September 1 and the Boston Moving Season
Approximately 165,000 apartment leases in the Boston metro area turn over on September 1. This is not an exaggeration. The combination of academic calendars (Boston has over 50 colleges and universities) and a long-standing landlord tradition of syncing lease start dates creates the single busiest moving day in any American city.
The practical result is that moving companies book out weeks in advance for late August and early September dates. Truck availability drops, street permit slots fill, and elevator reservations in managed buildings get snapped up. If your lease starts September 1, you should be booking your move by mid-July at the latest. We start accepting September bookings in June, and preferred dates (Saturday and Sunday before the 1st) typically fill within the first two weeks.
Mid-week moves during this window are easier to accommodate and often less expensive. If your landlord allows early access on August 29 or 30, a Wednesday or Thursday move can save you both money and stress.
Types of Local Moves We Handle
Apartment to Apartment
The most common move in Boston. Whether it is a studio in Allston or a three-bedroom in Jamaica Plain, apartment moves require careful planning around building access, parking, and stairways. Most Boston apartments are in buildings without elevators, so the crew count and time estimate depends heavily on the floor level and furniture inventory.
House to House
Single-family moves in the suburbs typically involve more volume (garages, basements, attics) but fewer access complications. We bring larger crews and bigger trucks for house moves. A three-bedroom home in Needham to a four-bedroom in Wellesley usually runs six to eight hours with a four-person crew.
Downsizing
Moving from a larger home to a smaller space requires decisions about what comes and what does not. We handle multi-stop deliveries where some items go to your new home, others go to a storage unit, and the rest go to a donation facility. Our team can coordinate all three stops in a single day.
Storage Moves
Whether you are moving into our 10,000-square-foot climate-controlled warehouse in South Boston or picking up from a third-party storage facility, storage moves follow the same hourly structure. We handle both commercial storage units and personal units at places like Public Storage, Extra Space, or CubeSmart.
How Local Moving Pricing Works
Local moves are billed hourly. There are three components to every invoice: labor time, travel time, and supplies.
Labor time starts when the crew begins work at your origin and stops when the last item is placed at your destination. A two-bedroom apartment on the second floor typically takes three to five hours of labor with a three-person crew. A four-bedroom house averages six to nine hours with a four-person crew.
Travel time covers the drive from our South Boston depot to your origin and from your destination back to the depot. There is a one-hour minimum travel charge. For most moves within Boston proper, actual travel time is close to that minimum. Suburban moves to towns like Lexington or Hingham may run slightly over.
Supplies include tape, stretch wrap, and any specialty materials used during the move. Moving blankets, dollies, and standard equipment are included at no extra charge. If you need wardrobe boxes, mattress bags, or dish-packing kits, those are available at cost.
We provide binding estimates after an in-home or virtual walkthrough. The estimate gives you a guaranteed maximum price based on your specific inventory and building conditions. If the move takes less time, you pay for the actual time used.
