I am Sara Pettinger. My husband Dave and his brother Greg started this company in 2010, and I have written every quote we have ever sent. When a Spokane family calls, I want them to know one thing: hiring movers is not about who sounds friendliest. It is about who is actually licensed to put a truck in your driveway.
Start with the WUTC license
Washington regulates household-goods movers through the Utilities and Transportation Commission. A real local company has a permit number and will say it without flinching.
- In-state authority comes from the WUTC. Ours is HG-64217.
- Cross-state moves to Idaho, Oregon, or Montana require federal authority. Ours is USDOT and MC authority.
- A broker has none of its own. It carries no WUTC number because it owns no trucks and employs no crew.
Ask for all three numbers on your first call. You can verify the WUTC permit on the state site and the DOT number on the federal SAFER database in two minutes.
Spot the broker before they spot your money
A broker sells your job to whoever bids lowest, then vanishes the moment a truck shows up. Watch for these tells.
- A firm price quoted over the phone for a home nobody has looked at
- No WUTC number, or a long pause when you ask for one
- Talk of “carriers in our network” or getting you “matched” with a crew
- A deposit demanded by card before anyone has seen your stairs
- A company name that does not match the name painted on the truck that arrives
If a company will not read its license number out loud, it is not the company that will be carrying your couch. Somebody else will, and you will not meet them until move day. — Dave Pettinger
The walkthrough is the real estimate
No honest Spokane mover prices a job sight unseen. A daylight-basement stair run, a quarter-mile gravel driveway out on Green Bluff, and a downtown loft that wants a Certificate of Insurance all change the number. We look first, then we quote.
| What you ask | A broker | Pettinger Family Movers |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers the phone | A call center reading a script | Our Spokane office, usually me |
| The estimate | A number for a home nobody saw | A flat rate after an in-home or video walkthrough |
| The crew | Day labor or a subcontractor | W-2 movers on our own five trucks |
| The driveway | Their problem on move day | We shuttle the long gravel lanes a 26-footer cannot reach |
| The final bill | Padded once the truck is loaded | The written flat rate, nothing added |
What a flat rate in writing actually buys you
The cheap phone quote is bait. Once your whole house is on the truck at the bottom of your driveway, the surcharges begin: a stairs fee, a long-carry fee, a fuel line. Your leverage left the moment the tailgate closed.
For a sense of the numbers
Our two-mover crew runs $120 an hour. Most local jobs are flat-rate instead: a studio or one-bedroom runs $450 to $650, a two-bedroom $900 to $1,400, and a three-bedroom $1,700 to $2,600. The figure we write down is the figure you pay, long driveway or not.
The COI and the gravel driveway
Two Spokane details trip up the cheap outfits. Kendall Yards and downtown buildings want a Certificate of Insurance on file before the elevator opens. Acreage homes on Mead and Colbert sit behind gravel lanes a full truck cannot climb. A real mover handles both ahead of time.
When you book, ask flat out who files the COI and who plans the driveway shuttle. If the answer is a shrug, the truck will be sitting at the curb on move day while you start making phone calls.
The coverage form nobody reads
Federal rules on valuation are the same for every licensed mover. Left at the default, your shipment is covered at released value, which pays just sixty cents per pound. That is fine for a worn dresser and useless for a flat-screen.
- Released value. The free default. Sixty cents a pound, no matter what the item was worth.
- Full value protection. Usually one to three percent of the value you declare. A damaged piece gets repaired or replaced, not paid out by weight.
- Our cargo coverage. We carry $1 million in cargo insurance, and the claim window runs about nine months.
Questions Spokane readers ask before booking
Should I just take the lowest bid?
Almost never. The lowest quoted price usually comes from the outfit whose final bill climbs the most. Compare written flat rates only, and ignore any number someone says out loud without seeing your home.
How much lead time do you need before move day?
Two to four weeks for a summer move or an end-of-month close. That gives us time to walk a steep driveway, file a downtown COI, and reserve an elevator window.
Is the company that quotes you the one that actually moves you?
We are the movers. Dave owns the trucks, the crew is on our payroll, and the WUTC permit is in this company’s name. One outfit, one flat rate, start to finish.
Run those steps in order — license, walkthrough, written flat rate, COI, coverage — and the driveway full of surprise charges never shows up. That is the whole point.