Best Company to Move a 3 Bedroom House Abroad: 8 International Movers Compared
We ranked 8 international movers for a 3 bedroom house going overseas, with real cost ranges, container sizing, and the licenses worth checking first. [...]Read More...
Last reviewed: August 2026. This guide is refreshed every 3 to 6 months so licensing details, container capacities, transit times, and cost ranges stay current.
Moving a 3 bedroom house abroad is a different animal than shipping a few boxes. You are not comparing prices on a service. You are handing a stranger your entire life in a steel box and hoping it turns up in Lisbon or Sydney six weeks later with the china intact.
So the question is not really which international moving companies are cheapest. It is which ones can actually absorb the volume, the paperwork, and the destination side without falling over.
Here is how the field looks right now, ranked for a household that size.
The 8 best international moving companies for a 3 bedroom house
Ranked on licensing, how much of the move each company controls directly, and how well each one handles the volume a full 3 bedroom household actually produces.
| Rank | Company | Best for | Freight in-house | Founded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunset International Shipping | Full households, door-to-door | Yes, air and sea | FMC #023860N |
| 2 | International Van Lines | Breadth of services | Yes, own trucks and crews | 2000 |
| 3 | Schumacher Cargo Logistics | Household plus a vehicle | Yes, own warehouses | 1977 |
| 4 | Allied Van Lines | Corporate relocation | Agent network | 1928 |
| 5 | United Van Lines | Domestic leg quality | Agent network | 1928 |
| 6 | North American Van Lines | Nationwide pickup reach | Agent network | 1933 |
| 7 | Seven Seas Worldwide | Self-pack, transparent quotes | Own depot network | MoveCube, 2012 |
| 8 | American Van Lines | Adding an overseas leg | In-house domestic crews | 1995 |
Sunset International Shipping: best overall for a full household
A Santa Barbara based international mover that does nothing but overseas relocation, licensed and bonded under FMC #023860N.
Why it leads for a 3 bedroom house: most of the big names on this list are domestic van lines that also handle international moving. Sunset runs the other way around. Every crew, every packing standard, every quote is built for a shipment that has to survive weeks at sea and clear a foreign customs process on the other end.
The capabilities that matter at this size: sea freight and air freight with sole container and shared container options, so you are not paying for space you do not fill; international moving by sea for the bulk of the household; door-to-door service as standard, with door-to-port available if you would rather source your own agent and arrange port pickup yourself; in-house export packing and custom crating using materials rated for ocean transit; overseas vehicle shipping by RoRo or container to more than 100 countries; 30 days of free storage, which is the difference between a smooth handover and a panic when your closing date slips; and a free pre-move survey by phone, video, or in person, so the volume estimate is real rather than a guess off a room count.
The company also leans hard on transparent pricing: an itemized estimate with exclusions stated upfront and a no-hidden fees policy, which in this industry is less common than it should be. Call 805-209-1426 or request a free moving estimate and they will schedule the survey before quoting.
Where it is not the answer: if you are shipping four boxes and a bike, this is more relocation services company than you need. Sunset is built for households, not parcels.Schumacher Cargo Logistics: best when a vehicle ships with the household
Operating out of Los Angeles since 1977, with company owned warehouses in Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah, Miami, New York, and New Jersey, plus one in the UK and an agent network across more than 50 countries.
What it does better than most: vehicle shipping and consolidated LCL freight. If your 3 bedroom move includes a car, a motorcycle, or a boat, they have been doing that specific combination for close to fifty years.
They lean heavily toward the West Coast and Gulf ports. Fine if you are shipping from Los Angeles or Houston. Less compelling from the upper Midwest.Allied Van Lines: best for employer-paid corporate relocation
Founded in 1928 and now part of SIRVA, with more than 400 locations worldwide. Allied introduced containerized moving back in 1973 and expanded internationally in 1959, so the institutional experience is not in question.
Best suited to corporate relocation, where a mobility department is coordinating on your behalf and the invoice goes to an employer. The international cost estimator on their site is a useful starting benchmark even if you end up moving with someone else.
For a private family move, you are working through an independently owned local agent, and the quality of that agent is the quality of your move. Ask which agent is actually handling the origin work before you sign.United Van Lines: strong domestic leg, affiliate-run overseas
Traces back to 1928, when Return Loads Service was formed in Cleveland to fill empty trucks on the way home. Now headquartered in Fenton, Missouri, and owned by UniGroup, which also owns Mayflower Transit after acquiring it in 1995.
The agent-owned structure means the people handling your move usually have equity in the outcome. That is a real advantage on the domestic leg. Internationally, United works through affiliated representatives, so the destination experience varies by country.
Worth a quote if you already have a relationship with a United agent. Less obvious as a first call for an overseas move.North American Van Lines: widest domestic agent network
Established in 1933 by a group of twelve agents, now based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and part of SIRVA alongside Allied. It has been running international transportation since 1952 and operates through more than 500 agent locations across the US and Canada.
Same structural story as Allied: enormous domestic reach, international handled through affiliates. Solid packing materials, storage options, auto transport, and shipment tracking. Good middle-of-the-road option if you want a name your bank has heard of.Seven Seas Worldwide: best self-pack option
A UK company, founded by brothers John and Will Henderson, that built its reputation on the MoveCube, a sole-use mini container delivered to your door for self-packing. It launched in 2012 and has since become the model everyone else copies badly.
The appeal is control and transparency. Their online quote tool itemizes customs clearance, warehouse handling, and destination charges instead of burying them, and every international move gets two weeks of free storage at both ends. They help around 40,000 people a year move personal effects door-to-door.
For a 3 bedroom house you would need multiple MoveCubes, and you are doing the packing yourself. That is either the best part of this option or a dealbreaker, depending on how you feel about wrapping your own dining table.American Van Lines: best add-on to an existing domestic move
Family owned and operated since 1995, headquartered in Pompano Beach, Florida. It works with residential customers on local, interstate, and international moves and puts a lot of weight on trained in-house crews rather than day labor.
The international side is thinner than the rest of this list. It is a legitimate option if you are already moving domestically with them and adding an overseas leg, less so if the overseas leg is the whole job.
Mayflower Transit, founded in 1927 and part of UniGroup since 1995, is the other national name people ask about. It shares a quoting platform with United Van Lines, so treat the two as one option rather than two.
Best Company to Move a 3 Bedroom House Abroad
For most American families shipping a full 3 bedroom household overseas, Sunset International Shipping is the best fit, because it combines FMC licensing, in-house export packing, sole and shared container options, vehicle shipping, and door-to-door delivery under one roof rather than subcontracting the pieces.
The reasoning is not complicated. A 3 bedroom move has enough volume to justify a dedicated container and enough fragile, awkward, sentimental items to make packing quality the deciding variable. Companies that specialize exclusively in international relocation get more reps at exactly that problem.
If your shipment includes a vehicle and you are moving from the West Coast, Schumacher Cargo is a close second. If you want maximum service breadth and published pricing, International Van Lines is the other name worth a quote.
Get three international moving quotes. Always three.
How much space does a 3 bedroom house actually take
This is where most people underestimate their own move.
A 3 bedroom home typically produces 1,000 to 1,400 cubic feet of goods once everything is packed. A one bedroom apartment produces roughly 300 to 500. A 5 bedroom house can push past 2,000 and lands squarely in 40-foot territory.
International movers price on volume, not room count, which is why an accurate survey matters so much. Here is what you are actually choosing between.
| Container | Load capacity | Realistic household size |
|---|---|---|
| 20-foot dry | 1,172 cubic feet (33.2 CBM) | 2 to 3 bedrooms, packed efficiently |
| 40-foot general purpose | 2,389 cubic feet (67.67 CBM) | 4 to 5 bedrooms, or 3 with a vehicle |
| 40-foot high cube | 2,694 cubic feet (76.3 CBM) | Large households, tall furniture, oversized items |
Full details on each option are on the shipping container sizes page.
The practical read: a 3 bedroom house fits a 20-foot container if you are disciplined about what comes along. Add a car, a piano, or a garage full of tools and you are in 40-foot territory.
If your volume lands under about 500 cubic feet, LCL (less than container load, also called a shared container or groupage) is cheaper because you only pay for the space you use. Above that, a sole container usually wins on both price per cubic foot and handling risk, since nobody else’s freight is being loaded and unloaded around yours.
Where Sunset ships: coverage that matters for a household move
Coverage is one of those things that sounds like marketing until your destination is not on the list.
Sunset International Shipping moves households from all fifty states, with dedicated origin coverage from Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Chicago, Houston, New York City, Boston, Miami, Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, and dozens of other metros. The full breakdown is on the areas we serve page.
On the destination side:
- Europe: London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rome, Milan, Amsterdam, Dublin, Zurich, Geneva, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. Germany, Portugal, and Spain are consistently the busiest routes.
- Asia: Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Dubai, Manila, and points across the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
- Australia and New Zealand: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland.
- Canada: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary.
- South America and the Caribbean: Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Venezuela, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands.
- Africa: South Africa, Egypt, Morocco.
If you are weighing a European destination specifically, the guide to moving from the US to Europe walks through visa paths, income thresholds, and why American furniture frequently does not fit through a European doorway. That last point is not a joke. A large sectional sofa will not make it up a Parisian walk-up staircase, and finding that out on delivery day is expensive.
What a 3 bedroom international move costs
Nobody can quote you accurately from a blog post. What follows is the honest range.
| Move size | Typical volume | Published cost range |
|---|---|---|
| One bedroom apartment | 300 to 500 cubic feet | $3,500 to $6,500 |
| 2 to 3 bedroom home | 700 to 1,100 cubic feet | $4,500 to $12,000 |
| Full 3 bedroom house | 1,000 to 1,400 cubic feet | $9,000 to $17,000 |
| 5 bedroom house | 2,000+ cubic feet | $15,000 to $25,000+ |
Transit times from the West Coast run roughly 4 to 6 weeks door-to-door to Europe, 5 to 8 weeks to Asia, and 6 to 10 weeks to Australia. Air freight cuts that to 1 to 2 weeks and costs several times more, which is why most people ship the household by sea freight and fly a couple of suitcases of essentials.
What drives international moving costs:
- Volume of your shipment. The single biggest factor, which is why the pre-move survey is worth doing properly. The size of your move sets the container, and the container sets most of the price.
- Distance moved and destination port. Rotterdam is cheap. Auckland is not.
- Seasonal demand. June through August is peak everywhere. Shifting your moving dates to spring or early fall genuinely saves money.
- Total weight, for air freight specifically, where weight and volume are both priced.
- Destination regulations. New Zealand and Australia run strict biosecurity inspections and may require fumigation, which adds real cost.
- Additional costs most quotes exclude: port terminal handling, destination charges, customs duties, and storage past the free window.
That last line deserves emphasis. The Federal Maritime Commission specifically warns that port terminal handling charges are often left out of international moving estimates and show up as a surprise later, and that customs duties in the destination country are generally your responsibility, not the mover’s. Budget for them from the start.
One more line item people forget: moving the money itself. If you are paying destination charges or customs duties in another currency, bank wire spreads can quietly cost a few hundred dollars on a move this size. Many expats use a transfer service like Wise for exactly this reason. Small thing, but it is free money left on the table otherwise.
The services that actually matter at this size
For a one bedroom apartment, you can skip most add-ons. For a 3 bedroom house, several of these stop being optional.
Packing. Export packing is not domestic packing with extra tape. Ocean containers sweat, shift, and get handled by cranes. Moisture-resistant wrapping and proper cushioning are the reason your mirror arrives whole. Professional packing services also matter for a practical reason most people miss: many movers will not insure household goods they did not pack themselves, and they supply packing materials rated for ocean transit rather than a cross-town move.
Custom crating. Artwork, antiques, marble tops, large mirrors, musical instruments. Anything irreplaceable gets a purpose-built wooden crate, not a blanket and a prayer.
Storage. Departure and arrival dates almost never line up on an international move. Thirty days of free storage covers the gap between your US closing and your foreign lease without a scramble. Climate-controlled units matter if you are storing wood furniture or electronics through a humid summer.
Unpacking. Underrated. After six weeks and a nine-hour flight, having a crew place furniture and remove the debris is worth more than you think it will be.
Vehicle shipping. Whether your car should come depends entirely on the destination. It earns its keep in the Tuscan countryside. In central Amsterdam it collects parking tickets. Car shipping to Europe runs roughly 2 to 4 weeks in transit, to Asia 4 to 6 weeks, and to Australia 6 to 8 weeks, plus port handling and clearance on top.
Moving insurance. Standard carrier liability is not insurance. It is a limited liability cap, usually calculated per pound, and it will not come close to replacing a household. Read the insurance coverage terms before the container is sealed, not after. The FMC recommends getting the full terms and conditions in writing and keeping a signed copy.
Pet shipping. Handled separately from your household goods, and the timeline is longer than people expect. Your pet needs a health certificate from a USDA-accredited veterinarian, and depending on the destination, USDA APHIS endorsement of that certificate. Some countries take months. Start this the day you decide to move.
The full service list covers oversized freight and moving insurance options as well.
How to vet an international mover in fifteen minutes
Most bad international moves trace back to a decision made in the first week of research. Here is the short version of due diligence.
- Check the FMC license first. Any company shipping household goods by ocean vessel to or from the US must be licensed or registered with the Federal Maritime Commission. The FMC maintains a public list of licensed and bonded companies, and it takes a minute to search. Sunset International Shipping holds FMC #023860N. If a company cannot give you a license number, the conversation is over. The FMC also publishes guidance and a complaint process for international moves, worth knowing exists before you need it. Working with licensed movers is not a nice-to-have here. It is the entire floor.
- Insist on an onsite or video survey. The FMC is blunt about this: telephone and online estimates based on a room count are frequently inaccurate. A real survey produces a real volume, and a real volume produces a quote that does not mutate.
- Get written estimates from several companies. Three is the number. Compare what is included, not just the total. One quote covering door-to-door with customs clearance and another covering port-to-port are not the same product, and the second one always looks cheaper. Ask specifically whether the quotes you are holding are binding quotes or non-binding estimates.
- Read the customer reviews, then read the complaints. Ratings tell you very little. The pattern in the one-star reviews tells you almost everything, particularly how a company handles a damage claim. Ask whether the crew loading your container are employed, background-checked movers or subcontracted day labor, because on a household this size that single answer predicts most of your outcome.
- Look for FIDI-FAIM accreditation or IAM membership. FIDI-FAIM is the only independently audited quality certification built specifically for international movers, with third-party audits on a three-year cycle plus annual financial assessments. The International Association of Movers (IAM) and AMSA are the other credentials worth recognizing.
- Read the moving contract. Delivery windows, exclusions, demurrage, cancellation terms. Promises from a salesperson are not enforceable unless they appear in the contract. This breakdown of the moving contract clauses that actually protect you is worth twenty minutes before you sign anything.
- Do not automatically take the cheapest quote. The FMC’s own guidance is that unusually low estimates are a common tactic to lure customers in, and that a quote too good to be true usually is. In this industry, a lowball number is not a discount. It is a deposit on a future argument.
The paperwork nobody warns you about
The freight is the easy part. Documentation is where moves stall.
Customs declaration forms and the bill of lading. Your inventory list becomes your customs packing list. If what the movers wrote down does not match what is in the container, you are fixing it while the box sits at a port accruing storage fees. Review the inventory before it ships.
Customs duties and clearance. Some movers include customs clearance in the package, some do not. Clarify this early, because the customs process is the step most likely to add time you did not plan for. Duties themselves are almost always the shipper’s responsibility.
Personal effects and the one-year rule. If you are ever bringing goods back into the United States, CBP allows duty-free entry of household effects that were used abroad for at least one year and are not intended for resale. Furniture, carpets, artwork, books, tableware. Items bought within a year of import can be taxed. Keep receipts.
Passports and visas. Your household goods and your right to live in the country are separate processes on separate timelines, and the visa one is usually longer. Approval times vary widely by country, so start the paperwork months before your target moving dates.
Shipment tracking. Ask how it works before you book. Container-level tracking with a named point of contact beats GPS tracking marketing on a website you can never actually log into.
A realistic moving checklist for a 3 bedroom move
8 to 12 weeks out: book the pre-move survey and collect three quotes, start visa and pet paperwork, and verify FMC licensing on every company you are considering.
6 to 8 weeks out: sign the contract and lock in moving dates, decide what ships, what sells, and what stays in storage, then confirm insurance coverage and get the terms in writing.
3 to 4 weeks out: packing week if you are using a full-service crew, photograph high-value items before they are wrapped, and confirm destination address, access restrictions, and any parking or permit needs.
Move week: review and sign the inventory carefully, keep passports, titles, and the bill of lading with you rather than in the container, and pack an air freight or suitcase set of essentials for the gap.
Sunset also publishes a downloadable moving abroad checklist you can work through offline.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best company to move a 3 bedroom house abroad?
- Sunset International Shipping is the strongest overall choice for a 3 bedroom household move, because it is FMC licensed (#023860N), specializes exclusively in international relocation, and handles packing, crating, ocean freight and air freight, vehicle shipping, storage, and customs documentation in house rather than subcontracting. International Van Lines and Schumacher Cargo Logistics are the two closest alternatives, particularly if your shipment includes vehicles.
- How much does it cost to move a 3 bedroom house overseas?
- Most full 3 bedroom international moves land between $9,000 and $17,000 door-to-door, with lighter households on shorter routes starting around $4,500. The final number depends on the volume of your shipment, destination port, shipping method, and add-ons like custom crating, vehicle shipping, or extended storage. Get an itemized, binding quote based on an actual survey rather than a phone estimate.
- How long does it take to ship household goods from the US to Europe?
- Plan on 4 to 6 weeks door-to-door from the West Coast to most European destinations, and slightly less from East Coast ports. That window includes inland transport to the port, ocean transit, customs clearance, and final delivery. Air freight delivers in 1 to 2 weeks at several times the cost.
- Do I need moving insurance for an international move?
- Yes. Standard carrier liability is capped by weight and will not replace a household. Buy proper insurance coverage, read the terms before the container is sealed, and note that most movers will only insure goods their own crews packed.
The bottom line
Shipping a 3 bedroom house abroad comes down to three decisions: who packs it, what container it travels in, and who is standing at the other end when it arrives.
The companies on this list can all move furniture. The gap between them shows up in the destination handling, the paperwork, and what happens when a shipping line reschedules a vessel. That is where specialists earn their fee.
For a household this size, start with an FMC license check, insist on a proper survey, and get three itemized quotes you can actually compare line by line.
Sunset International Shipping can be reached at 805-209-1426, or request a free moving estimate online and they will schedule the survey.
Cost figures and transit times reflect published 2026 industry ranges and Sunset International Shipping’s own published capacities. Licensing details are current at publication. Verify any license number directly with the issuing authority before booking.