The single biggest predictor of a moving disaster is hiring two movers when you needed three. The second biggest is hiring three when two would have done it in the same time. This page is the decision tree to get it right.
The defaults
Use these as a starting point. Adjust below for stairs, specialty, and timeline.
| Home | Default crew | Estimated load time |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 2 movers | 1.5–2 hours |
| 1-bedroom apartment | 2 movers | 2–2.5 hours |
| 2-bedroom apartment | 2 movers | 2.5–3 hours |
| 2-bedroom house | 2–3 movers | 3–3.5 hours |
| 3-bedroom house | 3 movers | 3.5–4.5 hours |
| 4-bedroom house | 3–4 movers | 5–6 hours |
| 5+ bedroom house | 4 movers | 6–8 hours |
These are load-only times. Unloading at the destination runs 60-70% of the load time because the crew isn’t packing — they’re just placing.
Add a mover when…
- Two or more flights of stairs. Each flight adds about 25% to total load time with the same crew. A third mover stops that math from snowballing.
- King mattress and a tight stairwell. Three people, not two. The third handles the turn at the landing.
- Big appliances (fridge, washer/dryer, big chest freezer). Two movers can do one of these; if you have multiple, add a third.
- Pianos, gun safes, marble tops, glass-top tables. Specialty needs three movers minimum and the right equipment. Tell us at booking.
- Tight timeline. Moving in 4 hours instead of 6? Add a mover. Crew size scales the load roughly linearly down to a floor — three movers don’t load in half the time of two, but they do finish in 65-75% of the time.
- Summer heat (over 90°F) or winter cold (under 25°F). Pros pace themselves; a third hand keeps the crew rotating to prevent dangerous overheat / hand fatigue.
Subtract a mover when…
- You’re truly minimalist. A real studio with no furniture bigger than a futon: one mover plus you is enough.
- Everything’s in boxes and stacked, no furniture left. Common in college / dorm moves. Two movers easily handle even a packed-out three-bedroom worth of boxes.
- Ground-floor only on both ends, easy parking — the load is mostly walking, not lifting. Two movers stay efficient.
The most common mistakes
- Underbooking on stairs. “Two movers for the third-floor walk-up because I want to save money” — the load runs an hour longer at the same per-hour rate, the crew gets injured, your king mattress doesn’t make the landing. You lose money and furniture.
- Overbooking on a tiny apartment. Three movers for a 500-sqft studio means one person stands around. Two is fine.
- Booking by total square footage instead of by stair count. A 1,200-sqft third-floor walk-up needs three movers. A 2,000-sqft ground-floor ranch needs two.
- Hiring four movers to “go faster.” Past three movers, the marginal speedup drops off fast — you’re limited by truck-door width and stair geometry, not muscle. Three is usually the ceiling for residential.
What you save by getting it right
A three-mover crew that wraps in two hours beats a two-mover crew that takes three and a half hours every time — both on total cost and on whether anything breaks. Underbooking is more expensive than right-sizing in 80% of the cases we see.
What we suggest you book
If you’re unsure, book the crew size in the higher column of the default table above. Crews can sometimes downsize on the morning of (one person doesn’t come) if it’s clearly overstaffed. They can never upsize — a third mover isn’t waiting in a van around the corner for you.
When in doubt, book at the higher number. The cost difference is small; the difference in stress and safety is large.