I'm A HANDYMAN!! Not A Mover..Right??

bujaly

Had someone call me and ask me to move them. Here's the scenario. They have a 1 bedroom apartment and have a free truck for with the move. He says they don't have that much, but I haven't seen to confirm. What would you all charge to move someone? Were talking straight physical labor here.

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MALCO.New.York

Your hourly rate. Plus premium for backache. Plus lunch. Use your truck? Plus gas FILLUP!

If you have the time, do it. AFTER coming to SPECIFIC terms.

After all....You are a self-described "Handyman". That means do what needs doing! So do it!!!

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Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

ChainsawCharlie

I used to do a "truck/labor" for hire years ago. I charged 40 bucks and hour plus forty cents/mile. That was when gas was around 2.00-2.20. I also charged an extra 20.00-35.00 bucks for appliances/furniture going up to the second floor.

woodchuck2

I have done this in the past, charge your normal rate plus milage for your truck. I always hired one or two laborers and charged extra for them, make sure you put a few $$ in your pocket for hiring them too. Shouldnt be too hard to find a couple guys or teenagers out of work needing quick cash, make sure they are not thieves though.

J F

Don't forget to add in for the back massage after..

J

AtlanticWBConst

-About 2 years ago. I had to move the last of my wife's things up from Ohio. We searched the want ads. I found two guys that are movers. Asked them: How much to move (To take boxes and furniture from the house, to the drive way and pack the rental truck). Answer $200.00.

They came, loaded the whole truck, like professional movers do, in under 2 hours
Happy with their work, they ran off to do the same at another person's house.

The OP's situation is different, ther is much more involved with their job.

The majority of people are never ready to move when you show up. They are never fully packed. They end up adding several hours, or more, to the work of loading. (Tip: Don't just strat hauling things out and loading the truck. Take out a large amount of items, and place them outside near the truck. Then "jig-saw-puzzle" fit the items into the truck. This allows you to fit more, and also to fit tightly, in order to avoid movement or shifting of furniture/boxes).

Now aside from the loading. Do you have any idea what the new home is going to entail in terms of unloading. How many floors? how much work to get to the front door? Ease of bringing furniture in, up, through the house?

Personally, I'd bow out....I am not a mover.

Additionally, you run the risk of liability if you damage their things, or they acuse you of damaging something. I'm sure that your business insurance doesn't cover that.

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- Build Well -

JPF

Like what has been said.....your hourly plus any other charges ( fuel, extra labor, etc.)

skippythetownie

Ditto on that. I was a mover when I was younger and in some states you can be fined for operating a moving buisness without the proper insurance. Tell them no.

J F

Yeah, the last couple of posts have it right...I would still get the massage though...

J

rservices

If you don't want to do something "DON"T"

Realistically, unless their moving in to a house, or have a need for you in some other way (handyman service) let them go.

I use the insurance excuse often.

Joe Carola

Will your insurance cover you? What happens if you were carrying something and you drop it and break it, you pay. Is that added in your cost to do this?

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Joe Carola

bujaly

I called my insurance guy and he didn't say no, but didn't say yes. They can never give straight answers until **** hits the fan.. Anyway, I told the guy no. I just dint want to have to replace anything because i don't have the proper tools necessary, LIKE moving blankets for example. Thanks for the replies though.

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dkillianjr

Good choice bujaly, Heck I have an anziety attack when I have to move a fridge to do flooring or something like that it seemd like something is always gonna happen. Wood I can fix, but broken appliances and furniture I can't The insurance excuss is always a good one, I use it on everything from people wanting to drive my truck to people being in the room, to rejecting work, to not lending tools out.


Dave

EricTheHandyman

I moved a guy last year. Charged him my trip charge, my hourly rate, mileage, and extra for my nephew who helped, and for the rental of the trailer. He was more than happy to pay it.

Michaeljp86

Id stay away from them, most people I see in apartments are scum and they will try to screw you over. They wont pay you or the will sue you because you damaged something.

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I am just a vessel from which genius flows -Homer Simpson

Global warming is a myth, like evolution and the metric system.

Kennyboy

I have a buddy charge $200/day as a partime "mover"

NRV2

local moving companies charge $85/hr

sarah_9

Hello,


I think hiring a professional movers and packers would be more reasonable than hiring private service provider. some one suggest here charge money for back pain, good idea buddy.



Regards,
sarah_9

Movers and Packers
smartboxusa

Handymanservice

Just curious, how much apartment work are you doing? Why are the people scum? Why wont they pay you?

I don't understand the logic to that statement, maybe these people lived in an apartment while they saved for the down payment on the house of their dreams. I just had a client that lived in an apartment for 7 years, just put down $85,000 on his new house that he has about 30% equity in.

Realtor referred me to him, we got a bunch of small repair work, very profitable. He asked me to repaint the entire inside, I passed the job to my Brother in Law, he is a Painting Contractor and this was a great job for him.

I gained a new client, he gained a great new home and he has passed my name to several other people.

I've learned in life that judging someone without knowing all of their circumstances may not be the smartest way to operate. I usually have to let people prove to be "scum", before I assume they are!

For what it's worth, I would have taken the job, taken note of any repairs that may have needed to be done at the place they were moving out of & the one they moved into. May as well mention we could take care of that stuff for them too.

I thought part of our business was Customer Service, moving items seems to fit in with that, my Insurance Agent had no problem with this the last time I ran across a similar scenario.

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"You can shear a sheep every year, but you can only skin him once!" Remember that when dealing with your customers and pricing.

http://www.yourhandymansite.com

Michaeljp86

You live in a town of 81,000 people, Ive never worked in a town of more then 6,000 people. You probably have more high end apartments around you.

Ive worked on rentals for years and have never worked on any nice apartments like you see on TV in big cities. In big cities Im sure there is alot of good people who live in apartments.

I seem to have a gift reading people. in my dads apartments I told him every time who would be a good tenant and who wouldnt pay there rent or who would destroy the place. Ive been right 100% of the time. We were at a auction 3 days ago bidding on a trencher. There was one other guy bidding. I told my dad he wont go past $500, guess what he stopped at? We got the trencher for $525.

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I am just a vessel from which genius flows -Homer Simpson

Global warming is a myth, like evolution and the metric system.