Shifting houses? More and more people are turning to professional movers

On an early February afternoon, a team of six movers, all donning red T-shirts, were busy packing furniture and electronic equipment and then piling them onto a 1.5-tonne JAC truck parked in front of a building on Road 7, G-block in Bashundhara Residential Area.

The logos on their T-shirts read Pack & Shift — a house shifting company operating out of Janata Housing Society in Shyamoli.  As the movers loaded the furniture onto the truck, two women looked on to ensure that everything was in order. They had decided to move out of the house as Sharmin Akhter Sathi, the elder sister of the duo, had landed a job in Uttara. Sharmin contacted Pack & Shift online, after one of her friends suggested the company. 

The price of using professional movers? A hefty Tk29,000. However, the benefit is that the customers do not have to touch a single piece of furniture, utensil or equipment as the movers take all responsibilities. 

"I am satisfied with their job as they are packing everything carefully, and in an organised manner," said Sharmin, who works for an Uttara-based construction company as a legal advisor.

The market

There is no exact data on how many people change houses in Dhaka per month, but real estate business insiders put the estimate at an average of 10,000 households each month. The cost of shifting a house stands at around Tk12,000 to Tk20,000 in Dhaka city, including the cost of rickshaw van and labourers.

Shifting, if done through professional movers, costs a customer approximately Tk20,000. 

Bproperty, a real estate solutions provider, says it gets over 3,000 rental queries per month. However, the number varies depending on the time of the year; the beginning of the year is always the peak season for shifting houses.

It is difficult to measure how many mover companies are operating in the country at the moment. But industry insiders estimate the number could be as high as in the 100s. Popular services include Sheba.xyz, Bengal Movers, Pack & Shift, Shiftwala, Sonar Bangla Shifting, ThatQuick, 24Service Ltd, SafeShifting, Service Mart, BD Shifting Service, One Shifting, Royal Movers, Globalpacknmove.com, Pack & Move BD, Paltaobd, Advance Movers BD, Packnshift24.com, HandyMama, Basa Change, Astha, and Truck Lagbe. 

Why are professional movers in demand?

Over the last decade, the popularity of moving companies has steadily increased, as has the number of moving service providers. But is it worthwhile to hire professional movers while shifting to a different house in the city? Or will enlisting the neighbourhood van riders and pick-up truck drivers suffice? 

Mohammad Real Miah, a private service holder who has always used neighbourhood van and pick-up truck drivers, leans towards hiring a company.

Photo: Noor A Alam

"Shifting houses is always a hassle because you need to set aside time for dismantling furniture, arranging and organising household items and bringing those from your floor to the ground floor. It is very time consuming," he said. 

"You will require at least a few days for the preparation if you want to do it alone," Real Miah said. "On the other hand, professional movers will do it all —  arrange, move and fit the things in a new apartment —  in a matter of a few hours."    

Mohammad Real Miah's second reason is that most of the people live in the city with small families and the earning members remain busy with work, so it is tough to make time for shifting houses unless it is a Friday.  

"Moreover, professional movers are skilled and they know how to bring down a heavy piece of furniture from a multi-storied building efficiently. It is not that easy for us," he further said.

Then there is the need for electricians, plumbers or stove technicians. 

"The main reason behind the growing popularity of housing shifting companies is that people do not have to go through the hassle on their own and because it is easier to just let professionals safely handle their belongings," said Ilmul Haque Sajib, co-founder of Sheba Platform Limited, popularly known as Sheba.xyz.       

He added that they introduced professional movers on the platform back in 2016 when the company began operation.  

"It is like a one-stop service. If someone wants to shift their house, they can get access to many skills: transport, disassembling and carrying furniture, electrical work, and uninstalling and reinstalling gas stoves," Sajib explained. 

Sheba provided home shifting services to 543 households and commercial customers in January in Dhaka alone. The company's demand comes mainly from three areas — Mirpur, Banani and Uttara. Officials of the company say that every month, Sheba completes approximately 600 house-shifting orders and the service charge ranges from Tk5,000 to as high as Tk150,000, based on the number of household goods being moved.  

The companies employ labourers on a wage-basis as well. On an average, workers receive Tk1,000 for helping shift one house. 

How professional movers work

When a customer enlists the help of a professional mover, the company first sends a supervisor to the customer's house to assess the number of household goods that need to be shifted to the new house. 

After the assessment of the household goods and the distance being travelled, the company fixes the charge. They determine how many labourers, technicians, vehicles and packaging materials will be required. Then they quote the customers a price and finalise a date for shifting. 

Pack and Shift officials said they charge Tk3,000 for uninstalling and then reinstalling a single air conditioner. Removal and fitting of a ceiling fan costs Tk200, while for ceiling lights, they charge Tk1,000. 

But charges vary company to company. Charges also depend on the packaging materials to a great extent, because if the household contents are expensive and fragile, the movers have to use expensive packaging materials for safety. 

Kowsar Alam Khasru, CEO of Pack and Shift, said that the cost goes up when they have to pack something with bubble wrap for fragile household items like glass, expensive electronics, etc. Cartons, on the other hand, cost Tk200. 

Khasru, who set up Pack & Shift in 2001, used to take care of his brother's transport agency at the Tejgaon truck stand. 

Photo: Noor A Alam

"Back then, people who wanted to change houses would need to directly come to the stand to rent trucks. They hired labourers from elsewhere, and collecting the proper packaging material was also a difficult task for our customers," he said. 

Bargaining was another problem for customers because truck owners and drivers would charge based on how rich the client looked. 

In 2001, Khasru began posting advertisements in newspapers and posters in the Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Banani areas. By 2009, he had set up his own website and an office in Shyamoli, Mohammadpur. 

"We have around 20 labourers handling the service. We give them wages of Tk800-Tk1,000 for helping shift one house. The number of labourers needed depends on the number of household goods being moved, and the number of electrical equipment like ACs and geysers that need to be refitted," he explained. 

Distance, he said, does not impact the service charges as much as the price of materials being used to transport the items. 

"Some people sleep on beds that cost Tk1 lakh, while some sleep on beds that cost Tk20,000. We have to consider how to package the expensive items," said Khasru.

Pack & Shift has to pay fines in case of damages or if anything gets lost along the way. Once he had to pay for a Samsung LED television which was snatched on its way home to the customer's new home in Mirpur. 

The company's charges range from Tk8,000 to Tk50,000 inside the Dhaka city area. They also provide services across Bangladesh, in which case the distance is factored into pricing.

Apart from its online presence, Pack & Shift has some local agents in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Bashundhara, and Uttara. These agents help bring in more business for the company. 

Khasru boasted about helping shift President Shabuddin Ahmed's house from Lalmatia to Gulshan in 2005, as well as the China Major Bridge Company's office, which constructed the Padma Bridge. 

December, January and February are the peak season 

In most cases, customers want to shift houses on the first Fridays and Saturdays at the beginning or end of a month. As a result, movers face a capacity crunch on weekends. 

Though house shifting goes on all through the year, the month of Ramadan and the rainy season are considered lean seasons.  

December, January and February, though, are when the movers get the most business. 

In those months, parents change their sons' and daughters' schools after their SSC or HSC exams, while many others enrol their children into kindergarten. 

In most cases, people shift their homes for the comfort of their children or to move closer to work.

Before the pandemic in 2020, people wanted to move into good homes, but after the pandemic, many people have shifted to the fringes of the city to cut costs, Khasru observed. 

Every month 3,000 to 4,000 families change houses in Dhaka. 

Redwan Hussain, who set up Bengal Movers in 2012, said, "People are getting busy day by day. As a result, the demand for professional movers is rising. If we can provide the service in an organised way, people will get benefitted."  

In January, Bengal Movers handled 50 households as well as corporate offices in Dhaka and outside.

"In the last week and first week of a month, over 100 people shift their houses on weekends," Redwan said. 

His company handles 40 to 50 shifts per month. In December last year, his company provided services to 58 households and corporate offices.