I am in the construction industry and I ship big and heavy stuff for work all the time by truck freight. First, for ease of shipping everything should be strapped to a pallet and wrapped in pallet wrap. Go on craigslist and you'll find free pallets in your area if you don't have any. Truck drivers don't want to mess around with items that are not easily moved by their on board pallet jack.
For commercial location deliveries the biggest factors impacting the cost are: dimensions of the shipment (length and width), weight, and distance of travel. Because commercial locations usually have a loading dock, the truck pulls up and rolls the pallet off (or on) and the driver leaves. This keeps the cost down.
For residential deliveries, all these commercial factors apply plus a fee to have a lift gate truck deliver and pick-up and/or drop your pallet (unless you happen to have a loading dock at the house). Also, you have to have a way to get the pallet onto (or off) the lift gate on the truck. These are all things just to keep in mind.
In my experience, the cheapest shipper has been Old Dominion. We have used a bunch of other companies too like Fedex freight, Conway, Roadway, and small private companies. The only one I would stay away from is Conway as many of my shipments have been damaged and mishandled by them. Other than that, your going to have to call and get lots of estimates because prices vary widely from carrier to carrier.
Hope this helps.
