Full household moves handled room by room, from twin rowhomes to Main Line colonials.
One written number, no walkthrough required.
Philadelphia housing stock is not one-size-fits-all, and neither is a residential move. A brick twin in Mount Airy loads differently than a stately single-family home on the Main Line, and both are different again from a rowhome with a shared party wall in South Philly. Universal Moving Services has moved all three since 2015, and we scope every house move around the actual home, not a generic estimate.
Owner Ray Doherty started the company focused on exactly this kind of work – full households, not just a few boxes – and that’s still where our crews spend most of their time. A residential move means furniture protection, appliance handling, and enough manpower that nothing sits half-loaded on the sidewalk overnight.
| Home type | Common challenge | How we handle it |
|---|---|---|
| South Philly rowhome | Narrow stairwell, street parking | Furniture straps, disassembly, permit timing |
| Twin (Mount Airy, Roxborough) | Shared side-yard access | Staged loading through shared walkway |
| Main Line single-family | Larger inventory, longer driveways | Second truck or extended crew as needed |
Twins present a particular wrinkle: shared driveways and side yards mean coordinating with a neighbor’s schedule as much as your own. Crew chief Malik Jefferson has worked enough Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy twins to know how to stage a load without blocking a shared entrance for hours. For Main Line homes with larger square footage, we typically bring a bigger crew and, on full-house jobs, a second truck so the move finishes in one day instead of stretching into a second.
Basements and attics tend to be where estimates go wrong for other companies, since they’re easy to underestimate from a quick walk-through. We ask specifically about both spaces before quoting a residential move, because a finished basement or a packed attic can add real time and truck space that a living-room-only glance would miss entirely.
Good to know: Residential moves are quoted by crew-hours for local relocations and by weight/distance for anything leaving the state – our long-distance moving page covers that pricing model if your house move is interstate.
Every house move starts with the same question: how much is actually in the home, and what does the path out of it look like? A rowhome with a single front door and a flight of stairs is a different plan than a Main Line house with a driveway and a walkout basement full of storage. We build the crew and truck plan around that answer instead of applying one formula to every address.
If your new place is an apartment or a walk-up rowhome rather than a full house, the logistics shift toward stairwell handling and building coordination – see our apartment and rowhome moving page for that version of the job. Either way, the same crew and trucks show up both directions. Get a free quote and tell us about the home – twin, rowhome, or single-family – so we can size the job accurately from the start.
One number covers the crew, the gear, and the care — nothing itemized after the fact.
This company is a solid 10 out of 10!! Everything from the quoting to booking to moving day was perfect. Highly recommend. My movers Cruz V & Johnny C were phenomenal
Excellent movers. On time and fast. Pleasant and personable. I will definitely use on my next move.
Super great experience! We had a crew of 4 movers help with a large move and they were fantastic. They worked efficiently, quickly, and carefully. We would definitely use them again!
One honest Philadelphia crew for every kind of move across Greater Philadelphia.
Crews who know Philadelphia's rowhome blocks, narrow streets, and parking permits cold.
Licensed long-haul moves up and down the I-95 corridor and beyond, on our own federal authority.
Walk-ups, tight stairwells, and building certificate-of-insurance paperwork, handled routinely.
Every box packed, labeled, and wrapped before moving day even starts.
Upright, baby grand, or antique uprights moved with skid boards and rigging built for stairs.
Gun safes and heavy safes moved with the same rigging gear as our pianos.
Send your pickup and dropoff and our Philadelphia office sends back a written flat rate — usually within the hour.