Count your rooms, add the garage and attic, and see what decluttering takes off. Use the result to size a truck or plan the survey, not as a quote.
150 cu ft/roomour placeholder, change itWe did not measure anyone’s house. A visual or video survey produces a real inventory. This tool shows the size of the move and what a declutter percent does to it.
The short answer
Multiply your rooms by about 150 cubic feet per room (our placeholder; change it), add garage and attic, then subtract what you will leave behind.
Six rooms with 20 percent decluttered is 720 cu ft, down from 900. Paste that into the truck-size tool, or use it to plan a mover’s survey. It is not a weight or a quote.
Rooms, extras, then declutter
150 cu ft/room is a placeholder. Extra is garage and attic. Nothing is emailed.
Editorial cu ft/room unless you overwrote it. Not a weight ticket. HyreMover does not survey houses.
Key takeaways
Rooms × cubic feet, plus extras
Start at 150 cu ft per room, change it to fit your home, then add the garage, attic and storage.
Declutter before the survey
You pay to pack and haul volume. What you leave behind before the survey never reaches the estimate.
Interstate moves are billed by weight
A volume estimate converted to weight must come with the mover’s written conversion (49 CFR 375.401(e)).
This is not a survey or a quote
Only a mover’s physical or video survey produces an estimate you can hold them to.
On a long-distance move, you pay for weight, not volume
Being charged for weight rather than volume explains most of the confusion in moving estimates, and it is why a cubic-foot number can look reassuring and still not predict your bill.
The mechanism. A line-haul trailer has both a volume limit and a weight limit.
For household goods, volume is usually the binding constraint on what fits, but the tariff prices by hundredweight — hundreds of pounds — against a distance band.
So the truck runs out of space, and the invoice is built from the scale.
Which means the two disagree. Density varies enormously across a household. A mattress is almost pure volume. A box of books is almost pure weight.
A garage full of tools is dense and small; a living room full of upholstered furniture is bulky and light.
A volume estimate that is exactly right can sit alongside a weight that is well off, and vice versa.
The conversion, and the honest caveat. Household goods are conventionally planned at roughly 7 lb per cubic foot. HyreMover editorial figure. Household goods are conventionally converted at roughly 7 lb per cubic foot for planning.
49 CFR 375.401(e) requires a mover using a volume-to-weight conversion to explain its own factor in writing — so ask for theirs rather than assuming ours.
And the rule that protects you here. Where a mover quotes by volume and charges by weight, 49 CFR 375.401(e) requires the conversion to be explained in writing and requires disclosure that the final charge depends on actual weight, subject to the 110 percent rule.
If a mover quotes cubic feet and invoices hundredweight, the factor it used is a term of the deal, not a trade secret.
HyreMover recommendation. Use this tool to plan — to size a rental truck, to decide what to declutter, to sanity-check whether a quoted weight is plausible. Do not use it to argue with an invoice. The document that settles a weight dispute is a weight ticket, and you have specific rights around obtaining one.
How much does each room add?
The third column is the useful one. It is not a list of what is in your house — it is a list of where estimates go wrong.
Space
Typically contains
What it does to the estimate
Living room
Sofa, chairs, media unit, rug, side tables
Volume-heavy, weight-light. The room that fills a truck and barely moves the scale.
Bedroom (main)
Bed, mattress, wardrobe, drawers, bedside tables
Mattresses are the purest volume item in the house. A king mattress is enormous and weighs very little.
Bedroom (secondary)
Bed, drawers, desk, wardrobe contents
Usually the room people forget to count when they say "three-bedroom".
Kitchen
Small appliances, crockery, pans, pantry
Dense. A kitchen is a small volume and a surprisingly large weight, and it is slow to pack.
Dining room
Table, chairs, sideboard
Awkward rather than heavy. Table tops often need protection and sometimes dismantling.
Home office
Desk, chair, shelving, books, files
Books are the densest thing most households own. This is where a volume estimate understates weight most.
Garage
Tools, bikes, garden equipment, paint, boxes
The most under-surveyed space in the house, and the one most likely to contain items a carrier will not take.
Loft / attic
Stored boxes, seasonal items, luggage
Frequently omitted entirely, then discovered on the day. This is a classic route to a revised estimate.
The calculator’s default of 150 cubic feet per room is an editorial placeholder. HyreMover editorial figure, not a measurement. 150 cubic feet per furnished room is a planning placeholder we publish so the arithmetic is visible and so you can overwrite it. We hold no dataset of surveyed household volumes. A real survey replaces it.
What does a mover’s survey look at?
The survey is not a formality and it is not a sales visit. It is the mechanism that turns a guess into a document.
The rule. 49 CFR 375.401(a): "You must conduct a physical survey of the household goods to be transported and provide the prospective individual shipper with a written estimate, based on the physical survey, of the charges for the transportation and all related services."
A shipper may waive the survey, but only by written and signed consent given before the shipment is loaded, a copy of which the mover keeps with the bill of lading.
What a good surveyor actually does. Opens every wardrobe. Goes into the loft. Walks the garage and the shed.
Asks what is going and what is staying — including the things that are staying today but might not be by the move.
Measures nothing precisely and estimates everything consistently, because consistency across a household matters more than precision on any one item.
And then looks at the building, not the contents. Where a vehicle can park. How far that is from the door. Stairs at both ends. Whether a lift exists and can be booked.
Whether the street takes a full trailer. This half of the survey is the half that changes the price most, and it is the half a photograph of your living room does not capture.
Video surveys work. They became normal out of necessity and stayed because they are faster for everyone and produce a recording. The requirement is that the whole property is seen — which in practice means you walking with a phone into the loft, not sending four photographs of the lounge.
The thing to be honest about. A survey conducted before you have decluttered prices the household you have today. If you intend to remove a fifth of it, either declutter first or say so explicitly and get the estimate built on the reduced inventory. On a binding estimate especially, the inventory is the deal.
And amendments have a deadline. Estimates may be amended only before loading and only by mutual agreement. 49 CFR 375.401(i) prohibits amendment after loading — which is precisely when a shipper is least able to argue.
How do you get a volume number you can use?
Twenty minutes with a notebook beats any room-count default, including ours.
1
Count the spaces, not the bedrooms
A "three-bedroom house" has, in practice, eight or nine spaces that contain goods. Loft, garage, shed, understairs cupboard, utility room and garden are all volume and all frequently uncounted.
2
Decide what is going before you measure anything
The single most common source of estimate drift is items whose status was undecided at survey. Decide, then estimate the decided household.
3
Replace the default with something you have looked at
150 cubic feet per room is our placeholder so the form is not empty. A sparsely furnished spare room is nothing like that; a full garage is several times it.
4
Add the awkward items separately
Pianos, safes, gym equipment, garden machinery, hot tubs, large mirrors and glass tops. These attract handling charges regardless of their cube, so counting them as generic volume understates their effect on the price.
5
Apply a declutter percentage honestly
Not aspirationally. If you have moved twice before and never managed to shed 30 percent, do not model 30 percent now. An estimate built on a declutter that does not happen is worse than no estimate.
6
Convert to weight only to sanity-check a quote
At roughly 7 lb per cubic foot, the conversion tells you whether a quoted weight is in the right region. It does not tell you the weight, and it should never be used to dispute a scale ticket.
7
Take the number to the survey, not instead of it
The value of doing this yourself is that you can tell when a surveyor has missed a space. That is a genuinely useful thing and it is the main reason to spend the twenty minutes.
You can check the weight of your shipment
Two specific rights, both exercisable only at particular moments.
You may watch the weighing. "You have the right, and your mover must inform you of your right, to observe all weighing of your shipment." The mover is obliged to tell you.
Whether you would want to spend the morning at a weighbridge is another matter — but the right exists, and on a large shipment where the weight looks wrong it is worth using.
You may demand a reweigh, and it is free. "If your shipment is weighed at origin and you believe that the weight may not be accurate, you have the right to request that the shipment be reweighed before it is unloaded. The mover is not permitted to charge you for the reweighing."
Read the timing again: before it is unloaded. This right expires the moment your sofa is in the living room, which is exactly when most people first look at the paperwork.
How weighing normally works. The vehicle is weighed empty (tare) and loaded (gross); the difference is your shipment. Where a trailer carries more than one shipment, the sequence of weighings is what allocates weight between them — which is why the tickets, not the total, are the document to ask for.
And the ceiling still applies underneath all of it. On a non-binding estimate, whatever the scale says, "Under a non-binding estimate, the mover cannot require you to pay more than 110 percent of the non-binding estimate at the time of delivery." A weight dispute does not entitle anyone to hold your goods.
HyreMover recommendation. Ask for copies of the weight tickets at delivery, before you sign anything. If the weight is materially above the estimate and the tickets are not forthcoming, that is the moment to ask for the reweigh — not the following week.
Which decluttering actually lowers the bill?
Ordered by return per hour spent. The first three are worth more than everything below them combined.
The garage, first and completely
Highest volume, lowest sentimental cost, and the space most likely to contain things a carrier will not transport anyway — fuel, paint, propane, garden chemicals, batteries. You will have to deal with those regardless, so deal with them early.
The loft, second
The classic route to a revised estimate. Anything that has been up there for two moves without being opened is a candidate.
Furniture you already dislike
You pay to transport it, then you pay to dispose of it at the other end, and in the interim it occupies the truck. This is the clearest arithmetic in the whole exercise.
Books, but only if you are honest
Books are the densest thing most households own, so they move the weight ticket more than their volume suggests. They are also the thing people most reliably regret shedding. Decide deliberately rather than at 11pm.
Anything that needs a specialist to move
Gym equipment, safes, pianos, hot tubs. Each attracts a handling charge. Selling one locally can be worth more than its resale value once the charge is netted off.
Decluttering after the survey on a binding estimate
The price was agreed on the inventory surveyed. Removing goods afterwards may not reduce it, and you have spent the effort for nothing. Declutter first, then survey.
Planning a declutter you will not do
A model with 30 percent removed and a reality with 5 percent removed produces an estimate that fails on the day, which is the worst place for it to fail.
Throwing away documents to save volume
Paper is dense, so it feels like a target. It is also the thing you cannot replace. Scan rather than shed, and carry originals yourself rather than shipping them.
What can movers refuse to carry?
A carrier will refuse some of what is in your house. Knowing which before the day is worth more than the cubic feet. For the part that does travel in cartons, the box calculator converts a carton count into the cubic feet those cartons occupy.
Hazardous and flammable items
Fuel, propane cylinders, paint and solvents, aerosols, pool chemicals, fertilizer, ammunition, lighter fluid, some cleaning products. Carriers refuse these as a category and the refusal is not negotiable.
This is a disposal problem with a lead time — many require a council or municipal facility rather than a bin — so it belongs at eight weeks out, not on the morning.
Perishables and living things
Frozen and fresh food, open containers, plants in many cases, and pets always. Plants in particular have agricultural restrictions on some interstate lanes independent of any carrier policy.
Plan to empty the freezer as a scheduled task rather than as an emergency, because it is a week of meals, not an afternoon.
Things you should carry yourself regardless
Passports, birth and marriage certificates, wills, deeds, share certificates, medication, keys, laptops, phone chargers, cash and jewelry. Not because a carrier is untrustworthy — because these are the items whose absence for three days is intolerable.
Items of extraordinary value have their own declaration process on many carriers and are frequently excluded from ordinary valuation. Ask about that specifically rather than assuming.
And the box you will need on night one
Kettle, mugs, tea, toilet paper, soap, towels, bedding, a torch, basic tools, chargers, and whatever your children cannot sleep without. Load it last or carry it in the car.
It is a small thing and it is the single most reliably appreciated piece of advice in this entire subject.
What this estimator cannot do
Real blind spots, stated plainly.
It did not survey your house. The default of 150 cubic feet per room is an editorial placeholder we publish so the arithmetic is visible. HyreMover editorial figure, not a measurement.
150 cubic feet per furnished room is a planning placeholder we publish so the arithmetic is visible and so you can overwrite it. We hold no dataset of surveyed household volumes. A real survey replaces it.
It cannot see density. Two households of identical cube can differ substantially in weight, and on a long-distance move the weight is the price. Nothing on this page fixes that.
It cannot see access. Cube tells you nothing about stairs, carry distance or whether a trailer can reach the door — and those move the bill more than moderate errors in volume do.
It is not a weight ticket and cannot dispute one. If you disagree with a weight, the remedy is the free reweigh before unloading, not a browser calculation.
It does not know what your carrier will refuse. Prohibited-item lists vary and we do not hold them. Ask for your carrier’s list in writing and read it before you pack.
And it is not a quote. HyreMover does not move household goods, does not survey properties, and takes no fee from any mover. Nobody is bound by anything this page produces.
Numbers to bring to the survey
150 cu ftour editorial per-room placeholder — overwrite itHyreMover editorial figure, not a measurement
~7 lbper cubic foot, a conventional planning conversionHyreMover planning factor; ask your carrier for theirs
Freethe cost of a reweigh you request before unloadingAppendix A to 49 CFR Part 375
110%the ceiling at delivery on a non-binding estimate, whatever the scale says49 CFR 375.407(a)
How this calculator works
The calculator multiplies rooms by the per-room cube you typed (default 150), adds extra, then applies the declutter percent:
raw = rooms × per + extra
cu = raw × (1 − decl/100)
Declutter is capped at 80%. Per defaults to 150 if you leave it blank, because an empty multiplier is a blank form. 150 is labeled editorial in the engine. It is not a furniture survey, not a carrier tariff, and not a conversion to pounds.
Interstate movers who estimate by volume and later convert to weight must explain that conversion in writing (49 CFR 375.507(c)). This page will not do their conversion for them. If you need a cost, get a survey and type hours or cwt into the moving cost calculator.
What each input means
Inputs on this tool, in the order they appear on the form.
Input
What it is actually asking
Rooms
A planning count of spaces you are emptying. Not bedrooms-only, not every half-bath. If the garage is full, prefer the extra field so you can see it.
cu ft per room
Editorial default 150. Raise it for dense rooms (books, tools). Lower it for sparse ones. If you do not trust 150, you are right; overwrite it or get a survey.
Extra cu ft
Garage, attic, basement overflow, shed, piano, safe, storage unit. Specialty items still need declaring on a real estimate.
Declutter %
Share you will not move. Applied after rooms and extra. 0% means you take the raw cube. The homepage’s highest-return hour is doing this before anyone surveys.
Worked examples
Including one where the naive answer misleads, which is the example most calculators leave out.
Six rooms, default cube, 20% left behind
Rooms 6, per 150, extra 0, declutter 20%. Raw = 900 cu ft. After declutter = 720 cu ft. The note line still shows 900 so you can see what the haircut did. That 720 is a planning envelope for the truck-size tool, not a weight for an interstate tariff.
Four rooms plus a packed garage, 10% declutter
Rooms 4, per 150, extra 200, declutter 10%. Raw = 600 + 200 = 800. After = 720 cu ft again, but the garage is now visible as its own 200. If you had stuffed the garage into "rooms = 5," you would hide the place most surveys are lied to about. Keep extra separate.
The one where 150 cu ft/room misleads
A two-bedroom apartment listed as "4 rooms" (counting kitchen and bath), default 150, 0% declutter: 600 cu ft, which looks like a cargo-van neighborhood on the truck tool.
The same apartment with a storage locker, a treadmill and owner-packed book boxes can be double that. Treating 150 × listing rooms as a quote is the naive answer. Overwrite per, fill extra, then still get a survey. Phone estimates are how non-binding numbers move on the scale.
What changes the result
Rooms and per-room cube move the raw total linearly. Extra is the line that usually surprises: garage, attic, off-site storage. If extra is still 0, ask whether that is true.
Declutter is a multiplier on the whole raw cube, including extra. Twenty percent off a number that omitted the garage is not 20% off the move. Do the leaving-behind before the survey, not after the estimate is already written on a larger inventory.
Raising per from 150 to 250 on a dense household is more honest than adding ghost rooms. The field exists so you do not have to pretend every room is the placeholder.
Local considerations
We have no city-by-city cubic-foot table, and we will not invent one. Climate, housing stock and whether people store stuff in garages change density. Your survey is the local measurement. This page is the envelope you use before anyone visits.
When not to use this
Do not send this cube to a carrier as your inventory. Do not convert it to pounds with a density you found on a blog. Do not use it as a bid.
Do not skip the survey because the form produced a number. 49 CFR 375.401 still wants a physical survey on interstate household goods unless you waive it in writing.
This is not a junk-removal, dumpster or donation-volume tool. Cube you leave behind is not a HyreMover product.
HyreMover does not survey houses and does not move household goods.
Related on this site
Moving estimatesA visual or video survey produces a real estimate.
We use 150 cubic feet per room as a placeholder, not a measurement. A packed spare room and a sparse living room are very different. Change the per-room field to fit your home, or better, get a survey.
How do I convert cubic feet to weight?
Not from this page, because density varies: books are not sofas. On an interstate move, a mover that estimates by volume and charges by weight must explain its conversion in writing under 49 CFR 375.401(e). Ask for that number.
Why is decluttering on this form?
Because volume, or weight, is the base of the moving bill. Everything you do not move is space you do not pay to pack, carry or haul. Decluttering before the survey is the cheapest hour of the whole move.
Does this replace a mover’s survey?
No. For interstate household goods, 49 CFR 375.401 requires a physical survey unless you waive it in writing. Ask for an in-home or video survey of the whole property, including the garage, attic, basement and any storage unit.
Should I count bathrooms and hallways?
Only if they hold things you are moving. A bathroom with a medicine cabinet is not a bedroom. A hallway stacked with boxes counts. The room count here is for planning, not a real-estate listing.
What belongs in extra cubic feet?
Anything outside the room count: garage, attic, shed, outdoor furniture, a piano, a safe or a storage unit. Specialty items are also priced separately on a real estimate, so tell the mover about them too.
Can I use this number in the cost calculator?
Not directly. The cost calculator needs hours and a crew rate (local) or hundredweight and a $/cwt rate (interstate). Use this number to decide how much to declutter, then get a survey. You can paste it into the truck-size tool.
Is 20% declutter realistic?
It is an input, not a rule. Some households move everything; some leave a third behind. Type the percent you will actually clear before the survey.
Why cap declutter at 80%?
So the tool cannot pretend you moved a house with nothing in it. If you are taking almost nothing, you may not need a household-goods mover. Labor-only help or a cargo van is a different service.
Does HyreMover estimate moves?
No. This is a planning tool. HyreMover does not survey homes and does not move household goods.
Sources and methodology
Figures dated August 26, 2026. Last reviewed .
Protect Your Move (FMCSA, retrieved 2026-08-26. Insist on a survey. A quote without seeing the goods is a recognized fraud pattern when paired with a large cash deposit.)
49 CFR 375.507, weighing and volume-to-weight (eCFR / FMCSA, retrieved 2026-08-26. If a mover estimates by volume and converts to weight, the conversion formula must be explained in writing. We ship no such formula.)
Ready to Move brochure (FMCSA Protect Your Move Toolkit, retrieved 2026-08-26. Before-you-move checklist. Declutter is planning, not a federal line item.)
Related
Truck sizePaste the cube. Then read the printed interior cu ft on the rental page.