Member carriers · Office & Commercial
Office and commercial movers, and the protections that do not apply
Commercial buildings demand a certificate of insurance before a truck touches the dock, so an office mover's credentials are a gating requirement. The commercial members below hold verifiable authority and active insurance, and work the after-hours windows a business move needs.
Profiles for this move type are rolling out now.
The network already covers office & commercial. 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
A business move is measured in downtime
A commercial move is not scored on hours worked; it is scored on how long the business cannot operate. The whole job is sequenced backwards from a cutoff — last workstation packed Friday evening, network live Monday morning — and everything else is arranged to protect that. A crew that is fast but finishes on Monday afternoon has failed at something an efficient household crew would have been praised for.
The physical scope is different too. Systems furniture and workstations have to be dismantled and rebuilt to a floor plan rather than simply carried. Filing has to stay in order and sometimes in documented chain of custody. Server and network equipment needs a controlled shutdown, transport and reconnection, usually by people who are not the movers. And there is a great deal of near-identical equipment that only finds its correct desk if the labelling scheme is disciplined and the floor plan is real.
The constraints come from the buildings, not from you. Freight elevator reservations, loading dock windows, after-hours-only access, protection of finished floors and lift interiors, and a certificate of insurance filed in advance with limits and wording the property manager dictates. Two buildings are involved, each with its own rules, and both must be satisfied before a truck is allowed to back in.
What a commercial move plan should cover
- A survey against a destination floor plan, with a numbered labelling scheme
- Workstation and systems-furniture dismantling and rebuild
- Filing and records moved in order, with chain of custody where it is required
- IT disconnect and reconnect — explicitly in scope or explicitly excluded
- Rented plastic crates rather than purchased cartons, with delivery and collection dates
- Certificates of insurance filed with both buildings, and reserved dock and lift windows
- A named project lead, and a defined process for scope discovered after the survey
Licensing & authority
Commercial freight is not household goods
Here is the regulatory nuance most business buyers never hear. The federal consumer protections that surround an interstate move — the rights-and-responsibilities booklet, the limit on what you can be required to pay at delivery against a non-binding estimate, the mandatory arbitration programme for loss and damage — attach to household goods shipments. An office relocation is commercial freight. Those protections generally do not apply to you.
What protects a business is the contract it signs. That is a genuine difference in kind, not a technicality: with the consumer backstop absent, the liability clause, the estimate type, the delay provisions and the dispute mechanism in your agreement are the entirety of your position. They are also negotiable in a way consumer moving paperwork is not, and most businesses never try.
The carrier still needs valid registration — an active USDOT registration and for-hire operating authority for interstate work, and whatever your state requires for an in-state move. Verify it exactly as a household customer would. Then read the liability clause, because commercial contracts are frequently written at a low per-pound limit that bears no relationship to the value of a floor of computers.
The certificate of insurance is a gating document rather than a formality. Property managers specify limits, additional-insured status and often waiver-of-subrogation wording, and they do reject movers at the dock over a certificate that does not match. Getting the requirements from both buildings early and handing them to the carrier is the cheapest risk reduction available in a commercial move.
Operating authority for the move you are buying
Active USDOT registration and for-hire authority for an interstate relocation; state authority where your state requires it for an in-state one.
The contract's liability clause
Commercial agreements often cap liability at a low rate per pound. Read the number, compare it with the value of what is moving, and negotiate it.
Certificates of insurance for both buildings
Origin and destination each set their own limits, additional-insured and waiver wording. Confirm both are filed and accepted before move day.
Whether IT work is in scope
Disconnect and reconnect is the most commonly assumed and most commonly excluded item in a commercial quote. Get it named either way.
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 commercial moves are quoted
Commercial work is normally a project quote built against a survey and a destination floor plan, rather than a rate card. The components are labour bands by shift, truck and driver count, an after-hours or weekend premium, rented crates priced by unit and rental period, materials and protection for the buildings, and a stated rate for scope discovered after the survey.
That last item is the one to pin down. Business moves grow — a department that was not in the original count, a storage room nobody surveyed, a server rack that turns out to be staying. A quote that does not say what added scope costs is a quote that will be renegotiated under time pressure at the worst possible moment.
The after-hours premium is usually worth paying and should be priced explicitly. Moving over a weekend costs more per hour and almost always costs less in total, because the alternative is a Monday of a hundred people unable to work.
This site's cost band is a household figure and would mislead a business buyer, so we do not show it on this page. Commercial relocations are quoted as projects against a survey and a floor plan, with labour, trucks, crates, after-hours premiums and building protection as separate components — ask for them itemised and you can compare two bids properly.
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 commercial mover
1.Can you produce certificates of insurance matching both buildings' requirements before move day?
It is the most common reason a commercial move stalls at the dock, and it is entirely preventable a fortnight in advance.
2.What is the liability limit in your contract, and on what basis?
Consumer protections do not cover you here. A low per-pound cap against a floor of equipment is a real exposure, and it is negotiable.
3.Is IT disconnect and reconnect yours or ours?
The single most frequently assumed item in a commercial quote. Name the owner and the boundary in writing.
4.What is the after-hours and weekend rate, and is it already in this number?
Most business moves happen outside business hours. If the premium is not in the quote, the quote is not for the move you are buying.
5.How does labelling map to the destination floor plan?
It is the difference between staff finding their equipment on Monday morning and a week of hunting for boxes.
6.What happens to scope discovered after the survey, and at what rate?
Commercial scope always grows. Agree the price of growth while you still have leverage.
A longer, move-agnostic version of this list lives in 12 questions to ask before hiring movers.
Walk away signals
What should stop you
- A quote produced without a walkthrough of both the origin and the destination
- No process for certificates of insurance, or a certificate produced the day before
- 'We'll handle IT' with no named scope, no boundary and no responsible party
- Consumer household-goods paperwork used for a commercial relocation
- No named project lead and no single point of contact on move night
- A liability clause the carrier will not discuss or amend
Office & Commercial questions
The parts people get wrong
Do federal moving rules protect a business move?
Generally not. The federal household-goods consumer protections — the rights booklet, the limit on what can be demanded at delivery under a non-binding estimate, the required arbitration programme — attach to household goods shipments. Office relocations are commercial freight. Your protection is the contract, which makes reading the liability clause considerably more important than it would be for a household move.
What does a building usually require from a commercial mover?
A certificate of insurance with specified limits, additional-insured status for the landlord and managing agent, and often waiver-of-subrogation wording. On top of that, reserved freight elevator and loading dock windows, defined after-hours access, and protection for floors, walls and lift interiors. Both buildings set their own terms, so collect both packets early.
Should we move over a weekend?
Usually. The after-hours premium is real, but it is small next to a Monday where a hundred people cannot work. The exception is a small office with flexible staff and a short move, where a midweek move at standard rates and a half-day of disruption genuinely costs less. Price both and compare total cost, not hourly rate.