Flat rate or hourly? The rule we use on every moving quote

When to quote a moving job flat and when to quote it hourly, portal to portal. The two-part rule we use, four real jobs from one August that show it working, and the one time the rule failed.

Every new mover asks the same question in the first month, usually after losing money on a job: should I be charging by the hour or a flat price?

The answer is both, and the whole skill is knowing which one to say on which call. We use a two-part rule, and it has not changed in two years. Here it is, followed by four jobs from a single August that show it working, and one where it did not.

The rule

Quote flat when two things are true. The scope is defined, and the customer seems like the kind of person who will have it ready when you arrive.

Quote hourly, portal to portal, when either one is missing.

That is it. Defined scope means you know what is moving, where it is, and what is between it and the truck: the photos are in, the box count is real, the stairs are counted, the piano has been mentioned. Trustworthy means the customer answered your questions straight, did not say "mostly packed," and did not float a garage full of things "we might do too." If both are there, a flat number wins the job, because the customer wants a number and a confident flat number is the most reassuring thing you can say. If either is missing, hourly protects you, because you get paid for whatever the job turns out to be.

The flat number itself comes from the same place as the hourly one. Estimate the hours, price them at your rate, take the top of the range and round up. That is why the calculator gives you both from the same costs, and why on a job that goes to plan, flat and hourly land within a couple hundred dollars of each other.

Job one: a pod load, flat

A two-story house in Rhinebeck, minimally furnished, going into a storage pod parked in the driveway. No transport, no stairs on the drop side because the pod is on the ground, and the customer sent photos and a clear list. Three movers, $1,400 flat, locked two weeks out, 20 percent deposit on signing.

Defined scope, trustworthy customer, flat. The pod is the perfect flat job because the pod is the scope: when it is full, the job is done, and it cannot get bigger.

Job two: a one-bedroom, hourly, by choice

Kingston to Hudson, one bedroom, one flight down and two flights up. Photos in, mattress and fridge staying, customer boxing her own small things. This one qualified for flat, so we offered both: two movers at $200 an hour portal to portal, estimated four to six hours, or $1,200 flat locked in.

She took hourly and paid $900 for four and a half hours. The flat would have made us $300 more. We are fine with that, and you should be too. When a job qualifies for flat, offering both is the fastest way to a yes, because the customer feels she chose. The whole paper trail of that job is on this site.

Job three: an unload from a U-Haul, flat

A family relocating from North Dakota, second load, 26-foot U-Haul arriving in Cobleskill with a ramp, 200 to 250 boxes packed toward the nose, an armoire, the usual. The customer sent a photo of the loaded truck a week ahead. Two movers, $600 flat.

This is a flat job for a reason beginners miss: you can see the entire scope in one photo. A loaded truck is a defined quantity. Labor-only unloads and loads are the easiest flat quotes you will ever make, and the easiest first jobs, which is why the first job page puts them on your ad.

Job four: a house that had just been moved into, hourly

A returning lead who had moved in two weeks earlier with another company, most of it never unpacked, now leaving again. Roughly a two-bedroom's worth of furniture plus closets, partial pack. Last name not even on file when we blocked the date. Three movers, $250 an hour, portal to portal.

Everything about this job says hourly. The scope was "roughly a two-bedroom's worth plus closets," which is not a scope. The packing was partial, which means unknown. The house had been moved into by someone else, so nothing was staged. A flat number here would have been a guess dressed up as a promise, and the person paying for a wrong guess is you.

The one that broke the rule

A furniture-only job in Troy, apartment to apartment, quoted $850 flat from a clean inventory: a bed, a dresser, five nightstands, a TV, a bar cart, a loveseat, and a sectional. Defined scope, straight answers, flat. Then the customer decided the sectional was not going. The sectional was the biggest piece on the list and a third of the labor.

We dropped the price to $775. We did not have to. A flat price is a flat price, and the agreement said so. But a customer who watches you charge $850 for a job that got noticeably smaller in front of her does not leave a review, and does not call again. The lesson is not "flat is risky." It is that a flat price is tied to a list, and when the list changes, in either direction, the price is allowed to change with it. Put the list on the agreement. Then it is not a negotiation, it is arithmetic.

How to say each one

For flat: "For a move like yours, two movers and the truck, it is $900 flat. That includes the wrapping, the truck, fuel, everything we talked about. The only thing that would change it is something that is not on the list we just went through."

For hourly: "For two movers and the truck it is $200 an hour, portal to portal, with a three-hour minimum. A move like yours usually runs four to five hours on site plus the drive, so you are looking at somewhere around $1,000 to $1,200. You only pay for the actual time."

Both of those come from the sales script, where the whole call is written out. Say the number, then stop talking.

What to decide before the next call

Write down your rate and your minimum. Ours is a three-hour minimum on every hourly job, because a two-hour job with a one-hour drive each way is a four-hour job.

Decide, in advance, that you will ask for photos on anything bigger than a single item. Photos are what turn "hourly, I guess" into a confident flat number, and the confident flat number is what gets the yes.

And decide that you will let the customer choose when a job qualifies for both. You will leave money on the table on some of them. You will book more of them, faster, and the reviews come from the ones who felt they chose.

The judgment calls in between, the customer who is almost trustworthy, the scope that is almost defined, are exactly what the strategy call is for. Bring a real lead and we will price it with you.