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Why Manhattan Beach residents choose SOS Moving:
Our Packing Standards:
Our Advantage:
Why Move Nationwide With Us:
Our Commercial Standards:
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.
In the Sand Section, plenty of houses have no street out front. They face walk streets, narrow public paths that run toward the ocean and are closed to cars, while their garages open onto alleys parallel to the shore. Depending on the block, a walk street can be a set of stairs rather than a gentle slope. For movers in Manhattan Beach that settles the plan before anything else: the truck stages in the alley or on the nearest cross street, and the crew takes whichever carry is shorter and flatter.
The alleys are tight, and many garages behind walk-street homes are tandem or have smaller door openings. That opening decides whether a sectional goes out through the garage or the long way around by the walk street. When you book, we ask for photos of the alley, the garage door and any steps up to the front door, and we check the big pieces against them before moving day rather than with the truck idling in the alley.
Many original Sand Section lots are narrower than inland ones, so newer houses build up instead of out, with tall floor plans, wide glass and roof decks. A move there is mostly vertical: every box and dresser travels a staircase. The crew pads rails and landings, lays floor runners from the garage to the top level, and brings rooms down in the order they will ride in the truck.
Homes on the Strand face a walkway, not a road. The city doesn't even allow bikes or e-bikes to be ridden on the Strand, so a truck is out of the question. Every item is carried by hand between the house and the nearest spot where a truck can legally stand, and we count that distance when we size the crew.
Every Manhattan Beach moving company answers to the same curb rules, and they run through the city's Traffic Engineering Division. Each year that desk reviews and issues more than 1,100 right-of-way permits, traffic control plans, POD permits, temporary loading zones and oversize vehicle permits, and moving van permits go through the same office. The moving van permit is filed online through the city's Citizen Self Service portal, and we raise it at booking so it is settled well before the date.
Generic hardware-store signs don't count here. The city requires its own Temporary No Parking sign, made from a city template and printed on 11 x 17 cardstock or mounted on board. It also advises a time-dated photo of each sign once posted, so police have something to go on if a parked car has to be ticketed or towed. We ask you to send us that photo the day the signs go up.
Truck size matters as well. Under the city's rules, anything over 22 feet long, 7 feet wide or 8 feet high counts as an oversized vehicle, and every box truck is taller than that. A truck actively serving a home doesn't need the oversized vehicle permit, but it still has to obey posted signs and pay the meter in a metered space, and the city publishes a map of streets where oversized vehicles can't park at any time, permit or not. We check your address against that map when we plan the truck spot.
The same rules allow an oversized vehicle only one marked space, and a moving truck is longer than a standard stall. That is one more reason we lean on the moving van permit and a signed, reserved stretch of curb instead of hunting for a gap on the day.
Street sweeping is the other trap. Sweeping covers paved public alleys as well as streets; streets get a weekly pass in posted time windows, and main streets and business blocks get swept more often. We put the sweep window for your block into the schedule so the truck isn't sitting across it.
Before moving day we ask for four things: the permit confirmation, a photo of the posted signs, pictures of the alley and garage door, and the move rules from your condo or townhome association if you have one. If the association requires a certificate of insurance, SOS issues it for $50.
Downtown, the city runs an override permit program for residential streets posted with restricted parking, to keep visitors from filling them. Residents of qualified streets get override hangtags, yet even they still pay meters and follow street sweeping and red-curb rules, so a truck without a permit is left competing for metered spaces.
August adds the Manhattan Beach Open, the pro beach volleyball tournament at the pier. For the 2026 event the city closed Manhattan Beach Boulevard west of Ocean Drive to the pier for ten days and published a street and parking-lot closure map. For a downtown move in August, we check that map before we offer a date.
The Tree Section sits just inland from the Sand, and its parking is more managed than it looks. The city runs a resident permit parking program there, with qualified streets posted with restricted parking to cut down on non-resident cars. On those blocks we hold the curb with the moving van permit and the city's signs rather than counting on a free space.
The Hill Section earned its name: curving streets, sloped lots and multi-level houses set into the grade, often with terraced yards and multi-car garages. Slopes put steps between the truck and the door, and larger custom homes mean more rooms to carry up and down. We size Hill Section crews for stair work and plan the heaviest carries first, while everyone is fresh.
Around Mira Costa High School, streets in the city's Mira Costa override program are posted with parking restrictions during the school year to keep student cars off residential blocks. A school-day move there needs the permit and signs more than a summer one does.
El Porto, at the north end, is boxed in: 45th Street marks the El Segundo line, and the refinery fence runs along its inland edge. The long El Porto beach lot starts at 45th Street and runs down to Rosecrans Avenue, so beach traffic and residents use the same approach. We settle the truck spot with you ahead of time and favor early starts there.
| Area or home type in Manhattan Beach | What to plan for on moving day |
|---|---|
| Walk-street house, Sand Section | The front door is on a pedestrian path, so the truck works from the rear alley or the nearest cross street. Tandem garages and small garage doors decide which pieces go out through the garage. |
| Home on the Strand | No vehicles on the walkway, and not even bikes may be ridden there. Every item is hand-carried to the nearest legal truck spot, so carry time goes into the estimate. |
| Downtown blocks near the pier | Restricted resident parking and meters. In August, check the Manhattan Beach Open closure map before picking a date. |
| Tree Section | Resident permit parking on posted streets. Reserve the curb with a moving van permit and the city's own signs. |
| Hill Section | Sloped lots, multi-level houses and terraced yards. Plan for stair carries and a crew sized for them. |
| El Porto | Wedged between 45th Street, the refinery fence and the beach lot. Agree on the truck spot in advance and start early. |
Crews leave the SOS base at 5530 Jillson Street in Los Angeles, head south on I-710 and turn west on SR-91 toward the South Bay: about 22.9 miles to Manhattan Beach, around 34 minutes without traffic. West of the 710 the 91 is the Gardena Freeway, and it stops at Vermont Avenue in Gardena because the freeway was never built farther west. The signed route carries on as Artesia Boulevard, a surface street the cities now maintain, to Pacific Coast Highway where Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach meet.
Those surface blocks are where the clock slips. Weekday rush hours are slow on both the 710 and the 91, and warm weekends pull beach traffic onto the coastal end of the trip. With a working day of 8AM – 6PM, Monday through Sunday, a morning start usually gets the truck in before the beach crowd and loaded while the curb is quiet.
Every job carries a 3-hour minimum, and Manhattan Beach sits well inside the 30-mile line, so the minimum stays at 3 hours rather than 4. One pricing rule to know: double drive time applies to moves over 10 miles. Our hourly rates for local moves are listed by crew size, and overtime starts after 8 hours, which matters for a large Hill Section house.
Among our moving services in Manhattan Beach, packing earns its keep in the tall Sand Section houses, where every packed box travels a staircase on the way out. Our packing crews label boxes by floor as well as by room, wrap mirrors and glass tabletops for the stair turns, and stage finished boxes by the garage so loading from the alley goes quickly.
A portable storage container parked on a Manhattan Beach street is handled like a moving van: it needs a city POD permit and the city's own No Parking signs. If you would rather skip the container paperwork during a remodel or a gap between homes, SOS storage keeps your things off the street: the truck loads at the old address, and the goods stay in storage until the next one is ready.
The Strand runs on south into Hermosa Beach, and Hermosa bans motorized vehicles of any kind from its Strand walkway, emergency use aside, so beachfront homes there are hand-carry jobs as well. The old SR-91 signs on Artesia Boulevard run out at Pacific Coast Highway, right at the Hermosa and Manhattan line, which puts moves in Hermosa Beach a short drive from most of Manhattan Beach.
North of 45th Street, El Porto gives way to El Segundo and its refinery, and the two towns share the same short stretch of coast. El Segundo moves that start in El Porto cross the city line in a few blocks, so the planning is about curb space at both ends, not the drive.
Artesia Boulevard also runs through Redondo Beach before it reaches Manhattan Beach, and each city maintains its own stretch of the old state route. A move between the two towns can stay on that one corridor, and Redondo Beach moves use the same approach from the 91.
