Why boxes take longer than the truck
Two people who pack for a living can usually clear a full kitchen in a few hours. The same kitchen takes most homeowners a weekend, because every drawer turns into a decision about what to keep.
Our crew keeps moving from drawer to drawer instead of pausing over every item's history. They wrap, box, label, and set the finished carton aside, and the boxes they build stack evenly so the truck loads tighter and faster on the day itself.
A two person team can usually clear a full kitchen in a morning, which is often the room that takes homeowners the longest to face on their own.
Materials built for Texas conditions
Dish barrels with dividers, wardrobe boxes, picture cartons, and real packing paper are the reason glassware survives a bumpy ride down the highway. Grocery store boxes soften in humidity and collapse when stacked, which becomes a real problem in a trailer sitting in August sun.
We choose the box for the item, not the other way around, and we tape every seam rather than folding the flaps shut. A box that rattles when you shake it is a box that will not survive the drive intact.
Partial packing for the tricky rooms
Plenty of Austin families pack their own books and linens and hire us just for the kitchen, the closet with the good dishes, and the art. That keeps cost down while putting the breakable items in trained hands.
Tell the estimator which rooms you want covered and the quote is built around exactly that, with the rest of the house left for you to box on your own schedule.
Unpacking on the other end
Unpacking means the crew empties boxes onto counters, hangs clothes in closets, sets dishes in cabinets, and hauls the flattened cardboard away with them when the job is finished. A kitchen that would otherwise sit in boxes for weeks is usable again by dinner.
Anyone starting a new job the following Monday knows exactly what a finished, unpacked house is worth on a Sunday night.
Electronics and heat sensitive items
Televisions and computers get photographed before cables come out, then wrapped and boxed with the cords bagged and labeled so nothing gets guessed at during setup. Candles, cosmetics, and houseplants travel separately and load last so they spend the least time in a hot truck.
On a summer job we recommend carrying the most heat sensitive items in your own car rather than the truck, and we will point out which ones during the walk-through.