Tool 1 of the Get Paid Kit · For movers

Mover hourly rate calculator

This free calculator works out the hourly rate a freelance mover should charge, starting from the income you need — pricing the owner-operator’s own hour, the one that hides inside every crew quote. Clients buy a move for a fixed price or by the crew-hour, and both numbers are built from hours: yours, your help’s and the truck’s. With the honest presets below the rate lands near $94 an hour, $754 for a full day — and the conversion clients actually buy: a two-bedroom local move keeps you working about seven hours door to door, roughly $658 of your labour inside the quote, with hired help and the job’s own costs priced as their own lines.

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The pricing reality for freelance movers

Moving is quoted per job or per crew-hour, and both hide the same thing: your hour. A “two movers and a truck” price bundles your labour, a helper’s wages, the truck’s running costs and the business’s overhead into one figure the client compares against the next company’s bundle. When the bundle is priced by feel, the line that quietly absorbs every discount is the owner’s own pay. Price your hour first, on its own maths, and the bundle becomes an assembly of known parts instead of a guess.

The mover’s year has a shape, too. Moves bunch into summer, month-ends and weekends; January weekdays can sit empty while the truck payment and insurance run on. The work that bills is the hours on the tools — carrying, loading, driving the load, unloading. The work that does not bill is nearly as long: quotes and walkthroughs, route planning, the drive to the first job, paperwork, and the estimates written for people who book someone cheaper. The presets below use a 55% billable share: the moving hours bill, and almost half the working year is the machinery and the empty calendar around them.

The numbers below are starting presets, not a survey: a $56,000 target income, $16,000 a year of expenses — the truck’s payment and maintenance lead, with fuel, commercial vehicle and cargo insurance, equipment, licences and booking apps, and marketing — a 22% tax estimate and 55% billable time. Notice what is not in the rate: casual help hired for a specific move. That is a per-job cost, priced into that job’s quote, not a cost your hour carries all year. With those starting numbers the calculator lands near $94 an hour.

Your numbers — mover presets

Your recommended rate

$0 / hour
$0Day rate (8 hours)
0Billable hours per year
Income + expenses needed$0
Grossed up for tax$0
With profit margin$0
Working weeks0
Total working hours0
Billable hours0

Your rate is saved on this device only, so the Proposal Generator can show it when you price a project.

Easy to miss

Costs movers forget to put in the rate

  • The quote that never books. Walkthroughs, inventories and the careful estimate written for a move that goes to a cheaper rival. A steady share of the working week is skilled unpaid surveying — it lives in the billable percentage, where it belongs.
  • Damage claims and the deductible. One scratched floor or broken dresser can take a deductible — and an uninsured argument — out of a month. Cargo and liability cover, and a reserve for the excess when something still goes wrong, are rate costs, not bad luck.
  • The truck’s empty miles. Fuel and wear on the way to the job, between jobs and home again earn nothing and cost the same per mile as loaded ones. It is why the day rate, not the loaded hour, is the honest unit.
  • Seasonal silence. The truck payment, insurance and storage run twelve months; the moves bunch into seven. The rate has to average the year — price off the busy season alone and winter is worked for the bank.
  • Your body. Moving is lifting for a living. Straps, dollies, ramps and a second pair of hands hired before your back sends the invoice are cheaper than the alternative — equipment and help belong in the numbers before the injury, not after.
The maths

How this calculator works

Start with the hours you can genuinely sell. Take 52 weeks, subtract your vacation weeks, multiply by your hours per week, then multiply by your billable percentage. With the mover presets — three weeks off, 40 hours a week, 55% billable — that is 1,078 billable hours a year: the hours on the tools that clients can pay for, once quotes, travel and the quiet months have taken theirs.

Next, work out what those hours must bring in. Add your desired income and your annual business expenses together — $72,000 on the presets — gross the total up for tax by dividing by one minus your tax rate — at a 22% estimate, divide by 0.78 to get $92,308 — then add your profit margin to reach $101,538 and divide by your billable hours. That final number, $94, is the rate below which the year stops adding up.

Now translate the hour into the quote the client sees. A two-bedroom local move keeps the owner working about seven hours door to door — the walkthrough, load, drive, unload and the final check — which at $94 an hour is $658 of your labour inside the price, before the helper’s hours and the job’s own costs are added as their lines. Small jobs show why a minimum exists: a three-hour minimum booking is $282 of your time, which is why “just one sofa across town” cannot honestly be priced as one hour. The summer peak does not change the rate — it changes how early the calendar fills, which is a booking problem, not a pricing one.

Disclaimer: This is a planning estimate, not tax advice. Tax rates, deductions and allowances vary by country, state and business structure. Enter the rate you expect to pay, and check significant decisions with a qualified accountant.
Next: build a proposal with this rate Use the general rate calculator
Questions

Mover rate questions

Because moving bills in bursts. Move days bill in full and run long, but the quotes, walkthroughs, route planning and admin around them mostly do not — and neither do the empty winter weekdays the truck payment ignores. Fifty-five percent is a realistic start for an owner-operator whose year has a genuine quiet season. If your calendar honestly runs fuller, set the number that matches your year, not your best month.
Per job for the client, per hour underneath. A fixed quote built from estimated hours at your rate, plus hired help and the job’s own costs, is a number a client can accept without watching a meter. What you must not do is build the fixed quote without the hours — that is how a seven-hour move ends up priced as four, with the difference taken out of your own pay.
More than a van and a strong back, yes. Household-goods work normally carries cargo and liability insurance, and in the US, moving goods across state lines requires federal registration on top of any state rules — the details vary by state and by how far you travel. The presets carry commercial insurance as a real annual cost; check the exact requirements where you operate before your first paid move, not after your first claim.

Rates differ by trade — the same maths runs with different presets for graphic designer rates, freelance writer rates, web developer rates, marketing consultant rates, photographer rates, video editor rates, virtual assistant rates, social media manager rates, bookkeeper rates, translator rates, business coach rates, illustrator rates, copywriter rates, UX designer rates, SEO consultant rates, data analyst rates, motion designer rates, technical writer rates, podcast editor rates, email marketer rates, life coach rates, proofreader rates, event planner rates, voice actor rates, online tutor rates, personal trainer rates, interior designer rates, music producer rates, grant writer rates, UX researcher rates, book editor rates, transcriptionist rates, presentation designer rates, brand strategist rates, video producer rates, art director rates, WordPress developer rates, mobile app developer rates, 3D artist rates, game developer rates, Shopify developer rates, online business manager rates, podcast producer rates, data entry specialist rates, UX writer rates, copy editor rates, wedding photographer rates, resume writer rates, data scientist rates, instructional designer rates, business analyst rates, email designer rates, interpreter rates, audiobook narrator rates, landscape designer rates, wedding planner rates, wedding videographer rates, personal chef rates, dog trainer rates, music teacher rates, florist rates, cake baker rates, tour guide rates, pet groomer rates, house painter rates, handyman rates, locksmith rates, home organizer rates, pressure washer rates, carpet cleaner rates, chimney sweep rates, pool cleaner rates, window cleaner rates, tattoo artist rates, massage therapist rates, barber rates, makeup artist rates, hairstylist rates, nail technician rates, tailor rates, house cleaner rates, electrician rates, plumber rates, pest control technician rates, ppc specialist rates, content strategist rates, wedding DJ rates, dog walker rates, audio engineer rates, caterer rates, appliance repair technician rates, nanny rates, piano tuner rates, garage door technician rates, bicycle mechanic rates, house sitter rates, upholsterer rates, jeweller rates, cobbler rates, blacksmith rates, sign writer rates, farrier rates, mobile car detailer rates, genealogist rates, saddler rates, arborist rates, travel agent rates, watch repairer rates, doula rates, sleep consultant rates, home stager rates, wedding officiant rates, college admissions consultant rates, mobile notary rates, personal shopper rates, welder rates, carpenter rates, glazier rates, plasterer rates, tiler rates, roofer rates, bricklayer rates, HVAC technician rates, dressmaker rates, concrete finisher rates, drywall installer rates, flooring installer rates, gardener rates, fence installer rates, gutter installer rates, solar installer rates, stonemason rates, deck builder rates, insulation installer rates, cabinet maker rates, paving installer rates, furniture restorer rates, blind installer rates, driving instructor rates, picture framer rates, aerial installer rates, car mechanic rates, clock repairer rates, oven cleaner rates, smart home installer rates, alarm installer rates, drain cleaner rates, curtain installer rates, irrigation installer rates, shutter installer rates, artificial grass installer rates, fireplace installer rates, bathtub refinisher rates, snow removal professional rates, landscape lighting installer rates and radon mitigation specialist rates, or start from the general freelance hourly rate calculator.