Moving Services

Procedures and Services

How to obtain moving services

File a Service Request with the Physical Plant customer service staff: phone: 5-6402, 5-6403; fax: 5-0729; mail: Service Desk, Physical Plant, Campus Center Way.
Customer Service staff forward a numbered Service Request to OWM's Hollis Henderson who approves work orders and schedules job. Call Hollis Henderson at Moving Services (5-3195 or 992-7178 - cell)) to discuss your moving needs or the status of a service request.
Moving jobs will then be immediately scheduled and completed normally within 14 days.
Large or complicated moves will require a visit by an OWM moving crew member to assess customer needs and logistical requirements. This may also involve the UMass moving contractor coming on site to generate a job "estimate." No one is authorized to request services from (or approve estimates by) the moving services contractor other than assigned OWM staff.
For moves performed by University staff, packing crates/boxes are available from Moving Services (for moves performed by the University's contracted mover, boxes are supplied by the contractor). Please request them at the time of a Service Request. In order for Moving Services to complete a scheduled job on the appointed date, the customer must be completely packed when the crew arrives. Boxes are available one week prior to the move and are expected to be ready for return to Moving Services no later than one week after the move completion. Although there is no charge for the use of moving boxes, the department must provide an account number (as a deposit) with the initial UMass work request.

What types of moving services are not handled by OWM?

Pianos
Moves associated with carpet installations
Personal property moves between home and office
Tables and chairs for most events (call private rental agency)
Furniture disassembly/assembly other than minor instances (for this service contact Customer Service or your Zone maintenance office)
Packing of boxes to be moved

Who pays for what type of moves

Moves ordered by Space Management, such as the departments being moved into the new ELAB II building, are funded by Space Management;
Moves required in order to provide building maintenance and repair are funded by Physical Plant - except those estimated to require more than 16 hours of labor. The latter are billable jobs;
Moves for organizations not involved directly or indirectly in academics are chargeable;

© 2006 University of Massachusetts Amherst.
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Department of Waste Management.

BACKGROUND

The Office of Waste Management provides moving services to the Amherst campus through a combination of its own staff and a contracted moving services vendor. Services provided range from moving entire departments within or between buildings, to moving specialized heavy laboratory equipment, to shuttling truckloads of brochures and catalogs for Admissions, Financial Aid and New Students Program offices, to setting up for major campus events, to transporting musical equipment for the UMass Marching Band, to moving a beached whale carcass for University researchers.

While the University's requirement for moving services hasn't decreased significantly in the last 15 years, staff dedicated to moving services have gone from 18 to 4. Nevertheless, 90% of move requests are completed within 14 days of receipt of a service request. Major moves and clean-outs may require longer periods for completion. The time required to complete this category of move depends also upon whether the request was received during one of our busy periods (e.g., just prior to registration or commencement).