Home Curiosity The Dangers Of DIY: 7 Major Risks Of The Self-Move

The Dangers Of DIY: 7 Major Risks Of The Self-Move

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Moving to a new home is as exciting as it is nerve-wracking. While the excitement about the new life and experiences awaiting ahead will be challenging to contain, glimpses in your rearview mirror can welcome a rush of bittersweet nostalgia. On the side of the spectrum, squirm-inducing anxiety about incoming responsibilities ahead, like finding a house, can creep in at a moment’s notice, leaving you flustered. 

To avoid letting moving stress get the best of you, you may attempt to assume full control of the process, from packing up your belongings to transporting your vehicle. While opting for the DIY approach to moving can save you big bucks, this seemingly brave decision may cause more harm than good. 

Sure, moving alone saves you the money for hiring professionals and helps you evade the hassle of finding the right people. However, are the risks of self-move worth the benefits of saving on professional assistance?

For an inside look into the risks that you take by forfeiting professional help, read on to understand both the hidden and unhidden potential hiccups of doing away with professional assistance when moving. 

Higher expenses

The expenses involved in hiring professional help can persuade any penny-pinching homeowner to forgo moving services altogether. 

However, thinking that you’ll rack up significant savings during your DIY-friendly move is a common misconception that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The harsh reality is that you’re likely to spend more on a solo move, especially if moving to a far distance.

Because the costs of taking time off work to manage the process, packing materials, and renting a moving truck often escape the minds of relocating families, it’s easy to buy into the idea that DIY is a straight shot to savings. But don’t be fooled by these misleading advertisements. 

Between spending money on repairing or replacing items damaged or lost in the process and forking over gas money, these expenses can quickly accumulate and eventually surpass the costs of hiring professionals. 

Damaged items

Another common misconception is that a DIY approach to moving is the easiest way to avoid dented coffee tables, shattered mirrors, and scraped sofas. On the contrary, chances of damaged goods are higher if you move on your own.

First, since you are unfamiliar with the packing techniques for different items, you may fail to pack your belongings well. 

Additionally, you may be unfamiliar with packing your items in the moving truck, let alone driving without having the goods troop over, shift or bump into each other during the move.

Similarly, your lack of experience on the long, open roads may spell disaster for your vehicle’s exterior. Sure, a cross-country road trip may sound doable in the moment. However, one wrong turn and you’ll find yourself headed towards a costly collision or damage-inducing road debris. 

Fortunately, with professional auto shipping companies like Guardian Auto Transport (https://guardianautotransport.com/) there to take the responsibility of car shipping off your hands, you can evade these possible traveling risks and get to your destination without any mishaps.

Damaged property

If you’re moving alone, it’s more than likely that you don’t have the right moving equipment (i.e., a dolly, furniture sliders, and a moving blanket) on standby. In case you do, chances are you don’t know how to use it properly. As a result, you may leave behind damage in your old house or start off on the wrong foot by denting your new home’s door frames, walls, or baseboards.  In some cases, you might risk damaging the moving truck itself. 

For instance, if you lack furniture pads, you risk having scratched floors, broken tiles, and damaged hardwood floors. On the same note, if you don’t have thick protective blankets, you may create dents and chips on the walls and around the tight corners.

Physical injuries

Your primary focus when moving is the safety of your knick-knacks and can’t-live-withouts. Unfortunately, your laser focus on the well-being of your belongings makes it easy for safety precautions to slip your mind. Remember, the heavy lifting involved puts you and those helping you at risk of injuries.

You might strain your back, sprain an ankle or pull a muscle. Moreover, you could fall or drop a heavy object on yourself or somebody else, thus sustaining injuries. You can dodge these moving disasters by calling in professional help, as these moving experts have ready access to the right moving tools and know-how to use them.

Lost time

Self-moving is not only expensive but also time-consuming. You will spend time finding the right moving vehicle, packing your items, loading them into the truck, driving, and later unloading and unpacking.

Given your lack of experience in these tasks, you’ll likely spend more than double the hours a professional would spend on menial moving tasks.  

When you hire professionals, they handle all your tasks, start to finish, allowing you to focus on pertinent paperwork for your new house and saying goodbye to your old life and neighbors.

As a bonus, assembling a team of professionals means you’ll be able to wrap up the process in record time, eliminating select moving inconveniences.

Low security

Security is highly compromised during a move. You need to closely watch your old house, new house, and moving truck to ensure that everything you own is safe. Overseeing the safety of your personal belongings during a self-move is easier said than done. 

However, moving companies are always on the lookout to ensure security risks aren’t within eyeshot. Additionally, these professional moving services offer comprehensive insurance policies that will protect you in the case of losses.

You affect your relationship with friends

When opting for a DIY move, you may ask your friends or neighbors to help lift heavy or awkwardly shaped items in hopes of avoiding the costs of professional movers. While this is a good idea on paper, it may later cost you this relationship.

How? For starters, your friends may feel inconvenienced or even endangered when tasked with spending their free time carrying around bulky furniture. Because there’s always a risk of sustaining an injury mid-move, they may blame their injuries on your lack of foresight. If you’re leaving this group of friends behind, you won’t want your last memory with them to be sweat-stained with taxing physical labor. 

Additionally, some people you invite may throw their hands up in defeat at the first sight of your armoire or might fail to show up, leaving you to grapple with disappointment that could affect your relationship in the long term. 

Is it possible to have a 100% successful move?

Entrusting your hard-earned belongings with a total stranger is no small feat. Nevertheless, hiring professionals to help you make your relocation safer, cheaper, and faster. 

With a professionally-trained moving team in your corner,  you’ll have more time to deal with the emotions of leaving your old life and welcoming the new one.