Build one scope that every company can price
Link to this sectionMake one room-by-room inventory and flag items needing special handling. Give every company the same pickup and destination access details: stairs, elevators, parking distance, building rules, and requested packing. Keep a dated copy. When the scope changes, ask every candidate to revise its estimate before comparing again.
Create three columns on your comparison sheet: included, separately priced, and not yet confirmed. A blank field belongs in the last column. It is not evidence that a service is free.
Worked example: an included service is not an extra
Link to this sectionIllustrative figures, not market prices: Company A lists $2,400 transportation, $300 packing, and $150 access charges. Its entered subtotal is $2,850 ($2,400 + $300 + $150). Company B lists $2,700 including packing, plus $200 access charges: $2,900. Enter zero additional packing for B only after confirming it is included.
If A asks for a $400 deposit credited toward the bill, do not add that payment to the $2,850 subtotal. The arithmetic remaining after that payment is $2,450, but this is not a prediction of the legal amount due at delivery. Unpriced services, the estimate type, and the contract can change what is payable.
A $50 difference does not decide the winner. Compare delivery timing, valuation, cancellation, and missing charges. Write down the questions that could change your decision.
| Cost or condition | Company A | Company B |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation | $2,400 | $2,700; packing included |
| Additional packing | $300 | $0 additional, after written confirmation |
| Access charges | $150 | $200 |
| Entered subtotal | $2,400 + $300 + $150 = $2,850 | $2,700 + $0 + $200 = $2,900 |
| Difference | $50 less on entered items | $50 more on entered items |
| Credited deposit | $400; part of the $2,850 total | Not supplied; ask the provider |
| Arithmetic unpaid amount | $2,850 − $400 = $2,450 | Unknown until payment terms are confirmed |
| Storage, valuation and other missing charges | Confirm in writing | Confirm in writing |
Read the estimate type before relying on the total
Link to this sectionFor interstate household-goods moves, FMCSA distinguishes binding estimates from non-binding estimates. A non-binding figure does not guarantee the final bill. Delivery-payment protections have exceptions and are not a blanket final-cost ceiling. Read the cited FMCSA explanation with your written documents.
Ask: Which inventory and services does this price cover? Which changes require a revised estimate? How are storage and difficult access priced? What happens if delivery cannot occur on the planned date? Request written answers and retain them with the estimate.
Use the decoder as a question list
Link to this sectionEnter the line items once, record the delivery window and payment terms, and leave uncertain items visibly unresolved. Print the comparison before calling each provider. Update it when written answers arrive. The tool does not verify a provider, interpret every contract clause, or select the cheapest company for you.
Use the example above as a practice run before entering your own written figures. Open the moving quote comparison tool →
Keep travel, housing overlap and other household expenses in a separate full budget. Build your moving budget →
Turn an early planning range into a comparable written scope
Link to this sectionA planning calculator is useful before you have offers: it shows which moving method fits your available cash and which expenses need attention. Once written estimates arrive, treat the calculator as a separate household budget. Replace its transport allowance with the provider's total only after checking the scope. Do not add the calculator's professional loading allowance to a quote that already includes loading, or add a second first month of storage to a container package that includes it.
For a practical comparison, imagine that one offer includes packing materials and another leaves them unpriced. A lower headline amount cannot establish which offer costs less. Ask the second company to price the same materials, and ask both whether the stated amount includes packing labor, access and any storage you need. Keep lodging, housing overlap and other household expenses outside the provider comparison, then include them once in your overall budget. Preserve each original estimate and record the date, person and written revision that resolved a missing item.
- Use the same inventory, access and dates for every request
- Mark each service included, separately priced or unconfirmed
- Replace planning allowances only with scope-matched figures
- Keep an unanswered cost visible instead of treating it as zero
Before choosing a provider: a final comparison checklist
Link to this sectionUse this checklist for each offer. If an item is unresolved, record the question and request a written answer before treating the comparison as complete. Completing this planning checklist does not verify the company or guarantee the final price.
For an interstate move, review the provider separately from its price. Start a mover verification record →
When the scope is clear, organize the two offers side by side. Compare your written estimates →
- Both estimates use the same inventory, pickup and delivery dates, and access details
- Packing labor and materials are marked included, extra or unresolved
- Loading, unloading, storage and specialty handling are accounted for once
- The estimate type and circumstances that change the price are identified in the documents
- Deposit, recipient, credit toward the bill and cancellation terms are written down
- Valuation options, delivery window and potential extra charges have been compared
- Unpriced items remain unknown rather than entered as zero
- The original documents and dated written answers are saved