Updated October 22, 2026
This moving quote calculator prices a local move from what you learn on the phone: the number of bedrooms and other rooms, turned into an estimated volume in cubic feet (or your own survey number), your crew's loading and unloading rate, flights of stairs, the drive between addresses and to and from the yard, truck cost, materials and your margin. You get a quote, the cubic feet, the crew hours on the clock, the hourly rate the quote works out to and the break-even.
Quick answer: Cubic feet = bedrooms × cu ft per bedroom + other rooms × cu ft per room (or your survey). Mover-hours = cubic feet ÷ cu ft per mover-hour × (1 + stairs). Clock hours = mover-hours ÷ crew + drive time. Quote = (clock hours × crew × labor cost + clock hours × truck cost + materials) ÷ (1 − margin), never below the minimum.
An estimate from the numbers you entered, not a market price. Put in your own costs for a number you can stand behind.
Home service businesses answer only about half their calls (Invoca, July 2026), and owners spend about 11 to 16 hours/week on admin. Pricing is the easy part; the money leaks out in the calls you can't take, the quotes nobody chases and the invoices that sit unpaid. Unmanually is a 24/7 AI Office Manager for moving companies that you run by voice from your phone:
Sources: Invoca, July 2026 (52% of home-service calls answered by a person, 60M+ calls); admin hours: Time etc / Censuswide 2023 and Amex SME Barometer 2026.
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Unmanually is an AI Office Manager that works 24/7 and that you run by voice from your phone. Leave your mobile number and the AI Office Manager calls you right away, the same way it would call back a family moving a three-bedroom house across town. That call is the demo: it answers, books you a 15-minute time with the founder and follows up.
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cubic feet = bedrooms × cu ft per bedroom + other rooms × cu ft per room (or your survey)mover-hours = cubic feet ÷ cu ft per mover-hour × (1 + flights × stair % + 15% for a long carry)clock hours = mover-hours ÷ movers + drive between addresses + drive to and from the yardbreak-even = clock hours × movers × labor cost + clock hours × truck cost + materialsquote = max(break-even ÷ (1 − margin), minimum)hourly rate equivalent = quote ÷ clock hours
These are assumptions for illustration, not market figures. Swap in your own.
A 3-bedroom home with 3 other furnished rooms, one flight of stairs, a 30-minute drive between addresses and 40 minutes to and from the yard. Assumed 250 cu ft per bedroom and 200 per other room, 75 cu ft per mover-hour, 10% per flight, 3 movers at $25 an hour, $35 an hour for truck and overhead, $80 of materials, 30% margin, $400 minimum.
Volume is 3 × 250 + 3 × 200 = 1,350 cu ft. That is 1,350 ÷ 75 = 18 mover-hours, plus 10% for the stairs = 19.8, or 6.6 hours on site with 3 movers. Add 70 minutes of driving: 7.77 clock hours. Labor is 7.77 × 3 × $25 = $582.50, truck and overhead $271.83, materials $80, so break-even is $934.33. At 30% margin the quote is $1,334.76, which equals $171.86 an hour for the crew and truck.
With a fourth mover, on-site time drops to 4.95 hours and the quote to $1,293.93: the loading mover-hours stay the same and the truck is out for less time, though four people are now paid for the drive.
Every local move price starts with how much stuff there is. Room counts on the first call give a quick estimate; a video walkthrough or an in-home survey gives a better one, especially for garages, basements and homes full of books. Keep your own averages by home type, because they depend on your market and your customers.
Cubic feet per mover-hour, loading and unloading, is the number that turns volume into time. Measure it on your own jobs. Furniture-heavy homes, lots of disassembly and fragile items lower it; a well-packed home with boxes ready raises it. Price packing services separately, by the hour or by the box.
Walk-ups, elevator bookings, long hallways and no parking near the door can add hours. Ask about both addresses on the call and put it in the quote, so the crew isn't the one explaining a higher bill.
Many local movers quote hourly with a minimum; customers like a flat or not-to-exceed price. The calculator gives both views: a flat quote and the hourly rate it equals. Whichever you use, say what is included (truck, crew size, materials, drive time) and what isn't.
Summer, month-end and weekends fill first, and mid-month weekdays in winter are quieter. Price your busiest days higher and offer a better rate on slow days to spread the work. Book early callers fast, because the first company to confirm a date often wins the move.
Pianos, safes, pool tables, gym equipment and antiques need extra people, equipment or care; price them as line items. Explain the basic liability coverage you include and what fuller protection costs, following the rules where you operate. Packing, unpacking, storage and junk haul-away are all add-ons that use the same crew and truck.
People planning a move call several movers and book the first one who gives a price and a date. Unmanually is an AI Office Manager that works 24/7 and that you run by voice: the AI Office Manager answers, asks the rooms, stairs, both addresses and the date, gives your price, books the move and texts the confirmation, then sends the invoice and chases it. See what Unmanually does for moving companies, or get a free website that calls every new lead back in about a minute.
What the AI Office Manager does for movers, from quote calls to invoices.
Hourly, flat and long-distance pricing in more depth.
Why the first mover to answer gets the job.
Pricing calculators and templates for every trade.
From a room count on the phone, a video walkthrough or an in-home survey. This calculator multiplies bedrooms and other rooms by cubic feet per room you set from your own past jobs, or uses your survey number.
Price it from crew hours, truck cost, materials and margin. With the worked example's assumptions (3 bedrooms, 3 other rooms, 3 movers, one flight of stairs, 70 minutes of driving, 30% margin) the quote is about $1,335.
It depends on volume and access. More movers shorten the on-site time but cost the same mover-hours; the calculator shows hours on site for the crew size you enter and warns past 10 hours.
The crew and truck are working during it, so yes. Many movers charge travel time between the yard and the addresses, sometimes as a flat travel fee. The calculator includes both drives.
Add time per flight. This calculator adds 10% to loading time per flight as an assumption; set your own from past jobs.
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