Thinking about handling your move alone? While a DIY approach can seem cost-effective, hiring professional movers offers several advantages to smooth the process and reduce relocation stress.
From time savings to ensuring safe transportation for your belongings, here are seven benefits of hiring movers that prove it’s often the best choice.
Is Hiring Movers Worth It? Here’s What You Need to Know
Moving is more than just packing boxes and loading a truck. It’s a physically demanding, time-consuming process with plenty of challenges. While handling everything yourself might feel cheaper, it can lead to injuries, damaged belongings, and extra unexpected expenses.
Hiring a professional home moving services provider can net efficiency, safety, and convenience. That’s especially important for the complexity of long-distance or large household moves.
Movers bring expertise and equipment to handle heavy furniture and fragile items. They also know the logistics to get your belongings to your new home more efficiently. That lets you focus on what counts: settling into your new home.
Before you decide, weigh the following benefits of hiring a moving company against the risks of a DIY move. If saving time and a smooth transition are important, professionals are often the way to go.
1. Save Time and Energy with Professional Movers
The number one reason to hire professional movers — especially for long-distance moving — is because they save you time and energy. They handle the literal heavy lifting of your move, transportation, and logistics so you can focus on other important tasks.
How Movers Save You Time
Thanks to packing, loading, driving, and unloading, a DIY move can take days or weeks. Professional movers work efficiently, cutting that overall move time significantly. They bring experience, equipment, and a team of workers to quickly pack, load, transport, and unload your belongings. As a bonus, they drive the large truck — not you.
Avoiding Exhaustion and Burnout
Moving is a physically demanding task that requires long hours of lifting. Hefting heavy furniture, hauling boxes, and making multiple trips can take a toll. That strain can lead to exhaustion, especially if you’re trying to balance other responsibilities with your move, like family or work.
When you hire professional movers, you avoid that physical toll. Instead of dealing with sore muscles and fatigue, you can arrive at your new home refreshed and ready to settle in.
2. Reduce Stress and Moving-Day Headaches
Moving ranks high on the list of life’s most stressful events. Between packing, organizing, and dealing with unexpected hiccups, it can quickly get overwhelming. Seasoned professionals make moving less stressful and take the burden off your shoulders. Instead of worrying about timelines and truck rentals, you can focus on other less demanding tasks.
Movers Provide a Smooth, Stress-Free Experience
Professional movers follow a structured, time-tested process to make everything run efficiently. Their expertise eliminates guesswork and prevents last-minute surprises. A team of movers handling packing can probably work much faster than you. They also allow you to focus on other tasks, like watching kids or finishing paperwork. Moving across town or a different state? Either way, it smooths the process out.
Avoid Common DIY Moving Mistakes
DIY relocations often have unexpected challenges and common moving mistakes, like realizing your couch won’t fit through the door or not leaving room for important things in the truck. Sometimes, you might even underestimate the time it takes to complete your move.
Professional movers have the right tools, techniques, and manpower to navigate these obstacles. Their expertise prevents costly delays and potential damage to your stuff.
3. Prevent Injuries and Protect Your Health
Moving’s not just exhausting. It can be dangerous, too. Lifting heavy furniture, carrying awkwardly shaped items, and making repetitive motions can put major stress on your body. Without the right training and equipment, DIY movers can risk serious injuries, like strained muscles or severe back pain. Professional movers eliminate this risk by handling the heavy lifting for you.
The Physical Risks of DIY Moving
The most common cause of injuries when moving is improper lifting technique. It leads to sprained muscles, herniated discs, and even long-term back issues. When you carry bulky furniture without assistance, it increases the chance of slips and falls. Even something as simple as repeatedly bending over to pick up boxes can cause strain over time.
Without the right approach, DIY movers often push themselves too hard and pay for it later. Sometimes literally, in the form of medical bills or chiropractic visits.
How Movers Keep You Safe
Professional movers have training to lift, carry, and maneuver heavy items safely. They use tools like dollies, furniture straps, and lifting harnesses to reduce strain and prevent accidents. Their experience navigating tight spaces, staircases, and doorways helps protect your belongings (and your body).
4. Movers Offer Packing and Specialty Moving Services
Beyond transportation, many professional moving companies offer extra services to simplify the process. If you need help packing or special handling for valuable or fragile items, movers can often tailor their solutions to meet those needs.
Packing and Unpacking Services
Packing is one of the most time-consuming parts of your move. Professional packers streamline it by using high-quality materials and proven techniques. They efficiently pack everything from kitchenware to clothing for maximum organization and security. Some moving companies will even unpack your belongings and take away the boxes, too.
Specialized Moving for Fragile and Valuable Items
Antiques, artwork, or delicate furniture require additional care. Pro movers can offer specialty services like custom crating, climate-controlled trucks, and secure padding to prevent damage during transit.
Typical items that require this care include:
- Grand pianos
- Glass display cabinets
- Collections of fine art
Experienced movers know how to transport these high-dollar items safely, giving you confidence that your most prized possessions are in good hands.
5. Protect Your Belongings with Professional Moving Insurance
Moving insurance is a big benefit for professional movers. Unlike a DIY move where damages are your responsibility, hiring movers gives you an added layer of security.
Build-in Protection and Insurance Coverage
Most professional moving companies offer valuation coverage, which reimburses you in case of loss or damage. Basic coverage is typically included, but high-value items require purchasing additional insurance. This ensures you won’t be left covering the full cost of repairs or replacements if anything happens to your stuff.
Expert Handling Reduces Risk of Damage
Beyond insurance, pro movers use special techniques to prevent damage in the first place. They wrap furniture in protective padding, shrink-wrap fragile items, and load the truck for stability during transit. That means your belongings are less likely to shift, tip over, or break.
6. Hiring Pros Can Help You Stick to Your Budget
Hiring movers does come with an upfront cost, but it offers long-term savings. Professionals help prevent costly mistakes like damaged furniture, truck rental overages, and unexpected delays. Plus, working with a moving broker allows you to find a service that fits your budget by sourcing competitive quotes and including only what you need.
What Impacts the Cost of Hiring Movers?
Several factors can influence the cost of hiring movers, like the distance of your move, the volume of your belongings, and extra services like packing or storage. Timing plays a role, too. Moving during peak seasons or days is always more expensive. Booking early for non-peak times can lead to discounts.
DIY Moving Isn’t Always Cheaper
At first glance, renting a truck might seem cheaper. But the costs add up quickly. Rental fees, gas, moving equipment, and packing materials can exceed your expectations. The risk of damaging your furniture or sustaining an injury can lead to unexpected expenses, too. The time, effort, and risk that DIY moves introduce often mean professionals provide better overall value.
7. Movers Help Make Moving Make Sense
Professional movers simplify the entire experience by guiding you through each step and avoiding common pitfalls. With them at your back, hiring movers is the smartest choice for efficiency, convenience, and peace of mind.
Scenarios Where Movers Are a Must-Have
There are some situations where moving independently is a good option, like smaller relocations. Long-distance relocations, heavy items, tight timelines, and limited physical ability make hiring movers the smarter decision.
Best Time to Hire Movers
The best time to book movers depends on your schedule and flexibility. The best rates often require booking in advance (at least six to eight weeks before your move), especially during summer. If you have more flexibility, consider off-peak seasons like fall or winter. Weekdays are a great way to save money, too.
Are Movers Worth It? Here’s the Final Verdict
Hiring professional movers offers convenience, safety, and peace of mind that you just don’t find with a DIY move. It’s an upfront investment that offers significant time savings and reduced stress. If you need help finding movers, a moving broker like Safe Ship can help.
Our commitment to service helps you find licensed cross-country movers within our carrier network at fair, competitive prices.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can hiring movers reduce stress during a move?
Movers can pack, perform the heavy lifting, load and unload, and transport your goods. They do everything you don’t want to so that you can focus on what matters.
What types of moving services can be offered by movers?
Some movers specialize in local relocations, while others handle cross-country or long-distance moves. Finding out which one you need depends on your move.
Are there more benefits to hiring movers for long-distance moves than local moves?
Yes. Long-distance movers have the skills to drive their trucks across the country on highways. Driving a large moving truck has a learning curve that could stress you out.
Do movers provide packing services, or is that left to the client?
Many movers offer packing services at an additional cost! Ask during your estimate.
