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We're getting close to our big move here, from South FL to Maui. Based on someone's recommendation here in the forum, we got a quote from Hawaiian Moving to get our household stuff packed up and shipped over, but we just got a shocker from them today when we made the call to finalize things and they literally doubled our original quote (nearly $20,000 is the new quote, for a 40 foot container including packing/unpacking).
Does anyone here have recent experience moving from the mainland that could comment on a couple things:
1. Is it typical for shipping companies to quote by the cubic foot?
2. Does $20k seem reasonable given your experience?
Does anyone have other shippers they recommend?
Thanks in advance!
P.S. We estimate that we have approximately 1800 cubic feet worth of household stuff.
We're getting close to our big move here, from South FL to Maui. Based on someone's recommendation here in the forum, we got a quote from Hawaiian Moving to get our household stuff packed up and shipped over, but we just got a shocker from them today when we made the call to finalize things and they literally doubled our original quote (nearly $20,000 is the new quote, for a 40 foot container including packing/unpacking).
Does anyone here have recent experience moving from the mainland that could comment on a couple things:
1. Is it typical for shipping companies to quote by the cubic foot?
2. Does $20k seem reasonable given your experience?
Does anyone have other shippers they recommend?
P.S. We estimate that we have approximately 1800 cubic feet worth of household stuff.
I used Royal Hawaiian Movers, they charge by weight. Essentially, someone comes to your house locally, estimates the weight, they give you a price by the pound, and the final price is when it actually gets weighed at the port. I liked them - others don't.
Depending on how much stuff, I can easily see $20K in household moving costs from Florida to Maui. At least it is tax deductible, assuming you are working age and getting a job.
At that price I would seriously be thinking of selling 80 to 90% of my possessions and just box up essentials and sentimental items to ship. Buy new furniture etc on the island. But do get some more quotes, I think you might get it a little cheaper but Florida to Maui is quite a haul including all packing - unpacking.
We moved from Colorado to the Big Island in 2010. We had a 20' container, and paid Matson $8,000 to drop the container at our house, then after we packed it they picked it up and delivered to our house on the Big Island. We paid a local mover (Mayflower) around $800 to do the packing in Colorado and hired some locals to help with the unpacking in Hawaii. I gave you these figures so that you could use as a comparison. A 40' container from Florida could easily be twice the cost.
I suggest that you do some looking around at Matson and Pasha to see what they would charge to move a 40' container from Florida to Maui, then contact a local mover for a packing quote. Your only unknown would be the cost to unload at your property in Maui.
My UPack relocube is in transit to Maui as I type this. Second time we used them and they are the best company by far. I will elaborate on this later but first let me ask you this:
Do you have a place to live on Maui?
Do you have a lot of disposable income?
Do you have a job lined up?
If you answered "no" to those questions, I highly recommend you downsize DRASTICALLY. Bringing the contents of a normal single family home on the mainland to Maui will be a nightmare for you.
Why? Because a normal single family home on Maui is very expensive unless you have the disposable income. If you don't, you will be forced into a one bedroom or studio condo/apartment and will have to throw the contents of your 40 foot container into storage (two or three large units) at a cost of roughly $400 each.
If you answered yes to those questions, disregard what I just said
Now if you did answer no, then sell EVERYTHING but the clothes on your back, a few personal items and pack them into a Upack relocube and save yourself A LOT of money, money you'll need to get grounded on Maui. My relocube from Ft. Wayne IN to Kahului Maui cost $4069. I packed a lot of stuff into it.
I just shipped all of my things that I didn't get rid of from Seattle to Maui. I got sold or gave away nearly everything, didn't bring any furniture, etc... I used a freight forwarder (Honolulu Freight Services - who, by the way, were fantastic) who loaded my boxes onto a pallet at their facility. They charged by volume, not weight. It came to about $19,600 less than your estimate and arrived in less than two weeks, no surprises.
When we moved from Seattle to Maui we shipped only our most personal belongings via USPS. Cost about $2,000. Took about 4-6 weeks for all to arrive. We had absolutely no damage to anything.
Koale
My UPack relocube is in transit to Maui as I type this. Second time we used them and they are the best company by far. I will elaborate on this later but first let me ask you this:
Do you have a place to live on Maui?
Do you have a lot of disposable income?
Do you have a job lined up?
If you answered "no" to those questions, I highly recommend you downsize DRASTICALLY. Bringing the contents of a normal single family home on the mainland to Maui will be a nightmare for you.
Why? Because a normal single family home on Maui is very expensive unless you have the disposable income. If you don't, you will be forced into a one bedroom or studio condo/apartment and will have to throw the contents of your 40 foot container into storage (two or three large units) at a cost of roughly $400 each.
If you answered yes to those questions, disregard what I just said
Now if you did answer no, then sell EVERYTHING but the clothes on your back, a few personal items and pack them into a Upack relocube and save yourself A LOT of money, money you'll need to get grounded on Maui. My relocube from Ft. Wayne IN to Kahului Maui cost $4069. I packed a lot of stuff into it.
This is the cold hard truth about moving to Maui.
Additional facts for better feedback (thanks to everyone who's chimed in!):
- We're negotiating on a house in S Kihei...not a done deal yet, but we've got options
- We have lots of disposable income
- I own successful companies and do 98% of any "work" I do online or by phone
We appreciate the heads' up on temp storage costs (hadn't looked into that yet). Making a couple more calls based on feedback in this thread. Thanks everyone!
Additional facts for better feedback (thanks to everyone who's chimed in!):
- We're negotiating on a house in S Kihei...not a done deal yet, but we've got options
- We have lots of disposable income
- I own successful companies and do 98% of any "work" I do online or by phone
We appreciate the heads' up on temp storage costs (hadn't looked into that yet). Making a couple more calls based on feedback in this thread. Thanks everyone!
With all this disposable income why are you worrying about cost? Pack it, ship it, move to Maui, then in 3 years wonder why you made the biggest mistake of your life...after realizing that you haven't had an educated or intelligent conversation with anyone on the island since you unpacked... wait and see if I'm not right.
Koale
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Gosh...
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