Month: February 2015

Who handles payments when you’re moving in the military?

Moving in the military is a given, but it’s not always clear who pays for all of the expenses. Does the military help you move from one side of the country to the other or overseas? Will they pay for storage while you’re out of the country? Read on while Nilson Van answers your biggest questions.

What moving assistance is available from the military?

It’s important to meet with a few different departments before planning your move. Your rank, where you’re moving from (and to), and your family make-up can all impact the assistance available to you. Regulations are constantly changing too, so you may wind up losing or gaining benefits from the last time you changed bases. It’s essential to set up appointments with the Finance Office, the Relocation Office, and the Travel Office to get a comprehensive list of the allowances available to you.

Basic Military Moving Benefits

Like many employers, the military will help pay for your moving expenses for a move needed for work. Typically, you will hire a moving company that will pack and move your belongings, storing any that need to be stored either long-term or temporarily, as well as certain travel and lodging expenses.

In order to pay for these services in advance of your move, you can apply for an advance of up to 80 percent of your expected costs. If you spend more than your advance during your move, additional help is available through a number of organizations, including Army Emergency Relief, Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, and the Air Force Aid Society.

You can file for an advance 2 – 3 weeks before your move. You will be asked to create a repayment plan at the time you file. Don’t worry. Once your move is complete, you simply file the receipts and paperwork to be reimbursed, and repay the loan out of those fees. However, it’s important to pay attention to how your repayment plan is established. You can often stretch them out as long as 12 months.

Personally Procured Move Program

If you’re familiar with military moves, you may have heard of DITY moves or Do-It-Yourself moves, where people received financial incentives to pack and haul their own property instead of hiring professionals. While these are still available, they’ve been renamed personally procured moves, or PPMs.

Upon receiving an estimated cost for professional moving, you may request an advance of up to 60 percent of this amount used for purchasing your supplies, renting moving equipment, gas, travel expenses and the like. Upon completion of your move, you receive 95 percent of your estimated cost.

By opting for a PPM, you miss out on the expertise a professional, experienced moving company can provide, as well as the practical value of having your items securely packed and stored. However, you may wind up with a little extra money as a result of putting your sweat equity to work.

If you’re worried about moving in the military, talk to the experts at Nilson Van and to get a free quote you can trust.

When you are moving internationally, it helps to know what to expect.

While Nilson Van has been doing business for over 90 years in South Carolina, with select locations in neighboring states, we’re also active helping our customers who are moving internationally. We’re often asked to provide over-the-phone quotes on how much a move will cost. Call it daydreaming or planning for the best possible scenario, but people love to have a rough estimate of how much these kinds of endeavors will take at the very beginning of the planning stages.

The Problem with Phone or Online Estimates

While Nilson Van does not give binding quotes over the phone or Internet, we can speak in averages, as long as you realize how different one international move is from another. Not only does location determine the distance you’ll be moving, but the costs of services in-country, customs, and other price-relevant factors.

For instance, a 2-bedroom house is often estimated to contain 5000 – 7000 lbs. of furniture and belongings, while a 4-bedroom house is estimated to contain more than twice that amount. In reality, some 4-bedroom homes are small and sparsely decorated, so costs would be significantly different from what an online calculator might project.

Rough Estimates

Moving an average-sized 3-bedroom house from Atlanta, Georgia, to London, is expected to cost between $6000 and $8500, before insurance costs. How do you feel about that quote? Do you think it’s specific enough? These are the kinds of quotes you can expect from companies online, and in truth, they might have little in common with your actual costs.

When you’re really ready to start planning your adventure, it pays to prepare your household items and invite someone from a reputable company to visit your home for an estimate.

If you are seeking more accurate information on moving internationally, get in touch with the experts at Nilson Van.

What factors into the cost of major commercial moves?

The cost involved with commercial moves vary widely, so you shouldn’t expect a reputable mover to offer you any accurate quotes online. That can be frustrating for the person who wants to start planning, but relying on a rough estimate can easily blow your budget. It’s much better to ready your business for a guaranteed quote delivered in-person.

So what drives the cost of warehouse relocation? Take a look at the following, in order to minimize your costs:

• Size and number of items moved
• Supplies and equipment needed to securely move items
• Disassembly and reassembly of existing equipment
• Disconnection and installation of existing electronics
• Assembly and installation of necessary new items at new warehouse
• Required insurance, storage, and security

Experienced Movers Cut Costs and Avoid Problems

If you’re moving from select South Carolina, North Carolina, or Georgia locations, give Nilson Van a call. We’ll introduce you to a comprehensive warehouse relocation plan that helps you avoid common pitfalls. From needing proper permits to having onsite security at both locations throughout your move, we’ll help you reduce costs and downtime by helping you adequately prepare.

Most of today’s business owners are shifting locations because better spots are opening up at better prices. For these commercial moves, warehouse relocation plans should start roughly four months in advance. This gives you a chance to pare down your inventory as much as possible, but also to ensure your inventory tracking is in line to prevent items from being lost during transit or poor organization upon delivery. However, if you’ve experienced a fire, flood, or other disaster that is forcing an emergency relocation, we can use our experience to streamline your shift from one location to another.

When embarking on business relocations, work with the experts. Give us a call and we can come out and help get you get ahead of schedule with an estimate you can trust.

How can you make residential moves go as smoothly as possible?

Residential moves can be made much easier by following two simple steps. First, start to minimize your belongings so you will have fewer things to pack and move. Second, find a secure and organized way to get everything to your new home.

Cut Back on Clutter

According to Real Simple magazine, people only use around 20 percent of their belongings on a regular basis. That means that you have a whole lot of stuff sitting around that might not even serve a real purpose in your home, that’ll you’ll pay someone to move for you. Before you ask for quotes, go through your items. Envision your new home, what you’ll be doing in each room and see if you can find a place for each of your possessions in your new place. If you’re struggling to imagine when something will be used, it may be time to sell it or donate it to a friend.

Because moving companies charge based on the time it will take to pack and move your belongings, this decluttering stage will only make moving day easier. You can also significantly cut your expenses in the process.

Organize Your Packing

Once you’ve decluttered and cleaned your home, grouping your belongings for easy packing and moving is relatively simple. If you’re hiring a moving company to securely pack your items as well as move them, all you need to do now is leave contact information and meet the crew at your new property.

If you’ll be packing on your own, opt for medium-sized boxes; pack heavy items on the bottom and place like items together. Use blankets and throw rugs to protect furniture, and label your boxes with the names of the rooms you want them placed in when it comes to delivery day. Streamline the unpacking process by clearly labeling the rooms in your house.

Contact us for more tips to help you reduce the stressors related to residential moves. The South Carolina moving experts at Nilson Van are here to help.