Full-Service Packing

Pack day is its own day. The Waley pack crew shows up on Friday or Saturday before a Sunday move with the cartons folded, the archive paper rolled, the dish barrels stacked, the wardrobe boxes assembled and a clear plan for which room gets boxed first. By the time the moving truck arrives the next morning, the kitchen is sealed in dish-pack and bubble, the bookshelves are dimension-fit, the closet rods are emptied into wardrobe boxes hanger-by-hanger, and the labels are color-coded by destination room. Tony or Reggie runs the same chief on the move-day so nothing gets lost in handoff.

Whole-home pack or kitchen-and-fragiles-only

Most Logan Square and Lincoln Park households book a whole-house pack the day before a Saturday move. Smaller Wicker Park apartments and Lakeview courtyard units typically book just the kitchen plus the wall-art, electronics and bookshelves — the rooms that take real time and a real plan — while the household handles its own clothes and linens. Eddy quotes both shapes off the same in-home walkthrough so you can compare the numbers side by side.

Materials, labels and the unpack-day option

Cartons, dish-pack, picture and mirror boxes, custom television crates, archive newsprint and bubble are supplied at cost on the pack-day flat — no per-roll surcharge buried in the invoice. Every carton gets a color-coded room label and an inventory line on Eddy’s sheet so the new house unloads in the right room without a relay. If you want the same Waley crew back the following Tuesday for an unpack-and-debris-haul day, Trish books it on the same calendar so the carton mountain doesn’t live in the living room for a week.

What's Covered

Friday or Saturday pack-day with the Waley W-2 crew showing up to a hand-labeled, dimension-fit plan written by Eddy at the walkthrough
Cartons, dish-pack, archive newsprint, picture-and-mirror boxes, wardrobe boxes and bubble supplied at cost with no per-roll or per-carton surcharge on the invoice
Custom plywood-cushion crates built at the Milwaukee Avenue yard for marble tops, leaded mirror, sculpture, original art and Marshall Field-era heirlooms
Color-coded room labeling and a written inventory line on every carton so the destination unload lands each box in the right room without a relay through the foyer
Kitchen-and-fragiles-only pack option for renters who want the dishpack and electronics done right but pack their own clothes and linens to save the flat
Optional Tuesday-after unpack and carton-debris haul booked on the same calendar so the empty boxes don’t live in the new living room for a week

What's the Cost?

Two uniformed W-2 Waley movers and the 26-ft straight truck run a posted Logan Square hourly of $185 an hour; if your room count slots cleanly into a half-day — studio, junior one-bedroom, or a tight in-building swap — Eddy will quote it as a locked flat instead, starting at $545 all-in.

Everything the day calls for is folded into that hourly figure: the two W-2 movers themselves, the 26-ft Waley truck, quilted blankets, masonite floor runners, two-wheel and four-wheel dollies, ratchet straps, walk-boards, and the lake-effect winter mats we put down off the porch in any month with salt on the sidewalk. Fuel adders, third-floor stair charges, long-carry charges from the alley to the door — none of those line items show up on a Waley invoice, period.

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How a Waley Move-Day Actually Lands

From the Moment Trish Picks Up to the Last Strap Released at the Destination Door

Hand Trish the Four Basics

Origin ZIP, destination ZIP, the date you’d like on the board, plus a rough room count and any items over 200 lbs — that’s the whole intake. Trish Sullivan walks it across the Milwaukee Avenue dispatch counter, Eddy Ramirez prices it against the calendar, and a signed Illinois flat returns to you inside the same business hour. No deposit, no auto-redial, no upsell call afterwards.

Written Number, Same Business Hour

Once Eddy locks the estimate against the Milwaukee Avenue board, the signed Illinois flat figure is in your inbox before lunch — or before the next morning’s dispatch huddle if you called after 4pm. Everything is bundled as part of the hourly figure or, on a flat job, baked into one printed line: a 26-ft straight truck out of the Logan Square / Bucktown yard, two W-2 Waley movers in uniform, quilted blankets, masonite runners, two-wheel dollies, four-wheel furniture dollies, ratchet straps, shrink-wrap, and the floor mats we cut to fit a Chicago three-flat landing. No hourly meter runs underneath the figure once it’s on Waley letterhead.

Pad Out, Load Up, Roll Through, Reset on the New Side

Move-day starts before sunrise: Tony Pawlak walks the route at 5am to read the alley, the snow banks and the freight-elevator timing the property manager booked, then pulls up to the curb at the agreed window (6am most of the year, 7am on Dec–Mar salt mornings off Lake Michigan). The W-2 crew steps off in Waley uniform, lays masonite over every center-stair landing of the 1900s greystone, and only then does the first carton leave the parlor. The same crew that strapped you down on Milwaukee Avenue is the crew Reggie Brooks unloads with at the new address — and if your closing slips by a week, the Logan Square heated bay holds the load until the keys actually change hands.

Move-Day Plus One Week

What Logan Square & Lincoln Park Households Sent Back After Their Boxes Were Unpacked

★★★★★

“Very sweet souls , aware of their surroundings, good guys , good company , & most importantly trust worthy men !!!”

Imani T.

Rogers Park near Loyola · Google

★★★★★

“Great moving experience! Tony Pawlak were great, friendly, respectful, professional!”

Isaiah L.

Streeterville doorman tower · Google

★★★★

“What a great experience. The movers were not only skilled but also super respectful of my time and belongings. They handled my couch and bed like pros, took it apart and reassembled it perfectly in the new place. Best moving company I've used so far, hands down.”

Jenna L.

Old Town brownstone · Google

Questions?

Service FAQ

How far in advance should we book a Waley pack day?

Three to six weeks for most Saturdays outside lease-day. For the May 1 and October 1 weekends the calendar fills six to eight weeks out, so call Trish early.

Do you pack the kitchen but let me do my own clothes?

Yes. The kitchen-fragiles-and-art pack is one of the most common Waley shapes for Lakeview and Wicker Park renters. Eddy quotes it next to the whole-house number so you can pick the smaller spend.

Are materials included or billed separately?

Cartons, dishpack, newsprint, bubble, picture-and-mirror boxes and wardrobe boxes are supplied at our cost and rolled into the pack-day flat. No surprise paper bill.

Can you crate a marble dining top or an oil painting?

Yes, built at the Milwaukee Avenue yard the week before move-day. Eddy specs the crate at the walkthrough and the price goes into the binding flat.

Will the same Waley pack crew show up on move-day?

Tony or Reggie runs both days as chief so the labeling system follows through. The pack day and the move-day talk to each other instead of being two unrelated crews.

Once Trish puts you on the Milwaukee Avenue board, Marcus Waley calls back and walks the floor plan with you, room by room, item by item.

The Illinois flat figure is keyed in at the dispatch counter on Milwaukee Avenue, signed by Marcus on Waley letterhead, and returned to your inbox before the close of business. One desk handles the whole quote — no lead-auction lane, no national call-center queue — and if you don’t book, we don’t pester. The only follow-up you’ll hear from us is the one you ask for.

Get a Free Quote ☎ (888) 278-9005