How to price a moving job: hourly, flat rate and long distance

Start from your real costs, build an hourly estimate line by line, and know when a flat rate or weight-based pricing fits better — with worked examples.

By the MoveConsole teamOctober 7, 202610 min read

In short

Most local moves are priced by the hour; long-distance moves are priced by weight and distance or as a flat price.
Start from your costs: every crew hour has to cover wages, payroll costs, the truck, fuel, insurance and overhead before there’s any profit.
An hourly estimate is the crew rate × the estimated hours, plus travel time, fuel, materials and fees — never below your minimum.
Quote a range, say what changes it, and take a deposit to hold the date.

The three ways movers price a job

Almost every moving price is built one of three ways. Most companies use more than one, depending on the job.

Method	How it works	Best for	The risk
Hourly	The crew and truck rate × hours worked, plus travel, fuel and materials	Local moves	Customers watch the clock, so give a clear range up front
Flat rate	One price for a defined inventory and set of services	Small or simple moves, offices, customers who want certainty	You carry the risk if the job runs long, so define the scope in writing
Weight and distance	The shipment’s weight × a rate for the distance, plus extra services	Interstate and long-distance moves	Needs a good inventory, and federal rules apply to interstate estimates

Start with your costs

A price that doesn’t cover your costs is just a slow way to close. Before you set a rate, work out what one hour of a crew and a truck really costs you:

Labor: wages, plus payroll taxes and workers’ compensation, for every mover on the crew.
The truck: its payment or lease, maintenance, registration and insurance, spread over the hours it works.
Fuel for the drive between addresses and to and from your garage.
Insurance: general liability, cargo and commercial auto.
Overhead: office staff, rent, software, marketing and the phone bill, spread over your billable hours.

Break-even rate for a crew Break-even per hour = crew labor cost + truck cost + overhead per billable hour Price per hour = break-even ÷ (1 − target margin)

Worked exampleExample numbers — use your own

Three movers at $22 an hourPlus 20% for payroll taxes and workers’ comp: $79.20
Truck cost per working hour: $25.00
Overhead per billable hour: $40.00
Break-even per hour: $144.20
Price at a 25% margin ($144.20 ÷ 0.75): ≈ $192 / h

If the rate the math gives you is above what your market pays, the fix is usually in the costs or the crew’s pace, not in pricing below break-even.

Building an hourly estimate, line by line

An hourly estimate is a sum of a few lines. Each one should be on the estimate the customer sees, so there are no surprises on the final bill.

The crew rate

Most movers set a rate for a base crew with a truck — two or three movers — and an amount for each extra mover. Many charge more on busy dates: weekends, the end of the month and the summer peak. Name your rates and decide which days get which, so every quote uses the rate of its move date.

Estimated hours

Hours come from the volume and your crew’s pace, adjusted for access: stairs, elevators, long walks from the truck, tight parking and the drive between addresses. If you don’t have the volume yet, our guide to calculating cubic feet for a move shows how to build it.

Travel time

The crew is on the clock from the moment the truck leaves your garage. Many movers charge travel time from the garage to the first address and from the last address back, billed in 15- or 30-minute steps; others charge a flat travel fee. Either is fine — what matters is that it’s on the estimate.

Fuel

Charge fuel on the round-trip miles, or as a per-mile rate. For local moves it’s a small line; for longer drives it’s worth getting right.

Packing materials and services

Boxes, tape, stretch wrap, mattress bags and wardrobe boxes are sold as used. Packing labor — the crew packing the customer’s things — is usually billed at the hourly rate or as a separate service.

Extra trucks and special items

A second truck, a piano, a gun safe or heavy gym equipment add time, people or equipment. Price them as flat fees so the customer sees them before move day.

The minimum charge

Short jobs still cost you a crew, a truck and the drive. A minimum number of hours, or a minimum charge, keeps a one-hour job from losing money.

The deposit

A deposit holds the date and cuts no-shows. Some movers take a fixed amount, others a percentage of the estimate; either way, apply it to the final bill and state your cancellation terms clearly.

A complete example

Here is an hourly estimate for a two-bedroom apartment, with every line spelled out. The numbers are an example, not market rates.

Estimate · two-bedroom apartmentAbout 860 cu ft · 3 movers · 1 truck

Labor — 3 movers and a truck at $189 / h5–6 hours, from the volume and the stairs: $945 – $1,134
Travel time — 1 hourGarage to pickup, and drop-off back to the garage: $189
Fuel: $45
Packing materials: $85
Truck fee: $75
Estimated total: $1,339 – $1,528

Deposit to hold the date: $300, applied to the final bill. The final price follows the hours actually worked.

Want this as a document? Our free moving estimate template has these lines ready to fill in, print or save as a PDF.

Flat-rate pricing

A flat rate gives the customer certainty and moves the risk to you. It works best when the job is well defined: a small apartment, an office with a clear inventory, or a customer who simply won’t book an hourly move.

Price it hourly first, using the high end of your hours.
Add a buffer for what can go wrong — a slow elevator, a long carry, an extra hour of packing.
Write down the scope: the inventory, the services, the access at both ends.
Say what changes the price, such as items added after the quote or access that differs from what was described.

Flat rate Flat price ≈ high-end hourly estimate + a buffer for risk

Pricing long-distance moves

Long-distance moves, especially interstate ones, are usually priced by weight and distance: the shipment’s weight multiplied by a rate for the mileage, plus extra services such as packing, stairs, long carries, a shuttle truck or storage in transit. Before the shipment can be weighed, the weight is estimated from the inventory — commonly at about 7 pounds per cubic foot.

Interstate moves of household goods follow federal consumer-protection rules set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Among other things:

A binding estimate fixes the price for the goods and services it lists.
A non-binding estimate is your best guess; at delivery you can’t require more than 110% of it, and the rest is billed afterwards.
Customers must receive the FMCSA booklet Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move.

Check the rules

Federal rules for interstate moves are detailed, and states set their own rules for moves within the state. Read the current requirements from FMCSA and your state before you quote moves across state lines.

Moves that take more than one day — a long drive, or loading one day and unloading the next — are easiest to price day by day: each day with its own crew, hours and rate, plus overnight storage in between.

Pricing by date: busy days and quiet days

Demand for movers isn’t flat. Weekends, the last days of the month and the summer season fill up first; mid-week days in winter are often quiet. Pricing by date lets you earn more when trucks are scarce and fill the calendar when they’re not:

Name a few rates — for example Regular, Discount and Peak.
Assign them to dates on a calendar, with a default for everything else.
Quote each move at the rate of its date, and keep that rate on the job even if you change the calendar later.

How to present the estimate

Send it fast. The first company to answer with a real number is often the one that gets the call back.
Quote a range for hourly moves, and explain that the final price follows the hours worked.
List what’s included — crew, truck, travel, fuel, materials, fees — and what isn’t.
Explain what changes the price: added items, different access, packing that isn’t done.
Offer coverage options and say which one the price includes.
Ask for the deposit to hold the date, with a link the customer can pay right away.

Pricing packing services

Packing can be one of the most profitable parts of a move — and one of the easiest to underprice. There are three common ways to charge for it:

By the hour, at your crew rate, for packing on move day or the day before.
By the box, a set price for each packed carton by size, which customers find easy to understand.
By the room or the home, a flat price for a full pack, once you know your own averages.

Materials are added on top, or built into a per-box price. Packing only the fragile things — the kitchen, the china, the artwork — is a popular middle option for customers who pack the rest themselves.

Pricing labor-only jobs

Loading or unloading a truck or container the customer rented is priced like a local move without your truck: a crew rate by the hour, travel time, and a minimum that covers the crew’s trip. Spell out what you bring (pads, dollies, straps) and that the customer is responsible for the vehicle and how it’s driven.

When the job changes on move day

Inventories grow and access surprises happen. Decide in advance how you handle it, and say so on the estimate:

Hourly jobs absorb most changes — more items simply take more time — but tell the customer before the extra work starts.
Flat-rate jobs need a written change: the added items or services and the added price, signed by the customer before you load them.
Long-distance jobs need any change in writing too, following the rules for the kind of estimate you gave.

Common pricing mistakes

Setting a rate by copying a competitor instead of starting from your costs.
Leaving travel time off the estimate and arguing about it on the bill.
Estimating volume from the number of bedrooms.
Ignoring stairs, elevators and parking.
No minimum charge on small jobs.
The same rate on a Tuesday in January and a Saturday in July.
No deposit — and a crew that drives to an empty address.

An estimate in MoveConsole. Labor at the tariff of the move date, travel time, fuel and an extra truck, line by line — worked out the moment the request arrives.

Frequently asked questions

How do you price a moving job?

Estimate the volume from an inventory, turn it into hours with your crew’s pace and the access at both ends, and multiply by your crew rate. Then add travel time, fuel, packing materials and any fees, apply your minimum, and send it as a range with a deposit to hold the date.

How do movers calculate their hourly rate?

Start from what an hour of a crew and a truck costs: wages plus payroll costs, the truck, fuel, insurance and overhead spread over billable hours. That’s your break-even rate; divide it by one minus your target margin to get a price.

Should movers charge for travel time?

Most do, because the crew and truck are working from the moment they leave the garage. Charge it as time from the garage to the first address and back, or as a flat travel fee — and put it on the estimate.

What is the difference between a binding and a non-binding estimate?

A binding estimate fixes the price for the listed goods and services. A non-binding estimate is a best guess, and the final price follows the actual work or weight. For interstate moves, federal rules limit what a mover can collect at delivery on a non-binding estimate to 110% of it.

How much deposit should a moving company take?

There’s no single rule. Many movers take a fixed amount or a percentage of the estimate — enough to cover a lost day if the customer cancels late. Apply it to the final bill and spell out your cancellation terms.

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