Relocating to Florianopolis from Southern California - Advice needed

Hi, jonnycat

I just completed a move from the Chicago Area to Manaus, and I would strongly recommend talking to local companies with good reputations in the Allied and North American Van Lines families.  Both are subsidiaries of Sirva, a big, worldwide relocation company THAT REALLY KNOWS BRAZIL.
Moving professionals have told me that a household move to Brazil is one of the most challenging in the world:  the regulations are complex and opaque, Customs can be difficult to deal with (and is often on strike, or conducting work-to-rule actions), and the costs for not satisfying the rules, even innocently, can be very high.  Technically, you're allowed to bring in one ocean shipment and one air shipment of household articles duty free, but you have to satisfy every rule to the letter.  You need a company that is dependable and easy to deal with at the US end, ideally has moved people to Brazil before, and has a foolproof warm hand-off at the Brazil end.  I feel that I got that in the Sirva system.
I worked with Pickens Kane, the oldest Allied affiliate in Chicago, who had first-hand knowledge of Brazil moves.  They packed my goods to Brazil specifications (e.g., no wooden crating allowed), saw them safely from my home to the ship, and tracked them with their bilingual Sirva colleagues all the way to the Port of Manaus.  Sirva got everything through Customs, and set up in my home.  If you'd like details, feel free to send me a private message.
My move, which was on the small side for a whole-household move, cost about $20,000:  the distance from Chicago to Manaus is quite a bit less than from LA to Florianópolis, so you would be wise to think of that as your floor, and expect the quotes to be higher.  If they're not, press the lowball movers HARD for information:  they may have done long distance and even international moves before (I spoke with a couple like that) but they probably aren't familiar with the complexities of Brazil.
Good luck!

I completed our move here a little over 3 years ago using my veterans benefits. It was actually cheaper to move here than moving by truck across the country in America from New Mexico to Maine. So since the cost was cheaper and I was willing to pay the difference if the cost went over the American move amount we went ahead with it! 

I didn't pay too much attention to the details of getting it here (I don't remember the company), I was on top of providing the 21 documents (in the end) that was required by customs to prove my wife did live in America for a time period of more than 2 years and was a returning Brazilian to get tax free. I can't remember all of it but it was mostly marriage certificate, copies of bills, bank records, insurance, etc... I kept very detailed records of me sending each document digitally by email to the coordinator at the port. This will become important later... It was over a few months that they would ask for something else from time to time.

They came and packed everything into 9 huge wooden crates and one large sofa box. It was roughly 11,000 pounds in total including the packing material. It was boxed and shipped first week of August and arrived in my home here in Brazil second week of December 2015. For the most part everything showed up in perfect condition with minimal damage or breakage.

In the end I paid nothing out of pocket and have no idea what my benefits actually paid for the move. About 8 months after our goods arrived I received a lawsuit notice in the mail that demanded payment of roughly $8,000 USD from the port for the delay of goods and storage of our household goods (19 days) while customs waited for documents. I went through the lawsuit and everything they were asking for was provided a month in advance of the arrival of goods. So not my fault it took so long. In the end with my emails provided the lawsuit was dropped and the moving company here in Brazil that was in charge of the customs portion had to reach a settlement for the charges.

It was a huge pain in the butt, but in the end well worth it to have all of our American stuff. The quality of goods here is hit or miss and I am so glad to have higher quality stuff from America. Yes most of it is 110V, but the converters are cheap here. We did not bring anything with a gas engine, firearms or anything else that was prohibited.

Well if you have any questions please let me know!

Thanks a million.   I am afraid I cannot use the private messaging yet since I am new expat.com, but will contact you when I am able to.