500 Miles from the City That Never Sleeps
Five hundred miles on I-95 South. In a loaded truck, that's about a day and a half of driving. We've done this route so many times we could probably do it blindfolded, but we don't recommend that.
Loading Out of the Five Boroughs
The New York end is where things get interesting. Every borough has its own logistics. Brooklyn walkups mean carrying furniture down narrow stairwells with tight landings. Upper West Side co-ops usually need a certificate of insurance filed with the management company two weeks ahead of time. Jersey City high-rises have loading docks, but you've got to reserve your time slot or you're waiting in a line of trucks. Manhattan buildings often restrict moves to specific hours and specific elevators.
We handle all of it. COI paperwork, freight elevator reservations, loading dock scheduling, street parking permits. If your building has rules, we've probably already dealt with that building or one just like it. You tell us the address, and we'll figure out the logistics before we show up.
Where NYC Transplants Actually Land
A one-bedroom in Brooklyn that costs $2,800 a month rents for $1,200 in Durham. Or you skip renting entirely and buy a house with a yard for less than your NYC rent. That math is hard to argue with, and it's why we keep running this route.
Where you land depends on what you're not willing to give up. If you want to keep walking to coffee and dinner, downtown Durham has lofts in converted tobacco warehouses and a restaurant scene that surprises people coming from Brooklyn. If you liked Park Slope's brownstone streets, Trinity Park and Old West Durham are the closest match here: big trees, old houses, sidewalks that actually go somewhere. If you're finally ready for a driveway and a garage, Hope Valley has ranch houses on real lots. Research Triangle Park is 15 minutes from most of it, and Duke is the largest employer in the county.
The pace is the real adjustment. That takes a few months. Most New York transplants we move tell us the same thing at the six-month mark: they don't miss it as much as they expected to.
Booking a New York Pickup
Call (919) 682-2300 or fill out the form on this page. We'll do a virtual walkthrough of your apartment, look at what you're moving and what the building access allows, and give you a straight price and an exact delivery date.
On the day, our crew shows up with all the materials. We pack if you want us to, or we load what you've already packed. Everything goes into a container, the container gets sealed, and it doesn't open again until we're in your new place in Durham. Transit is about a day and a half.
The Durham end is the part we know cold. Which downtown buildings need elevator reservations a week out. The tight turns on Watts Street. The fact that the freight elevator at American Tobacco fits a full-size couch, barely. We've been here since 1976 and moved over 20,000 families. When you're coming 500 miles from a city where every move is complicated, it helps to land somewhere the crew already has it figured out.
Moving out of Durham to New York instead? That route runs a little differently.
