From temporary housing to your permanent home

Many people who arrive in the Bay Area spend the first weeks or months in corporate housing, an extended-stay hotel or a furnished short-term rental. Their own furniture is in storage or still in transit, and what they have with them fits in a car. When the permanent home is ready, there is a second, smaller move to plan, and it has a few quirks of its own.

Usually the belongings come from two places: the furnished rental, with the suitcases, boxes and new purchases from the last few months, and storage, with the household goods. One job can pick up at both and deliver to the new home; local extra stops have no fee, only time. If the stored goods are in our storage, we bring them out and deliver them. If they are in a container or a self-storage unit, tell us so we plan access.

A corporate apartment comes with furniture that is not yours. Before the crew arrives, separate your things clearly, ideally in one room, so nothing belonging to the landlord ends up on the truck. Check whether the building needs a certificate of insurance for move-outs and whether the elevator must be reserved; COIs are free, and elevator waiting is billed as job time.

Corporate housing often ends on a fixed date. Book the move as soon as you have the keys date for the new home. If the dates do not line up, our climate-controlled storage holds things in between, billed as a flat monthly fee in 30-day periods. We cannot hold a date without a confirmed booking, and we ask for a final confirmation 3 days before the move.

$175 per hour for 3 movers, $235 for 4 on larger homes, the same every day, with a 3-hour minimum and 15-minute increments. Moves between addresses more than 10 minutes apart include double drive time for the drive between them. No deposit; payment at the end. If an employer is paying, tell us when you book; David confirms billing case by case.

Months in temporary housing usually means new purchases: a desk, a bike, kitchen basics, flat-pack furniture still in boxes. Count them as part of the move when you ask for a quote. Assembled flat-pack pieces are not always designed for repeated moves; the foreman will decide on site whether to move them whole. Anything fragile, such as a new TV or monitor, travels boxed.

• Confirm the keys date and building move rules at the new home.
• Gather everything that is yours in the rental into one room.
• Tell us where your stored goods are and how to access them.
• Request COIs for both buildings if required.
• Decide where the large pieces go in the new home.

The first night in a permanent home is better with beds set up, so ask the foreman to reassemble beds first; disassembly and reassembly are included in the hourly rate. TVs are connected and set up on a stand, never wall-mounted.