If you’ve called three movers in Shreveport-Bossier this week and gotten three wildly different numbers, you’re not crazy. The 2026 market is fragmented — you’ve got national vans pricing Caddo Parish like it’s a Dallas suburb, you’ve got two-guys-and-a-pickup outfits quoting $79/hour on Facebook Marketplace, and you’ve got the August-1 student crush warping every number from late July through Labor Day. This guide cuts through it with the figures we actually quote off our Greenwood Road yard.
The headline number: $129/hour
Our flat local hourly rate is $129/hour for a two-mover crew with a fully equipped 26-foot truck, blankets, shrink-wrap, hand trucks, and dollies included. No fuel surcharge tacked on after the fact. No mileage between the origin and the destination inside Caddo and Bossier Parishes. The clock starts when we pull up to your curb and stops when the last box clears the threshold at the new place.
Ben’s take: “I priced this off seven years of dispatching Atlas Van Lines runs around Shreveport. $129/hour with everything included is the honest local number — anything lower is hiding a fuel charge, a stair fee, or a wrap fee in the fine print.” — Ben Whitfield, owner
Flat figures by home size
For most Shreveport-Bossier households we quote a binding flat rate after the walkthrough, not a meter-running hourly. Here’s where typical jobs land in 2026:
| Home size | Typical flat figure | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1-bedroom apartment | $425 | 2 movers, 3-4 hours, Highland to Bossier-type radius |
| 2-bedroom home | $895 | 3 movers, 5-6 hours, South Highlands to Haughton-type |
| 3-bedroom home | $1,595 | 3-4 movers, 7-9 hours, full Caddo + Bossier coverage |
| 4-bedroom + outbuildings | $2,195+ | 4 movers, full day, often two-truck |
| Long-distance start | $2,195 | opening figure for I-20 east or I-49 corridor runs |
| Booking deposit | $145 | credited against the final invoice |
The dorm-move special: $295 flat, 4-hour minimum
This is the line item that makes us different. A standard mover prices a dorm or studio move at the hourly rate — meaning a half-loaded U-Haul outside an LSU-Shreveport residence hall still bills you $258 minimum. We carved out a $295 flat dorm-move special for single-room loads under 1,500 lbs, with a 4-hour window built in for elevator queues and the August-1 dorm-cycle chaos.
The dorm rate applies at LSU-Shreveport, Centenary College, Bossier Parish CC, and off-campus complexes inside a 20-mile radius of our Greenwood Road yard. Louisiana Tech in Ruston falls outside that radius — we still do it, just at the route-band rate further down.
Real route bands for 2026
Long-distance pricing is where most movers play games. National vans quote a per-pound figure that explodes after the weight ticket. We quote a binding flat figure off the mileage from our Shreveport yard. Here’s where typical 2-bedroom loads land:
- Shreveport to Monroe (100 mi, I-20 east): $1,895-$2,395
- Shreveport to Alexandria (130 mi, US-167 south): $2,195-$2,695
- Shreveport to Dallas (190 mi, I-20 west): $2,495-$3,195
- Shreveport to Little Rock (210 mi, I-49 + I-30): $2,195-$3,495
- Shreveport to Lafayette (215 mi, I-49 south): $2,195-$3,495
- Shreveport to Baton Rouge (245 mi, I-49 + I-10): $2,995-$3,795
- Shreveport to Shreveport (240 mi, I-49 + US-71): $2,995-$3,795
- Shreveport to New Orleans (320 mi, I-49 + I-10): $3,795-$4,795
- Shreveport to Memphis (320 mi, I-49 + I-40): $3,795-$4,795
- Shreveport to Tulsa (370 mi, I-49 + I-40): $4,195-$5,295
What bumps the bill higher
The base figure is honest. Here’s where it grows — not from hidden fees, but from real conditions you can plan around if you know they exist.
August-1 surcharge
The dorm cycle from July 28 through August 5 runs 10-15% above the standard flat figure. Every Shreveport mover is booked, every truck is rolling, and overtime crew pay is real. Book by July 1 to lock the standard rate.
Friday 5pm lease emergency
Centenary off-campus and Louisiana Tech grad-student lease swaps that fall on a Friday afternoon hit our weekend rush rate — typically +$220-$340 on a 2-bedroom. Schedule for Tuesday-Thursday and skip it.
Piano or large keyboard
Upright pianos add $385 flat. Baby grands run $485-$585 depending on access. We use walk-boards, stair-climbers, and e-track strapping — not a guy with a furniture dolly. Piano details.
Gun safe
Anything over 500 lbs gets a heavy-item surcharge. A typical $1,200-lb gun safe adds $245-$385. We bring the right plate dollies and a four-mover crew — a Louisiana standard, not a luxury.
What doesn’t bump the bill
Plenty of national vans charge for items we include. Here’s what stays inside the figure on every A-Class job: stretch wrap, furniture pads, hand trucks, dollies, wardrobe boxes on the day of, disassembly and reassembly of standard bed frames and dining tables, mileage inside Caddo and Bossier, and the $1M cargo coverage our policy carries on every load.
How we beat the surprise-bill problem
Every A-Class quote is walked by Ben or Doug (our Centenary-area estimator) and signed as a binding flat figure before the truck rolls. The only things that can change it on move day are:
- You add inventory we didn’t see (an extra bedroom of furniture, a shed full of tools).
- You change the destination address.
- The origin or destination access changes (a freight elevator goes out, a road closes, a long-carry develops because the truck can’t get curbside).
None of those happen often. When they do, we tell you the new number before we keep working — not on the invoice after.
Comparing apples to apples
When you call other Shreveport movers, ask these five questions and the field thins out fast:
- Is the rate flat or hourly? If hourly, what’s the minimum?
- Does it include fuel, mileage, wrap, and pads?
- What’s the August-1 student surcharge structure?
- Are the crews W-2 employees or day-labor?
- What’s your cargo coverage per load?
Our answers: flat where we can, 4-hour minimum hourly, yes-everything-included, 10-15% premium structurally not hidden, eight W-2 movers on eleven names, and $1M of cargo protection. More on the crew here.
How to lock in your 2026 figure
Walk the house with Doug (we do in-home or video estimates), get the binding flat figure in writing, put down the $145 deposit, and we hold the date. The August-1 dorm cycle books out by mid-July most years — the mid-month Centenary off-campus window books by the 8th of the month before. Pick a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday and you’ll save the weekend surcharge every time.
Ready to see your number? Get a binding 2026 flat figure for your Shreveport-Bossier move — no hourly games, no fuel surcharge, no surprise invoice. Request your free quote here.