How to write a moving company invoice

What goes on a moving company invoice

Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a moving and hauling document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.

1. Quote by volume and distance, or by crew and hours, and say which. Both are normal. Mixing them is what causes the argument.
2. State the crew size and the vehicle. Two men and a Luton is a price. A removal is not.
3. Price packing materials separately. Boxes, tape, paper and covers are goods, and they are often most of the surprise.
4. Bill waiting time and failed access explicitly. Keys not ready and blocked parking cost you a crew standing still.
5. Show storage as its own recurring charge. It is a different service with a different billing cycle.
6. State the liability and insurance position on the document. It is the one thing customers only read when something is broken.

The lines a moving company invoice usually carries

The generator opens with these lines when you pick Moving and hauling. The figures are placeholders to type over, not a going rate.

Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $955 before tax.

How to write a moving invoice, step by step

1. Write down the times on the day. Open the moving and hauling invoice and record arrival, loading finished, arrival at the new address and unload finished. On an hourly move those four times are the invoice.
2. State the crew and the van. Two movers and a 20-foot truck at an hourly rate. A customer who sees the crew size understands the rate.
3. Add packing and materials separately. The packing service is labor; boxes, tape and blankets are materials. Two lines, because customers often want to know what the boxes cost.
4. Charge waiting and mileage as they happened. If the keys were late and the crew waited an hour, that hour is a line with the reason. Distance beyond your included radius goes on as mileage.
5. Write the liability note, then collect. State the cover that applied to the move. Set 7 days, but offer the payment link before the crew leaves the new address.

Moving invoice example, filled in

A two-bedroom apartment move with packing, materials and a run beyond the included radius. The move times sit at the top, because on an hourly job those times are what the customer is really checking.

Subtotal $955, tax $95.50, total $1,050.50. Six hours at $95 is easy to accept when the start and finish times are printed above it. Packing service and packing materials are separate lines, so a customer who packed some rooms themselves can see exactly what they paid for.

Fixed price against hourly crews, and choosing before the day

The two ways of pricing a move suit different jobs. A fixed price on a surveyed move gives the customer certainty and rewards you for working fast. An hourly crew rate suits small, unpredictable or access-limited moves.

What causes disputes is a fixed quote given without a survey that then meets twice the volume described. Protect it with a stated basis: the quote covers the inventory listed, and material additions are chargeable at your stated rate with agreement on the day.

On hourly work, state the start point and the minimum. Crews are usually charged from depot to depot rather than from door to door, and a customer who learns that at the end of the day feels misled even though it is standard practice.

Access, waiting time and the costs a survey cannot see

Almost every removal that loses money loses it standing still: keys not released, a lift out of service, no parking, a completion that runs late.

Put waiting time on your rate card as a per hour crew charge and state it on the quote. It is entirely reasonable, it is standard in the industry, and it is only contentious when it appears for the first time on the invoice.

Access charges belong in the same place: long carries, stairs above a stated floor, and parking distance. Naming them on the quote also prompts the customer to warn you about them, which is worth more than the charge itself.

Packing, storage and the invoice after the move

Packing materials are a genuine cost and a genuine surprise. List them with quantities: boxes by size, tape, paper, mattress covers, wardrobe cartons. A customer reading a materials list accepts it, where the same amount inside a total looks like padding.

Storage is a separate service and a separate invoice cycle. Show it as a recurring monthly charge with the volume stored, the period covered and the handling in and out charged separately, because those are one-off costs at each end.

Finally, put your liability position on the invoice and not only in the terms nobody read. Whether goods are covered, at what level, and what is excluded, stated plainly. It is the single clause that gets litigated in this trade.

Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how moving contractors price the work

Moving is priced by volume and distance for a surveyed move, or by crew and hours for a small one. The choice matters more here than in most trades because the job happens once, on a fixed date, with the customer watching the clock.

Whatever the model, waiting time needs to be on the rate card. Late completions and keys that are not released are a common way a removal loses money, and the charge is entirely reasonable right up until the first time the customer sees it on an invoice.

Working out what to charge

Moving prices depend on distance, access, crew size and season, so a figure from a web page cannot price your job. The cost estimator builds a price from your own crew and vehicle costs, and the break-even calculator shows how many moves a month cover the truck.

Getting paid once it is sent

Take a booking deposit that holds the date, and collect the balance at the new address before the crew leaves, because the customer is never easier to reach than while you are carrying their sofa. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your terms allow and the due date calculator sets the new date.

Five dates decide whether a moving contractor gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.

Mistakes that cost moving contractors money

• Fixed quote with no inventory basis. Twice the volume arrives and there is nothing to point at.
• Waiting time never mentioned. A late completion is paid for out of your day.
• Packing materials inside the total. The one figure customers query most, made unexplainable.
• Depot to depot charging not disclosed. Standard practice that feels like a trick when it appears at the end.
• Insurance position buried. The one clause that matters, in the one place nobody reads.

Moving and hauling invoice questions

Free moving company invoice template

The free moving company invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 3 designs made for the trade, and exports a print-ready PDF with nothing saved to a server. Opening a design needs a free account.

Invoicing guides for related trades

Everything on this site, set up for moving contractors

The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to moving contractors rather than in general. The four marked links open with moving and hauling already selected.