Our consultations are complimentary and designed to help you make an informed decision with confidence.  We offer both in-home and virtual consultations, depending on what works best for you. These initial meetings usually last about one hour.

During your consultation, our goal is to ensure you leave with a clear, detailed understanding of:

• Our services and how they can help you

• Our step-by-step process

• Our team’s core values and our experience as a company

Within a few business days, you’ll receive a customized Scope of Work and a detailed estimate, so you’ll know exactly what to expect moving forward.

What do you look for when hiring team members?

Many clients wonder where we find our incredible team members. The truth is, it’s less about where we find them, and more about how we find them. We ask the right questions to understand how a candidate connects with our mission and whether they share our values.

When hiring, we look for team members who embody qualities such as:

• Compassion – genuine care for clients and their belongings

• Critical thinking – problem-solving in complex, changing situations

• A passion for serving others – finding fulfillment in helping people through transitions

• Humility – working as part of a team with mutual respect

• Curiosity – eagerness to learn and grow in the role

These qualities ensure our team not only gets the job done, but does so with empathy, professionalism, and excellence.

We understand that every client’s needs are different, and we do offer select, stand-alone services when possible. However, we have a 40-hour minimum for all projects to ensure we can deliver the quality and attention your project deserves.

Some smaller projects may not be the right fit for our approach, and certain core services are required whenever we take on a project. This ensures we can manage the process efficiently and uphold our standards.

If you’re not sure whether your needs meet our minimum or fit our services, we’re happy to discuss options during your complimentary consultation.

Session lengths vary depending on the task and the size of your project:

• Planning & Sorting Sessions: Typically 3 to 6.5 hours. Most are one-on-one with a team member, unless your project is larger (e.g., garage, basement, storage unit, or attic), in which case we may bring in additional team members to keep things moving efficiently.

• Move Days: Generally 8–9 hours for both you and our team.

On Move Day, it’s important to have a plan for lunch, hydration, and breaks so the day runs smoothly and everyone stays energized.

It depends on your project:

• Local Move with The Downsizers handling both packing and unpacking:
  All packing supplies for your move, as well as supplies needed for the clear-out of your home, are included in your project estimate. These costs are part of the Service Rate (Project Management), which is billed at the start of your project.

• Out-of-state moves, moves to storage units , or packing without unpacking projects: 
  In these cases, supplies are billed separately. They will typically appear on your final invoice at the end of the project.

By clarifying this during your initial estimate, we ensure there are no surprises when it comes to supply costs.

A moving company’s role is typically limited to the day of your move and sometimes the day before for packing. Their focus is on transporting boxes and furniture from one location to another.

The Downsizers, on the other hand, are with you for the entire journey. We often begin working with clients months, or even years, before a move. Our role goes far beyond moving day:

• Space planning to ensure what you keep will fit and function well in your new home

• Guidance on what to keep and what to let go

• Coordinating resale, donation, and disposal for items you’re not keeping

• Full-service move management including packing, supervising movers, and unpacking

• Final clear-out of your home so it’s truly ready for closing or turnover

In short: moving companies move items and boxes. We manage the entire process, physical, emotional, and logistical, so your transition is seamless from start to finish.

Absolutely! We regularly assist clients with out-of-state moves by guiding you through several phases of the downsizing and moving journey:

• Space & floor planning to determine what will fit and function well in your new home

• Packing and move management to coordinate with trusted interstate movers

• Clear-out and resale support for items you’re not taking with you

Once your belongings are safely on the way, we’ll ensure your current home is fully cleared and ready.

If you’d like help unpacking, settling in, and tasks like art hanging once you arrive in your new state, we can connect you with a professional move manager in your area through our national network.

Our goal is to make your transition seamless, whether you’re moving across town or across the country.

At the start of the project, we’ll meet with you and, if applicable, family members or the estate attorney, to determine if any items need to be prepared, packed, and shipped or delivered to recipients named in the Will.

From there, our team will sort the home’s contents into categories:

•  Items that have potential resale value in today's market 

•  Complimentary pick-up by local non-profits for qualifying items

•  Items that cannot be donated, will be responsibly discarded via partners who ensure proper disposal

You do not need to be present during the liquidation and clear-out process. Our experienced team follows a proven system, allowing us to complete the sorting efficiently and then review the results with you before anything is distributed to resellers, donation centers, or disposal providers.

Our priority is to help you fulfill your fiduciary and legal responsibilities as Executor while also offering emotional support during what can be a deeply challenging time of loss. 

As part of our sorting and clear out process, we’ll guide you in deciding:

• What to keep – based on your new space and lifestyle

• What to sell – items with resale value in today's market

• What to donate – complimentary pick-up by local non-profits for qualifying items

• What to discard – items that cannot be donated, will be responsibly discarded via partners who ensure proper disposal

For items you’re selling, we connect you with the best resale channels for your needs, including:

• Retail consignment shops – for furniture or rugs, or other accessories

• Buy-out specialists – for purchasing collections in one transaction

By matching each item with the right outlet, we help you maximize value, reduce waste, and make a positive impact in your community.

After completing nearly 5,000 projects in the past 8 years, we’ve learned a thing or two thousand! Over time, we’ve refined our processes, improved efficiencies, expanded our resources, and continually trained our team to deliver the best possible results.

Our #1 piece of advice: trust our process.
Downsizing can feel overwhelming, and it’s easy to get caught up in every detail along the way. But our proven system works and it’s why you hired us. Let us handle the work so you can focus on the big picture and your own well-being.

We are experts in this field, and our goal is always to make the journey smoother, faster, and far less stressful for you.