Frequently asked questions about moving with BEST MOVE

No. The rate you are quoted is the rate you pay. There is no charge for stairs, elevators, long carries, fuel, wardrobe boxes, mattress bags, or taking furniture apart and putting it back together — those are the line items other movers use to make a low quote profitable, and they are all included in ours.

Before the crew starts, they confirm what the job includes so nothing gets added at the end. If the job turns out smaller than we estimated, you pay for the smaller job.

No. We do not take a deposit to reserve your date. You pay for the services performed on move day and nothing before it.

Local moves are priced hourly. The rate is set by the size of the crew and the truck the job needs, and the total depends on how long the job takes.

Four things move the number: how much you have, how far the carry is from door to truck at each end, whether we are packing for you, and whether there are specialty items like a piano, a safe or a hot tub. Long-distance and standalone specialty moves are flat-quoted instead.

Two to three weeks is comfortable for most moves. Book earlier for a weekend, the end of a month, or the summer — those dates fill first.

We often still have room for last-minute moves when a crew opens up. If your date is close, call anyway; it costs nothing to ask.

For most homes, yes — ten minutes on the phone with Lyn or Gary covering square footage, bedrooms, access at both ends and anything unusual is enough to give you an accurate rate.

For larger homes, full-pack jobs, or anything with difficult access, we would rather come look at it. An estimate given without seeing a hard job is how movers end up "adjusting" the price on the day, and we do not do that.

Yes, on every move and at no extra charge. Furniture is pad-wrapped in moving blankets and shrink-wrapped before it leaves the room it is in — not in the driveway, which is where damage happens.

Fragile items get additional padding, and we lay floor runners and pad doorways and banisters when the route calls for it.

Yes, and it is included in the hourly rate — there is no assembly line item on your bill. Beds, bunk beds, mirrored dressers, dining tables, cribs and sectionals come apart and go back together.

Hardware is bagged and taped to the piece it came from at disassembly, which is why things actually go back together at the other end.

Yes. We place furniture in the rooms you choose and reposition it until you are happy with it. Deciding the couch belongs on the other wall is not an extra charge; it is a normal part of moving into a house.

Label boxes by room, empty anything heavy or liquid out of drawers, disconnect electronics the night before, and clear a path from the front door to the truck.

Set aside a first-night box — sheets, towels, toiletries, phone chargers, medication, coffee — and keep it with you rather than on the truck. It is the single thing people are most grateful for at 9pm on move day.

Yes. Washers, dryers and refrigerators are disconnected at the old house and reconnected at the new one, including ice-maker lines where there is a valve to connect to, and we run them before we leave.

Gas appliances are the exception — a gas line should be disconnected and reconnected by the utility or a licensed plumber, and we will schedule around that.

Yes — full-home, partial, or a single room. Kitchens, china cabinets, art and electronics are where professional packing is genuinely worth paying for; books, linens and clothes are easy to do yourself.

Packing is normally done the day before the move so move day starts with everything boxed. It is billed at the same hourly crew rate, with materials at cost.

Yes, and we bring them with us — boxes in every size, wardrobe boxes, double-walled dish packs, mirror and art cartons, clean packing paper, bubble and tape. You do not need to source boxes ahead of time.

We do not pack with newspaper. The ink transfers onto dishes and you end up washing everything you own twice.

Yes. We can unpack boxes, put things away where you want them, break down the cartons and take every box and scrap of paper away the same day, so you are not living around a wall of empties for a month.

Important documents, jewelry, cash, medication, keys, laptops and anything irreplaceable should travel with you personally. Not because we cannot move them, but because you will want to know exactly where they are.

Some things cannot legally ride on a moving truck at all: propane, gasoline, paint, solvents, aerosols and other flammables. Plants and perishable food are also best moved in your own car.

All of them, from a studio apartment to a large multi-story house. Second-floor walk-ups and elevator buildings do not carry a surcharge with us.

If your building requires a certificate of insurance or a reserved elevator window, tell us when you book and we will handle that paperwork with the property manager.

Yes — pianos from spinet through grand, safes and gun safes, hot tubs, large flat-screen TVs, gym equipment, pool tables and oversized antiques.

Tell us it exists when you book. Specialty items decide the crew size and which equipment comes out on the truck, and that is a conversation to have before the day rather than on it.

Yes — professional offices, medical and dental suites, studios and small retail. Workstations, conference rooms, file systems and computers. Not warehouse or industrial relocations: those need forklifts, racking crews and a different insurance profile, and we will tell you honestly that we are the wrong company rather than guess with your inventory.

Most office moves happen after hours or across a weekend so no working day is lost, and there is no after-hours premium for that.

Yes, through our TRASH DAY division. Unwanted old appliances and furniture, garage and storage cleanouts, post-move debris, and full estate cleanouts — the stuff you just do not want anymore.

Flat-rate pickup, quoted upfront before anything is loaded. Usable items are donated and electronics recycled before anything goes to a landfill.

We are based in Simi Valley and cover Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Camarillo and Oxnard across Ventura County, plus Chatsworth, West Hills, Calabasas and Oak Park in the West San Fernando Valley. Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Ventura and Port Hueneme are all regular work too — call and ask.

We also move throughout Ventura and Los Angeles counties and handle long-distance moves out of the area.

Yes. BEST MOVE has operated continuously since 1985 under CAL-T #188876, the California Public Utilities Commission licence that governs household-goods carriers in this state. We hold an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and we are a member of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Certificates of insurance for buildings that require them are issued on request for both addresses.

The crews are our own people, in our own trucks. We are not a broker — when you book with BEST MOVE, BEST MOVE shows up.

That matters more than it sounds. A large share of moving complaints nationally trace back to brokers who sell the job on to whoever bid lowest, and the customer does not find out until a truck they have never heard of arrives.

Lyn or Gary, in the Simi Valley office. Not a call center, not an answering service, and not a lead-generation site that sells your phone number to six moving companies at once.

Lyn founded the company in 1985 and still quotes most of the moves himself. Gary is his nephew and runs the scheduling and the crews.

Forty-one years in the same business, in the same county, under the same family. No deposit to book. No hidden charges — stairs, long carries, fuel, wardrobe boxes and furniture assembly are all in the rate.

The company has stayed busy since 1985 on repeat customers and referrals rather than advertising. Families use us, then their parents use us, then their coworkers, then their neighbors. That is the whole business model.