Just. Have. To. Rant.

[chhotii]

Understand, first of all, that my new condo is already basically moved into. Lots of stuff still in boxes, and haven't hung the shower curtain. But the (small) apartment is basically full. Nearly cluttered, in fact. I've already had 4 waves of moving in:
0) I bought a new bed and mattress and had them delivered, and new carpeting in the bedroom installed;
1) Pre-Mandeep, friends moved in my dining set, large shelving unit, and I had moved in the TV and the shelf it sits on;
2) Post-Mandeep, we moved most of what was in the old apartment into the new apartment; and
3) Ongoing, every time I drive from the house to the condo, I fill my car with boxes and stuff and the house and unload at the condo.

After all this, it's astonishing that I would have room for any more stuff in the condo. But, I've identified a few things that would be useful that are still in the house-- because they are too large to have just taken over in my car-- and have measured carefully to make sure that indeed, they will fit. Here's the list, and how they will fit:
1) Corner china cabinet: the footprint is a quarter-circle with a 2' radius; this will fit in the corner of the dining area. (Square corners make for otherwise kind of dead space.
2) Small bookcase; will fit next to other bookcase in Sophia's room.
3) Simple desk to use as sewing table: will fit between entertainment center and the window wall.
4) Rug. There is no rug in the living room currently.
5) Mattress. Will replace a mattress that I'm giving to dhs.
6) Metal plant shelf will go on the balcony.
7) Small end table will make the other half of the coffee table in the living room.
Also there are a few boxes of books, etc. Like, 6 boxes. I could take them myself, but I need movers for the china cabinet and the rug; might as well have movers scoop up the boxes while they are at it.

This must be a small fraction of a regular move, right? I already moved in 2/3 of the furniture, at least 3/4 of the boxes, and all the miscellaneous clutter. And I'm moving into a one bedroom apartment...

Here's the quote from Other Guys Moving Company:

Thanks for the inquiry, we would love to help you with your move! Based on
the information you provided, we ESTIMATE that your move will take 3 of our
great guys 5.5-7 hours at $180 per hour (for the team and truck). The quote
includes travel time from and back to our base in Charlestown and a $25
fuel charge will be added to the final bill.

*staggers*

Estimate is over a thousand dollars to move just a small fraction of the stuff into a one-bedroom apartment? Yikes! Unlike Stairhopper movers, their web form didn't allow for a detailed inventory of the stuff to be moved when requesting a quote. Stairhoppers estimated 4 hours for 2 guys, not 6 hours for 3 guys.

Comments

I don't get it

[sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com]

For that few pieces, why does it take more than 3 hours with travel?

Re: I don't get it

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Seriously!

[dhs.livejournal.com]

I presume that Stairhopper is getting the gig?

I would say that we could just borrow a truck and move the stuff, except china closets are fragile. My parents had one broken by professionals.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the china cabinet is the scary thing. An antique, even.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

You never know. Certainly, if you can't tell them how much stuff you have, they have an incentive to over-estimate, because it reduces the risk that the final bill will come in higher than the estimate.

It may depend on where the company's home base is, since I see that travel time to/from Charlestown is included. (How the hell long does it take to go from Brookline to Charlestown during the middle of the day? I'd estimate "forever", myself, but I fear Boston traffic.)

And there may be differences in quality. Yeah, you can hustle that china cabinet into the house faster, but the, uh, error rate may increase...