Labor-only moving: how to start a moving company without a truck

What labor-only moving is, why it is the first job most new movers can take this week, how to price it from your own costs, and where the customers who already have a truck go looking for help.

Labor-only moving is the part of the business nobody talks about, and it is the best way in.

The customer rents the truck, the pod or the container. You bring the hands, the dollies, the blankets and the know-how, and you load it or unload it. No vehicle of your own, no fuel, no truck payment, and in most states none of the paperwork that comes with moving someone's belongings down the road.

Here is what it is, why it is the first job most people can take this week, how to price it, and where those customers look for help.

What is labor-only moving?

Any job where you do the lifting and someone else does the driving. The common ones:

• Loading a rental truck the customer picked up from U-Haul or Penske, so they can drive it themselves.
• Unloading that truck at the other end, often in a different town, on a different day.
• Loading or unloading a pod or container that gets picked up and shipped by the container company.
• In-home moves: room to room, or floor to floor. The furniture never leaves the house.

All four are on our own Craigslist ad, word for word, under "what we do." The ad is in the course, word for word.

Why it is the best first job

You need no vehicle. The customer already rented one. The gear for your first jobs fits in a car: a dolly, four blankets, two ratchet straps, shrink wrap and tape, for under $150.

It is the easiest work to price. There is no truck cost, no fuel and no drive between addresses to guess at. Your cost is your crew's time, a little supply money and the drive to the job.

It is usually outside the mover rules. Moving household goods within a state is regulated in many states, including New York, which requires a household goods permit. Moving them across state lines needs federal authority. Loading and unloading a truck the customer rented is usually outside both. That is not true everywhere, so search your state's name plus "household goods mover permit" and read the actual government page before your first job.

It happens on weekends. Most people who rent their own truck move on a Saturday. You can do this while keeping your job.

How to price a labor-only job

The same way as any other job: work out what it costs you, and double it.

Here is the default job in our pricing calculator, with the truck cost set to zero for labor-only. Two movers, four hours on site, $22 an hour each, an hour and a half of drive time to get there and back, and $25 of shrink wrap and tape:

• Wages: 2 movers × 5.5 paid hours × $22 = $242
• Supplies: $25
• Your cost: $267
• Quote flat: $534, double the cost
• Or quote hourly at about $97 an hour, portal to portal, so the customer pays for the drive

Those are the calculator's starting numbers, not our rates and not yours. Put in what you actually pay a helper (a first helper should cost $20 to $25 an hour) and the drive time in your area.

Two rules matter more than the rate:

Have a minimum. Ours is three hours on every hourly job, because a two-hour job with a one-hour drive each way is a four-hour job. A labor-only job with no minimum is how a Saturday turns into charity. The exception is a small job you can tack onto the end of one you already have, where the drive is already paid for. How we price those.

Pick flat or hourly on purpose. A pod is the easiest flat quote there is, because the container defines the job. A rental truck the customer is "mostly packed" for should be hourly. The rule we use on every quote.

Where labor-only customers look for help

Moving Help. A marketplace built for labor-only. This is where customers who already have the truck go looking for movers. Say yes to it, especially in the first months.

HireAHelper. Books movers for labor-only jobs or full moves, and takes a cut of each job. Set your rate so the cut comes out of the customer's price, not yours. When you are ready for full moves, list with a truck as well and mark the truck as rented.

Your own Craigslist ad and Google profile. List "Loading and unloading" as a service on the profile and put it in the ad. The person searching "help loading a uhaul" at 9 PM on a Thursday is a customer.

The people who rent the trucks. Every customer who rents a truck and does not want to lift is a labor-only job. That is the whole market, and it is in every town with a rental counter.

All of these, and when to add each one, are on the tools page.

What makes a good labor-only job

On a labor-only job you are not driving, so the whole job is the load. The customer is going to drive that truck themselves, often on the highway, and whatever you stacked badly is going to shift.

• Wrap every piece of furniture in blankets and shrink wrap before it goes on. Customers notice, and the wrapped piece is your next photo.
• Build tight walls, floor to ceiling, heaviest pieces on the floor, nothing loose on top.
• Strap each section before you start the next one.
• Walk the customer through it before you leave, so they know what is where.

Then invoice before you leave, and ask for the review at the truck, with the link already texted to them. A labor-only job ends with a customer who just watched you work for three hours. That is the best moment there is to ask.

Insurance on a labor-only job

You are not transporting anything, but you are still in someone's home handling their furniture.

• General liability covers damage to the home and injuries to the customer. Expect roughly $50 to $150 a month for a small operation, and buy it before the first job with furniture in it.
• Workers' comp is required in most states, including ours, the day you have an employee. A helper you schedule, direct and pay by the hour usually counts as an employee, whatever you call them.
• Damage still happens. On a small local job, a broken lamp is a fair credit on the invoice and an apology. The damage you cannot afford is the one you argued about.

How labor-only turns into a moving company

Labor-only gets you paid, reviewed and practiced. Then the full moves start asking for you.

The next step is not buying a truck. It is booking a full move, taking a deposit, and renting the truck with the customer's money. The truck is the last thing you buy, and the jobs will tell you when.

If you are thinking about starting with labor-only and want to check your rate against your own market first, that is a short question on the strategy call. The whole sequence, from labor-only to a crew you are not on, is in how to start a moving company.