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Hiring Professional Packers: How Much Does a Packing Service Cost?

Jul 19, 2023

A recent survey found that about 65% of people hate packing for vacations. They hate doing it so much that many of them will wait until the very last minute to start.

People tend to feel the same way about packing for a move. They often list it as one of the most stressful parts of the entire moving process.

Would you like to get around having to pack for an upcoming move? Then you might want to look into what the packing service cost would be through one of the trusted Chicago area moving services. A lot of them will be more than happy to help with packing and/or unpacking if you would like for $25 to $35 per hour on average.

However, the price you’ll pay for professional packers will vary from one moving service to the next. It’ll also change depending on a variety of other factors.

Here are a handful of the factors that’ll have an impact on how much hiring packers for your move will cost.

The Packing Services You Request

If you would like to hire professional packers to help you pack for a move, they’ll be able to take on as much or as little as you want them to. You’ll be able to pick out the specific packing services that work best for you.

In some cases, that might mean hiring packers to pack up every single item in your home. They’ll be able to step in and handle your entire packing job without a problem.

In other instances, you might only need to hire packers to pack up a portion of your home. They’ll be able to take care of packing up this part of your home and leave you to pack up everything else.

As you might imagine, full-service packing services are going to end up costing more than partial packing services will. A moving company should be able to tell you what each of these services will cost so that you can see the difference for yourself and make a final decision on which packing services you want to sign up for.

The Size of Your Home

No matter which packing services you settle on, the size of your home will be another big factor when it comes to your packing service cost. The larger your home is, the more it’ll likely have inside it. It’ll lead to your packing services costing more than they would if you had a smaller home.

That being said, there are some very large homes that have fewer items in them than smaller ones do. It’s why many moving services will want to take a look at your home before providing you with an estimate on how much packing services will cost.

You shouldn’t automatically assume packing services will be outside of your budget simply because you have a house that’s on the larger side. A moving company may be able to show you how you can fit packing services into your moving budget without breaking the bank.

The Packing Supplies You Would Like Used

Some moving companies won’t supply you with any packing materials when you hire professional packers through them. It’ll be up to you to provide them with the materials you want them to use when they take a trip out to your home to pack for you.

But the best moving companies in Chicago will always set you up with the packing supplies you’ll need to keep your possessions safe. Many of them prefer to do this because it enables them to pick out high-quality packing supplies that’ll be every bit as durable as they need them to be.

In this situation, your packing service cost might be a little higher than it would be if you were to provide a moving company with your own packing supplies. But it would also force you to go out and buy these supplies before transporting them home.

Moving is already going to be stressful enough in and of itself. So wouldn’t it be nice to have a moving company provide you with packing supplies for their professional packers to use? It’ll save you a trip without increasing the packing service cost that much in the grand scheme of things.

The Number of Items You Need Packed

Did you know that the average American home has somewhere around 300,00 items inside it? This is a big part of the reason why people dread packing so much!

A moving company obviously isn’t going to sit and count every item in your home prior to providing you with a packing service cost. It would take them forever to do this.

They will, however, inspect your home to get a general sense of how many items you’ll need to have packed. You’ll be asked to pay more for packing services if you have tons of closets and even entire rooms filled with items that’ll need to be packed away in boxes.

With this in mind, you may want to conduct a purge before you start trying to find professional packers to assist you. By doing this, you’ll be able to get rid of things you don’t need any more while also bringing your packing service cost down in the process.

The Number of Fragile Items You Need Packed

Do you know that you have a lot of fragile items located throughout your home that’ll require special attention when you’re packing them up? This may be another reason why you don’t want to get stuck packing up all your stuff before making a move.

When you’re calling around to moving companies and asking them about hiring packers, you should be upfront with them about any fragile items you need to be packed. From fine China to electronics, there are bound to be at least a few things in your house that’ll needed to be handled with care.

If you have something like, say, a room filled with sports memorabilia that is very valuable, professional packers will need to take their time when packing it. They’ll also need to be extra careful when they’re moving it from point A to point B.

This could increase the cost of packing services slightly. But you should know that you might be able to get around this by only requesting partial packing services and taking care of any fragile or valuable items you have on your own.

The Amount of Furniture in Your Home

You might be under the impression that all the furniture in your home won’t need to be “packed” per se. You would be partially right in this assumption in that the furniture in your house isn’t going to be put into moving boxes like other things will.

But more often than not, the bulk of your home’s furniture will need to be wrapped in moving blankets to keep them clean and prevent them from getting damaged during your move. So you should take the amount of furniture you have into account when you’re trying to calculate your packing service cost.

The Unpacking Services You Request

There are some people who enjoy unpacking their possessions at their new homes a lot more than packing them at their old ones. Unpacking provides them with an opportunity to find the right places to put everything that they own in their new home. It also enables them to make their new houses as functional as possible.

If you’re okay with handling unpacking your things at your new home, you won’t have to worry about this particular factor when you’re considering your packing service cost. But if you plan to ask a moving company to help you unpack, it’ll be a different story.

Professional packers can lend a hand when it’s time to unpack for you. But it will, of course, increase the price you’ll pay to a moving company.

You might not mind paying extra for unpacking services, though. It’ll prevent you from having to put everything away in your new home.

Hiring professional packers to help you unpack will also make it possible for you to avoid living in a home while surrounded by moving boxes for weeks or even months on end. Reports have revealed that the average American household takes more than 6 months to unpack completely following a move. You can see to it that you don’t become a part of this statistic with the help of your packers.

The Timeframe of Your Upcoming Move

Are you planning to move in 3 months and looking to hire one of your local moving services to help you pack? In this instance, your packing service cost shouldn’t increase at all because of the timeframe of your move.

When you give a moving company plenty of advanced notice about a move, they’ll be able to accommodate you without charging you a small fortune. They can get you on their calendar and work on slowly packing your house up over time.

If, however, you call a moving company and tell them your whole house needs to be packed up within the next 2 weeks, you will put them in a tough spot. They might not have enough availability to assist you when this is the case. And if they can help you out, it could increase your packing service cost substantially.

It’s always a great idea to give a moving service as much notice as you can when you know you’ll need to hire them. It’ll let you get access to their moving services without you having to spend extra because their backs are up against the wall.

The Moving Company You Hire

At the end of the day, the moving company you hire to help you with packing and unpacking might be the biggest factor when it comes to your packing service cost. You should search for a moving company that has earned a reputation for providing homeowners with fair and affordable prices on packing services.

The good news for you is that there are over 17,000 moving services in the U.S. today. This includes many moving companies in the Chicago area that would love to help you out.

Make it your mission to obtain estimates from as many of them as you can. It’ll let you choose a trustworthy moving service that will be able to provide you with a packing service cost you can definitely afford.

So, What Will a Packing Service Cost?

As you’ve seen here, determining what your packing service cost will be won’t be easy. There will be so many factors that’ll play key roles in how much you’ll have to fork over for packing services.

Many packing services will charge you between $25 and $35 per hour as we mentioned back at the beginning. But you might be able to get away with paying less than that if you have a smaller home or if you don’t have too many items in your home.

At the same time, you could also see your packing service cost come in at much higher than that if you currently live in a big home that needs to be packed up and moved within the next few weeks. It’ll all depend on the factors listed here and the moving company you decide to get in your corner.

Contact Us for Packing and Unpacking Services in Chicago

At Moovers Chicago, we know that packing and unpacking can be two of the most difficult parts of the moving process. We offer a full lineup of packing and unpacking services to our customers to help eliminate some of the moving-related stress from the equation.

Would you like to find out how much our packing services cost? We invite you to touch base with us to ask, “How much does a packing service cost through your company?” We would be happy to provide you with an answer after asking you a few questions and potentially even stopping by your home to see it.

Contact us today to take advantage of the services our professional packers can offer.

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