Member carriers · Labor-Only Help
Labor-only moving help, and why the licence question changes shape
Load and unload crews rarely need motor-carrier authority, so for labor-only members the vetting weight shifts to insurance (are the workers covered while they're in your home?), plus reviews and experience. Each profile below states plainly what coverage the crew carries.
Profiles for this move type are rolling out now.
The network already covers labor-only help. Members are publishing their profiles category by category, so tell us about your move and we'll match you with vetted movers today.
Before you compare quotes
What you are actually hiring
In a labor-only job you supply the vehicle — a rental truck, a portable container, a trailer — and hire a crew to load it, unload it, or both. The crew never drives your belongings anywhere. That single fact changes what regulates the provider and what protects you, and almost every piece of moving advice written for full-service moves gets it wrong when applied here.
The deliverable is load quality, not distance covered. A rental truck or container packed loosely will shift on the road, and shifting is what breaks things. A good crew builds tiers, fills voids, ties off at intervals and puts weight where the vehicle wants it. That craft is invisible until the doors open at the other end, which is why load-quality references are worth more than a low hourly rate.
The same crews are also worth hiring without any vehicle involved: moving furniture between rooms, clearing a floor for refinishing, staging a home for sale, or handling a single heavy item that two people should not be attempting.
What labor-only crews typically do
- Loading a rental truck, trailer or portable container to a planned pack
- Unloading and placing items in the correct rooms at the destination
- In-home moves: furniture between rooms or floors, staging, clearing for works
- Single heavy items — safes, appliances, gym equipment, treadmills
- Disassembly and reassembly where the crew is equipped for it
- Equipment: dollies, straps, pads and ramps — included by some, rented by you for others
Licensing & authority
No transportation, usually no motor carrier authority
Because a labor-only provider does not transport your goods for hire, it generally does not need motor carrier operating authority at all. No USDOT number is expected here, and its absence is not the warning sign it would be for a carrier. This is the one moving category where 'we do not have a USDOT number' is very likely the correct and honest answer.
The checks therefore shift entirely onto insurance, and there are two that matter. General liability covers damage the crew causes to your belongings and to the property — the scraped stairwell, the gouged door frame, the dropped item. Workers' compensation covers the crew themselves. A helper injured on your staircase without workers' compensation behind him becomes a homeowner's problem, and it is the largest and least-discussed exposure in this category.
There is a third thing worth understanding, which is where a claim actually lands. Damage occurring while your goods are inside a vehicle you rented is usually not a cargo claim against the loading crew — there is no bill of lading and no cargo liability, because nobody carried anything for you. Read what the truck or container company's own terms say about loading performed by third parties, because that is the document that will decide the argument.
General liability certificate
Ask for the certificate naming the provider's legal entity, not a policy number read out over the phone. This is what responds to damage in your home.
Workers' compensation — or a plain statement that there is none
Either answer lets you make a decision. A provider that avoids the question is the problem, not one that answers it honestly.
Employees or independent contractors
It changes who is covered by which policy, and whether the people arriving have been trained by the company you booked.
The container or truck company's third-party loading terms
Your rental agreement often governs what happens to goods damaged in transit. Read it before you assume a claim exists somewhere.
Anything a carrier tells you about its authority is checkable. Federal records are public at FMCSA's SAFER database, and the Union runs the same check as part of the published 5-point standard. We publish what we verified; you should still confirm it before you book.
How the money works
How labor-only is billed
The standard model is a rate per worker per hour with a stated minimum — two hours is common — and sometimes a travel or trip fee on top. Two workers for three hours is six worker-hours, and that is usually how the invoice reads, so comparing an hourly rate between providers means checking whether it is per crew or per person.
Equipment is the variable that catches people out. Some providers arrive with dollies, straps, pads and a ramp included; others expect you to have rented them with the truck. Ask specifically, because a crew without a four-wheel dolly and moving straps will be slower, and you are paying by the hour.
The economics against full service are real but narrower than they look: you are taking on the vehicle, the fuel, the driving, the equipment and the transit risk. For a short local move with a capable driver in the household it usually still wins. For a long haul with fragile contents, the saving buys you a lot of exposure.
This site's cost band describes a full-service local move with the carrier's truck and crew included, which is a different purchase from hiring hands by the hour — so we do not show it here rather than imply a comparison that does not hold. Labor-only is billed per worker-hour, and your truck or container rental is a separate cost you are paying directly.
Where to price this
Moving Union does not quote moves. For a cost estimate, the sibling estimate tool runs the numbers.
Take this to the phone call
What to ask a labor-only provider
1.Is the rate per worker per hour or per crew, and what is the minimum?
The most common source of a surprise invoice in this category. Normalise it before comparing two quotes.
2.Do you carry general liability and workers' compensation? May I see the certificate?
These replace the licensing checks that do not apply here. Without them, an injury or a damaged stairwell has nowhere to go but you.
3.Are the crew your employees or contractors?
It determines which policy responds and whether the people who arrive were trained by the company you hired.
4.Do you bring dollies, straps, pads and a ramp?
If not, rent them with the truck. A crew improvising without equipment is a crew billing you for extra hours.
5.Have you loaded this container brand before?
Portable containers have their own dimensions, door heights and tie-off points. Familiarity shows up directly in load quality.
6.If something is damaged, whose claim is it?
There is no cargo liability here. Establish before move day whether an issue would go to the provider's general liability, to your rental agreement, or nowhere.
A longer, move-agnostic version of this list lives in 12 questions to ask before hiring movers.
Walk away signals
What should stop you
- Cash only, no written confirmation of the rate, the minimum or the crew size
- No certificate of insurance and no straight answer about workers' compensation
- A crew that arrives with no dollies, straps or pads and expects to use yours
- A provider advertising a USDOT number to appear licensed when it transports nothing
- A broad damage waiver presented for signature on the doorstep, before work starts
- A booking platform that will not identify the actual company sending the crew
Labor-Only Help questions
The parts people get wrong
Do labor-only movers need a USDOT number?
Generally no. A USDOT number attaches to operating a commercial vehicle and, for household goods, to transporting them for hire. A crew that only loads and unloads a vehicle you rented is doing neither. Judge a labor-only provider on general liability and workers' compensation instead — and be a little suspicious of one advertising a USDOT number it has no reason to hold.
Who is liable if my rental truck's contents shift in transit?
Usually not the loading crew, and this surprises people. There is no bill of lading and no cargo liability, because nobody transported anything for you. Damage in transit tends to fall under your rental agreement, or on you. It is the strongest argument for hiring a crew with a genuine reputation for load quality rather than the cheapest hourly rate.
Is labor-only actually cheaper than a full-service mover?
Often, for a short local move where someone in the household is comfortable driving a box truck. You take on the rental, the fuel, the equipment, the driving and the transit risk in exchange. Over longer distances, or with fragile and valuable contents, the saving shrinks and the exposure grows, and a licensed carrier with real cargo liability starts to look like the better trade.