Moving & storage
Packing Cost Calculator
Prices packing, where who does it affects what happens if something breaks.
Result
A planning estimate, not a quote. Access, the age of the equipment, what is found once it is opened up and local labour rates all move the real figure, sometimes a long way.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Hours times crew times rate, plus materials and the call-out. Packing is labour plus a genuine material cost: boxes in several sizes, paper, bubble, tape, mattress and furniture covers, and specialist cartons for pictures, mirrors, lamps and wardrobes. Professional packing is charged by the hour or by the carton, and it is faster per box than a householder but it is not cheap, because a full house is a large number of cartons and every one is handled, filled, padded and labelled.
What moves the number
- How much is packed professionally against packed by the owner.
- Specialist items needing custom crating, such as art, glass tops and marble.
- Carton count, which drives both material cost and labour.
- Whether unpacking is included, which is a separate service.
Where this one goes wrong
Boxes packed by the owner are treated differently for damage claims. Where a carton was packed by the customer, a carrier will generally only accept liability for damage if there is evidence of mishandling such as a crushed box, not for breakage inside an intact carton, on the reasonable basis that they did not pack it. Anything fragile and valuable is therefore better packed by the carrier or professionally crated, and that trade is worth explaining rather than letting a customer save money into a claim they cannot make. Pressed board furniture is the other honest warning: it frequently does not survive dismantling and reassembly, whoever moves it.
Before you quote
- Explain the claims difference between owner-packed and carrier-packed cartons.
- Identify items needing custom crating at survey.
- Confirm whether unpacking is in scope.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
Should I pack myself to save money?
It saves labour, with one real caveat: cartons packed by the owner are generally only covered for damage if the box itself was mishandled, not for breakage inside an intact box. For fragile and valuable items, having the carrier pack them preserves the claim, and that is often worth more than the saving.
What needs professional packing or crating?
Artwork, mirrors, glass table tops, marble, chandeliers, large televisions and anything irreplaceable. Those need specialist cartons or custom crates rather than careful wrapping, and identifying them at survey means the materials are on the truck rather than improvised on the day.
Will my flat-pack furniture survive the move?
Often not well. Pressed board and particle board furniture is designed to be assembled once, and dismantling and reassembly weakens the fixings. It is worth deciding before the move whether cheaper items are worth taking at all, rather than discovering the wardrobe will not go back together.
The formula
total = hours x people x rate + parts + call-out, then sales tax
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How to use this calculator
- Hours on site (h). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 6 h.
- People needed. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.
- Labour rate charged ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $165.
- Parts and materials ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $90.
- Call-out or diagnostic fee ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $95.
- Sales tax (%). Leave at zero if you are quoting before tax.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to estimated total, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Hours on site | 6 h |
| People needed | 1 |
| Labour rate charged | $165 |
| Parts and materials | $90 |
| Call-out or diagnostic fee | $95 |
| Sales tax | 0% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Estimated total main result | $1,175 |
| Labour | $990 |
| Before tax | $1,175 |
| Sales tax | $0 |
About $1,175: $990 of labour, $90 of parts and a $95 call-out.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour rate charged, this is what happens to estimated total. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour rate charged ($) | Estimated total |
|---|---|
| $83 | $683 |
| $124 | $929 |
| $165 example above | $1,175 |
| $248 | $1,673 |
| $330 | $2,165 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Hours on site (h)
- Measured in h, between 0 and 400, starting at 6 h.
- People needed
- A number, between 0 and 40, starting at 1.
- Labour rate charged ($)
- A money amount, starting at $165.
- Parts and materials ($)
- A money amount, starting at $90.
- Call-out or diagnostic fee ($)
- A money amount, starting at $95.
- Sales tax (%)
- Leave at zero if you are quoting before tax.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Estimated total | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Labour | A money figure. |
| Before tax | A money figure. |
| Sales tax | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.