How to plan moving dispatch, loading, travel, and claims
Start with the paid three-person crew and one usable truck, then schedule whole blocks for yard preparation, equipment loading, deadhead travel, origin access and loading, inter-address travel, destination access and unloading, customer handoff, documentation, return, reset, ordinary downtime, and claim recovery. A booking is ready only when its scope, inventory, access, parking, customer documents, crew, truck, equipment, and authority are resolved.
What you will produce: A weekly one-truck dispatch board, scope-and-readiness check, crew-hour and truck-hour reconciliation, access and parking record, loading and customer-property controls, claim ledger, and conditional decision about price, service area, accepted work, staffing, or truck commitment.
Updated September 21, 2026 · Worked examples and editable worksheets
What to have ready
Bring crew availability and pay terms, truck schedule and operating scope, service-area map, completed moves by inventory and access, quoted and actual hours, deadhead and inter-address travel, building windows and parking, equipment readiness, customer documents, cancellation and delay terms, condition records, claims by original move, maintenance, and ordinary downtime.
Work through the calculation and decision
How should one truck and one paid crew be scheduled?
Build one continuous block for each move. Show yard preparation, equipment loading, deadhead travel, origin work, inter-address travel, destination work, customer handoff, documentation, return, and reset. Keep billable time and paid time separate where the customer terms treat them differently.
Do not assign the crew, truck, driver, liftgate, or other required equipment to simultaneous work. Protect ordinary overrun and downtime rather than filling every visible minute. A second partial job cannot occupy the same truck or crew block.
How should scope, loading, access, and travel enter readiness?
Record the stated inventory, packing and disassembly scope, origin and destination access, stairs, elevators, long carries, parking, building windows, route constraints, customer readiness, exclusions, estimate or quote basis, and any condition evidence permitted by the customer process. Update the quote or accepted scope through the applicable process when material facts change.
A reserved day without resolved access, parking, customer documents, usable truck, driver, crew, equipment, or operating authority is not deliverable capacity. Record delay and overrun causes so the next estimate and schedule change the actual constraint.
How should damage, loss, complaints, and claims be controlled?
Link each issue to the original move, inventory or item, condition evidence, customer notice, crew, truck, timeline, paid recovery hours, repair or replacement, refund or chargeback, insurer or other recovery, customer outcome, and closure. Keep the event out of new-sales counts and include its work in the crew and truck reconciliation.
Review claims by supported cause, such as estimate or inventory gap, packing, protection, lifting, loading, securement, driving, access, handoff, documentation, or another recorded category. Change the intake, protection, equipment, training, supervision, route, or customer-handoff step that can prevent recurrence.
The reference schedule uses 474.60 of 520.00 paid crew-hours
The authored schedule holds one paid three-person crew, one truck, the entered completed moves, nonjob time, and claim recovery. It is a capacity scenario, not an observed dispatch benchmark.
| Schedule measure | Calculation | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Paid crew-hours | Driver or crew lead + two mover/helpers | 520.00 hours |
| Direct move crew-hours | 22 moves × 19.50 crew-hours | 429.00 hours |
| Nonjob crew-hours | Yard, estimates, training, breaks, documentation, and idle gaps outside entered move cycles | 39.00 hours |
| Claim recovery crew-hours | 1.10 entered incidents × 6.00 hours | 6.60 hours |
| Crew-hour gap | Productive crew-hours − direct move crew-hours | 45.40 hours |
| Paid truck-hours | One-truck monthly schedule | 180.00 hours |
| Direct move truck-hours | 22 moves × 6.50 truck-hours | 143.00 hours |
| Truck-hour gap | Productive truck-hours − direct move truck-hours | 17.80 hours |
| Binding physical ceiling | Lower whole-move result from crew and truck | 24 moves |
What this changes: The entered plan leaves 45.40 crew-hours and 17.80 truck-hours after the stated nonjob and claim assumptions. A negative or fragile gap changes the accepted scope, service area, quoted time, schedule, claim controls, or roster before another move is promised.
Complete your decision record
A weekly one-truck dispatch board, scope-and-readiness check, crew-hour and truck-hour reconciliation, access and parking record, loading and customer-property controls, claim ledger, and conditional decision about price, service area, accepted work, staffing, or truck commitment. Enter the finding or number, the source and the next action for each row. “Supported” records your assessment of that item; it does not approve the business or certify completed research.
| Item and what to record | Your finding and evidence | Status and next action |
|---|---|---|
| Scope and quoteCustomer, origin, destination, inventory, packing or disassembly, stairs, elevators, long carries, parking, building windows, route, exclusions, estimate or quote, and customer acceptance | ||
| Dispatch blockDate, promised window, crew, driver, truck, equipment, yard preparation, deadhead, origin, travel, destination, closeout, return, and reset | ||
| Paid time and truck timeBillable and nonbillable categories, actual start and finish, delay or overrun cause, maintenance, downtime, and released capacity | ||
| Claim or complaintOriginal move, item, evidence, notice, cause, crew-hours, truck-hours, repair or replacement, recovery, refund, customer outcome, and closure | ||
| DecisionKeep, move, decline, rescope, or reprice work; revise access assumptions, service area, equipment, claim control, or staffing plan |
5 items have no evidence recorded yet.
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Choose your next action
| If your finding is… | Your next action |
|---|---|
| The schedule overlaps the crew or truck | Move or decline work, change the scope or schedule, or add real supported capacity before promising the slot. |
| Inventory, access, parking, or customer documents are unresolved | Keep the job in a readiness queue and use the applicable estimate or change process instead of consuming a confirmed block. |
| Claims exceed the protected recovery window | Reduce new-work promises and correct the recurring cause before expanding the route. |
Errors that can change the result
- Treating every paid crew-hour or open truck-hour as billable moving capacity.
- Using an average move duration without inventory, access, route, and customer-readiness controls.
- Counting a claim, refund, recovery visit, or redelivery as another completed move.
Apply this to your business
These operating formats match the decisions in this guide.
Moving Company
Local household moving company with one straight or box truck, one paid three-person field crew, paid owner-manager and dispatch coverage, ordinary moving equipment, secure overnight parking or storage, and a defined local service area
Open the operating guide and state profiles →Carry the scope record, whole crew-and-truck schedule, access assumptions, claim controls, and released capacity into the price and opening-cash decision. Values entered here are not automatically transferred to another calculator.
Continue with the next part of your plan
- How many moving jobs are needed to break even?
Realized revenue and contribution per move, three labeled monthly results, whole-move break-even for each boundary, crew-hour gap, truck-hour gap, lower physical capacity, and the signed gap between physical capacity and EBIT break-even.
- How to build a staffing roster before estimating payroll
A roster with complete task coverage and an annualized monthly staffing budget.
- How to build a 13-week cash plan for your first 90 days
A weekly cash schedule, the lowest balance and the extra funding needed to retain your chosen minimum.
- How to turn a state business profile into a local opening plan
A local evidence register showing which decisions are supported and what must be resolved next.
Sources and limits
The sources below provide the stated background. The worked examples, calculator defaults and decision exercises are authored teaching material. They do not establish market prices, local demand, legal applicability or completed state research.
- U.S. Census Bureau: NAICS 484210 Used Household and Office Goods Moving
The industry includes office moving and operators larger than the one-truck household format. Establishment, employment, payroll and receipt totals do not establish local demand, a realized move ticket or a company forecast.
- BLS May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates
Cross-industry wage anchors for the disclosed driver or crew-lead, mover or helper and paid manager or dispatch roles; not hiring quotes, overtime estimates, owner draws or complete employer costs.
- FMCSA Protect Your Move: household-goods consumer and carrier framework
Federal household-goods rules apply by stated federal scope, including interstate moves. Intrastate authority, estimates, tariffs, insurance, vehicle, labor, parking and claims requirements require current state and local checks for the selected operation.
Source pages checked September 21, 2026. Research and review standards · Report an issue
When you need a longer financial plan
Use a financial model to organize a broader forecast after defining your own operating assumptions. The site’s research, your worksheet entries and any purchased workbook are separate; entries are not transferred automatically.
Continue with the published financial scenario