Do You Know What Size Truck Your Austin Movers Will Use?
More people are searching for a moving company in Austin now than ever. Whichever moving company you hire, you need to make sure they bring the right size moving truck with them.
At Sarver Movers we want to make sure every customer has the right size moving truck for their move. What would you do if you hired movers off of Craigslist and they showed up in a 10ft Uhaul van to pack a 3 bedroom house? Using the wrong moving company could end up costing you double!
You might be wondering how hiring the right moving company in Austin, with the right size truck, could save you money on your move. Allow our team of professional moving consultants to help explain.
We know that your local move with us is usually an hourly charge in the form of what's called a non-binding estimate. This means that you, as the customer, are paying for the time we drive our moving trucks during your move.
You are essentially giving control over part of the cost of your move to your local moving company for the time they spend driving from your pickup address to the final address. If we can lessen the time they spend on the moving truck, the more money you save. It’s that simple!
If your Austin movers can fit all of your items in one truck load, they'll be able to do your move in one trip. Leave that decision to Sarver Movers, a moving company you can trust to bring the right size moving truck!
The picture below is one of our smaller delivery trucks in the Sarver Movers box truck fleet. Our crew is helping to unload a South by Southwest event!
What Are Some Other Ways to Save Money Moving With the Right Size Truck?
If you have a china cabinet that is longer than the average size cabinet, some moving companies in Austin may not be able to fit your china cabinet in their moving truck. There is a height maximum that every box truck can have and you’ll want to ask your movers if their box truck is at least 97 inches in height for the truck they’ll send out on your move.
This is one of those situations where all heart and no height just won’t cut it since we’re trying to make sure that everything will fit in your truck to save you money on your move. Remember, if your local movers have to turn that cabinet on its side, that will take up some more valuable space in the truck. The more space that is taken up inside the box truck, the more likely you’ll have to take another trip on your move. The more trips, the more costly your move will be.
We’ve Covered the Height, Now How About the Width?
The width is just as important as height; it’s one third of the equation actually. Taking the height and multiplying it by the length and then the width, we get the total cubic feet of the object we are measuring. In this case, it is of course your moving company’s box truck! The larger that number, the more of your household goods we will be able to fit inside. So, we recommend having a box truck with a box that has a minimum width of 96 inches. This width combined with a 97 inch height will allow you to max out the use of any size length of truck your movers show up width.
How Do I Choose the Right Size Moving Truck?
Well, that depends! How big is your move? Are you in a smaller studio apartment or 2 bedroom apartment? We would recommend a 14 to 17 foot truck for those smaller moves. Most house moves or apartment moves that are 3 bedroom or larger will require a box truck that is at least 20 to 26 feet long. This, of course, depends on how heavily furnished your home is and what size house or apartment you are in. Sarver Movers will always send out at least a 20 foot box truck for all smaller apartment moves and possibly two large moving trucks for moves that are a 2 bedroom house or larger.
Uhaul has the same recommendations that we do, check out this link to see how they have their recommendations set up. They will tell you that either a cargo van or a 10 foot truck can handle all studio apartment moves. A 15 foot can cover a two bedroom apartment or less. They’ll recommend you use a 20 foot moving truck for two to three bedroom moves and a full size 26 foot truck for four bedrooms or more. This is a good rule of thumb for figuring out the appropriate moving truck size, but calculating the cubic feet of your move and finding the correct size truck is the best way.
Calculating the exact cubic feet of all of your items and then matching it to the right size truck probably sounds like a daunting task. That’s because it is and we would know as we’ve done it over and over again. We have a customer relationship management software that has some predetermined cubic foot measurements that we have dialed in over the years. We know the average cubic foot measurement of just about every piece of furniture that could be in a home. So when you tell us what all we will be moving for you over the phone, we will plug those items into an inventory list and our software automatically calculates the total cubic volume of your move.
With the total cubic volume of your household goods, you can see how long the box truck will need to be given the truck has the recommended width of 96 inches and height of 97 inches. Each of the different moving services in Austin should be able to take that cubic volume and best determine which truck in their fleet they will use for your local move. If your local movers send a truck that is too small after taking your inventory down, well, that is a major red flag and you should probably ask for a discount on your move.
On That Note, What Would Constitute a Discount on Your Local Move?
Since we’re on the topic of truck size, I would say that bringing a truck that is too small to fit all of your belongings in one trip would constitute a discount. The exception to this rule is of course if you, as the customer, failed to let your moving company in Austin know about every single item you are needing to have them move. This means that if your inventory list does not match exactly what the movers end up moving on move in day, then there is not much we can do about that.
Also, please keep in mind that if you have so much stuff that your household goods fill up our biggest truck and there are still items leftover, that would be unfair to blame on your movers. At some point, we have to be honest with ourselves; maybe it’s time for a garage sale or to ask your professional movers to make a stop at Goodwill.
Will the Moving Truck Fit in my Driveway?
Some moving vans and trucks will not fit in some of our customers driveways, but that is not a problem at all. We can simply walk the items up your steep driveway and into our truck. Sure, it will take a little longer, but we will definitely make sure that we get the job done if you choose Sarver Movers for your moving services in Austin. If there are low hanging tree limbs or maybe a bridge or narrow water crossing that does not allow a moving truck to pass, we can offer shuttle services.
Shuttle services are an extra service moving companies in Austin offer to accommodate homes that are hard to get to. This entails renting a much smaller truck to move items into that can then be driven to our much bigger truck so they can load them into that. Shuttling your items over to a bigger truck from a smaller one often adds another day to the move, which can be costly.
Who Offers These Moving Services in Austin?
You guessed it, Sarver Movers offers shuttle services and many other moving services in Austin. If you are ready to work with some of the most professional movers in the Austin area, we have the right local movers for you with hundreds of 5 star reviews on Yelp and Google to back up our claim. If you are in the Austin area and not sure what size truck to get or even where to start looking in terms of hiring movers, check out a list of our moving services in Austin by clicking this link to get more information.
