← All guidesEstimatingUpdated July 7, 20266 min read
Every moving estimate starts with one question: how much stuff is there? Get the size right and the price, the truck, and the crew size all follow. Get it wrong and you either lose money on the job or lose the customer to a lowball competitor who re-prices them on move day.
Most movers estimate in cubic feet and convert to weight from there. Here’s the chart, the math, and the questions that keep it honest.
Cubic feet by move size
These are the industry averages most moving companies start from. They describe a normally-furnished home with no unusual storage:
| Move size | Estimated cubic feet | Estimated weight (at 7 lbs/cf) |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 1,000 cf | ~7,000 lbs |
| 1 bedroom | 1,500 cf | ~10,500 lbs |
| 2 bedroom | 2,500 cf | ~17,500 lbs |
| 3 bedroom | 4,000 cf | ~28,000 lbs |
| 4 bedroom | 6,000 cf | ~42,000 lbs |
| 5+ bedroom | 8,000 cf | ~56,000 lbs |
Notice how the jumps grow. Studio to 1-bedroom adds 500 cf; 3-bedroom to 4-bedroom adds 2,000. Bigger homes don’t just add a room — they add garages, basements, and years of accumulation.
The 7-pounds-per-cubic-foot rule
The long-standing rule of thumb: 1 cubic foot of household goods ≈ 7 lbs. It’s the bridge between the number your surveyor can eyeball and the number the scale will report.
It’s an average, and averages hide outliers. A home full of books, tools, or commercial-grade appliances runs heavier. A young renter with a couch, a bed, and twenty boxes of clothes runs lighter. If you routinely serve one type of customer, tune the multiplier to what your own scale tickets say — your history beats a national average.
The five questions that prevent bad estimates
Bedroom count describes living space. It says nothing about the rest of the property. Nearly every blown estimate traces back to a space nobody asked about:
- Is there a garage, and is it parked in or packed? A packed two-car garage can add 500–1,000 cf on its own.
- Basement, attic, or crawlspace? Finished basements are effectively extra bedrooms. Unfinished ones are where the heavy, awkward items live.
- Any storage unit coming along? Invisible at a walkthrough, and routinely adds an entire room’s worth of goods.
- Anything oversized or special-handling? Pianos, safes, gym equipment, large aquariums, riding mowers — these change crew size and equipment, not just volume.
- Is anything not going? Customers often sell or gift furniture before a move. Estimating the whole house when a third is leaving means you priced a job you won’t perform.
Adjust for density, not just volume
Two 2,500 cf moves can differ by thousands of pounds. Raise your weight assumption for:
- Home offices and libraries — books are the densest common household item.
- Workshops and garages — tools, hardware, machinery.
- Long-tenured homeowners — 20 years in a house fills every cubic foot available.
- Collectors of anything — records, dishes, ceramics, memorabilia.
Trim it for sparse, recently-moved, or minimally-furnished homes.
Turning size into a price
Once you have cubic feet, the estimate is arithmetic: cubic feet × your rate, plus packing, materials, stairs and long carries, shuttles, storage, and valuation. The size number is the foundation — but the reason estimates get lost usually isn’t the math. It’s that the math happens later, after the call, once the customer already has a number from someone else.
The fastest-booking companies quote on the first call. Ask the move size, ask the five questions above, and give a real number while you still have the customer’s attention. That’s exactly what MadagascarCRM automates: pick the move size and it maps to cubic feet and weight, then prices from your rates — so your rep quotes accurately before the call ends. The other half of the job is what happens after the estimate.
Want this handled for you? MadagascarCRM prices moves from your own rates, texts every lead automatically until they book, and keeps calls, quotes, and payments on one screen. Join the waitlist.
Frequently asked questions
How many cubic feet is a 2-bedroom move?
A typical 2-bedroom home runs about 2,500 cubic feet, or roughly 17,500 lbs at the industry rule of thumb of 7 lbs per cubic foot. Treat it as a starting point and adjust for garages, storage units, and dense items like books or tools.
How do you convert cubic feet to pounds for a move?
Multiply cubic feet by 7. That is the long-standing industry rule of thumb for average household goods: 1 cubic foot weighs roughly 7 lbs. A 4,000 cubic foot 3-bedroom move is therefore about 28,000 lbs.
Why are cubic-feet estimates wrong so often?
Almost always because of what was never asked about: the garage, the basement, a storage unit, or an appliance nobody mentioned. Bedroom count describes living space, not everything the customer owns. A short checklist of overflow spaces catches most misses.
Keep reading
- How to Choose CRM Software for Your Moving Company — What actually matters when choosing moving company CRM software: instant estimating, built-in phone and SMS, dispatch, payments, and the pricing traps to avoid.
- Binding vs Non-Binding vs Not-to-Exceed Moving Estimates — The three moving estimate types explained for movers: what binding, non-binding, and not-to-exceed commit you to, when to use each, and how each one gets disputed.
- A2P 10DLC for Moving Companies: Get Your Texts Delivered — If your texts to leads stopped landing, carrier filtering is why. What A2P 10DLC is, what movers need to register a brand and campaign, and why registrations get rejected.