Q: Tell us a little bit about your company Best Time Movers. 
A: Our company started in 2003, we literally started with the old school system. You guys were a couple years old, we used you guys first, we've been using you guys all this time since 2003.
We started very small, we started with a truck and a crew and the owner went out on all the jobs (he still does, of course). We started in a small room and then we rented a truck and then we bought a truck and we moved up. We got up to about 10 trucks and we have 17 crews now.
We're a professional moving company. We started as a family based business and we stayed as a family based business and we will continue to stay as a family based business. Reason is because we treat our people like family. They're part of us, we go out for family lunch outings and stuff like that. We even treat our customers like family. We take care of them if they need something.
I had a lady the other day--she had a problem at home, she needed to move out and we scheduled it last minute for her because we take care of family like our customers.
Q: Can you tell us more about the specific services you offer your customers?
A: We do a wide variety of moving services. We essentially do it all. We work with local families who are trying to move or we go out as far as 50 to 100 miles, somewhere around there. We do house moves, commercial moves, office moves, you name it, we've done it all.
We even work with other moving companies, too. One Stop Logistics, we do stuff with them, Flate Rate Movers International, we do everything.
If you need guys, professional strong guys to come out and do a job for you, we'll work with you. We always like to work with the customer.
Q: What specific areas of the United States does Best Time Movers provide services for?
A: We service Maryland, the nation's capital [Washington] D.C., Virginia, Delaware. Our office is obviously located in Maryland, but we branch out, we pick up jobs and we go out all over the country. We even do international moves, local moves and long distance moves. We do it all here.
Q: Can you talk more about your storage facility and storage services?
A: The storage facility that we have right now is about 20,000 square feet I believe. And then of course you know during the moving season (which is just over as you know) we have other locations that we rent out and just secure them and make sure everything is safe and sound and we use those too.
It's climate controlled, the storage facility of course is insured, it's monitored, we have security systems, the whole nine yards.
We like to keep our customers' belongings safe and sound. When they go home at night, well when they go to their new home, they want to know that everything will be secured, climate controlled, humidity, the whole nine yards.
Q: What sets Best Time Movers apart from other moving companies in the industry?
A: We are a licensed, bonded, insured company of course. I believe we go the extra mile – the extra yard or mile or whatever you want to call it – we go out of our way to help the customer. If the customer has an issue with something we always find a way to fix it.
A lot of companies out there do charge for the guys to walk an extra distance. We don't believe in that, we don't charge for walking distance.
We just love to work with our customers, make sure at the end of the day they leave with a smile and we do whatever we can to help them out. I think that's what separates us from the other moving companies.
Some moving companies don't have the materials on hand, they'll go out and send one guy to go buy stuff and then come back, but we always have it fully stocked before we leave the warehouse to go out on any job.
Q: What's the most important piece of wisdom you can give to someone planning a move right now?
A: Planning the move, make sure you tell your salesman or your customer representative all the information regarding the move. Even the smallest detail can mean the difference on the estimate that we do provide.
We always love to come out but we can't always to do an on-site [estimate], but that's always the best way to go. When you do an on-site estimate you know the person, you've met them, you can see if they're professional or not. Even our owner still goes out and does the on-sites. The view, the first impression is always the best, so we like to send our on-site estimators out.
At the end of the day, on-sites are the best way to go. Always ask questions, ask about the rates, additional fees and stuff like that. And they will tell you what it is, so that's the best way.
If you can't get an on-site estimator out there, submit an inventory list. Always make sure you get one of those two out there.
Q: What's the biggest mistake people should avoid when moving?
A: Not going with a full packing service. Some companies offer two services, one is a regular service and one is a packing service. When you go with a packing service it includes all the materials and sometimes the customer is telling the representative everything is packed and ready to go, but then it really isn't on the day of the move.
So that's why it's best to always go with a full packing service just in case you need those materials and they have to go out and get them – but our company always has them on the truck just in case they decide to go with it.
Q: Is there a time you would recommend customers move to save money?
A: Winter time. Not everybody's moving. It's based on the housing market. Of course in the winter, nobody's moving, it's too cold, nobody wants to go out and look at all those houses and all the options they have. So of course if nobody's buying a new house then nobody is moving.
So winter time, if you're planning to move in the wintertime I believe it's also cheaper to buy a house in the winter or rent rates are down or whatever. At the same time the moving rates are down because not a lot of people are moving. Versus supply and demand.
Q: What is your most memorable moving experience?
A: My most memorable moving experience, it actually happened over the summer.
A customer informed us they had a Jacuzzi, a 7 to 8 person Jacuzzi. She wanted us to move it. A 7 to 8 person Jacuzzi is very heavy. Not only did she want us to move it, it still had water inside of it. So unfortunately we couldn't move the Jacuzzi for her with or without the water because it was installed into the house, into the plumbing system.
So that was the weirdest moving experience I had.
Q: What is the most expensive item Best Time Movers has ever moved?
A: The most expensive and smallest item we've moved was a grandfather clock. It was with gold, it had a gold, I forgot what the thing's called that swings inside – the pendulum! It had a gold pendulum and the person actually purchased additional insurance just on this item because it was so expensive.
I don't remember the value of it, but it was $10,000 plus. It was a nice looking clock.