Your Moving Questions, Answered

Cost comes down to two variables: how much you are moving and how hard the truck has to work to reach it. Our two-person crew starts at $110/hr, and you will have a written number before the first box gets lifted. Prefer one locked-in figure? Shawn or Jason will write you a flat quote, and that is exactly what lands on your invoice. Once a move crosses into another state, we switch the math over to weight and mileage.

That is a lot of what we do. The older streets around downtown Jacksonville are full of homes with tight staircases and narrow hallways, and out on Topsail a good share of houses sit up on pilings with a steep outside stairway and no elevator in sight. Shawn and Jason are used to snug turns, elevated entries, and a longer carry up to the door. We walk the stairs and doorways ahead of the move, wrap the railings and door jambs for protection, and slow down on the heaviest pieces, which keeps an older downtown home or a stilted beach house from turning into a headache.

Yes, and it is a big part of what we do. A steady share of our jobs are PCS or DITY/PPM moves onto or off Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River, and getting through the gate takes a visitor pass or a sponsor to walk it through, plus knowing on-base housing like Tarawa Terrace, Midway Park, and Berkeley Manor and their own inspection windows. Send us your orders and gate contact when you book, and we work out the pass, plan around the inspection timeline, and time the move so nothing holds you up at the gate.

Honestly, that is a normal Tuesday for us. Tell us the address when you book and we will work out the truck placement ahead of time, whether that means clearing a Camp Lejeune checkpoint first or working a tight street in Swansboro or Sneads Ferry with no driveway at all. Our guys plan for base check-in lines and a longer haul from the curb, not a flat suburban driveway every time.

The clock starts the moment the S&J crew begins working at your door, not when the truck pulled out of the yard. After that first hour, billing runs minute by minute, so a job that runs seventy minutes shows up as seventy minutes, never rounded up to two full hours. Before anything gets loaded, we spell out the rate and exactly how drive time factors in.

Just a small, refundable amount that holds your date on the calendar, and it applies straight to your final bill, so none of it is money lost. Give us a couple of days’ notice if plans change and you cancel, and the full amount comes back to you. Nothing here is buried in fine print, it is all spelled out in your booking from day one.

You owe nothing until the last box is off the truck, not a minute sooner. Cards, checks, and cash all work fine. Shawn or Jason walks you through the final number at your door before anyone drives away, and you sign off on it.

No, and you will not find a gratuity line hiding anywhere on your invoice. A lot of folks choose to tip ten to fifteen percent when the crew does right by them, split between the guys, cash or card, but that is entirely a decision you get to make on your own.

It is a short list, and everything on it is there for safety or legal reasons: things like propane, gasoline, and paint, plus ammunition, live plants, animals, and anything perishable. Have a piece that is oversized, unusually heavy, or especially valuable? Let us know when you book so we show up with the right equipment for it.

Yes. S&J Moving carries North Carolina licensing and insurance, and Shawn and Jason staff every job themselves, with no broker wedged in the middle taking a cut. Want the coverage details? Just ask and we will walk you through the valuation options before you sign off on anything.

It is rare thanks to how carefully we pad everything, but if something does get dinged, we will flag it on the spot and open the claim that same day. Before your move starts, we walk through released coverage versus full-value protection, so you already understand how a claim plays out if you ever need one.

For most local jobs, one to two weeks of notice is plenty. Summer PCS season books up faster, so plan on three to four weeks then, and add extra cushion if you want a Saturday. Even so, we keep some room open for last-minute moves, so it is always worth a quick call.

Yes, it is part of our routine. Whether it is an upright or baby grand, a loaded gun safe, a slate pool table, a heavy antique, or a framed piece of art, each item goes onto the right board or dolly, gets strapped and padded properly, and we map out the doorways, base gates, and stairs on the route beforehand.

As much or as little as you want. Every room boxed from top to bottom? We will do it. Only the kitchen items and whatever is fragile? We can narrow it down to just that. We show up with commercial-grade cartons and paper, tag each box with its room, and once the truck is unloaded we are glad to unpack and set up your new place too, the packing and organizing side S&J Moving has built a name on.

We do, and Shawn and Jason personally stay with your load from pickup to the final drop-off. There is no brokering it out or transferring it into someone else’s trailer at a depot along the way, and you get a delivery window that is realistic enough to actually plan your life around. Marine families on PCS orders moving up and down the coast alone account for a good chunk of our long-haul work.

We do. Whether it is a brief gap between leases or a longer wait while your orders sort themselves out, your things sit in a locked, clean space the whole time with every item logged on an inventory sheet. We handle the drop-off and the pickup later, so there is no need to rent a second truck when the time comes.

Absolutely, plenty of our business is people arriving in the Jacksonville area, a lot of them on Marine Corps orders to Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River, others who just picked the coast themselves. We nail down the delivery window, we are there when you arrive at the new place, and we take care of the gate pass, the narrow coastal street, or the missing driveway on our end. Shawn and Jason travel with your belongings the entire way, so your move never gets handed off to whichever company happened to bid low that week.

Sure thing. Give us two days’ notice or more to reschedule or cancel, and your whole deposit comes back to you. Every condition is written out plainly in your booking confirmation, so there is no fine print to decode.