Unpacking costs $120 per hour.
At Lake City Mover unpacking is sold at an hourly rate only. Unpacking at our company also includes organizing and debris removal. The $120 per hour rate includes two professional packers. We do not recommend more than two pro’s unless your project is commercial or larger than a 4 bedroom.
Cost of Different Types of Unpacking Services
- Strictly Unpacking Only – Your personal belongings will be removed from their boxes and placed on tables, counters, dressers or on the floor. Lake City Mover does not offer this service unless a customer demands it. Many other companies only offer this type of unpacking. Be sure to know what you are paying for!
- This type of service is usually billed by the pound or by the box. A customer may be billed a flat rate per pound for their entire shipment to be packed and unpacked. Strictly Unpacking services can range from .05 cents to .25 cents per pound.
- This type of service is usually billed by the pound or by the box. A customer may be billed a flat rate per pound for their entire shipment to be packed and unpacked. Strictly Unpacking services can range from .05 cents to .25 cents per pound.
- White Glove Unpacking – Your boxes are organized within your home, moving each box as close to their final destination as possible. Book boxes are placed next to book shelves, etc.. Then each box is emptied one by one with specific organizational instructions from the customer. When completed the boxes, packing paper and other debris is removed from the home.
- This type of unpacking service is usually billed by the hour as it is at Lake City Mover. Organizing your personal effects can be a detailed task and may require some rearranging and staging of furniture as well as categorizing and alphabetizing. A customer may even request hanging of pictures and mounting of televisions or other specialty services associated with unpacking. Depending on the number of unpackers involved in the job, this type of service ranges from $100 to $200 per hour.
How Many Hours Does It Take To Unpack All The Contents Of A Home?
Time To Unpack Per Box
Depending on the size of the home, the amount of hours it takes to unpack will differ. Unpacking boxes generally takes about 10 minutes per box. Boxes of China, for example, could take 20-25 minutes, where a wardrobe box could take 3-5 minutes. Some boxes might only take 1 minute or 2-3 minutes. There are many variables to consider. The fewer boxes you have, generally the less time it will take, but that depends on your organizational process as well.
Time To Unpack Per Truck
A full moving truck weighs 10,000 lbs or so. This weight is usually split between boxes, furniture, and some tools and equipment. Once your truck is unloaded and the boxes are staged in their proper rooms, your unpacking will begin then or on the following day.
The average home will have around 1,500 lbs of boxes. A medium sized box (3.1 cubic ft. in size) generally weighs about 20 lbs, with an average weight of around 7 lbs per cubic foot, and takes 5 minutes to unpack. That amounts to around 42 seconds per pound. If you do some quick math an average home should take 1,000 minutes or 16.6 hours to unpack. A crew of 2 unpackers could do the job in 8 hours. At a cost of $120 per hour, the total bill would be $960 in labor.
The reality is you will have a few wardrobe boxes that weigh around 50 lbs each, a few dish-pack boxes that weigh between 50-75 lbs each, large boxes that weigh about 30 lbs, some 20 lb medium boxes and some 25 lb book boxes. Books could take 5 seconds per pound, unless the are being alphabetized or categorized, etc…The process can be very methodical and prolonged for several reasons.
Can You Reduce The Time To Unpack Your Home?
The unpacking process is mainly controlled by the organizational structure of your home and how organized the packing process was. If you are completely sure of where every item in your home is going and your contents were packed to cater to that plan, then your unpacking will be extremely efficient. If your home is being downsized or upsized there will be obstacles to overcome and you will have to make adjustments in your planning, but this can absolutely be accomplished.
Planning The Arrangement of Your Furniture And Belongings
If your items are simply packed without a plan, then you will definitely pay more for your unpacking services. Planning your unpacking by strategically packing will guarantee a savings on the unpack. You should expect at least a 10 -25% savings in this case.
When you pack your home, instruct your packers to pack with the destination in mind. All boxes should be packed based on the room they will finally end up in, not the room they are removed from (this is very important). Also, please ensure your boxes are labeled properly, on the sides of the boxes, not the tops, this will also save time.
Consider the layout of your new home and compare it to your current home. Plan the arrangement of your furniture and plan the settling of your belongings within that furniture.
Your new home may be completely different or exactly the same as your current home. If you have a different number of rooms in your current home than your new home, then you have to either combine, divide or purchase new contents to satisfy the void or the lack of space. If your new home is quite similar in square footage, layout, room count, etc.. then your planning should be very straight forward.
Once you have a plan of action for packing your belongings, write it down and give the plan to your packers. If you need help planning the staging and organizing of your new home, let us know and Lake City Mover will gladly oblige.
Quick Tips For Packing and Unpacking Yourself
If you are packing yourself, make a plan, keep the plan with you and follow the plan as you pack. Ensure you label things as detailed and descriptive as possible. When the unpacking process starts, you should be able to organize your things as efficiently as possible.
In the case that you are not going to unpack immediately or you are simply not capable of unpacking your things effectively within a day or two, then you should adjust the planning process to suit your daily living.
Priority Packing For A Longer Term Unpack
In this situation you will be living in a home that contains a large amount of items that are simply in the way of your living space and at the same time you will be missing items that you rely on to get by.
Pack your essentials last and unpack them first.
Things you will generally need immediately, will also be the things you need up until moving day. This makes the high priority items easy to identify and categorize. The mid-priority and lower priority items should be considered more thoroughly. Things you use less often like a second television or out of season clothing should be packed first and labeled lower priority.
When your movers unload, make sure the boxes are organized in a single space or in as few areas as possible. This frees up your living space for you to enjoy without clutter. When your movers stack your boxes make sure they are stacked in groups by priority.
That’s it for unpacking! Good luck with your move and please refrain from contacting your movers about a missing item until all of your boxes have been unpacked. It is extremely common to be anxious when you are in a new home and cannot find something you own. This is normal, it will happen, stay calm and keep unpacking.
