Archer's Moving Services
Full-service movers in Chicago & across Chicagoland
Run by the owner, not a front desk
Dial the office and it’s Danny picking up, or a mover who actually rides the trucks — never a scripted call center. Point out the turning greystone stairs, the alley-only load, or the block where nothing parks legally, and the whole day is mapped before your date lands.
Priced on paper before we lift a box
We walk the place room by room to build your number, and the wardrobe cartons, moving pads, dollies and shrink-wrap are already inside it — so nothing gets tacked on once the crew is standing at the curb.
Full pack or just the fragile stuff
Hand us the whole kitchen for dish barrels, let wardrobe cartons carry your closet off the rod on their hangers, or point out the mirrors, flat-screens and glass tabletops we crate to fit for the ride across town.
The same faces from door to door
Whoever measures your home at the estimate is the crew chief driving the truck and doing the final empty-house walk with you — a Pilsen two-flat, an Oak Park bungalow or a Streeterville tower on the freight elevator, your things never change hands.
How Your Move Day Unfolds
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1
A written estimate the same day
On our end: Tell us how many rooms, whether it’s a walk-up or a ground-floor carry-out, and the parking on your block — and a figure in writing is usually in your inbox before we close up for the night.
Where you help: Have your two dates ready, the day you’re out and the day you’re in, along with any building or garage-door codes; that’s what tightens a ballpark into a firm price.
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2
Date booked, access cleared
On our end: Ahead of the day we lock in the moving permit for curb space, reserve the freight-elevator window, and square the certificate of insurance with your management office or condo board, so the truck lands at your door and nobody hauls a dresser half a block.
Where you help: Let us know the earliest you can hand back the old keys and the earliest you can get into the new place, and flag whichever of those two days barely bends.
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3
Blanket, shrink-wrap, tag, carry
On our end: Every dresser and couch goes under moving blankets and a skin of stretch film, and the hardware off each bed frame or table gets zipped into a marked bag we tape right to the piece it came from.
Where you help: Label your own cartons with the room they belong in at the new place, and keep passports, keys and anything small and valuable in your own car, not on our truck.
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4
Haul, unload, set it right
On our end: The same hands that filled the truck empty it at the far end — each piece put exactly where you want it, bed frames bolted back together, and every scrap of used wrap and tape carried out with us.
Where you help: Walk the empty rooms with the crew chief before the truck pulls away, while a quick touch-up is still just a quick touch-up.
Five Ways We
Move Chicago
Home & Apartment Moving in Chicago
From a Wicker Park studio to a full house out in the suburbs, our own crews cover the whole of Chicagoland. The wrapping, the padding and every stair carry are already priced in, and you approve one written figure before a single carton heads for the truck.
- Anything from a single-room studio to a five-bed house
- Greystone stairwells, third-floor walk-ups, plus any certificate of insurance a condo board or downtown high-rise keeps on file
- Bed frames, tables and closet systems knocked down at the pickup and reassembled at the new door
Commercial & Office Moves in Chicago
Retail storefronts, office suites and compact warehouse space all move after hours or across a weekend, so nobody loses a working day while we shift desks, files and server racks around the Loop, River North and the rest of Chicagoland.
- After-hours and weekend slots that keep the business open
- Every workstation, server rack and filing cabinet packed, tagged and keyed to the fresh floor plan
- The freight-elevator hold and any building certificate of insurance squared away before the date
Out-of-State Moving in Chicago
One crew and one truck ride your whole shipment door to door, pulling out of Chicago on I-90/I-94 or I-55 and heading for Indianapolis, Nashville, the Twin Cities, Denver or wherever your new address sits past the state line.
- A single flat figure that stands from the load-out to the day we unload
- The movers who pack you in Chicago are the ones who carry you in at the far end
- Full-value coverage ready to bolt on any time you ask for it
Packing & Storage in Chicago
Give the whole home to our packers or keep it to just the fragile things — the cartons and wrap ride in on our truck — and whatever you’re storing sits in a clean, dry, locked bay for however long the gap runs between your closing dates.
- Made-to-measure crates around anything breakable
- Hanging-wardrobe cartons and sectioned dish barrels on every job we run
- A secured, locked bay that carries you over the gap between two homes
What should you set aside for a Chicago move?
Give us the size of the place, the date you’ve got in mind, and roughly what’s coming along, and we email back a written estimate that same day. Nothing due up front and no deposit — only a figure you can plan the whole move around.
- Fully licensed and insured — we hold Illinois Commerce Commission authority on in-state jobs and pick up federal US DOT and MC authority the instant the truck leaves Illinois
- Whatever number you sign off on is the number the crew is held to — it comes from an actual room-by-room count, never a guess made from the curb
- Every mover shows up in our uniform, draws a W-2 check from us, and drives a truck the company owns
Ask for your free estimate
Fire it over on a weekday and an answer usually comes back inside the hour.
The questions Chicago families put to us before they pick a date
Do you move in the middle of a Chicago winter?
Yes — we work right through the season. Furniture goes out shrink-wrapped and padded, runners go down against salt and slush, and the crew shovels and salts a safe path at both doors. We watch the forecast and only shift a date if the roads turn genuinely unsafe.
My place is a third-floor walk-up — can the crew handle the stairs?
All the time. Tight greystone and three-flat staircases are our daily work: we pad the banisters and corners, break down anything that won’t clear the landing, and carry it by hand. On an hourly booking the clock only runs while we’re actually carrying, so tight stairs never cost you a flat surcharge.
Moving into a downtown high-rise — will you book the freight elevator and building COI?
Yes. Our office reserves your freight-elevator window with building management ahead of the date and sends over the certificate of insurance the property manager wants, so the dock and elevator are held the moment the truck pulls up.
How do you handle parking, permits and the alley on a city block?
We sort the truck spot before move day — pulling a city moving permit or holding curb space where it’s needed, and loading off the alley or gangway when the front of the building is too tight. No scramble for a spot on the morning of your move.
How much does a local move across Chicago typically run?
On local jobs we bill by the hour — a two-mover truck runs $149, a three-mover crew $209, and there’s a one-hour minimum. That rate already covers the wardrobe cartons, moving pads, dollies and shrink-wrap; anything leaving Illinois is quoted as a flat written price instead.
Who runs the move, and how is my shipment protected?
Your job is run by an owner-run Archer's Moving Services crew — uniformed, on our own W-2 payroll and in our own trucks, never handed to a broker. We’re licensed and insured with Illinois Commerce Commission authority plus US DOT and MC authority for interstate work. Every load carries the no-cost $0.60-per-pound released-value protection; declare a value before load day for full-value coverage, up to $1,000,000 per shipment.