Some dates are booked out weeks ahead and some are wide open, and it has almost nothing to do with the time of year. Here is which is which, so you can pick a date you can actually get.
Midweek and mid-month is the easiest date to get in New Jersey, and it is easy in every month of the year. A Tuesday or Wednesday in the middle of the month is the date most people do not ask for, which is exactly why it is available.
The hardest dates are the last three days of a month, the first two days of the next one, and any Friday or Saturday next to them. That is when leases turn over, so every mover in the state is trying to serve the same customers on the same four or five days.
If your dates are fixed by a closing or a lease, skip ahead to when the date is not yours to choose. If you have any flexibility at all, it is worth a week of shifting.
Moving demand in New Jersey is not spread evenly across a month. It stacks up at the seam between one month and the next, because that is where leases end and begin.
And the dates the month-end rush leaves alone:
Less than you would expect. Summer is the busiest season in the moving industry and it does make the popular dates harder to get. But the month-end effect is bigger than the season effect: the last weekend of a quiet February is harder to book than a Wednesday in the middle of July.
Autumn and winter are genuinely easier across the board: less competition for the popular dates and the popular start times, and more slack in everyone's calendar if a closing slips. If you are choosing between a late-September Friday and a mid-October Wednesday, the Wednesday is the better date on every measure that matters to you.
Our crews run Monday through Saturday. Saturday is a normal working day here, and for a lot of apartment moves it is the obvious choice.
We do not schedule crews on Sunday. If a building will only allow a Sunday move, tell us early — that is a conversation to have before you sign anything with the building, not after.
One thing worth knowing about weekend moves in buildings: plenty of New York and New Jersey buildings restrict move-ins to weekday business hours, and the building's rule beats your preference. Check the building before you pick the date.
For a small local move — a studio, a one bedroom, a few rooms — a couple of weeks is comfortable most of the year, and a few days is often enough on a midweek date. For a month-end Friday or Saturday, three to four weeks is more realistic, and in summer more than that.
Booking early costs you nothing and it is the only way to get a first choice of both date and start time. The people who end up moving on a date they did not want are almost always the people who called during the week they wanted to move.
Often it isn't. A closing moves. A lease starts on the 1st whatever else is happening. A building gives you one elevator window and it is a Thursday at 9am.
Two things help. First, tell us the constraint rather than the preference — "my lease ends on the 31st and I cannot get in until the 2nd" is a solvable problem, and a much more useful thing to say than "sometime around the end of the month". Second, ask early even if nothing is confirmed. A pencilled date that moves is easier to work with than a firm date asked for late.
A Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday in the second or third week of the month. Demand stacks up at the end of the month rather than spreading across it, so the middle of the month is where the pressure comes off — in almost every month of the year, including the summer. What we can hold on a particular date is a question for the estimate.
The last three days of the month and the first two of the next one, plus any Friday or Saturday beside them. That is when leases turn over, so the whole state is moving on the same few days.
Our crews run Monday through Saturday, so Saturday is a normal working day. It is also one of the more requested days, so it is worth asking earlier than you would for a midweek date.
We do not schedule crews on Sunday. If your building only permits Sunday moves, raise it before you commit to the date so it can be worked out rather than discovered late.
For a small local move, a couple of weeks is comfortable most of the year and a few days is often enough midweek. For a month-end Friday or Saturday, allow three to four weeks, and more in summer.
Autumn is easier. There is more choice of date and start time, and more room to shift a job by a day if a closing slips. Summer is the busiest season, which mostly affects how early you need to ask.
Often, yes. Many New York and New Jersey buildings restrict moves to weekday business hours and require a booked elevator window and a certificate of insurance. The building's rule decides the date, so check it before you fix anything.