Storage Between Homes in Chicago

Storage between homes is rarely something people plan for. It turns up when two dates refuse to line up, and in Chicago that happens more than most places.

The Closing Gap

Selling and buying almost never completes on the same day. A seller who closes on the 15th and takes possession of the new house on the 30th has two weeks of furniture to put somewhere, and a hotel room does not solve it. Storage in transit covers that window without a second full move.

Lease Turnover

Chicago leases cluster hard at the end of the month and heavily around 1 May, which is its own event in this city. If your old lease ends on the 30th and the new one starts on the 1st, you are moving on the single busiest day of the local calendar, and any slip leaves you with a loaded truck and nowhere to put it. Booking storage as a fallback takes the pressure off the date.

Renovation and Downsizing

Floors being refinished, a kitchen being replaced, or a downsizing move where the new place will not hold everything all create the same problem. The furniture has to leave, but it is not going to its final home yet.

It Is One Move, Not Two

The load goes from your old place onto the truck, into our warehouse, and back out to the new address when you are ready. You are not packing twice and you are not hiring twice. The same movers who loaded the truck bring it back out, which matters more than it sounds when something needs reassembling.

Everything Is Inventoried

Goods are listed as they come in, so what went into storage is what comes out. Ask for the inventory when the load goes in and keep it, because it is also what you check the redelivery against.

Redelivery Is Scheduled, Not Instant

Warehouse storage is not a self-storage unit you can visit on a Sunday afternoon. Redelivery is booked ahead, so if you need a specific box before the move-in date, pull it out before the load goes in. Pack a separate bag of what you will need in the gap and keep it with you.

Storage is quoted separately from the hourly move, by the volume stored and the number of months. Ask for both parts in writing, because the move and the storage are priced on different bases.

The Move Itself

The loading and the redelivery are billed at our normal hourly rates. Two movers and a truck are $135 an hour on weekdays and three movers are $185 an hour, with a travel fee charged once per job. Stairs are $75 per flight and carries longer than 75 feet add $75 for each extra 50 feet, and those apply at both ends.

Things That Change the Number

Volume is the main one, so a genuine clear-out before the load goes in is the cheapest decision in the whole process. Length of stay is the second. Timing is the third, because an end-of-month or summer redelivery sits in peak season and costs more per hour than a midweek date. Get the storage rate and the minimum term confirmed when you book rather than after.

Four questions settle most of it. What is the monthly storage rate and is there a minimum term. Are there handling charges for putting goods in and taking them out, on top of the hourly move. How much notice does redelivery need. And is what is stored covered, and to what limit.

Get those answers in writing before the truck is loaded. If you are weighing storage against pushing your closing date, price both, because a short delay is sometimes cheaper than a month of storage and sometimes much more expensive.

Our storage page covers how we hold and redeliver goods, and local moving covers how the hourly rate works at each end. If your dates are tight, 1 May in Chicago is worth reading before you commit to one.