What should I check about a mover’s quoting process and how accurate its estimates are?

Quoting is where a moving company wins or loses money. Ask for a set of quotes and final invoices from different months, covering local and long-distance jobs, and line them up job by job. You are looking at the size and direction of the differences. If actual hours regularly run over the estimate and the company absorbs the gap, margins may be thinner than the reports suggest.

Ask who produces the quotes. Is it the owner, an estimator, or a salesperson on commission? A business that depends on one person’s eye for estimating has a transfer problem. Find out whether estimates come from an in-person or video survey, how items are listed, and how extras such as stairs, long carries or heavy items are handled.

Then look at the customer side. How many disputes start with a surprise charge? Do crews call the office to adjust a bill on the spot, and who approves it? Your accountant can compare revenue and labour hours across jobs to test the story. Plan for how the estimating knowledge will be passed to you or written down before the seller leaves. Sit in on a quote request or two yourself, because hearing how estimates are made shows more than any file does.

Key takeaways

• Match past quotes to final invoices job by job.
• Find out who estimates and whether anyone can replace them.
• Count disputes that began with an unexpected charge.