Why Relocation Costs Skyrocket—and the Tech Fixing It

When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) originally pitched the International Space Station (ISS) to Congress in 1984, it assured the government that the program would cost no more than $8 billion. But by the time the station was fully operational, the total bill had ballooned to well over $100 billion.

The reason will feel all too familiar to anyone who has ever had to pack up their life and move: The cargo was much heavier than expected, and it took more trips than the country’s best scientists thought it would.

It’s a fact I remind myself of whenever I have to move. When I inevitably underestimate the time, the supplies, and the budget it takes to relocate, at least I know I’m in world-class company.

Bill Mulholland, CEO of Agoyu, a moving company, agrees. “Almost anyone who has moved before has gone through the experience of being told one price, and then it nearly doubles when they get the final bill,” he tells Realtor.com®.

At least we’re not all footing a NASA-sized bill. But if you want to keep your own moving costs from skyrocketing, you don't need a degree in rocket science, according to Mulholland—you just need a better, more accurate estimate.

The cost of moving

It’s hard to know how much it will cost to move until you’ve done it—and that may be the costliest part of the whole process. Part of the difficulty is that each move is different, and there are innumerable factors that will eventually work their way into the final move price.

Mulholland breaks it down this way: When you move locally, your cost is based on time. When you move across state lines, it’s based on weight. And when you move internationally, it’s usually calculated by the space your stuff will occupy in a shipping container.

That can result in vastly different prices for moving the same home. For example, the average local move costs about $1,250 for a two- or three-bedroom and roughly 7,500 pounds. Meanwhile, a long-distance move for the same home is closer to $4,890, according to data from Moving.com. But research from Realtor.com® puts the average move closer to $17,000.

Why the vast range? Even outside of the distance or the size of your home, specialized, fragile, or heavy items can radically alter the baseline cost. And unfortunately, these surprises often pop up on moving day, according to Mulholland.

For perspective, there are 13,000 complaints and negative reviews about movers annually, according to a 2020 study by the Better Business Bureau.

Mulholland argues that part of the problem is the that the industry has long been plagued by guesses rather than precise estimates, creating an environment where homeowners and renters lowball the amount of stuff they have so they don’t get price gouged, and movers look the other way to win business.

“There are some movers that will intentionally not say anything about the glass tabletop, and then bring it up the day of the move, because they don't want to get [the] consumer too high of a price," Mulholland says. "They're scared they won't book through them.”

The strategy is designed to keep initial pricing enticing, but it can result in radically off-base estimates. And once your life is packed into boxes and the clock is ticking, the leverage shifts entirely to the carrier—and that can inflate your bill.

"What will happen in the industry is sometimes movers will play games," Mulholland warns. "They'll go, 'I'm going to charge you $500 for that, that's just what our company charges.'"

How technology is changing the game

These common friction points inspired Mulholland to bring more accuracy and transparency to the market. 

"The moving industry has been broken for a very long time, and so we got the idea about eight years ago to create an AI technology for moving,” he says.

The result is Agoyu, a free relocation technology platform that empowers both the people moving and the companies moving them to be more transparent with each other—and that common ground, it turns out, can offer significant savings on both sides of the equation.

It all starts with a precise digital inventory. Mulholland and his team developed an AI system that scans video to map out a home room by room, automatically cataloging every piece of furniture and calculating its estimated weight.

The system then generates real-time quotes by running the data through the pricing engines of dozens of major, vetted carriers. Users are then able to weigh up to 25 bids in as little as three minutes, according to the company.

But the real financial benefit of the technology lies in its ability to pinpoint the exact heavy, bulky, or fragile items that usually trigger last-minute price gouging. By forcing both the consumer and the mover to acknowledge these items before the truck arrives, the app eliminates moving-day sticker shock.

"The AI will call out, 'Hey, there's a glass tabletop, does this need special handling?'" Mulholland explains. "And a mover [may] say, 'Yes, we're going to charge an extra 50 bucks to create [crate] a glass tabletop."

And because these fees are pre-programmed directly into the platform's database, consumers maintain control. If a specific item costs too much to haul cross-country or cross-town, the user can delete it from their digital inventory list and watch their total price drop in real time—making it easier to see exactly what is worth leaving behind.

Users also have the option to push their move into Agoyu's marketplace, where carriers submit best-offer bids. Mulholland says that with accurate inventories, movers can run more accurate logistics, and cut costs by doubling up on jobs. These savings are then passed on to customers, driving down published moving rates by an average of 28%, he says.

The benefits don’t stop at moving

That inventory also has value after a move, doubling as an ironclad defense against moving-day damage. Damaged or lost items account for approximately 35% of all complaints against moving companies, according to the U.S. Moving Protection Organization, a consumer protection nonprofit.

And while traditional moving claims can devolve into a frustrating back-and-forth over whether a scratch or dent was preexisting, Agoyu's video and itemized inventory turns into evidence of an item’s condition prior to shipment.

It can also be used to help insurance providers understand the exact value of the contents they need to cover at your new address, and ensure you get the protection proportionate to your belongings. Again, in the worst case scenario of your items being damaged, the visual inventory can help with the claims process.

Mulholland says his goal is to eventually leverage build a comprehensive relocation ecosystem—helping with everything from utility reconnections to switching banks. And while navigating a move will always come with a few compromises, the right tools may be able to help families leave the moving industry's worst headaches far behind.