a Truck. Excellent - no contractors, flat fee, your stuff is the ONLY stuff in the truck, on time and little if any damage.

Can you find cheaper? Probably, will you have problems? Probably.

They moved us from NY to Fl including my Baby ('03 Vette). I'd highly recommend.

[TUMF]

I'm with 03bluecoupe all the way... they did an AWESOME job for us... Riverview FL to Huntsville, AL
On time - clean - very professional -

[tzais01]

We normally use Two Men and a Truck and have received excellent service each time. One instance was our move from Orlando to Sarasota. We also used Stronger Movers for a short move within Sarasota/LWR and they were great too but I believe they are just local to Sarasota. Two Men are a bit pricier than others, but I love how they cover the repair of any damaged goods.

[ghtix]

Can I ask you folks approx. how much Two Men and a Truck charged you? - to get a base for comparison shopping, if needed? Thanks.

[03bluecoupe]

Originally Posted by ghtix

Can I ask you folks approx. how much Two Men and a Truck charged you? - to get a base for comparison shopping, if needed? Thanks.

I would suppose that would depend on your content amounts and distance. They supplied all moving supplies; all of the boxes we wanted/needed, wrapping paper, and tape. Really nice heavy duty boxes. I think would have packed more but we did most of it but they wrapped all electronics in bubble wrap protection, wrapped and packed lamps, pictures, all furniture etc, took apart all beds Loaded. We didn't have to load any dressers, toolboxes, etc. Actually they recommended filling the cabinets, which we did.
We had a 26' truck jam packed full - which they loaded. Drove two days and met us at our new house exactly when they said they would. Unloaded everything, setup the bedding. They moved us 1500 miles. It cost us $7500 but that included some extra insurance. And again - that's a 1500 mile move and the driver had to fly back to NY from Fla, etc so if yours is a short move it'd probably be considerably less.

Could we have gotten it done cheaper? Sure. But moving is stressful enough without experiencing some of the horrible experiences that others have had with El Cheapo Deluxe movers.

TM&AT only uses their own employees, no sub contractors. Very professional. You know the price ahead of time, and that's the price, period.

If you wanna load and unload yourselves you could use someplace like PODS. Wasn't what we were after though. Heard some nasty stories about them though to with the containers arrival being delayed.

[ruthinraleigh]

We also used Two Men and a Truck to move from Raleigh to Bradenton in May. Very good experience. We were happy.

I'd have to dig out the paperwork for the cost. But it was competitive and the service was great.

Ruth

[tzais01]

They normally charge us $125 per hour for 3 guys plus travel time.

[03bluecoupe]

Originally Posted by tzais01

They normally charge us $125 per hour for 3 guys plus travel time.

Interesting, things must work different for local vs long-distance moves.

[ruthinraleigh]

I imagine they (Two Men and a Truck) do have a difference between local and long distance moving, since they do both. Our move was long distance so the cost was based on estimated weight plus mileage. Once the estimate was given, it was firm and the contract price. That was nice, as we added a few more items when we changed our minds on a couple bigger things. The same two guys loaded the truck one day, drove it down the second day, and then unloaded the truck the third day. We knew exactly what to expect on timing. That was great.

Ruth