$175 an hour for two movers and one truck, $270 an hour for four movers and one truck. Crew size follows the inventory and the access, not the upsell: a studio is a two-mover job, a three-bedroom with stairs is a four-mover job, and four movers usually finish in fewer hours than two.
Local moves are booked with a three-hour minimum. That is our own policy, not a state rule — the California Maximum Rate Tariff sets no minimum at all. You see it before you book, not on the invoice.
On an hourly move, billable time is loading, unloading, and double the driving time between the two addresses. That is Item 36 of the California Maximum Rate Tariff and it applies to every licensed mover in the state. On a move across the city it is usually well under an hour, and on the three-hour minimum it is often absorbed by the minimum.
A flat rate is built from a confirmed inventory and confirmed access at both ends, so it does not go up because the day ran long. It changes only if you add inventory, a stop, packing or storage — and only after you approve the change in writing. Packing on a long-distance move is priced in the written estimate rather than billed by the hour.
A truck in San Francisco usually needs temporary no-parking signs from SFMTA. Apply at least five business days ahead; signs go up 72 hours before on an unmetered block and 24 hours at metered spaces, and work runs between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. A permit of up to three days costs $355 for one to four signs and $489 for five to nine, plus $21 per occupied meter per day, with the final amount set after SFMTA inspects the block. Where the truck cannot sit at the door, we agree the truck position and the carry distance before the day. Your building may also want a certificate of insurance — we issue it free, so ask the manager early what wording they need. Permit figures checked 28 September 2026.
A deposit reserves the date; the amount and the timing are in your booking documents. The balance can go through our installment partner: you register, we send the moving invoice, and the provider reviews you and sets an available amount, generally between $600 and $4,000. Credit history matters, and the decision is the provider’s, not ours. The approved amount can cover the whole move or part of it, and the rest goes on another accepted method. How the payment plan works.
Our movers are employees on our payroll, background-checked and trained. We do not sell your move to a crew we have never met. Three people are responsible for it: a sales specialist who sets the scope and the price, a dispatcher who assigns the crew and the truck and keeps you posted, and a lead foreman who runs the day, documents any change and walks the home with you at the end. We have been moving Californians for more than ten years, 15,000 moves and counting, at 4.8 from 1,150+ reviews.