You’ve reserved your truck rental, and you found great local moving labor providers at an affordable price, but now you’ve realized what moving equipment — if any — do you need to provide for your labor-only Service Providers?
The Moving Help® Marketplace doesn’t require providers to have any equipment to help you move as they’re considered labor-only helpers. Therefore, some equipment that may be needed for your short-distance or long-distance move includes a dolly, furniture pads, stretch wrap, and more.
What Moving Equipment Do I Need?
For your local movers, you should be prepared to provide the following items:
- A utility dolly or hand truck
You might not need everything on this list for your move. When talking to your Service Provider about your move, you can figure what moving supplies you’ll need to have a successful move.
As always, you can either rent or buy these items at U-Haul store locations.
1. A Utility Dolly or Hand Truck
A utility dolly or hand truck can be a true-life saver. No one wants to move boxes by hand — not even your local Service Providers. That’s why a utility dolly is a great choice because it can save everyone’s back.
Another important factor is a hand truck can save time for your move. Rather than moving boxes one at a time, you can move two, three, four, or more boxes at one time.
You’re paying your local providers by the hour, so if they can finish your move faster by using a utility dolly, it’d be worth your time to rent or buy one for them.
2. A Furniture Dolly
A furniture dolly is a great resource. Like a utility dolly or hand truck, it can save you time, money, and everyone’s back. The four-wheel dolly is great for moving dressers, wall units, certain pianos, chest freezers, and more.
Rather than having to lift and carry a heavy item from your home to the truck rental or U-Box storage container, your labor-only providers can more easily have the item glide through the home with a furniture dolly.
This way, the only heavy lifting that is crucial will be around stairs, some doorways, and inside a rental truck.
3. An Appliance Dolly
An appliance dolly is exactly what the name indicates. The appliance dolly can make lifting and moving those heavy appliances much easier.
Additionally, an appliance dolly helps move appliances safely while the other dollies won’t have the same safety level.
If you have an apartment move, it’s unlikely you’ll have appliances that need to be moved. If you’re moving from a home, it’s more likely you’ll have appliances that need to be moved.
4. Stretch Wrap
Stretch wrap is an excellent choice when you don’t want to use or can’t use tape for items. U-Haul offers stretch wrap that only sticks to itself and never leaves behind sticky residues on the surface.
Stretch wrap is a great option when you don’t want to damage furniture with tape but still need something for protection to keep a drawer closed.
Several ways you can use stretch wrap are for nightstands, entertainment units, small dressers, end tables, area rugs, oddly shaped items, and more.
5. Furniture Pads or Quilted Furniture Pads
Furniture pads, also known as furniture blankets, can be quilted or not quilted. Whether you want quilted furniture pads will depend on your personal preference and the items you’re moving.
A great way to hold down furniture pads or quilted furniture pads is to use stretch wrap. It’s a great way to not leave any residue behind when you use stretch wrap.
Furniture pads offer the best protection for your belongings. This equipment can help local moving labor teams move your furniture and appliances without worrying about getting scratches on them during the loading, driving, and unloading parts of your move.
Another great part about furniture pads is they’re multipurpose. You can use furniture pads to cover the floor or tight corners to prevent dents and scratches.
6. Tie-Down Rope
Most people realize they want a dolly, but they might not realize the benefits of having a tie-down rope. A tie-down rope helps with securing your items in your U-Haul truck rental or U-Box storage container.
Tie-down rope can help prevent movement or damage to your belongings. Everyone wants to avoid load shift during a move, and tie-down ropes can make this possible.
7. Ratchet Tie Down
Like a tie-down rope, ratchet tie downs are most useful during the transportation of your belongings. The ratchet tie downs help prevent load shift and movement.
Ratchet tie downs can handle much heavier items than tie-down ropes. If you want some extra security in making sure your belongings don’t move, you’ll want to use ratchet tie downs.
8. Packing Tape
To be honest, you probably don’t have enough packing tape. While packing, you’ve probably been back to the U-Haul store several times if you didn’t buy enough packing tape the first time around.
You might realize on moving day that you forgot to tape a moving box or that your medium moving box needs some more packing tape to be even more secure. It’ll be nice to have the packing tape on hand vs. needing to buy some more packing tape.
9. Utility Knife
Have you ever gotten to your new place only to realize you don’t have a sharp object to open your boxes? Maybe you don’t have a fantastic knife or are tired of using a pocketknife. Well, you can get a utility knife.
U-Haul has a retractable utility knife that works great as a box cutter for opening boxes. The box cutter will slice right through the packing tape. You’ll have a quick and easy solution to your problem.
If you haven’t started packing yet, you also can get some box markers with your utility knife.
Moving Equipment Is a Must on Moving Day
No matter how you’re moving on moving day, having equipment available is a must. It’ll make everyone have a smoother and faster move for you as the customer and your moving labor providers.
You should talk with your labor-only Moving Helpers to figure out what equipment you might need to provide for them. Your Service Providers might use their own dolly, so you don’t need to rent one if that’s the case.
Out of the nine items on our list, you can either rent or buy them at any U-Haul store location. The more moving supplies you can prepare ahead of time will save you time, money, your providers’ backs, and get you out of your old home and into your new home faster in the long run. Find your helpers on the Moving Help Marketplace today.