I only had the one moving company come estimate. They moved me here and everything was perfect and the bill was less than the estimate. They still have an excellent reputation and I didn't think I needed to look around for others. As I expected, the 12-drawer plastic rolling carts that I have beads in are the biggest problem. I'd like them moved intact, and they're tall enough that might be a problem. I'm going to wrap and pack the stone beads in their drawer, but everything else can handle being dropped, if they have to.
When my upstairs neighbor came to get my key and go get the mail, I told him again about what was going to happen and gave him a better estimate of when, but he'd forgotten from the last time. I expect it will be noisy -- at least noisier than the cats and I are -- and I want him to know ahead of time. Luke told me that his daughter & son-in-law are going to Alaska about the same time and his daughter convinced him that he had to move into (the best) local nursing home while they're gone. I don't think he has to, particularly if they're gone when I'm not dealing with the work on the condo, but I'm not going to push it. I'm willing to bet that his daughter doesn't consider me capable of looking after him. Anyway, I called and left a message for her to call me so I can alert her to the coming work, since he keeps forgetting.