Home / Estimates and contracts
What belongs on a Colorado mover’s estimate and contract
Before anyone lifts a box, you should be holding paper. Colorado statute lists what that paper must contain. Use this as a checklist.
The written estimate
The Colorado PUC’s consumer guidance treats both a written estimate and a signed contract as required of permitted household goods movers, and recommends asking for an in-person (or video) look at your belongings so the estimate reflects reality. Phone-only numbers are easy to inflate or shrink later. Source: Colorado PUC, movers.
The contract, line by line
C.R.S. 40-10.1-505 says the mover must give you a contract, signed and dated by both of you, at or before the moment work begins. It must carry:
- The mover’s name, phone number and a physical address where staff can be reached in business hours.
- The date the document was prepared and the planned moving date.
- Your name, address and phone, and the pickup and delivery addresses.
- Where your goods will be held if they are stored or kept during a payment dispute: name, phone and street address.
- Itemized rates and services for transportation, extras and storage.
- At least two accepted forms of payment out of: cash; cashier’s check, money order or traveler’s check; a personal check; a credit card, with a clear statement of which apply.
- The sentence that the company is permitted with the Colorado PUC as a mover, plus its permit number.
The mover also has to hand you a consumer advisement and keep a record of it for at least three years. Per the PUC’s summary, the advisement tells you the total can change and that Colorado offers an arbitration process for disputes. Source: C.R.S. 40-10.1-505.
Where “binding” and “non-binding” come in
Those two words are federal terms for interstate moves (49 CFR Part 375): a mover may charge for a binding estimate but not a non-binding one, and cannot change an estimate once loading has begun. If the company calls your in-town job “binding,” ask them to write down exactly what is and is not included. The paperwork, not the label, is what protects you.
Before you sign
- Read the whole thing, including the small print about liability limits.
- Strike or question anything blank.
- Keep a copy and take phone photos of every page.
We are a referral service, not lawyers. For a specific dispute, the PUC and a Colorado attorney are the right people to ask.