When you’re moving far away, leaving the country or even going to a different continent, the choice is clear: you must hire professional movers to help you. But when you’re only moving a short distance away, things aren’t quite so cut and dry. After all, movers Ontario can be expensive and really, you can do most of the work yourself! It’s tempting to just opt for a DIY move and maybe save a few dollars along the way. But should you hire professionals for a local move too? What are the benefits? And perhaps most importantly, are they worth the money you’ll be spending?

Long distance vs. local moving: what is the difference?

All relocations can be divided into long-distance and local moves based on the distance between the two homes. Although you’ll find that different moving companies quote different distances, 100 miles seems to be the most common magic number. Move within a 100-mile radius and you’re moving locally. You’re moving long-distance if the distance between your old home and the new one is greater than that. But what does that really mean for you?

In practice, moving long-distance is quite a bit more complicated and expensive than relocating locally. A lot more time, effort and money go into a long-distance move. A short-distance move on the other hand? That’s something you can, theoretically, do yourself. But should you?

Hiring movers vs. moving yourself

There are benefits to both hiring professionals for a move and doing it yourself. What you choose depends on your priorities.

The benefits of a DIY move

You may opt for a DIY move if:

1. you want to be in full control of the relocation process
2. you’re looking to save money and cut costs on your relocation
3. packing at your own pace appeals to you

When you’re moving yourself, you don’t depend on anyone else. You can do everything in your own time, create your own schedule and make all the decisions yourself. While this appeals to many people, it’s actually the money that is usually the deciding factor. Since movers are the biggest cost in relocation, cutting them out should save you quite a bit. It may, however, be a good idea to get a free moving estimate before you make the final decision not to hire professionals for a local move. Because the costs of renting a van, paying for gas and buying packing supplies quickly pile up, a DIY move can sometimes end up setting you back about as much as a moving company would.

The benefits of hiring movers

The main benefits of hiring movers are:

1. you won’t have nearly as much to do
2. the move will be faster and more efficient
3. you will be under less stress and pressure

The biggest reason why most people go with a moving company when relocating is to lessen the burden on themselves, both physically and mentally. It’s the movers’ job to take care of everything for you. And not only will they do the heavy lifting for you, but they will also offer you a variety of additional services such as packing and unpacking, storage units Ontario, and moving insurance. Not to mention, they will be much faster and more efficient than you alone could be. All of this goes a long way to making the relocation easier and overall less stressful for you.

Why hire professionals for a local move?

But if you’re only moving locally, there isn’t as much to do and you probably won’t really need any special services. So how hard can it really be to do it yourself? Well, in some cases, it can be almost impossible. These are the situations when you definitely want to hire professionals for a local move too.

Hire professionals for a local move if you have a lot of stuff

The more stuff you have, the more difficult the move will be. You will need more packing supplies, to begin with. A single trip with one moving truck may not be enough to take everything with you either. And with more stuff comes a higher risk of damage. More importantly, more stuff means more heavy moving boxes for you to move which brings a higher risk of injury too. To put it simply, a large move that involves a lot of stuff quickly becomes very complicated. It may be best to leave this one to the professionals!

Hire professionals for a local move if you don’t have a lot of time

Ideally, you want to start preparing for your move months in advance. That way you will have enough time to carefully consider and explore all your options, make a plan and a schedule, pack at your own pace and move without rushing through anything. But we don’t live in an ideal world. Sometimes, you need to move on short notice. This complicates things. You need to be quick and efficient. But the time crunch will likely put you under a lot of stress which will make it harder to focus and work fast. That’s why a last-minute relocation, even when it’s a local one, is best left to the professionals!

Hire professionals for a local move if you want to avoid stress

Moving may just be one of the most stressful times in your life which you will surely find out as soon as you start the process. There are so many things to do, think about and keep track of, many of which you probably haven’t even heard of if you haven’t moved before. So if you value your mental health above all and want to avoid stress as much as possible, hiring movers for a local relocation is a clear choice.

The verdict on hiring movers when moving locally

We think hiring movers is the faster, safer and overall better option. In some cases, it may even be a necessity. But at the end of the day, it’s only one question that matters: do you think you should hire professionals for a local move?