Moving to a new home is one very joyful thing to do and congratulations if you are doing it, but admit it: arranging, packing and organizing the actual moving of your stuff – not so thrilling. As any well-informed member of the society, you would normally turn to moving companies, but once you see the moving company fees, you may start re-considering your otherwise, “socially – expected” reaction and start canceling all your weekend plans because now you plan on doing all the heavy lifting, packing and moving. As much as I want to be joking, unfortunately this is the reality.

However, not all moving companies offer their services for sky-rocketed prices; there are some pretty good, highly professional companies that offer decent moving company fees. Keep in mind three things when you are looking to hire a moving company and you will settle in your new home happy and in no-time:

1. Ask for estimates

In the moving business, estimates refer to a trained professional from the moving company who comes to your home to estimate all the stuff you need to have moved and roughly calculate how much is that going to cost you. All you need to do is just ask for an estimate service (in most cases is free) from the company.

2. Consider the types of estimate options

Even though you may think that the estimate professional would tell you exactly how much the moving is going to cost you, they will not tell you the exact numbers for sure. After all, this is just an estimate. So, when you are looking to hire a moving company, see how they have arranged the estimate options. You should come across these three options:

• Binding estimate –a binding estimate implies that, no matter how much the actual weight of the shipment may be, the surplus will not be charged to you as long as the moving happens within 60 day with no additional services required.
• Assured price protection agreement – with this type of estimate, the difference between the estimate and the actual pay is calculated and you will pay the lower fee. There are a lot of moving companies that offer this option, which is probably the best choice.
• Non-binding estimate – in this situation the estimate is made so that you have a rough picture of how much the moving is going to cost you, but the actual cost of it will fully depend on the weight of the load.

3. Beware of the “extra services”

If in the middle of moving you spot movers cleaning debris, disassembling or reassembling stuff, know that you will end up paying for that as well. Things like this, custom packing, crafting, and shuttle services are almost always charged as extra services. There is also the so called ‘storage-in-transit’ service which implies storing your household goods before they are loaded for transporting. As much as that is okay, the problem is that movers always try to slip them on the bill even though you did not ask for this service nor you actually needed it. Be on high alert when movers start doing their job so you do not end up unpleasantly surprised once you have to foot the bill.