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Why choose SOS Moving?
As well as people moving to a new place in inspiring films, you’ll also literally snap your fingers and get everything in your new home. Our professionals can accomplish a move of any complexity, so even an antique piano of your grandmother will be safely transported to a new place.
By providing in-person estimates to our customers, evaluating the scope of work, and planning all the stages in detail, we minimize the chances of any emergencies. This way, you have the complete plan and dates for your moving process, excluding any unpleasant surprises.
Our office movers in Costa Mesa deliver top-level commercial moving services. We’ll cope with any office furniture, professional equipment, and even medical practice. Due to a professional approach to all stages of your office move, we help you not to lose excitement and inspiration from your new office in the overwhelming packing, lifting, and unpacking process.
Sure, our movers can bring packing materials and boxes if you need them. Make sure you mention that you need them to our operators in advance.
No, tips are not included, and it’s up to you how much to tip your movers. Tips are always appreciated but not required.
Your apartment moving cost depends on factors, such as the type and size of your property, the complexity of your move, the number of bedrooms, the volume of your items, zip code, etc. At SOS Moving, we offer flat and hourly rates. The hourly rate depends on the number of movers to be involved and the size of the moving truck. Flat rate is based on the volume of belongings you need to move, and it’s the best option for long-distance moves. To know your moving cost, please contact us or submit a form on our website to request your free quote.
You should schedule your move date as early as you can. If you’re moving locally, at least 1-2 weeks in advance, for long-distance moves, we recommend getting a quote at least 2-4 weeks before your move date.
You can choose any convenient day for your relocation, and yes, we can help you move on weekends and holidays.
A safe relocation is our goal, so we’ll provide you with a detailed list of items that are prohibited to transport. It includes perishables, hazardous materials, firearms, batteries, etc. We also don’t recommend packing your personal and irreplaceable items, including family heirlooms, family photos, jewelry, documents, etc. Carry them with you during the move.
We accept cash, all major debit and credit cards, and certified checks. We don’t accept personal checks. There will not apply any transaction fee on card transactions.
Yes, we’ll contact you prior to delivery. We’ll deliver your belongings within the given moving arrival window. In case the window is no longer possible, we’ll also contact you in advance and set another delivery time.
Costa Mesa sorts its homes in a way that shows up on moving day, and the sorting comes from the trash service. The Costa Mesa Sanitary District collects from houses and from buildings of four units or fewer. Complexes of five units and up, along with every business, get their service through the city instead.
Which side of that line you are on decides who hauls off the furniture you leave behind and who you call before the truck comes. On district service, each unit gets a recycling cart, a landfill cart and up to two organics carts, and on collection day they all stand at the curb. Four units can mean a long row of bins in front of one lot, so give us your collection day when you book and the truck's spot gets planned around it.
In a complex of five or more units, the property manager controls the bins, so that office is the first call. Ask about allowed move hours, any elevator or loading-area reservation, and the exact wording for the certificate of insurance. SOS issues the COI for $50. Our apartment moving crews arrive with pads for elevator walls and runners for hallway carpet.
Street parking rules for a box truck, and storage for a gap between two leases, are laid out on our Costa Mesa moving and storage page. Everything else fits in a short list to send when you call 909-443-0004:
Every summer the OC Fair takes over the fairgrounds at 88 Fair Drive. In 2026 it ran July 17 to Aug. 16, opening at 11 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday and staying open until 11 p.m. or midnight, with limited daily attendance and tickets sold in advance. The fair's own traffic advisory tells visitors to arrive early, and its Newport Boulevard gate often closes at peak hours, pushing cars toward the gates on Fair Drive and on Fairview at Merrimac Way.
Gate 1 on Fair Drive is the main entrance and the ride-hail drop-off, so that curb gets busy once the gates open. For an address off Fair Drive, Fairview or that part of Newport Boulevard, a fair-season move runs smoother on a Monday or Tuesday, when the fair is closed, or with an 8AM start that puts most of the loading ahead of the 11 a.m. opening. The rest of the year the grounds host trade shows, festivals and concerts, with the Pacific Amphitheatre on the same property, so check any weekend date against the events calendar.
Mesa Verde started as farmland. In 1957 a developer announced “Mesa Verde Country Club and Estates,” and the club opened in January 1959. Where the “Estates” half of that plan was built, moving day is about driveways and garages rather than elevators: the crew lays runners from the front door, pads the door frames and takes beds and dining tables apart in the rooms where they stand.
On Adams Avenue, Orange Coast College's residence hall, The Harbour, runs on a published handbook, and its dates are fixed. Fall 2026 move-in was Aug. 18; residents keep access only until noon on the end date in their housing agreement, which for the 2026–27 annual agreement is July 23, 2027. Staying later takes written approval from Harbour management and costs extra, and the handbook warns that turnover cleaning may rule it out.
Sidewalks, driveways, stairways and corridors may not be blocked with belongings, and management can remove whatever is left there. Living rooms come furnished and that furniture stays with the building, so a Harbour move is mostly boxes, bedding and electronics. The move-out inspection with the owner's representative can be booked no earlier than two weeks before move-out, with at least 48 hours' notice during business hours.
Guest parking on campus is limited, needs a daily permit and is enforced by OCC's Campus Public Safety, so settle where the truck will stand before the day. Doors and elevators open with the resident's key fob, which keeps the resident close to the crew, and the handbook makes each resident answerable for damage done while moving in or out. Our crew pads door frames and carries straight from room to truck instead of stacking boxes in the corridor.
| Neighborhood or home type in Costa Mesa | What to plan for on moving day |
|---|---|
| House or building of up to four units (Sanitary District service) | Carts line the curb on collection day; a large-item pickup can take a week or more to schedule |
| Complex of five or more units | Trash runs through the city, not the district: ask the manager about bulky items, move hours, elevator time and COI wording |
| Streets off Fair Drive, Fairview and Newport Boulevard | During the fair (July 17 to Aug. 16 in 2026) the gates open at 11 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday; a Monday, a Tuesday or an 8AM start stays ahead of the crowd |
| The Harbour, 1369 Adams Avenue | Out by noon on the end date, nothing left in corridors, a daily permit for guest parking |
| Mesa Verde, around the country club | Houses from the 1957 “Country Club and Estates” plan: driveway loading, a garage to empty, runners on the floors |
District customers get three free large-item pickups a year, up to ten items each: furniture, appliances, bagged waste, contained yard waste. Pickups are requested from CR&R by phone on weekdays or online, and they can land a week or more after the request, so call the day you pick a moving date. A sofa that leaves before moving day is one less thing between the front door and the truck.
Selling first? Costa Mesa limits a garage sale to three consecutive days, no more than twice in any 12 months, during daylight hours only, and nothing may sit on or block the public right-of-way. Hold it the weekend before the move, not the morning of, so folding tables aren't in the carry path.
Paint, cleaners, motor oil, pesticides and batteries go to the county, not on the truck; hazardous materials are on our list of items we don't transport. Orange County residents can leave household hazardous waste and e-waste free at four county collection centers, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and the Huntington Beach and Irvine centers are the nearest to Costa Mesa. They close on rainy days, so give that trip some slack, and note that The Harbour's handbook bars batteries, monitors, TVs and computers from its chutes and dumpsters.
Leaving Orange County altogether? The county centers may ask for proof of county residence, so make that run while your license and utility bills still carry a Costa Mesa address. After that, our long-distance moving service takes it from the curb.
Offices clear out on different terms. A business is not a Sanitary District customer, so old desks and cabinets leave through the city's commercial collection or the landlord's bins, and the county sends business hazardous waste to a separate referral list rather than its free drop-off. Anyone hiring office movers in Costa Mesa should settle what stays and what goes before the date; our commercial moving service runs seven days a week, 8AM to 6PM, so a Saturday or Sunday move leaves Monday for work.
Every crew leaves from our one base, 5530 Jillson Street in Los Angeles. The route runs I-5 south to SR-55: about 33.6 miles, around 41 minutes without traffic. That run is the same for all our moving services in Costa Mesa, from a dorm room on Adams Avenue to a house in Mesa Verde.
The SR-55 leg between I-5 and I-405 is a work zone for now. OCTA and Caltrans are adding lanes in both directions there, improving four bridges and reconfiguring on- and off-ramps, with completion scheduled for 2027. Until it wraps up, expect lane shifts and changed ramps on that stretch.
Weekday commute hours back up both freeways, and a midday or weekend run comes closer to the no-traffic figure. Because Costa Mesa is more than 30 miles from the base, the minimum is 4 hours instead of 3, and double drive time applies to moves over 10 miles. Crews work Monday through Sunday, 8AM to 6PM; a full house with a garage to empty fits that window when it starts in the morning.
Newport Boulevard, the road with the fairgrounds' Gate 10, runs south out of Costa Mesa straight into Newport Beach, so a move between the two can stay on one road the whole way. For the far end of that road, see moving in Newport Beach.
I-405 crosses the Santa Ana River from Costa Mesa into Fountain Valley, so a Mesa Verde household heading west is one short freeway hop from its new street. That side of the river has its own Fountain Valley moving page.
Going the other way, I-405 runs east past John Wayne Airport into Irvine, a few exits from the South Coast Metro side of Costa Mesa. Moving to or from Irvine follows that corridor.
