Moving in Los Angeles — your questions answered

Our crew, in our uniforms, on a truck with our plates on it. Global Movers is a licensed and insured moving company, not a broker, and a booking is never sold on to somebody else.

A short video call through the house shows us more than a clipboard visit used to. We log what is going, what has to come apart, and how a truck reaches the door, then price it and put it in writing.

Only if you change it. Extra rooms, an added stop or a different delivery address will revise the estimate. A heavier couch or a longer carry than we guessed will not.

The crew chief makes the call on the spot: extra hands on a stair carry, or a new date if the building bans stairs outright. We confirm elevator status the week before precisely so this stays rare.

Monday through Saturday during business hours, and Sundays by arrangement. Buildings that only permit weekend moves are the usual reason we open one up.

Runners over hardwood, pads on banisters and door jambs, shrink wrap over upholstery before anything leaves a room. A Pasadena craftsman with original floors and a new Culver City build get the same treatment.

Either way suits us. A full pack, kitchen and glassware only, or nothing at all if you would rather box it yourself. Materials come off our truck and the packers are the same people who load.

Yes, along with the sectional, the wall unit and the treadmill nobody wants to carry whole. The tools are already in the van, and everything goes back together before the crew signs off.

Propane, gasoline, paint, aerosols, ammunition, anything that can ignite inside a closed trailer. Houseplants rarely survive a long haul either, and we will say so before you pay to ship them.

We do, with our own drivers on our own equipment and under our own operating authority as a licensed, insured carrier. Whatever goes on the truck at your door comes off it at the delivery address; nothing is dropped at a terminal for a stranger to finish.

Diego, and odds are he has already called you. One coordinator stays with your job from booking through delivery, so you are never repeating the whole story to somebody new.

No. The walkthrough, the written quote and every follow-up question are free, and you owe nothing until the crew has finished the job.

Someone over eighteen needs to be at both ends — you, a partner, a friend, whoever. Most people stay for the walkthrough at the start, disappear for a few hours, and come back for the placement at the other end. Tell us who to call if that person is not you.

We work in it. Floors get runners, upholstery and mattresses get wrapped before they leave the room, and boxes go out under cover rather than sitting on a wet driveway. The only thing that stops a day is genuinely unsafe conditions, and then we move the date at no cost.

Yes, but tell us when you book, not on the morning. Those pieces need the right crew size and the right straps and skids on the truck, and that changes how the day is staffed. An upright in a ground-floor room and a baby grand down a turning stair are two very different jobs.

TVs travel in proper cartons with the screen protected, and we would rather pack them ourselves than see one ride loose. Plants we will carry on a local move if you accept that a truck is not a greenhouse; on a long haul they are better off in your own car.

No money down to put a date on the calendar. You pay when the work is done, and the figure you pay is the one you were sent in writing beforehand.

No stair fee, no long-carry fee. We count the flights and measure the walk during the walkthrough and it goes into the written number, so nothing appears on the invoice that you had not already seen.

We unhook a standard washer and dryer and roll the fridge out once it is defrosted and the water line is off. Anything hard-plumbed or wired in, like a gas range, needs a licensed trade — say the word early and we will time the day around their visit.

Clothes can stay in a normal wooden dresser and we shrink the drawers shut. Empty anything with glass, liquids or real weight in it — a drawer full of books turns a two-man carry into a four-man one and risks the frame.

Yes, and it is common when a lease and a closing do not line up. The truck stays loaded and sealed overnight in our yard rather than being tipped into a shared warehouse, and the same crew opens it at your new place.

Card, cheque or bank transfer once everything is off the truck and where you want it. You get an itemised invoice that matches the written estimate, and nothing is due before move day.

That is what the walkthrough is for. Isabela sizes the load from your rooms and photos and books the truck and crew accordingly — and if a house is bigger than it looked, we would rather send a second truck than make three trips across town.