Roommates moving out of a shared place

Shared apartments and houses are everywhere in the Bay Area, and when the lease ends the household often scatters: one roommate to the East Bay, one to a new place across town, one moving in with a partner. The question is whether that is one move or three. The answer depends mostly on the 3-hour minimum and on whether you are all leaving the same day.

If everyone leaves on the same day, one crew can load the whole place and deliver to each new address. Local extra stops have no fee; they only add time. Tell us the order of addresses when you book so the crew can load with the drop-offs in mind. The drive between addresses more than 10 minutes apart is billed as double drive time under California rules.

If roommates leave on different days, each needs their own job. Each job has a 3-hour minimum, so a roommate with only a bedroom of furniture pays at least the minimum: $525 for 3 movers, or $435 for 2 movers, which we send mainly for very small moves. Sometimes the math favors one combined move even if it means one person moves a day early or late; we can help you compare. If one person keeps the lease, the move is just the others leaving: an ordinary small move per person, and the roommate who stays should be there to make sure shared items stay put.

Decide before move day who keeps the shared sofa, the TV and the kitchen things, and label every item and box with its owner's name or color. On a combined move we bill the job, not individual items, so agree among yourselves how to split it; payment is collected at the end, by cash, money order, Visa or Mastercard. If you want separate invoices, book separate jobs.

$175 per hour for 3 movers, the same every day of the week, with a 3-hour minimum and 15-minute increments. A studio-sized load typically takes 3 to 4 hours and a one-bedroom 3 to 5. Blankets, tape and furniture disassembly and reassembly are included; boxes are charged as used.

• Agree on who takes each shared item.
• Label everything by person.
• Agree on the drop-off order and who pays.
• Check building rules for both move-out and each move-in: COI, elevator reservations.
• Clean and photograph the empty unit for the deposit.

Each address needs space for the truck, which needs about 40 feet of curb with the ramp. In San Francisco, when there is no legal place to park, a temporary permit can be processed through the SFMTA. Double-parking citations, if the crew has no other option, are added to the bill, so plan parking at each stop. If a street is tight, David checks access before move day.