More movers advice?

[cos]

After my last post, https://cos.dreamwidth.org/144726.html, and some more phone calls and research, we decided to go with full service movers who have local presence in both Boston and Seattle and their own cross country drivers, so they don't put anything up for bids. I got surveys from three movers: Isaac's, Gentle Giant, and Wheaton (which is a network, their local in Seattle is called Olympic and their local in Boston is called Olympia).

• Wheaton/Olympic: In person survey, estimated ~3000lbs, $9441
• Gentle Giant: In person survey, estimated 2830lbs, ~$12,000
• Isaac's: Zoom survey, estimated ~4500lbs, $12,856. I asked them what it would be if we had about 3000lbs, they sayd ~$9000.

All of these estimates include packing, and storage charges to ensure we don't get delivery too soon (up to 1 month storage, but we won't need nearly that much).

I suspect that the ~3000lb estimates are closer to accurate, and the zoom surveyor padded more just in case, but I'm not sure. Still, whatever the actual number of pounds ends up being, it looks like Gentle Giant estimates significantly higher than the others for the same amount of stuff. Anyone know why that might be? Are there questions I didn't know to ask? Any advice on choosing?

Edit: More people commented on Facebook this time, rather than here, so in case anyone's interested in seeing those comments - https://www.facebook.com/coscos/posts/pfbid033LCGS2mEWVdTT15jbK8s1LSSPmP1BaXjeLUgx1NADyxx19oWWWczn3yYBBKeGcJnl

Comments

From experience...

[chiashurb]

I haven't used Isaac's or Olympic, but I've used Gentle Giant, Stairhopper, Oscar's, and Fresh Start: The Moving Crew. My experience was that a) Gentle Giant's estimates are always the highest but b) everybody else comes in reliably way over quote.

Gentle Giant's full-service packing was lightning-fast, although they made some... odd choices. Like, when we arrived at our destination, we found a half-eaten pork chop (that had been left out in the chaotic run-up to their crew's arrival), that had been simply stuffed into a dresser drawer. That said, they didn't break or lose anything, and they got the job done quickly and with a minimum of stress on us.

[nacht_musik]

Cee's day job these days is working as a packer and local driver for a moving company in the Seattle area. You might ask her inside perspective.

[forgotten_aria]

Gentle Giant is expensive, but I've always been impressed with their service and efficiency.