Most moving checklists are written for a house in the suburbs with a driveway. In South Florida a large share of moves involve an association, a certificate of insurance, and a reserved elevator — and those have lead times that will ruin your week if you find out about them late.
This is the version that accounts for that.
Eight weeks out
- Get three written estimates. In person or by video, never sight-unseen. Ask each one whether it is binding.
- Verify each company on safer.fmcsa.dot.gov and, for an in-state move, confirm they hold a Florida IM registration.
- Ask your building — both buildings — for their move-in and move-out rules. This is the step everyone skips. You need to know the permitted hours, whether weekends are allowed, the elevator reservation process, and the exact certificate of insurance requirements.
- Start the purge. You pay to move volume. Everything you dispose of now is money you do not spend later.
Six weeks out
- Book the mover. Confirm the date, the crew size, the truck, and the estimate type in writing.
- Reserve the elevators at both ends and put the confirmations somewhere you can find them.
- Send your mover the building requirements so they can file the COIs. Associations often want them 48 hours to two weeks in advance.
- Start using up frozen food, cleaning supplies, and anything you cannot legally move.
Four weeks out
- Order materials if you are packing yourself, or confirm your packing date if the crew is doing it.
- Notify: landlord, association, schools, doctors, vet, and anyone who sends you something physical.
- File a change of address with USPS. It takes effect in about a week, so this is deliberately early.
- Book any specialty services — piano, safe, aquarium, art crating. These need specific equipment scheduled, not just an extra person.
- Take photos of high-value items, including serial numbers. If you ever file a claim, this is the evidence.
Three weeks out
- Transfer utilities. Electric, water, internet, gas. Overlap them by one day at both ends — the cost of a day of double service is trivial next to arriving to a dark apartment.
- Book internet installation at the new place. In South Florida this frequently has the longest lead time of anything on this list.
- Confirm parking at both ends. If there is no legal spot for a truck near the door, you may need a city permit. Ask your mover; we pull them routinely in Hollywood and downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Two weeks out
- Start packing in earnest, room by room, starting with what you use least.
- Label by destination room, not by contents. "Kitchen" on the side of the box is what makes unload day fast. Write contents underneath if you like, but the room goes first and it goes on the side, not the top — you cannot read the top of a stacked box.
- Separate what you will carry yourself: jewelry, cash, medications, passports, laptops, keys, and anything irreplaceable. Movers should not be transporting these, and reputable ones will ask you not to.
- Arrange care for pets and small children on move day. Both ends. This genuinely makes the day faster and safer.
One week out
- Confirm with the mover — date, arrival window, crew size, and payment method.
- Pack an essentials box you keep with you: bedding, towels, toilet paper, phone chargers, basic tools, coffee, medication, a change of clothes per person.
- Defrost the freezer at least 24 hours out. A wet freezer on a truck is a mess and a smell you will not forget.
- Empty and drain the washer, the fuel from any small engine, the propane from the grill. Federal rules prohibit hauling flammables.
- Do a walkthrough with your phone, filming the condition of both properties. Deposits get disputed; video does not.
The day before
- Pack the last of the kitchen.
- Charge everything.
- Get cash for the crew if you plan to tip. It is not expected but it is always appreciated; the usual range is $20–40 per mover for a local job, more for a long or difficult one.
- Set aside the paperwork: the estimate, the inventory, the elevator confirmations, and the COIs.
Move day
- Be there, or have someone authorised there. Someone has to walk the inventory and sign the bill of lading.
- Walk the home with the foreman before anything is loaded. Point out what is fragile, what is going and what is staying.
- Read the bill of lading before signing it. Never sign it blank. It is the contract.
- At delivery, check off the inventory as items come in and note any damage on the sheet before you sign. Once you have signed a clean delivery receipt, a claim gets much harder.
- Do a final sweep of every room, closet, and cabinet at the old place. Check the attic, the shed, and behind the doors.
After
- File any damage claim promptly. On an interstate move you have nine months, but memories and evidence fade — do it in the first week.
- Update your driver's licence and registration. Florida gives new residents 30 days.
- Register to vote at the new address.
One last thing worth saying: if your date slips, tell your mover as early as you can rather than hoping. Rescheduling three weeks out is free almost everywhere. Rescheduling the night before rarely is.