Northbound moving crew loading boxes into a clean white truck on a residential street in Portland, Oregon
Crew 02 · Move day for the Petersons · NW Portland · April 2026
Family-Run · Since 2007 · OR · WA · ID

The crew your mom would trust with her grandmother's piano.

Three states, eighteen years, zero scratched hardwood floors that didn't get refinished on our dime. Friendly. Professional. Efficient. That's the whole pitch.

USDOT3214567
Motor CarrierMC 1098765
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USDOT 3214567
MC 1098765
AMSA ProMover
BBB A+ Rated
Google 4.9 stars · 612 reviews
The Honest Part

Moving day shouldn't ruin the week before and the week after.

Most moving stories don't start at 8 AM on move day. They start at the third quote that doesn't match the first, and end with a couch leg the wrong shape on a Tuesday in a new kitchen.

01 / The Quote

The number on the phone is never the number on the invoice.

You get an estimate. Three guys show up. Suddenly it's "the stairs," "the wrapping," "the long carry." The check is four hundred dollars heavier than expected and the dispatcher is on lunch.

02 / The Crew

You don't actually know who's about to walk through your front door.

Day labor, contractors, whoever the foreman called that morning. Nobody on the truck has been with the company longer than the new dishwasher in the kitchen they're packing.

03 / The Aftermath

Something breaks. The claim form is twenty-two pages long.

Your dresser has a fresh gouge. You call. You get voicemail. You email. You get a PDF that requires notarization and "documented purchase price" for a piece your aunt left you in 1998.

Our 3-Pillar Promise

Friendly. Professional. Efficient.

Three words. We measure ourselves against them on every job, every claim, every Google review.

Friendly is not optional.

Every mover is a W-2 employee, background checked, drug tested at hire, and put through six weeks of in-house training before they ride solo. The lead on your job has minimum three years tenure with us.

Professional means paperwork.

USDOT 3214567. MC 1098765. AMSA ProMover. BBB A+ for nine consecutive years. Certificate of insurance to your building manager within two hours. We do the boring parts so you don't have to.

Efficient means we leave on time.

Our average two-bedroom apartment takes 4 hours and 12 minutes door to door. Our average four-bedroom house takes 8 hours and 40 minutes. We share the math because we built our whole pricing on it.

Side By Side

Your old movers vs. Northbound.

A fair comparison to the two-truck shop on Craigslist and the national van line. Different jobs, different price, different week of your life.

Most Other Moving Companies

What you've probably had before

  • ×Quote over the phone in 90 seconds, then "adjusted" on arrival.
  • ×Crew you've never met, hired that week, no name on the truck.
  • ×"Bonded and insured" — never told a policy number, never produced a COI.
  • ×Hourly clock that doesn't stop for lunch, doesn't stop for traffic.
  • ×Claims go to a third-party adjuster four states away.
  • ×No background checks. No drug testing. No tenure.
Northbound Movers

What you actually get

  • ✓Free in-home estimate or video walkthrough, flat-rate option available.
  • ✓Crew named, photographed and texted to you 24 hours before the job.
  • ✓$1M general liability + full cargo coverage. COI in your inbox same day.
  • ✓Clock stops for breaks, traffic, and elevator waits. Always.
  • ✓Claims handled in-house. 48-hour response, 30-day resolution, period.
  • ✓W-2 employees, background checked, drug tested, six-week trained.
Meet The Giants

The six people who'd actually show up for your move.

No stock photos. No "team" page filler. Every one of them has carried a piano up a stairwell this year.

Marco Alvarez, piano specialist with eight years tenure at Northbound Movers

Marco Alvarez

8 yrs · Piano Specialist · Crew Lead

Came from a piano restoration shop in Salem. Knows the weight balance of an upright vs. a baby grand by feel. Has moved 1,400+ pianos. Lost zero.

Dana Whitfield, long-distance crew lead at Northbound Movers

Dana Whitfield

11 yrs · Long-Distance Lead

Started as the office dispatcher in 2015. Now runs every multi-day OR-to-ID corridor route. Will text you a photo of your stuff in the truck before she pulls out.

Thomas Reyes Jr., apprentice mover and son of founder

Thomas Reyes Jr.

3 yrs · Apprentice · Founder's Son

Tom's youngest. Grew up loading the family truck on weekends. Currently training under Marco for piano certification. Cannot legally drive the box truck yet. He's working on it.

Renee Park, white-glove crew lead and packing specialist

Renee Park

6 yrs · White-Glove · Pack Specialist

If your move involves art, antiques, or a wine cellar, Renee is on it. Former gallery handler. Hand-wraps everything. Refuses to use newsprint near anything with a frame.

Mike O'Hara, fleet manager and CDL driver

Mike O'Hara

14 yrs · Fleet Lead · CDL Class A

Drives the 26-footer on every cross-state job. Hasn't taken a sick day since 2019. Keeps the trucks cleaner than his pickup. Asks before he turns the radio on.

Yolanda Brooks, office manager and claims liaison

Yolanda Brooks

9 yrs · Office · Claims Liaison

The person you actually talk to when you call. Handles every COI request, every certificate of insurance, every "can you come a day earlier?" Returns voicemails inside 90 minutes.

Three Ways To Move

Pick the tier that fits the job.

Hourly when it's simple. Flat-rate when it's far. White-glove when it deserves it. No upsells once we're on the truck.

Local Move

Hourly Crew

$89/hr

Two-mover crew, fully equipped truck, blankets and shrink wrap for furniture. Two-hour minimum.

  • Two W-2 movers + 16ft or 26ft truck
  • Furniture pads + shrink wrap included
  • Clock stops for traffic and elevator waits
  • Tip-optional. We don't push it.
  • Within 30 miles of Portland, Seattle or Boise
Get hourly quote
White-Glove

Concierge Move

$4,500 starting

For art, antiques, instruments, wine cellars, and the kind of homes where every piece has a story. Renee leads every job.

  • Full pack + unpack, hand-wrapped
  • Custom crating for art and antiques
  • Climate-controlled transport available
  • Piano + safe + pool table rigging included
  • Setup to original room layout in new home
Request concierge
Real Reviews · Real Cities

612 five-star reviews. Here are six of them.

Pulled from Google, BBB and our own follow-up surveys. Names and cities are verified. The full set is on our Google profile.

★★★★★

"They wrapped a 1920s upright Steinway that I inherited from my grandfather and got it from a third-floor walkup to a basement studio without a single new mark on it. Marco found two old scratches I didn't even know were there and pointed them out before they loaded."

Helena Marchetti
Portland, OR
★★★★★

"My husband and I were nervous about the long-distance move. Dana texted us a photo of the loaded truck before she pulled out of Portland and called when she got to the Boise warehouse. We knew where our stuff was the entire time."

Priya & Raj Patel
Boise, ID
★★★★★

"The quote held. That's all I wanted. Three previous movers added 30-40% on the day. Northbound came in $40 under their estimate because the elevator wait was shorter than expected. I almost cried."

Daniel Okafor
Seattle, WA
★★★★★

"Renee packed our art collection — eleven pieces, four of them oils — in custom crates. Every one arrived perfect. The notes she taped to each crate so we knew which wall they go on were a small miracle."

Margaret Halverson
Lake Oswego, OR
★★★★★

"They moved my mom into assisted living. She was anxious. The crew sat with her for ten minutes before they touched a box, asked which photos she wanted to ride in the cab with them. That's not normal. I tipped 30%."

Sarah Lindgren
Bellevue, WA
★★★★★

"Mike drove our stuff from Portland to Coeur d'Alene in a snowstorm. Got to us a day early. Was wearing the same Northbound polo and the same calm look the whole time. Hire these people."

Bryan & Lacey Holm
Coeur d'Alene, ID
Northbound Movers' truck parked outside the company's Portland headquarters
A note from the founder

Started by Tom Reyes in 2007.

I started Northbound out of a single 16-foot truck and a rented storage unit on NE Sandy. The first year I moved 41 families. Forty of them tipped. The forty-first sent me a Christmas card.

Eighteen years later we have nine trucks across three states, twenty-six full-time employees, and the same rule we started with: if I wouldn't trust this crew with my own mother's things, they don't ride.

My son Thomas works here now. My daughter Mia runs the Seattle dispatch. We're not the biggest moving company in the Pacific Northwest. We're trying to be the one your aunt recommends without checking with you first.

Tom Reyes Founder · Northbound Movers · 2007
Risk Reversal

No deposit. No surprises. No reason not to call.

Every move comes with these five guarantees, in writing, on the day you book. If we miss any one of them, the move is on us.

Bonded $50K Surety
Insured $1M General Liability
Free Estimate In-Home or Video
Flat-Rate Available · Quote Holds
100% Satisfaction Or Your Money Back
Frequently Asked

The eight questions every customer asks first.

If yours isn't here, call (503) 555-0142 or text the same number. Yolanda picks up.

How far in advance should I book my move?
For local moves we ask for two to three weeks notice. For long-distance, six to eight weeks is ideal, especially May through August when crews fill up first. Last-minute moves are sometimes possible — we keep one truck reserved each weekend specifically for emergencies. Call and ask.
Do you give flat-rate quotes or hourly?
Both. Local moves under thirty miles default to hourly at $89/hr per two-mover crew. Long-distance and white-glove moves are quoted flat-rate after a free in-home or video walkthrough. If you want a flat-rate on a local move, we can quote that too — usually slightly higher than hourly to account for the risk we're taking on.
Are you actually licensed and insured?
Yes. USDOT 3214567, MC 1098765. We carry $1M general liability and full cargo coverage. Certificate of insurance is sent to your building manager on request, free of charge, usually within two hours of you asking. You can verify both license numbers at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.
What does NOT come standard with a quote?
Packing materials beyond what's needed for furniture protection (boxes, paper, tape for your kitchen and closets are an add-on), third-party piano riggers for pianos above 500 lbs that need crane access, and storage between move-out and move-in dates. We will price each of these as a separate line item before you sign anything.
Can you move a piano, gun safe or pool table?
Yes. Marco runs our specialty rigging team. We handle upright and baby grand pianos up to 700 lbs, gun safes up to 1,200 lbs, and slate-bed pool tables disassembled and re-leveled in the new home. Anything heavier than that we sub to a certified rigger and quote the cost transparently — no markup.
What happens if something gets damaged?
You file the claim through our office, not a third party. Yolanda responds within 48 hours, sends the same crew lead out to inspect the item, and we either pay you or have it professionally repaired within 30 days. We are members of AMSA, so if we somehow can't agree on the resolution, there's a binding dispute path. This has happened twice in eighteen years.
Do your crews work weekends and holidays?
Saturdays yes, with no upcharge. Sundays by request only, and our crews are paid time-and-a-half on Sundays which is reflected in the quote. We don't book Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, or New Year's Day under any circumstances — those days are for our families and yours.
How do you screen the people who come into my home?
Every crew member is a W-2 employee (no day labor, no contractors, no third-party staffing). Each is background checked at hire through a federal database, drug tested at hire and randomly thereafter, and goes through our six-week in-house training before they ride solo. The lead on every job has a minimum three years tenure with us. Names and photos of your specific crew arrive by text 24 hours before move day.

Free in-home estimate. Quote holds. Crew named in advance.

Spring and summer slots fill 8 weeks out. If you're moving between May and August, call this week and we'll lock the date before the calendar closes.

USDOT 3214567 · MC 1098765 · AMSA ProMover · BBB A+