Cost tops nearly every first call we get, and we understand why. The honest version is this: what you pay depends far less on the boxes you own than on the two buildings we have to work and the road between them. Picture a studio leaving a Millard apartment with parking right by the entrance. Then picture an upstairs Midtown unit where our driver loops the block hunting for somewhere legal to sit. Same furniture, two completely different days. Megan Ruzicka loaded vans for a national line in her twenties, then spent years running crews and routing the dispatch desk for a larger Omaha outfit, where she earned a name for sliding a whole house into one truckload. She opened Tetris Moving in 2015 to do one thing well: quote a flat written rate, charge it, and skip the surprise fees. What follows is how we price an Omaha move in 2026, the numbers themselves, and a brief rundown of the details that nudge yours.
Hourly or Flat: Picking the Cheaper Path
Almost every move in the metro prices out one of two ways. Quick crosstown work tends to land cheapest on the clock. A full home, or a load headed for Gretna or south to Bellevue, usually pencils out simpler as a fixed band keyed to how many bedrooms you have. Brett Novak builds each estimate here, and part of his job is steering you toward whichever of the two costs you less before you sign anything.
What sits inside every quote
No matter which side of that fence you land on, the figure already pays for our own crew, the truck, the diesel, and every tool they wheel up to your door:
- Dollies, four-wheel skates, and ramps matched to your load and to the building we are emptying
- Quilted pads, stretch wrap, and rated straps wrapped around each dresser, headboard, and sheet of glass
- Disassembly and reassembly on beds, tables, and anything that needs a leg removed to slip through a tight Field Club doorway
- $1M cargo coverage behind every booking, plus a full-value option if you ask for it
Hourly crew rates for 2026
On studios, apartments, and short crosstown jobs, billing opens at the knock and ends as the last carton hits the floor. We never tack on travel time, and no fuel charge appears at the bottom afterward.
| Crew Size | Best For | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2 movers + truck | Studio, one-bedroom, UNO or Creighton apartment | $120 / hr |
| 3 movers + truck | Two-bedroom, small house, packed load-in | $160 / hr |
| 4 movers + truck | Three to four bedrooms, stairs, heavy day | $210 / hr |
Flat bands by home size
For a whole house, and particularly one bound for Elkhorn, Papillion, or over the river into Council Bluffs, a set band keyed to bedrooms is much simpler to budget. Each row below assumes an ordinary load and reasonable access. Pile on stairs, a long walk from the curb, or a distant suburb, and you edge toward the higher end of your row.
| Home Size | Usual Crew | Flat Band |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 2 movers | $380 – $620 |
| 1 bedroom | 2 movers | $620 – $1,060 |
| 2 bedrooms | 2–3 movers | $1,060 – $1,820 |
| 3 bedrooms | 3 movers | $1,820 – $3,050 |
| 4 bedrooms | 4 movers | $2,920 – $4,600 |
These rows are not bait dropped low to win the call. On the bulk of what we carry through Dundee, Benson, Aksarben, and the Sarpy County suburbs, the rate we sign falls squarely within its band, and you hold that number in hand days before a truck ever pulls up.
The Things That Move Your Number
Two nearly matching two-bedrooms one street over can land a couple hundred apart, and the reason is almost never the contents. It is the structure and the parking:
- How much there is. Each extra room adds wrapping, carrying, and stacking, so the bands rise with the bedroom count. A crammed studio with a basement of overflow underneath it can run like a one-bedroom.
- Stairs and tight access. A Midtown third-floor with no elevator burns more time and more hands than a walk-out ground level. The cramped, pitched staircases in an older Field Club foursquare do the very same thing.
- Reaching the door with the truck. No driveway, a street too narrow for a 26-footer to comfortably fit, or a downtown loft that wants a reserved elevator and a certificate of insurance, every one of those eats minutes.
- Whether it is packed. A home already in boxes loads quickly. Hand the kitchen and closets to us, and the labor and the cartons show up on their own line, settled up front.
- How far it goes. Crosstown is one thing; a run out I-80 to Lincoln, down I-29 toward Kansas City, or west to Denver is another. Anything departing the metro for keeps gets written as a single fixed figure, locked in before we load.
Storage, Packing, and the Add-Ons
Some jobs need more than the base crew and truck, and when they do, each extra shows up as its own labeled line so nothing vanishes into the total:
- Short-term storage runs about $95 to $260 a month by unit size, held in a clean dry bay rather than baking inside a metal lockup through a Plains July.
- Packing help comes whole-home or partial: we bring boxes, paper, and wardrobe cartons and pack everything, or we just crate the kitchen and the art and you cover the rest.
- A piano or a gun safe rides with our own people, never subcontracted: roughly $300 to $480 on an upright, $520 to $820 on a baby grand, and a safe priced by its weight and the route to your door.
Pricing a Move Out of the Metro
Those local bands stop applying the instant a job leaves the metro permanently. A three-bedroom bound from Papillion to Des Moines, or a loft headed for Denver, gets written as one fixed sum on paper before a carton goes up the ramp. The same crew that wraps your home here rides with it to the far room. Your job never goes out to bid, and no one outside our payroll lays a hand on your things. Everything about how an interstate move runs lives on our long-distance moving page.
Years routing crews and quotes taught me every quiet way a bill gets padded, and I started this company to run the opposite play. The rate goes on paper before one box leaves your house, and by that point we have climbed your stairs, measured the curb, and worked out exactly how we reach the door. Anyone handing over everything they own deserves the number at their own kitchen table, long before the day arrives. One flat written rate, no surprise fees. — Megan Ruzicka, owner
Every booking carries $1M cargo coverage. Tetris Moving is a licensed and insured mover holding US DOT and MC authority for interstate work, serving Omaha and the metro across Nebraska and western Iowa, with our own crews, our own trucks, and nothing handed off. House moves live on the local moving page, apartments and condos on the apartment moving page, and the towns we cover on the service areas page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to move a one-bedroom in Omaha?
Figure $620 to $1,060 on the flat band, or $120 an hour with two movers and a truck. An elevator-free climb, a steep older staircase, or a brutal on-street parking spot each nudge it higher. We name the exact number after we have looked at both ends and how we get in at each.
What does a whole-house move cost in the metro?
Around $1,060 to $1,820 for a two-bedroom, $1,820 to $3,050 for a three-bedroom, and $2,920 to $4,600 for a four-bedroom within the metro. Anything extra, packing, storage, a haul to a far suburb, lands on its own line so the total stays easy to follow.
Is a summer move more expensive than a winter one?
Frequently. Our heaviest stretch runs from late spring into early fall, when student turnover around UNO and Creighton stacks up with end-of-month lease flips, so weekend slots go fast and numbers tighten. A weekday in the slow season usually prices softer, and you get the same crew either way.
Do you charge for the drive time or fuel?
On an hourly local job, the meter runs from our knock to the last box down, with no travel padding and no fuel surcharge at the end. On a flat-band job the diesel is already baked into the one written figure, so what you sign is exactly what you pay.
Can you quote my move without coming out?
Most of the time, yes. Send the home size, both addresses, the floor at each end with any stairs, and a few photos or a short video walk-through, and your estimate comes back with every line itemized. The paper figure is the figure you owe.
Get a Written Omaha Moving Rate
Send the home size, both addresses, the floor and stairs at each end, and a target date. Back comes a clean written figure with every line itemized, the access already worked out, and zero pressure to commit on the spot.