Overview: the job
U Storage will run a one-day, full-service move-in for 1,600 students across all ten Fresno State Student Housing buildings on a single move-in day (date to be confirmed), with every building operating simultaneously from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM: the three community halls (Baker, Graves, Homan), the six suite buildings (Aspen, Ponderosa, Sycamore, Birch, Cedar, Sequoia), and the four-story apartment tower. Families arrive by scheduled floor window. A crew of 73 professional U Storage movers runs the operation end to end, and U Storage provides all staffing and materials, including every SpeedPack. No university volunteers or equipment are required.
Nine of the ten buildings are walk-ups of up to three floors, so this plan is built around stair carries, not elevators. Every stair carry is performed by a pooled U Storage stair crew, and the halls and suites work their floors in opposite directions so the heaviest stair work in each zone happens at a different time of day. The apartment tower runs through its elevator.
The schedules in this proposal split the 1,600 students using Student Housing's published capacities (about 778 in the community halls and 577 in the suites), with the remaining 245 assigned to the apartment tower, pending Fresno State's confirmed occupancy.
The item chain, car to room:
Arrive & drop off
Posted route to the building's own drop-off. Two cars per station.
Into SpeedPacks
Two packs per car, tagged with name, building, floor, room. Car heads to parking.
Staged by floor
Packs line up in the building's staging rows, sorted by floor.
Train to the building
A U Storage runner wheels a 4–6 pack train to the building entrance.
Up the stairs
U Storage stair crew carries each pack to the floor. The tower uses its elevator.
Placed in the room
Floor captain + crew set items in the room.
Site-wide the schedule delivers roughly 212 cars per hour, a steady, sustainable pace for the full day with no mid-day spike. The working chain moves a student's belongings from the car to the room in about 30 minutes; a family's own walk on move-in day (parking, key pickup, reaching the floor) typically takes 15 to 20 minutes, so belongings arrive at the room within minutes of the family. Just as important, this lets each family settle in at their own pace: once the belongings are in the room, unpacking happens on the family's schedule, not the operation's.
Self-move window, 4:00–6:00 PM. Students who elect to move their own belongings get a dedicated two-hour window at the end of the day. U Storage operations are wrapped by 4:00, so self-movers never compete with our crews (or vice versa) for stairwells, the tower elevator, or curb space.
Two zones, running at the same time
The operation is split into two zones by street access. The West zone covers the three community halls, working from Rowell Ave with family parking in Lot P27. The East zone covers the six suite buildings, working from Barton Ave and Frontage Ave, plus the apartment tower. Every building has its own drop-off and staging location, and both zones run all day. Fresno State has not yet designated staging areas; the positions on the interactive map are U Storage's draft proposal and are subject to Fresno State approval.
| Zone | Buildings served | Students | Stations | Cars / hour | Staging & drop-off (draft) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West | Baker, Graves, Homan (community halls) | 778 | 6 | ~104 | Per-building drop-off along Rowell Ave; family parking in Lot P27 |
| East | Aspen, Ponderosa, Sycamore, Birch, Cedar, Sequoia (suites); apartment tower | 822 | 8 | ~108 | Per-building drop-off along Barton Ave and Frontage Ave; tower location to be confirmed |
Buildings and floor windows counts pending Fresno State
Every building works one floor at a time, and families receive the arrival window for their student's floor. Building and floor counts are even-split placeholders until Student Housing confirms actual occupancy; the schedule structure does not change either way.
| Building | Zone | Type | Students | Floors | Stations | Arrival windows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baker Hall | West | Community hall, stairs | 259 | 3 | 2 | Top down, 2.5-hr windows: F3 8:00, F2 10:30, F1 1:00 |
| Graves Hall | West | Community hall, stairs | 259 | 3 | 2 | Top down, 2.5-hr windows: F3 8:00, F2 10:30, F1 1:00 |
| Homan Hall | West | Community hall, stairs | 260 | 3 | 2 | Top down, 2.5-hr windows: F3 8:00, F2 10:30, F1 1:00 |
| Aspen Suites | East | Suites, stairs | 96 | 3 | 1 | Bottom up, 2.5-hr windows: F1 8:00, F2 10:30, F3 1:00 |
| Ponderosa Suites | East | Suites, stairs | 96 | 3 | 1 | Bottom up, 2.5-hr windows: F1 8:00, F2 10:30, F3 1:00 |
| Sycamore Suites | East | Suites, stairs | 96 | 3 | 1 | Bottom up, 2.5-hr windows: F1 8:00, F2 10:30, F3 1:00 |
| Birch Suites | East | Suites, stairs | 96 | 3 | 1 | Bottom up, 2.5-hr windows: F1 8:00, F2 10:30, F3 1:00 |
| Cedar Suites | East | Suites, stairs | 96 | 3 | 1 | Bottom up, 2.5-hr windows: F1 8:00, F2 10:30, F3 1:00 |
| Sequoia Suites | East | Suites, stairs | 97 | 3 | 1 | Bottom up, 2.5-hr windows: F1 8:00, F2 10:30, F3 1:00 |
| Apartment Tower name TBD | East | Apartments, elevator | 245 | 4 | 2 | Top down, 2-hr windows: F4 8:00, F3 10:00, F2 12:00, F1 2:00 |
Why the halls go top-down and the suites go bottom-up: third-floor stair carries are the slowest work of the day. If every building ran top-down, all nine walk-ups would be on their third floors from 8:00 to 10:30 and the plan would need about 42 stair movers at once. Running the two zones in opposite directions lets one pooled crew of 27 cover the whole day: the halls' upper floors in the morning, both zones' second floors at midday, and the suites' upper floors in the afternoon. Every student on a floor still moves in with their floor community.
Click any building name above to open its hour-by-hour rate plan.
Rate plan, hour by hour
Families never wait at the curb: every building's drop-off runs ahead of its arrival schedule. The table below shows each window's arrivals and when belongings reach the room. For reference, a family's own walk on move-in day — parking, key pickup, reaching the floor — typically takes 15 to 20 minutes.
Timeline: two days, move-in date to be confirmed
Evening before move-in · Pre-planning session and BBQ
Hosted by U Storage the evening before move-in. All 73 movers and Student Housing staff are invited. The whole crew is in the room for the walkthrough and role assignments. Everyone leaves knowing their role, their captain, and their station or building.
6:00 PM
Welcome and big-picture walkthrough. Site Lead presents the day: the car-to-room chain, both zones, the building schedule.
6:20 PM
Role assignments. Vests and radios handed out on the spot. Stair crew receives its three window assignments.
6:45 PM
Team breakouts. Each captain huddles with their crew and walks their piece of the chain, including every building's stairwells.
7:10 PM
Captains-only close. Site Lead, captains, and the Fresno State coordinator run the timeline once more and exchange cell numbers.
7:30 PM
BBQ dinner, hosted by U Storage. Closes the evening after all assignments are set.
Move-in day
7:00 AM
Crew call. Stations set, staging grids laid out, SpeedPacks positioned, signage up in both zones.
7:30 AM
Captains' final huddle. Crews report to their stations and buildings.
8:00 AM
Gates open. Third floors of the community halls, ground floors of the suites, and the top floor of the apartment tower begin arriving.
10:30 AM · 1:00 PM
Window changes. Every walk-up moves to its next floor, and the Site Lead reassigns the pooled stair crew to match.
1:00 – 3:00 PM
Staggered 30-minute breaks. The afternoon has the lightest stair load of the day, so breaks rotate without slowing any chain.
3:30 – 4:00 PM
Last arrivals. Halls and suites finish at 3:30; the apartment tower's ground floor finishes at 4:00.
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Final sweep and SpeedPack count, at the staging areas. Crews are clear of the buildings by 4:00. All SpeedPacks load back on the U Storage truck.
4:00 – 6:00 PM
Self-move window. Students moving their own belongings get the buildings, stairwells, and tower elevator to themselves for two hours. No competition with U Storage crews in either direction.
Staffing: all U Storage
U Storage's 73 professional movers run the complete car-to-room operation and hold every role, from the curb to the room. No university volunteers are used; every pack movement, every stair carry, and all heavy lifting is performed by U Storage staff. Fresno State's own move-in programs (university check-in, campus wayfinding, family events) remain under Fresno State's direction.
U Storage: 73 professional movers
| Role | West | East | Total | Job description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car unpackers | 3 | 4 | 7 | One per two drop-off stations; empty each car into SpeedPacks with the family handing items from their own vehicle. |
| Runners, car to staging | 3 | 4 | 7 | One per two drop-off stations. Wheel loaded, tagged SpeedPacks the short hop from the stations to the staging rows. |
| Staging captains | 1 | 1 | 2 | Run the staging grid: keep packs sorted by building and floor, dispatch outbound runners, receive empties back into service. Responsible for all pack flow in their zone. |
| Runners, staging to building | 6 | 8 | 14 | One per pack train: two per community hall and the tower, one per suite building. Wheel trains from staging to each building's entrance (and the tower's elevator queue), then bring empties back to staging on the return leg. |
| Pooled stair crew | shared | 27 | U Storage movers only: carry each SpeedPack up the stairs to the room and bring the empty back down. One crew, reassigned between buildings at each window change (see below). | |
| Elevator operator (tower) | 0 | 1 | 1 | Operates the tower's reserved elevator and manages its intake queue. |
| Floor captains | 3 | 7 | 10 | One per building. Leads the active floor: verifies each pack's tag against the room roster, directs placement, and coordinates the building's full delivery chain. |
| Unpackers | 3 | 2 | 5 | One per community hall and two at the tower. Place items in the room and release the empty pack. On stair floors the stair crew places items directly. |
| Total | 19 | 27 | 73 | Includes the 27-person pooled stair crew. |
Stair crew allocation through the day
Planning rate: one stair mover carries one loaded SpeedPack per trip, about 6 minutes round trip to a third floor and 4 minutes to a second, or roughly 5 and 7.5 students per mover per hour. Each building gets enough stair movers to stay ahead of its arrival rate (about 35 students an hour at each community hall and 13 at each suite building).
| Window | Community halls (3) | Suites (6) | Stair movers working |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00 – 10:30 AM | Floor 3 · 8 per hall | Floor 1 · no stairs | 24 of 27 |
| 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM | Floor 2 · 5 per hall | Floor 2 · 2 per building | 27 of 27 |
| 1:00 – 3:30 PM | Floor 1 · no stairs | Floor 3 · 3 per building | 18 of 27 |
Spare stair movers support ground-floor placement in the morning and cover the staggered breaks in the afternoon.
Chain of command
-
Site Lead (U Storage) runs the day and
reassigns the stair crew at each window change.
- Staging captains (one per zone) supervise the car unpackers and both runner groups in their zone.
- Floor captains (one per building) supervise the stair movers assigned to their building, the elevator operator (tower), and unpackers.
Student belongings tracking
Every student is tracked on a branded U Storage mobile app, listed by building and floor, and moved through four stages: initial pickup, items in bin(s) with SpeedPack numbers, items in staging, and items in room. The family receives a text message at each step (SMS preferred, email available).
Roster by building and floor. Every student, grouped the way the day runs, with a live status chip.
One student, one tap per stage. Bin numbers captured at the car; each stage stamps the time and texts the family.
What the family sees. A text at every step, ending with delivery confirmation to the room.
Chain of custody: every pack, accounted for at every moment
A SpeedPack is never in limbo. From the moment items leave the car, each pack is logged to a place and a person, and every handoff is recorded in the app. At any moment of the day, the answer to “where are this student's things?” is one lookup: the pack's last custody point and who holds it.
| Custody point | Who logs it | What is recorded | Family sees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Station check-in | Check-in tagger | Student name, room assignment, family cell number, arrival time, station number. | SMS: crew has met you, unloading now. |
| 2. Packed & tagged | Station mover | Pack numbers tied to the student; tag carries name, building, floor, room in weatherproof marker. | SMS with their pack numbers. |
| 3. Staging intake | Staging captain | Packs logged into the building's floor row; custody passes from curb to staging. | SMS: items staged for the building. |
| 4. Train dispatch | Runner | Packs logged out of staging onto a named runner's train; custody rides with the runner to the building entrance. | — |
| 5. Room delivery | Floor captain | Tag checked against the floor roster at the door; items placed; stage marked In Room with a timestamp. | SMS: delivery confirmed to the room. |
| 6. Pack return | Staging captain | Tag pulled and retired; empty pack logged back into service. | — |
The custody rule: No pack moves between areas without a log entry, and no pack sits anywhere without belonging to a logged location: a station, a staging row, a named runner's train, or a floor. The app's roster view doubles as the live audit: every student's packs, their current custody point, and the timestamp of every handoff.
If something is off: Any crew member who finds a discrepancy at a custody point (damaged item, tag mismatch, missing pack) flags it in the app on the spot with a photo. The Site Lead is notified immediately and owns the resolution with the family before end of day. Because every pack has a numbered trail, a search means retracing at most one handoff, not searching a campus.
Proposed pricing
U Storage provides all staffing and all materials, including every SpeedPack. The final rate within the $95–$110 range is set in the service agreement once Student Housing confirms building occupancy, the apartment tower, stairwell and elevator access, and the move-in date.
Billing is per student served at the agreed rate, with a 1,500-student minimum. Every student served above 1,500 is invoiced on a per-student basis. The tracking app records every student moved through the four custody stages, so the final count is auditable to the room and the minute.
Included in the rate
- 73 professional U Storage movers, including a 27-person stair crew, and full site leadership for the entire operating day, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
- All staffing and all materials: 375 SpeedPacks and ~200 dollies, supplied by U Storage. No university volunteers or equipment are required.
- The pre-planning session and crew BBQ the evening before move-in, hosted by U Storage.
Access provided by the university
- Room access. U Storage floor captains are provided access keys (or card access) to unlock student rooms ahead of each floor's arrival window, so belongings are placed before the student and family arrive. Every room entry is tied to a named floor captain and logged in the tracking system.
- Stairwell priority. At least one stairwell in each walk-up building reserved for U Storage crews from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, so loaded carries never meet families coming the other way.
- Reserved elevator. The apartment tower's elevator reserved for U Storage from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, run by our operator.
- Facility access per this plan: per-building drop-off and staging areas as designated by Fresno State, and the posted arrival routes.
All figures on this page are planning estimates for discussion. Actual pricing, terms, and commitments are established solely in the executed service agreement between U Storage and California State University, Fresno.
Open items
- Building and floor occupancy from Student Housing. The 1,600-student split across buildings and floors is a placeholder until these arrive.
- Move-in date. The plan runs as a single operating day plus the pre-planning evening before.
- Apartment tower. Confirm the building name, location, occupancy, and elevator availability so it can be added to the map and rate plan.
- Fresno State designation of staging areas, drop-off routes, and family parking for both zones. The interactive map shows U Storage's draft layout and will be updated once finalized.
- Stairwell and elevator access. Confirm one reserved stairwell in each walk-up building and the tower elevator reservation, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.