Late Night and Overnight Movers in New York City
Big Apple Moving has been moving New Yorkers since 1979, and a steady part of that work happens after the city has gone quiet. Offices, restaurants and retail units move overnight so they open as normal the next morning. Apartment buildings hand out move windows that fall outside business hours and expect you to work around them.
Neither of those is about avoiding traffic. They are about the window you are given. This page covers what a night move costs, what your building will charge on top, and how late a move can legally run in this city.
Nobody Books a Night Move for the Scenery
The building decides, not you
Most Manhattan office buildings restrict freight elevator use to a set window — commonly before business hours or after 5pm, and some allow moves only at weekends. You are not choosing the night. The building is choosing it for you.
A business cannot close for a day
Restaurants, bars, retail units and medical practices move overnight because a lost trading day costs more than the move. We work to a fixed finish time so the space is clear and ready to open.
The streets are actually usable
Loading zones free up, double-parking risk drops and a truck can get closer to the door. This is a real advantage — it is just never the reason someone calls.
Our Rate Does Not Change at Night
Hourly from $150 with the truck included, no minimum number of hours, and no night differential. Fuel and tolls are included.
What your building charges is separate, and it is the part people forget. Most commercial buildings bill overtime for the freight elevator operator, the building engineer and sometimes security when a move runs outside business hours. Those charges go to you as the tenant, not to us. Ask your managing agent for the after-hours rate before you book — it is routinely the largest surprise on a night move.
No night premium
From $150 an hour whatever time you start. Many movers in this city add a differential for off-hours work. Ours does not change.
What is included
Wrapping (blankets, tape, shrink). TV boxes & picture bins included. Loading and unloading. Basic disassembly and reassembly. Fuel and tolls included. Basic Insurance.
Billed by the building, not by us
Freight elevator operator, engineer and security overtime are your building’s charges. We will tell you what to ask your managing agent for.
How Late a Move Can Actually Run
This is the part most moving companies leave out. New York City’s noise rules restrict operating a truck within 50 feet of residential property between 11pm and 7am where it exceeds 80 dBA measured at 35 feet. General quiet hours run from 10pm.
In practice that splits night moves into two kinds. A commercial building with its own loading dock, away from apartments, can run genuinely overnight. A residential street cannot — a lift gate, a ramp and a dolly on the pavement at 1am beside somebody’s bedroom window is a complaint waiting to happen, and it is your move that gets stopped.
So we schedule residential night moves to finish the noisy part before 11pm, and we tell you which of the two you are before you book rather than on the night.
Who Books After-Hours Moves
Offices and workstations
Desks, workstations, server racks and filing broken down, moved and rebuilt overnight so staff arrive to a working office. See our commercial and office movers in NYC.
Restaurants, bars and retail
Fit-outs, stock and fixtures moved between close and open. A fixed finish time is the whole point of the booking.
Manhattan office towers
Buildings with booked freight windows, dock scheduling and after-hours security. See our Manhattan office moving page.
Apartments with restricted hours
Co-ops and condos that only permit moves outside business hours. See our residential and apartment movers.
What a Night Move Needs That a Day Move Does Not
Get the permitted hours and the after-hours fee from your managing agent in writing. Everything else is scheduled backwards from this.
Naming the building and its managing agent. We issue these at no charge, usually the same business day. After hours there is nobody in the office to chase a missing one.
Which entrance, which dock, which elevator, and who unlocks it. Service entrances that are open at 2pm are frequently locked at 10pm.
A name and a mobile number for someone who will actually answer at 11pm. This is the single most common point of failure on a night move.
Planning a Move Outside Business Hours?
Tell us the building, the window you have been given and what is moving. We will give you a firm price before anything is booked — from $150 an hour, no minimum, and the same rate at 9pm as at 9am.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you need the move to happen as soon as possible rather than at a specific hour, our same day and last minute movers page covers how fast we can get a crew to you.
