Quick Estimates

Writing a quick estimate on a clipboard

Start with what you know and build a clearer move estimate.

Choose the work your movers will do and the information you have: bedrooms, home area, moving volume, or room inventory. Then add the crew, travel, access, and packing details that fit your move.

You can begin before counting every item. Review the starting settings, check the estimated time and labor cost, and refine the plan as more details become available.

You do not need to count every item before getting started. Quick Estimates turns the information you have into an initial estimate of moving time and labor cost. Begin with bedrooms, known home area, or known moving volume, then refine the estimate as you learn more.

Start with these six steps

  1. Choose Move Scope: loading and unloading, loading only, or unloading only.
  2. Choose an Estimate Basis that matches the information you have. Enter the matching bedroom count, area, or volume, or select your checked room inventory.
  3. Review Job Inputs, including crew size, the hourly rate per mover, minimum crew hours, and drive time.
  4. Add the pickup, dropoff, extra-stop, and truck-access details that apply.
  5. Choose whether the job includes packing or unpacking labor.
  6. Read Quick Estimates Totals / Main Result, check the assumptions, and save your work.

The starting values are a starting point. Review them for your move, and update the estimate when you have better information.

What work are you estimating?

Move Scope tells the estimator which side of the move to include:

  • Load And Unload: estimate pickup/loading and destination/unloading work.
  • Load Only: estimate pickup/loading work, such as help loading a rented truck.
  • Unload Only: estimate destination/unloading work, such as help unloading a truck you drove yourself.

Details on the excluded side can remain visible, but they do not add labor. For example, Unpacking Labor does not add work when you choose Load Only.

Choose the information you know

Estimate Basis selects the source used to estimate moving volume. You do not need to fill in all the alternative source fields.

  • Number Of Bedrooms: a useful first step when you know the home size but have not measured or counted the contents. Enter the bedroom count and select Apartment Move when applicable. That checkbox applies to this bedroom-based choice.
  • Known SqFt Area Of Home: use the home’s known floor area. For example, if you know the home is 1,500 square feet, select this basis and enter 1,500 in its matching field.
  • Known Total Volume CuFt: use an existing shipment-volume estimate in cubic feet.
  • Inventory Total Volume CuFt: use the volume recorded on Room Sheets after reviewing Room Summary for missing or unexpected entries.

SqFt means square feet, a measure of area. CuFt means cubic feet, a measure of volume. Enter each value in the field with the matching unit.

Read the explanation on the sheet to confirm which inputs are active. Adding room inventory does not automatically select it: choose Inventory Total Volume CuFt when you want that inventory to drive Quick Estimates. Truck Capacity has its own volume-source choice.

Make the estimate fit the job

Review the crew and time settings under Job Inputs:

  • Number Of Movers: the crew size you are planning to use.
  • Mover Hour Rate in Dollars Per Hour: the rate for one mover for one hour. It is not the whole crew’s hourly rate.
  • Minimum Crew Hours: the minimum duration for the crew. For example, a two-hour minimum refers to two hours of crew time, not two total mover-hours.
  • Drive Hours: the drive time to include in the estimate.
  • White Glove Service Level: choose Standard, Careful, or White Glove to match the planned service. Review the choice with your mover.

Then review Pick Up Details, Drop Off Details, Extra Stop Details, and Truck. Carry distance, stairs, elevators, and truck access help describe the work involved. A nearby ground-floor entrance and a long carry with stairs need different inputs. Use the details that match the actual route.

Before using inventory as the basis, the manual fields let you record disassembly, assembly, item placement, and volume going to or from an extra stop. In inventory mode, those entries come from the room inventory instead. Check the sheet’s explanation rather than entering the same work in both places.

Include the packing services you need

Packing Labor means placing contents into cartons or eligible containers. Unpacking Labor is a separate service at the destination.

Choose Include Packing Labor or Include Unpacking Labor when that service is part of the job. Otherwise, use No Packing Labor or No Unpacking Labor. Load And Unload can include both; Load Only excludes unpacking, and Unload Only excludes packing.

What supplies the workload depends on your Estimate Basis:

  • Bedrooms, area, or known volume: optional service labor uses a rough standard-box estimate, even if you have some room inventory stored.
  • Inventory volume: it uses remaining loose contents that need packing and eligible non-TV containers assigned to inventory items. Already-packed miscellaneous boxes, TV boxes, pads, and covers are excluded from this optional workload.

Unpacking uses the same eligible workload. It does not estimate unpacking every already-packed box in your inventory. Routine furniture padding, wrapping, and removal of mover-owned protection remain part of ordinary loading and unloading work.

See Packing for help recording loose contents and completed boxes.

Read the results with confidence

Start with the main result near the top, then use the supporting breakdown when you want to understand the components.

  • Estimated Job Hours describes estimated crew time.
  • Estimated Total Mover Hours adds labor across the crew and is used in pricing. To understand the unit, three movers working for two hours represent six mover-hours; this example is not a prediction for your move.
  • Labor Subtotal in Dollars shows the estimated labor amount. Review Billing for the estimated bill and any additional selected charges.
  • Crew Hours Spread and Labor Subtotal Spread in Dollars show variation around the estimate. They are planning ranges, not guaranteed times or prices.

Review drive time, crew settings, access details, and selected services before relying on the result. The Pre-Inventory Supply Estimate offers rough material estimates; use Supplies for recommendations based on room detail.

Refine the plan as you learn more

Start with what you know, save it, and come back with better details. Add Room Sheets for unusual furniture, fragile items, packing needs, and crew instructions. Review Room Summary, select inventory volume on Quick Estimates, and check the updated results.

Set the per-mover hourly rate here; Billing displays that rate. Review Billing when the move scope and details are settled.

Next steps

Discuss on Forum: MoverCalcs Estimator forum