How Many Movers Do I Need For My Move

Written by: Brian Rogers

NY is turning out to be a California of the East Coast when local transit is in question. Movers in NY are swamped with the number of moves that are happening every day. With this being said, it is obvious that these companies have a lot of experience in the field and know how to tackle different situations and various moving sizes. 

man with a back pack

If you are in need of movers, do the research and find an experienced and well-established company that will help you out with this endeavor, and they will take care of everything else for you. Moving is not cheap, but it helps you to avoid headaches and planning, renting trucks, looking for people to help, etc. Needless to say, it saves you time that is precious for everyone living in NYC. 

Our city is famous for its highrises and difficult Homeowners Associations that are making everyone’s lives even more difficult, like moving alone is not difficult enough. HOAs have a lot of requirements for moving companies that are entering the buildings in order to back themselves up in case that something goes wrong- legit! But, they are making the whole moving process really stressful.

It won’t be enough to only hire a company, you will need to coordinate your two leases, the old one and new one, building’s requirements regarding the insurance at both ends, and to keep your moving company posted about the timing for elevators and time restrictions.

NYC skyline

This is just a small portion of stress that is experienced by those of you who are moving, so don’t give yourself another headache and think about the number of movers that you need to hire! For this you have your movers in NYC who will make sure that not a single important detail goes unnoticed!

If you want to stay informed about how it usually goes with manpower for moves, don’t go just yet…

What is the size of your move?

building skyline

For the beginning let’s start with the actual size of your home where you are living at currently. There are two things that are important regarding the size of the place:

The number of bedrooms

The square footage

These two are correlated and tied and equally important for your NY movers. Why? Because they need both information in order to determine the number of moving helpers that will be needed for your move. 

The most important is the actual number of bedrooms, and that’s what is usually used to come up with some base number of movers. After that, when other factors are taken into consideration, this number can increase depending on how complicated and challenging the move is.

Size of the move in bedrooms

The lowest number of movers that you can hire from affordable NYC movers is two. Two movers and a truck can handle a studio or one bedroom place. 

When we are talking about a team of three people, they are usually recommended for two bedroom places of regular square footage. 

Team of four people is a perfect match for larger two bedroom and three bedroom places. 

And the list goes on…

1 bed- 2movers

2 bed – 3 movers

3 bed – 4 movers

For those homes that are larger than what we mentioned above, probably your company will discuss the details and they might suggest organizing an onsite estimate.

Onsite estimates are the best way to determine the size of the place, the amount of furniture, accessibility to both locations, the perfect truck size etc. 

Size of the move in square feet

Square footage is also really important for your hourly movers NYC. Sometimes the number of bedrooms doesn’t reflect the size of your home in the best way because there are many smaller rooms and storages that aren’t used as bedrooms, but they are taking up the space and are staged with furniture. 

In these situations, when the size of bedrooms is not the best picture of the actual size of the move in total, square footage is helping your sales agent to realize what will be the best number of moving helpers.

For example, If you have a 1 bedroom apartment that is on the larger side, more than 1000 square feet, obviously two movers won’t be enough because a 1000 square foot place can have many closets, pantries, hallway furniture, bars and other furniture pieces that can come as a surprise on the day of the move.

With this being said, for a home whose square footage is larger than the ordinary, your company will suggest increasing the number of moving helpers because of the efficiency, productivity and safety.

nyc traffic
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In NYC, the people in transit are usually the ones that are living in studios, one bedroom apartments and two bedroom homes. Some of these places can be larger than the ordinary and it is quite common that NYC movers suggest three movers for smaller moves.

NYC nightmare

person walking up the stairs

Amongst moving companies there is a common dislike when it comes to stairs! Especially in the Brooklyn area. A lot of buildings have four, five stories without elevators to be used. And this is a real nightmare for moving companies and movers, without exception. 

People who are living in these types of buildings are facing many difficulties when searching for a moving company because movers avoid accepting jobs where they have to carry furniture four, five, six flights of stairs up or down- it really sounds like a nightmare. It is heavy enough to carry grocery bags up the stairs, many stairs, imagine how it is with the furniture. 

When it comes to stairs, a lot of companies don’t want to send out a team of two people when there are stairs included or more than one flight. That’s one of the reasons and examples when additional helpers are needed, regardless of the size of the move.

For example, when more stairs are involved, one bedroom will require three movers, two bedrooms will require four movers etc. It really makes sense- doesn’t it?

woman leaning on metal railings

One additional thing that can be said about the stairs and hiring movers is that “stairs fees” are frequently added besides increasing the number of movers. Some companies charge stair carry per flight, some per flight and per movers, some add one flat fee for the whole thing. It really depends.

Are you in the mood for packing?

woman packing boxes

The answer to this question will be important because if you are packing your smaller thighs in the boxes and the rest you are leaving to your NYC movers, you won’t need to increase the regular number of movers. But, If you don’t have the time or the patience, and you want someone to do it for you- you will need a larger team than what was estimated initially.

Full service movers in NYC will handle your belongings altogether, furniture and miscellaneous things, clothes, dishes. They will pack everything into boxes. But, this process would last too long if the number of moving helpers is not larger than what’s usually planned for the self-pack. 

By hiring more movers, you will save time and money. And for our “fast” city both are equally precious!

Other situations that require more men

Long carry

long hallway

Long carry means that the access to your place is not as simple as you imagined and that the moving truck can’t park close to the entrance, or they can but there are long hallways and the furniture has to be carried through them. 

Long carry happens in a few situations and we will mention some of them. 

  1. Problem with the parking

This issue can happen when:

  • There is no designated parking spot at the building
  • A parking permit can’t be obtained
  • Loading dock in the building has a clearance that the truck exceeds etc. 

In each and every one of these situations, where the truck can’t be parked close, there will be a long carry and moving companies need larger teams simply because it is faster and safer. These men can’t break their backs if there is a way around it, and there is- to split the burden with someone else.

  1. Long hallways 

Long hallways through which your movers need to walk in order to use the elevator can be a problem, especially with heavy furniture. Yes, they have a dolly, but they are not enough. They are not large enough for everything that you own because some items can’t be disassembled into pieces and have to be carried. 

men loading a van

In each and every one of these situations, where the truck can’t be parked close, there will be a long carry and moving companies need larger teams simply because it is faster and safer. These men can’t break their backs if there is a way around it, and there is- to split the burden with someone else.

Heavy items

Just imagine that you are living in a one bedroom place but you have a safe that weighs 350-450lbs.

Let’s assume that one bedroom place usually requires two people.

And now imagine two people lifting 450lbs.

That doesn’t add up? Does it?

person holding a barbell

In this case, if the weight of the object doesn’t exceed the weight limit that was established with the company’s policy, and the company accepts doing it, they won’t do it with two people. They will need more.

There are many heavy items that require special handling, not only because their weight is the issue, but there are those that are odd-shaped and expensive. Let’s take a pool table as an example. It is not easy to find residential movers that will be eager to move it. And even if they do, that will be with a numerous team, additional equipment, and most probably additional handling fees.

How does the number of movers affect the price?

US dollar bills

With so many moving companies on the market, they all operate differently. The most usual way of charging for a local move is by the hour, and the other one is a flat fee for the whole thing.

Movers by the hour in NYC

If your movers are charging by the hour, probably they have a certain minimum of hours that you will need to pay for either way. 

Adding additional helpers will increase the hourly rate for sure. How much- it is up to the company that you chose. 

This way of charging is more flexible simply because if you book two movers and you change your mind about packing, you don’t have the time, you can simply ask for one additional helper and the company will increase the hourly rate for that much.

man carrying green sofa

Flat price movers in NYC

That is not the case with the flat fee because they are usually provided after an in-home estimate. And based on what you wanted at that specific moment, the estimator will create a price.

How much does an additional helper increase the price for a move that you are paying in whole, is really a difficult question because flat prices are not created based on the number of movers, but everything that your move includes altogether. 

If you are searching for local NYC movers that charge by the hour, reach out for a quote and find out how we operate- our relocation specialists will be happy to explain everything in a few minutes only!

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