Moving day: the run sheet, the paperwork and the last walk-through

Run the day from a sheet of times and roles, watch the inventory and sign nothing blank, walk the old home one last time, and check delivery before you sign.

The run sheet: times, roles and phone numbers Understand

A run sheet is one page that lists each moving-day task with its time and the name of the person who does it, and the phone numbers the day depends on. It exists because the day has several jobs that happen at once: someone talks to the crew, someone watches the paperwork, someone has the children or the dog, someone closes the old home. When each job has one name, nobody assumes someone else is doing it. This manual's convention

The run sheet is our method, borrowed from the way move managers plan a job. FMCSA, the federal agency that regulates interstate movers, publishes a moving-day checklist but no schedule; its items are tasks for the shipper, such as reading every document before signing and staying until the crew finishes (FMCSA, Moving Checklist). NASMM, the trade association of move managers, tells households to list the people, places and utilities to notify and to pack a move-day bag (NASMM, Guide to Rightsizing and Relocation (PDF)). The run sheet puts those lists on a clock.

The roles

One person can hold several roles on a small move. On a larger move, split them. The point is that each role has a name written beside it.

Anyone in the household who should not lift or carry gets a role that does not involve lifting: register, paperwork, children. Write it down now so the day does not hand them a box. Lifting and carrying limits are in Fragile, heavy and awkward things. Who has the children and the pets, and where, is the subject of Children, pets and older relatives; the run sheet just records the answer.

Times and access

Most run-sheet times are set by someone else. Write each one with who set it:

• The crew's arrival window, from the mover's confirmation, or the helpers' start time and the hours you booked.
• The truck pickup and return, from the rental contract, with the fuel level it asks for.
• Elevator reservations at each end, from the building. Many buildings book the elevator in blocks and set rules for pads and doors; ask the building manager. Ask the authority
• Parking: a street permit's hours, a loading dock's hours, or where the truck can stand. City permit examples (Boston and San Francisco) are in Moving it yourself.
• The new home's keys: when you get them, from whom.

Then the phone numbers: the crew lead or helper lead, the driver (on an interstate move the driver may be a different person from the crew lead), the building contact at each end, the sitter or whoever has the children and pets, and the rental company's roadside line. The contacts sheet holds these, with the carrier's USDOT number and the bill of lading number for a hired interstate move.

The day before. Confirm the crew or helpers and the elevator times by message, so the confirmation is in writing. Pack the essentials box and the bag you carry (traveling). Charge your phone. Have the payment ready in the form your estimate names: NASMM's move-day bag list includes payment for the mover in a form the mover accepts, and for an interstate mover the form is fixed on the estimate (delivery). Defrost the freezer and prepare the washer by the maker's instructions (Fragile, heavy and awkward things).

The paperwork at the old home: inventory, bill of lading and weighing

With a hired mover, moving day produces three records that matter later: the inventory, the bill of lading and, on a move priced by weight, the weight tickets. Each one is the evidence for a claim or a billing question months from now, so the person on paperwork reads each one before signing it. FMCSA's checklist puts it plainly: read every document before you sign it, go with the crew while they inventory, and stay until they finish. Convention

The rules below are the federal rules for an interstate move with a household goods carrier (49 CFR Part 375). A move within one state follows that state's rules; the five state examples are on the paperwork decoder. A self-move or a container you load yourself has no crew inventory and no bill of lading from a mover: your box register is the list, and the rental or container contract governs. Ask the authority

The inventory

The inventory is the mover's written, itemized list of everything it loads. The federal rule requires it to identify every carton and every uncartoned item, each with an identification number that matches a tag on the item (49 CFR 375.503). The crew writes it before or during loading, and on request you may observe and verify it. You and the mover both sign it, and you get a copy before or at loading. FMCSA's tips add that both parties sign each page.

What to do while the crew writes it:

• Walk with the crew member who writes it. Match the tags to the items as they go on the list.
• Read the condition notes. Crews often note existing scratches or dents beside an item. If you disagree with a note, ask for it to be corrected, or write your own note on that line before you sign. This is our practice; the rule gives you the right to observe and verify. This manual's practice
• Check the count. The number of cartons on the inventory against your box register, if you kept one.
• Keep your signed copy with you, not in a box on the truck. It is the list you check the delivery against and the first piece of evidence for any claim (Damage, delays and disputes).

The bill of lading

The bill of lading is the receipt for your goods and the contract for the move, in one document. For an interstate move it must be given to you, signed and dated by you, at least 3 days before loading, and you may cancel without penalty for 3 days after signing (49 CFR 375.505). What it must contain, and what to look for when it arrives, is in Hiring a mover. On moving day, three things happen to it:

• You and the mover sign it before loading, and again at delivery. You get a dated copy.
• Nothing gets signed blank. The rule says the mover "may not require an individual shipper to sign a blank document." A form may be signed incomplete only where the missing information is not known until loading, such as the actual weight.
• Check it against what you agreed. The valuation you chose, the estimate and inventory attached, the form of payment (it has to match the estimate), the pickup and delivery dates or window, and on a collect-on-delivery move the maximum amount the mover can demand at delivery.

If anything on the day's copy differs from the copy you signed 3 days earlier, ask the crew lead to explain it before loading starts, and write what they said. Changes made on moving day through a new estimate do not restart the 3 days.

Weighing

On a non-binding estimate priced by weight, the mover weighs the truck on a certified scale before it charges you. You have the right to observe every weighing, and the mover has to tell you where and when it will happen and give you a reasonable chance to be there (49 CFR 375.507 to 375.521). If you do not attend, the rule presumes you waived the right. So if you want to watch, ask the crew lead in the morning where and when the truck will be weighed, and write the answer on the run sheet. Each weighing produces a weight ticket signed by the person who runs the scale.

A binding estimate does not depend on weight: the price is the price for the goods and services it lists. Weighing matters there only if the goods change and the mover writes a new estimate before loading (Hiring a mover).

The last walk-through

The last walk-through does two jobs. The first is to find what was left behind before the truck goes: FMCSA's checklist tells you to take one final look throughout the house before the van leaves. The second is to make a dated record of the condition you left the home in, which a renter uses for the deposit and an owner uses to show what the buyer received. Do the first while the truck is still at the door. The second can come later in the day, after the rooms are empty and swept. Convention

What gets left behind

Things get left where nobody looks once the furniture is gone. Open every one of these:

• Every closet, cabinet and drawer, including the top shelves and the backs of the lower cabinets.
• The attic, the basement, the garage, a shed, and any storage locker or bike room the building assigns.
• The appliances that stay: the oven, the dishwasher, the washer drum, the dryer and its lint trap, the refrigerator and freezer.
• Under the sinks, behind doors, the medicine cabinet, the window sills and the hooks on the backs of doors.
• Outside: the yard, the porch, the mailbox, the hose, anything stored under a deck.

The last walk-through checklist groups these as Every room, Kitchen and appliances, Outside and storage, Utilities and keys, and Paperwork, so one person can work down it in order.

The condition record

Photograph each empty room from the doorway and from the far corner, then close-ups of anything worn or damaged, with the date in the file or on the photo. Photograph each meter (electric, gas, water) so the reading is legible, and the thermostat setting. Check that the windows are locked and the lights are off. Then the keys: count them, return them as the lease or sale says, and get a note or message saying who received them and when. Garage remotes, mailbox keys and building fobs count. This manual's practice

The meter photos give you a reading to match against the final bill when you stop service; stopping and starting utilities is in Changing your address. The condition photos are only as useful as the record you made when you moved in. If you have move-in photos or a signed move-in checklist, put the two side by side. Learn First Home Basics covers that move-in record in Before you move in: the lease, the walk-through and the condition record.

Renters: the deposit and a walk-through before you leave

Some states give a tenant a pre-move-out inspection: a walk-through with the landlord before the tenancy ends, with a list of what the landlord would deduct for, and time for the tenant to fix those things. Two examples:

These are two states' rules as their statutes read on November 2, 2026, not a summary of yours. Return windows for Florida and Texas as well are in Changing your address. Find your own state's rule through your state attorney general's tenant pages or a local tenant organization, and write the page and the date on the walk-through sheet. Whether your state offers an inspection or not, you can ask the landlord in writing to walk the unit with you before you hand back the keys. Ask the authority

Write down where the landlord should send the deposit. Leaving a forwarding address with the landlord is part of Changing your address.

Traveling: what rides with you

Some things do not go on the truck because you will need them before it arrives, because losing them would cost more than any claim pays, or because the rules keep them off. Pack them separately and put them in the car, or on your person, before the crew starts. Convention

• Documents. The estimate, the bill of lading and your signed inventory; the lease or closing papers; IDs and passports; birth certificates; school, medical and pet records; insurance papers. FMCSA's checklist says to keep the bill of lading until delivery, payment and any claims are settled.
• Medicines, with enough for the days until delivery and a little more. NASMM's move-day bag starts with medications, eyeglasses and important papers.
• Valuables. Jewelry, cash, coins, small heirlooms and anything else worth a lot for its weight. The federal rule lets an interstate mover limit its liability to $100 a pound for any article worth more than $100 a pound that was not declared in writing (49 CFR 375.201 and 375.203). How valuation works is in Hiring a mover.
• The essentials box and the open-first boxes. An essentials box holds what the first night needs: bedding, a change of clothes, toiletries, a phone charger, basic tools, a light, toilet paper. With a crew and a delivery window, it rides with you; with a same-day move, it goes on last and comes off first. What goes in it is in Unpacking in order.
• What cannot go on the truck. Propane, gasoline, paint, aerosols and the rest of the movers' lists are on What cannot go on the truck. Firewood stays behind.

Pets in the car

Humane World's advice for the car: a dog in a crate anchored with a seat belt, a cat in a belted carrier, both in the back seat, because an airbag can injure a pet even in a crate. Put the leash or harness on before you open a door at a stop: American Humane says rest areas and unfamiliar parking lots are among the most common places pets go missing during a move. How to keep pets safe on moving day itself, and what the destination state requires, is in Children, pets and older relatives.

Outdoor items from a spongy moth area

The spongy moth is a tree pest whose egg masses ride on things that were stored outside. If you are moving from a federal quarantine area for the moth to an area outside it, the federal rule requires you to inspect your outdoor household items before they go: grills, bikes, patio furniture, lawn equipment, children's play sets, and the other items on the checklist. You record the inspection on the self-inspection checklist, PPQ Form 377, or APHIS's online version, and sign it (APHIS, It's the Law: Before Moving, Check for the Spongy Moth (PDF); PPQ Form 377 (PDF)).

• When. From April to August, APHIS says to inspect on moving day if possible, or keep the items under a sealed tarp, indoors or in a closed moving truck.
• Where the form goes. In the vehicle moving the goods. If you are not driving it, give a copy to the driver. Keep it for at least 5 years.
• Which areas. APHIS's spongy moth page links the list of quarantine areas, last updated April 15, 2026 (APHIS, Spongy Moth). Check it for both your old and your new county.

If you notice the approval date printed on the form: APHIS has asked the federal Office of Management and Budget to renew the form, and it stays in use while that request is pending. The inventory side of this (which items, and when to decide) is in Your inventory.

Delivery: check before you sign

Delivery is the moment the record you kept on moving day pays off. The order is: settle the weight and the money before unloading, check every item as it comes off, then write what you found on the papers before you sign them. The delivery checklist follows that order in three groups: Before unloading, While unloading, Before signing.

Before unloading

The delivery window. On an interstate move with a crew, delivery comes on an agreed date or within an agreed period written on the bill of lading. Appendix A to Part 375 advises against agreeing to pickup or delivery "as soon as possible"; a date or a window gives you something to hold the mover to. Keep the driver's number on the contacts sheet and your phone on.

The weight and charges notice. On a move where you pay at delivery, you can ask the mover to tell you the actual weight or volume and the charges in advance. If you ask, the rule says you get them at least one full 24-hour day before delivery, not counting weekends and federal holidays, with exceptions for back-weighed shipments and some others (49 CFR 375.507 to 375.521, at 375.521). Ask when you book, and again when the truck leaves.

The amount due. The most a mover can require at delivery is set by the kind of estimate. On a binding estimate, the estimate's amount. On a non-binding estimate, 110 percent of the estimate. Either way, two things can be added: charges for services you asked for after the bill of lading was issued, and charges for impracticable operations (a tariff term; the paperwork decoder explains it) up to 15 percent of all the other charges due at delivery (49 CFR 375.703). The rest of a non-binding move's charges are billed later, no sooner than 30 days after delivery. Paying that amount obliges the mover to release your goods. The delivery-day check does the arithmetic from your estimate.

The form of payment. The estimate names it, and the bill of lading repeats it. The rule says the mover "must honor" that form at delivery unless you agree in writing to change it (49 CFR 375.217). If you pay by card, the rule treats it the same as cash.

The reweigh. If the shipment was weighed at origin and the billing weight looks wrong against the estimate, this is the moment to ask for a reweigh: after you are told the weight and charges, and before unloading. (Details are under weighing.)

While unloading

Two people make this work: one at the truck or the door with the inventory, one inside directing boxes to rooms by their code (The packing system). FMCSA's checklist says to supervise the unloading. As each item comes off, find its number on the inventory and check it off. Look at each piece of furniture as it comes through the door, and at the outside of each carton for crushing, tears or wet patches. You do not have to unpack boxes while the crew waits; note a box that looks damaged as damaged on the outside, so the record shows its condition on arrival. This manual's practice

At the end, compare the inventory with what came off. Any number not checked is a missing item until it turns up. Ask the crew to look in the truck again before they close it.

Before signing

The delivery receipt is the paper you sign to say the goods arrived. Under the federal rule it may not contain language that releases the mover from liability; it may say the goods arrived in apparent good condition except as noted (49 CFR 375.701 to 375.709). Release language is any line saying you give up a claim or that the mover is no longer responsible. If a receipt carries it, Appendix A tells you to strike it out (draw a line through it and initial it), or to refuse delivery.

Before you sign anything, write on the inventory, and on the delivery receipt if it has room, each damaged or missing item: its inventory number, what is wrong, and that you saw it at delivery. The federal rule lets you note missing and damaged articles in writing at delivery and requires the mover to give you a copy of those notes (49 CFR 375.503). FMCSA's checklist says to do it before you sign any documents. Photograph each damaged item where it stands, with its tag in the frame if you can. Keep a copy of everything you sign.

Damage you find later, inside a box you open next week, is still claimable. A written note at delivery makes a claim easier to support; its absence does not end one. The federal minimum for filing a claim on an interstate move is 9 months from delivery, and the steps are in Damage, delays and disputes. Write the delivery date on the claims sheet the day the truck is unloaded.

A self-move or container. There is no crew inventory and no delivery receipt from a mover. Check the boxes off your register as they come off, look at furniture as it comes through the door, and photograph damage the same day. Then check the truck for anything left in it and return it with the fuel the contract asks for. A claim for damage on a self-move goes to your own insurer or under the rental or container contract (Damage, delays and disputes).

Late, early and stored shipments Go deeper

See it: Noor's day and the Brandts' delivery See it

Noor's run sheet, filled in on Friday evening:

The walk-through happens in two passes, because the two jobs need different conditions: the 9:30 look finds what is left while the truck can still take it, and the afternoon photos show the rooms empty and swept. Her lease runs to April 30, so the keys are not due on moving day. She messages her landlord that evening: she has moved out, she attaches the photos, she asks whether he wants the keys now or on April 30 and whether he will walk the unit with her, and she gives her new address for the deposit. His written answer settles the key date. In the evening she unpacks the essentials box and checks the 44 box numbers against the register: all 44 arrived, and the bookcase that scraped the stairwell has a scuff she photographs. Under a self-move that photo goes to her own records, not to a mover.

On loading day, Elena holds the paperwork role: she walks with the crew member writing the inventory and reads each condition note as it is written. She asks where and when the truck will be weighed and writes the answer on the run sheet. David inspects the grill, bikes and patio set in the morning, signs PPQ Form 377, gives the driver a copy, and puts the signed form in their car. After the truck leaves, David photographs the meters and the empty rooms and leaves the keys where they arranged. They drive with Biscuit crated and belted in the back seat, leash on before every door opens.

When the driver calls with a delivery date inside the window, Elena asks for the weight and charges in advance, as the rule allows on request. At delivery, David stands at the truck with the inventory and Elena directs boxes by room code. The dining table comes off with a cracked leg. Before signing, Elena writes the table's inventory number, "leg cracked, seen at delivery," on the inventory and the delivery receipt, photographs the leg with its tag, and keeps copies of both papers. The receipt carries no release line, so there is nothing to strike. The table goes into their written claim, which is Damage, delays and disputes's worked example. Under these assumptions their papers support a claim; whether the mover repairs, replaces or pays is settled by the claim process, not by the note.

• FMCSA, Moving Checklist: the agency's planning, moving-day and delivery-day lists.
• 49 CFR 375.503: the inventory rule, at pickup and at delivery, in the regulation's own words.
• 49 CFR Part 375, Appendix A: the federal booklet's text on weighing, delivery and release language.
• American Humane, How to Move with Your Pet: moving-day escapes, the car and rest stops.

Practice: a run sheet and two checklists Practice

Minimum: the run sheet filled in for your own moving day, with a time and a name on every row and the phone numbers on the contacts sheet, plus the last walk-through checklist read through once for your old home. Time: about 45 minutes, plus one message to each person whose time you are confirming. Materials: the moving-day sheet (or paper), your mover's confirmation or your helpers' and truck bookings, your building's move rules, your lease or sale agreement, and your phone.

1. Write the fixed times. Crew arrival or helper start, truck pickup and return, elevator reservations, parking hours, when you get the new keys. Beside each, who set it.
2. Put a name on every role. Lead, paperwork, register, children and pets, old home, new home. On a small move most are yours; write them anyway.
3. Fill in the contacts. Crew lead or helper lead, driver, building contacts at both ends, whoever has the children or pets. For a hired interstate move, the carrier's USDOT number and the bill of lading number.
4. Read the walk-through checklist for your old home. Add the places specific to it: a storage locker, a shed, a crawl space. Mark which items are for the look before the truck leaves and which for the condition photos later.
5. Read the delivery checklist. If you hired an interstate mover, enter your estimate in the delivery-day check and write the most that can be due on the sheet. If you are moving yourself, write "register" beside the inventory items.

Your move Your move

Check your work Check your work

Criteria

• Does every row on your run sheet have a time and a name, and does every fixed time say who set it?
• Does the contacts sheet have a number for each person the day depends on, including whoever has the children or pets?
• With a crew: do you know who stays with the crew through the inventory, and where the signed copy goes? With helpers: who keeps the register?
• Does your walk-through list cover every closet, cabinet, appliance and outdoor space, the meters and the keys?
• Do you know what rides with you rather than on the truck?
• For delivery: do you know the most that can be due, the form of payment, and what you will write before signing if something is damaged or missing?

Worked example

Noor's sheet passes: every row has a time and her name or the helpers', the elevator window and the truck return come from the building and the rental contract, and her register is noted as the list. Her walk-through runs in two passes and ends with a written message to her landlord. It does not say whether she owes a cleaning fee; the lease and her landlord settle that. The Brandts' sheet passes too: Elena holds the paperwork role, the sitter and Biscuit's friend are named with phone numbers, the weighing question is on the sheet, and the delivery checklist ends with the table's inventory number and the crack written on the receipt before they signed.

Common mistakes

• Nobody named for the inventory. Everyone is busy, the crew writes the list alone, and the condition notes go unread. Name one person.
• The signed copy packed on the truck. It is the list you check delivery against. Keep it with you.
• One walk-through for two jobs. A quick look while the truck is at the door finds forgotten things; condition photos need empty, swept rooms. Plan both.
• Signing first, checking later. Write damage and missing items on the papers before you sign, and photograph them.
• Medicines and documents in a box. On a move with a delivery window, that box may arrive days later.
• Treating an example state's deposit rule as yours. Look up your own.

What is still unresolved

Whether a charge at delivery is correct is checked against your estimate in the delivery-day check; whether a disputed charge is owed is a question for the regulator or the arbitrator, through Damage, delays and disputes. What a damaged item is worth, and what the mover pays, is settled by the claim and the valuation you chose (Hiring a mover). Whether you owe a cleaning fee or a deduction from your deposit is settled by your lease, your state's law and your landlord. Who has the children and pets, and how they travel, is in Children, pets and older relatives.

Knowledge check and scenario

Checklist

• The run sheet has a time and a name on every row, and the contacts sheet has every number the day needs.
• On moving day I kept the list of what left: the signed inventory copy with me, or my box register checked off.
• I walked every room of the old home, photographed the rooms and meters, and returned the keys as the lease or sale says, with a record of when and to whom.
• Documents, medicines, valuables and the essentials box rode with me.
• At delivery I checked items against the inventory or register and wrote any damage or missing items before signing.
• I asked where and when the truck is weighed and compared the weight ticket with the estimate. (Go deeper; optional)
• I looked up my state's pre-move-out inspection and deposit rule and wrote the page and date. (Go deeper; optional)