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Why choose SOS Moving?
Our Packing Expertise:
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 Santa Monica 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.
About 70 percent of Santa Monica residents rent, by the city's own count, so most moves here begin or end in a rental unit: shared stairs, a manager to call, neighbors who still need the hallway while the truck is loaded. SOS plans those days around the building first and the inventory second. For apartment moves, the opening question is where the truck can stand and how far that spot is from your door.
On San Vicente Boulevard, between Ocean Avenue and 7th Street, both sides of the street belong to a historic district of courtyard apartments: 26 buildings, most of them put up between 1937 and 1953 and designated by the city in 2015. The buildings are C-shaped or closed rings, and the units open onto a landscaped courtyard, often around a pool, rather than onto the sidewalk. That makes the garden path the real carry, and the unit at the back of the ring the longest one. The crew walks the path before the first box moves, pads the corners and keeps a lane open for the neighbors.
Ocean Park holds some of the city's oldest houses. The Third Street Neighborhood Historic District, the city's first, designated in 1990, takes in parts of Second, Third and Beach Streets between Ocean Park Boulevard and Hill Street. Twenty-seven of its houses are original bungalows from 1903 to 1915, and a few are older still: the Hostetter House dates to 1893, and 2621 Second Street began in 1875 as the city's first church. Floors and door casings that old don't forgive a dolly, so floors get runners, jambs get pads, and large pieces are measured against the doorway before they come off the truck.
The city's single-family zoning, R1, covers four districts: North of Montana, North of Wilshire, Sunset Park and Expo/Pico, more than 6,000 parcels between them. A 28-foot height limit keeps most of those homes to two stories, which means one interior staircase rather than a long outside climb. The weight of the job there is volume, not access, and SOS sizes a crew of three or four before the date instead of discovering a packed garage on the day.
For piano movers in Santa Monica, the path matters more than the weight. In an R1 house it is usually one flight of stairs; in a San Vicente courtyard building the piano crosses the garden path before it reaches the street; in a Third Street bungalow the floor from the room to the front door gets runners first. SOS sends a piano crew of four, never fewer, and the piano adds $200 to the job.
North of Montana and Ocean Park sit at opposite ends of the city and ask for different crews. North of Montana is R1 territory, houses under the 28-foot cap, so the work there is volume; the Third Street district in Ocean Park is century-old bungalows, so the work is care. Two more streets keep a timetable of their own.
Lincoln Boulevard, from the I-10 overpass south to the city limit at Ozone Avenue, has a curb lane that turns bus-only on weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m., built for the Big Blue Bus 3 and Rapid 3. Outside those hours the same lane is metered parking. For an address on that stretch, SOS puts the truck at the curb between the two peaks and has it gone before the afternoon lane opens.
Downtown, the Wednesday and Saturday farmers market sets up at 155–199 Arizona Avenue from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round, rain or shine. A building on that block gets an afternoon start, another day, or a truck brought in from the next street over. The city runs two more markets, at 2640 Main Street and 2233 Pico Boulevard, and an address next to either is worth mentioning when you book.
| Street or home type in Santa Monica | What to plan for on moving day |
|---|---|
| Courtyard apartments, San Vicente Boulevard from Ocean Avenue to 7th Street | Units face a landscaped courtyard, often with a pool; the carry is the garden path, walked and padded before loading |
| Third Street district bungalows, Ocean Park | Houses from 1903–1915: runners on the floors, pads on the door jambs, big pieces measured against the doorways |
| R1 houses: North of Montana, North of Wilshire, Sunset Park, Expo/Pico | 28-foot height limit, so usually two stories and one staircase; full-house volume calls for three or four movers |
| Lincoln Boulevard, I-10 to Ozone Avenue | Curb lane is bus-only on weekdays, 7–9 a.m. and 4–7 p.m.; the truck loads between the peaks |
| Arizona Avenue downtown, 155–199 block | Farmers market Wednesdays and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; move after it packs up or come in from the next street |
| Rental buildings citywide | About 70 percent of residents rent; get the move hours, elevator slot and COI wording from management first |
Santa Monica is a separate city inside Los Angeles County, so the curb in front of your building answers to Santa Monica, not to LADOT. Reserving that curb for a truck is a city process with its own lead time, laid out on the page about office moves in Santa Monica. SOS checks at booking if your address needs it, because that lead time can decide the move date.
Furniture that isn't making the trip can go to the city's bulky-item collection. Requests go through 311, one pickup takes up to five items, three pickups a year are free, and the city asks for 7 to 10 days. The items have to wait at the front curb or in the alley with a label, since city crews don't come onto private property, and hazardous waste such as old paint is not taken, nor is construction debris.
SOS runs moving services in Santa Monica from its only base, 5530 Jillson Street in Los Angeles, and the route is the I-5 to the I-10: about 21.2 miles, around 28 minutes without traffic. Traffic is the part no one controls. The I-10 slows in both directions at the morning and evening peaks, and summer weekends add beach traffic at its western end.
Crews work 8AM – 6PM, Monday – Sunday, and a same-day move is possible when a crew is free. Inside that window the plan is simple: start early, finish the heavy carrying before the afternoon peak, and on Lincoln Boulevard be off the curb before the 4 p.m. bus lane.
The minimum is 3 hours, because every Santa Monica address sits inside the 30-mile line that brings in the 4-hour minimum. Two more rules come from the rate sheet: double drive time applies to moves over 10 miles, and overtime starts after 8 hours on the job.
The I-10 begins at the beach in Santa Monica and runs all the way to Jacksonville, Florida, crossing Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and the Gulf states on the way. For Santa Monica long-distance movers, that makes the first leg of a trip east the same road the truck came in on. SOS runs long-distance moves under USDOT 3398018 and MC 1153871, with the pickup planned around the same curb and building rules as a local job.
In a city where most people rent, the move-out and move-in dates are set by two different leases, and they don't always meet. When they don't, the page on moving and storage in Santa Monica covers how the gap is handled.
Part of the job for any Santa Monica moving company is knowing where the city stops. To the south, Lincoln Boulevard crosses the Ozone Avenue city limit and carries on through Venice as Highway 1 toward LAX, and Ocean Front Walk runs from Venice straight into Santa Monica. Same roads, different city: moves in Venice run under Los Angeles curb rules.
On the east side, the Palms–Mar Vista–Del Rey plan area shares a border with Santa Monica, and its northern edge follows Pico Boulevard and the I-10, the freeway every SOS truck takes to get here. Names along this border can mislead: the Los Angeles plan for that area counts Santa Monica College's Bundy campus among its assets. For Mar Vista moves, the crew confirms the city before anyone talks about permits.
Across the northern line lies the Brentwood–Pacific Palisades plan area of Los Angeles, bounded on the south by Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevard. A move between the two is a short drive with a change of city in the middle, so each end is planned under its own rules, and moving in Brentwood means Los Angeles paperwork on that side.
