House moves
House removals, planned properly.
A whole house has more moving parts than any other job we do. The difference between a good day and a long one is almost always decided before anyone picks anything up.
Most people move house a handful of times in their life, which means most people are buying something they have no way of judging. That asymmetry is why the trade has the reputation it has — and why we survey before we price rather than after.
What a house move includes
Protection down first at both properties: floors, door frames, bannisters. Furniture dismantled where it needs to be. Everything blanketed and wrapped before it goes near a doorway. Loaded in an order that makes the unload sensible rather than the load fast. Then carried in, placed where you want it, and the beds rebuilt before we leave.
- Full packing, part packing, or you pack and we handle the furniture
- Wardrobe cartons so hanging clothes travel on the hanger
- Beds, wardrobes and tables dismantled and reassembled
- Pictures, mirrors, glass and TVs boxed rather than blanket-wrapped and hoped over
- Boxes labelled by destination room, not origin room
- Storage if the chain slips and the dates stop lining up
The parts people forget to mention
Lofts, garages, sheds and cellars. Between them they account for most of the gap between what a customer estimates and what actually goes on the vehicle, and they are genuinely easy to overlook — you stop seeing the loft.
After that, access. Where the vehicle can legally stand, how far the carry is, whether the street is permit-controlled, whether a lane or a driveway will take a full-size lorry. In older properties, whether the piece of furniture that came in before the extension will come back out after it.
How the quote is built
Three things: volume, distance and access. Volume comes off the survey. Distance is the real route, including whether driving hours make it a two-day job. Access is stairs, parking, carry distance and lifts at both ends.
You get the figure in writing with what it covers and what would change it. No price appears anywhere on this site, because yours would be different from the one we would have to print.
If the move is bigger than a house
Going a long way, see long-distance and nationwide removals — the drive changes how the job is crewed. Going abroad, start with moving to Europe. For a flat rather than a house, flat removals; for a single room or a part load, man and van.
House move questions
Do you always survey a house first?
Yes. A whole house has too many variables to price from a description — loft, garage, shed, the piece of furniture that only came in because the bay window was open. A video walk-round takes twenty minutes and it is what makes the quote hold.
What if the volume is bigger on the day?
We tell you before we start loading, not after. If the survey missed something genuinely material we explain what changes and why while you still have a choice. Quietly adding it to the final invoice is how the trade got its reputation.
Can you move us on completion day?
It is the normal pattern — load in the morning, wait for the keys, unload in the afternoon. Where the release runs very late we will talk to you about the load staying secured on the vehicle overnight rather than leaving furniture on a pavement.
Do you take the beds apart and put them back up?
Yes, along with wardrobes and table legs. The fixings stay taped to the piece they came off rather than going into one communal bag that nobody can sort at ten at night.
We have not finished packing. Is that a disaster?
Only if we find out on the morning. Tell us beforehand and we will bring materials and hands to finish it. Discovering a full loft at eight o'clock eats the schedule and everything behind it.
Get a house move surveyed
Both addresses, the floor at each end, and roughly what is going. That is enough for us to survey it and put a figure in writing.