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Home / The Worksheets / Quick Estimates

Quick Estimates

Writing a quick estimate on a clipboard

Start with the first move facts, such as number of bedrooms and number of movers.

Quick Estimates can begin with simple inputs like bedrooms and movers, then improve with known area, known volume, or inventory-derived volume.

In the MoverCalcs Estimator, each Room Sheet is ready to streamline the gathering of information for your move. It can return valuable information like estimated Total Volume CuFt and recommended supplies needed.

Quick Estimates is the fast entry sheet for the basic move facts. Start with a Quick Estimate in the Quick Estimates sheet when you want a rough job-hours and labor subtotal estimate before adding room-by-room detail.

What This Sheet Is For

Use Quick Estimates to enter the main size, volume, access, crew-size, drive, and packing inputs that shape an early estimate. The sheet turns those inputs into visible totals, supporting labor breakdowns, supply estimates, and internal calculation rows.

The default starting point is a 3 bedroom house with 3 movers, which gives the sheet enough basic information to produce an initial job-hours and labor subtotal estimate. When the living and storage SqFt Area are known, use Known Area for a better estimate than bedroom count alone. When Known Volume CuFt is available, use Known Volume for an even stronger estimate path because it gives the sheet a direct volume input.

How To Read This Sheet

Read the sheet from top to bottom. The first rows show the main result. The next sections collect the inputs that choose the estimate path: home details, known area, known volume, and job-wide controls. Later sections show access details, extra-stop details, truck assumptions, supplies, and calculation support rows.

Quick Estimates Totals / Main Result

Use Quick Estimates Totals / Main Result to read the headline outputs. The main rows are Estimated Job Hours, Estimated Total Mover Hours, Mover Hour Rate in Dollars Per Hour From Billing, and Quick Estimate Labor Subtotal in Dollars.

These rows summarize the active estimate path and show the job-hours, total mover-hours, rate pulled from Billing, and labor-only subtotal. The info text row also shows which input path is active: Home Details, Known Area, Known Volume, or inventory Total Item Volume from the Room Sheets.

Home Details

Use Home Details for the starting size and type of move. Number Of Bedrooms gives Quick Estimates a basic size signal. Estimate As Apartment changes the estimate path when the move is apartment-based rather than house-based.

This is the default starting path when measured area or known volume is not available. The starting example uses 3 bedrooms for a house estimate.

Known Area

Use Known Area when square footage is known. Estimate As Square Footage tells the sheet to use area inputs. Living SqFt Area and Storage SqFt Area let the estimate use measured area instead of only bedroom count.

Use this section when area is a better starting signal than the bedroom mapping.

Known Volume

Use Known Volume when cubic feet are known. Estimate As Known Volume lets the estimate use a direct volume input. Use Inventory Total Volume can pull volume from the inventory when that detail is available. Known Total Volume CuFt is the manual volume input when inventory volume is not being used.

Known Volume is the most direct volume path on this sheet. When the Room Sheets contain a useful inventory, Use Inventory Total Volume lets that detailed room work become the volume input used by the estimate.

Job Inputs

Use Job Inputs for job-wide controls. Number Of Movers sets the crew size used by mover-hour totals. The starting example uses 3 movers. Drive Hours adds drive time to the total. Include Packing Labor controls whether derived packing labor is included. White Glove Service Level adjusts placement and handling components when that service level is above zero.

These inputs affect totals throughout the rest of the sheet.

Supporting Totals / Labor Breakdown

Use Supporting Totals / Labor Breakdown to see how the estimate is assembled. Important rows include Total Volume CuFt, On Site Mover Hours, Total Crew Hours Including Drive, On Site Crew Hours, Handling Mover Hours, Loading Hours, Unloading Hours, Extra Stop Hours, Special Handling Crew Hours, and Packing Hours.

This section is useful when the main result needs more detail. It separates volume, on-site time, drive-inclusive time, handling, loading, unloading, extra stop work, special handling, and packing.

Pick Up Details

Use Pick Up Details for pickup-side access and loading conditions. Key fields include Pickup Carry Feet, Pickup Carry Percent Unpaved, Pickup Stairs Flights, Pickup Stairs Difficult, Pickup Rooms On Split Level, Pickup Elevator, Pickup Elevator One-Way Cycle Time Seconds, Pickup Volume Cu Ft, and Pickup Disassembly Items.

These rows describe the pickup side so the sheet can calculate pickup volume, access friction, elevator friction, and disassembly time.

Drop Off Details

Use Drop Off Details for destination-side access and unloading conditions. Key fields include Dropoff Carry Feet, Dropoff Carry Percent Unpaved, Dropoff Stairs Flights, Dropoff Stairs Difficult, Dropoff Rooms On Split Level, Dropoff Elevator, Dropoff Elevator One-Way Cycle Time Seconds, Dropoff Volume Cu Ft, Dropoff Assembly Items, and Dropoff Items To Be Placed.

These rows describe the dropoff side so the sheet can calculate delivered volume, access friction, elevator friction, assembly time, and placement time.

Extra Stop Details

Use Extra Stop Details when the estimate includes an extra stop. Extra Stop Required turns the section on. Extra Stop Volume Cu Ft is a signed volume adjustment. Extra Stop Handled Volume Cu Ft converts that adjustment into the amount handled at the extra stop. Carry, unpaved surface, stairs, stair difficulty, elevator, and elevator cycle-time fields add the extra-stop access conditions.

When Extra Stop Required is off, the extra-stop rows do not add time to the estimate.

Truck

Use Truck for truck-access assumptions. Ramp is the default residential baseline. Lift Gate turns on the lift-gate path. Lift Gate One-Way Cycle Time Seconds controls the lift-gate timing when Lift Gate is enabled.

This section affects loading and unloading productivity through the truck-access model.

Estimated Supplies

Use Estimated Supplies to read supply counts derived from Total Volume CuFt. The visible rows are Moving Blankets, Small Boxes, Medium Boxes, Large Boxes, Extra Large Boxes, and Wardrobe Boxes.

These rows are estimates generated from the current volume path. They update as the volume-driving inputs change.

Internal Results

Use Internal Results when you need to inspect helper calculations. This section includes rows such as Ramp Rate Multiplier, Lift Gate Rate Multiplier, Effective Movers, Pickup Friction Hours, Dropoff Friction Hours, Extra Stop Friction Hours, Valid Move, and effective loading and unloading rates.

Most users can leave this section alone. It is there to show how the worksheet turns inputs into crew-hour and mover-hour calculations.

Volume Results

Use Volume Results to see how the sheet chooses and derives volume. Rows such as Home Bedroom SqFt Calc, Apartment Bedroom SqFt Calc, Chosen Total SqFt Calc, and Chosen Total Volume CuFt Calc show how the sheet moves from bedrooms, area, or known volume into the final volume used by the estimate.

This section is useful when the result changes after switching between Home Details, Known Area, and Known Volume.

Packing

Use Packing for packing-related worksheet outputs and item counts. Packing Boxes is the box count used for packing labor. Pickup Disassembly Hours, Dropoff Assembly Hours, and Dropoff Placement Hours show time components derived from item counts and placement settings.

The main Packing Hours total appears in the Supporting Totals / Labor Breakdown section.

Packing Constants

Use Packing Constants to review the literal values behind packing, disassembly, assembly, placement, and white-glove placement adjustment. Key rows include Packing Hours Per Box, Disassembly Hours Per Item, Assembly Hours Per Item, Placement Hours Per Item, and WhiteGlovePlacementMultiplierPerLevel.

These constants support the visible packing and placement calculations.

Moving Constants

Use Moving Constants to review model values for volume, access friction, overhead, special handling, spread, loading productivity, unloading productivity, parallel efficiency, carry distance, split-level handling, and elevator timing.

These rows are calculation support for the sheet. The visible row labels show which model value each constant controls.

Volume To Supplies Slopes

Use Volume To Supplies Slopes to review the slope and base constants that feed the Estimated Supplies rows. These constants determine how total volume turns into estimated blankets and box counts.

The visible supply estimate rows use these constants automatically.

Related Pages

  • Help Home – all MoverCalcs help topics.
  • Billing – rate inputs used by Quick Estimates.
  • Room Sheets – room-by-room inventory and notes.
  • Truck Capacity – volume and truck-fit planning.

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