AD | Apparently, one of the most stressful life experiences (after getting married, having a child, and the death of a loved one) is moving home. Well, yes, moving home can be a fraught experience, but if you choose a good removal company, rather than trying to do it by yourself, then it makes life a lot easier, don’t you think? Because if you’re not doing it yourself that gives you more time to think about the other things involved in moving to a new house. And it’s really not that hard to find a good removal firm either, with the wealth of information that’s easily available nowadays.
The first step to finding a good removal company
Ask around. Ask your friends who they’ve used and, more importantly, who they wouldn’t use again. Go onto Facebook and ask for recommendations. Search on Google, and read any reviews on Trust Pilot as well as their websites. Check if each removal company is registered on the British Association of Removers as if so, this means they’ve met the BAR’s criteria on training, insurance, capacity and experience. Then you can draw up a shortlist of, say, three companies to contact.
What kind of move are you considering?
Are you moving house or is it a commercial move? Do you just have a single large item that needs relocating, eg, a piano? In which case a van from Transport Executive might be a good option. Are you moving locally, or nationally within the UK? Or are you relocating abroad and if so, are you talking about Europe or further afield, like Australia? Consider both the type and location of your move as they’ll have a large bearing on the removal company you need. And will you be moving everything all in one go or do you need to store anything for a while too?
Preparation is key
Before you even think about contacting any firms, you need to assess your requirements. Get a pen and paper and walk through your home or office, room by room. You need to list out what needs packing, dismantling, disconnecting, reassembling, and reconnecting. Don’t forget about your attic, garage, and garden shed either. And would you prefer to take your really fragile pieces yourself, or will you trust the removal company to pack them up? Would all your belongings fit into your new home? You might also need to think about renting a storage facility for your old furniture or stuff you don’t plan on throwing out just yet. If you’re moving to London, you’ll probably want to check out some affordable London self storage options in the area.
Choose a date
The most popular moving day tends to be a Friday or a Bank Holiday and, of course, those dates get booked up very quickly. If you can, try and arrange your move for a weekday instead. Not only are you more likely to get your preferred slot, but you might be able to negotiate a discount too.
Get a survey and a quote
Once you have your list of everything that needs moving and packing, you can ask your shortlisted removal companies to come and conduct a survey. Be clear about your expectations, and what’s actually included in their final quotes. Do they offer full furniture protection, a disassembling/reassembling service, and enough manpower to do the job? And, for example, will they cover any parking fees, if necessary?
Insurance
Check that your chosen removal company has sufficient insurance and what their policy actually covers. As well as accidents or breakages, what if there’s a delay with the keys handover on moving day, or if the move has to be rescheduled at the last minute? It’s also worthwhile checking if your current home or business contents policy will cover you during the move as well.
What if it all goes wrong?
Of course no-one like to imagine the worst case scenario but if it does, do they have a complaints procedure? If they’ve had any issues in the past, how have they handled them, and what were the eventual outcomes?
Trust your instincts
Once you’ve done all your research, it’s time to choose your removal company. I’m a great believer in going with my gut instinct, it’s rarely let me down. And I always prefer to use a local company wherever possible because I feel you get a more personal service. Like AJM Removals in Bristol for example, because the business owners undertake all the home moves themselves. Being a smaller local Bristol removals company means they’re super focused on delivering a high-quality removal service. And this might be better suited to your needs, and peace of mind, than using a large national chain where you’re just another number. Because if you’re going to trust your movers with all your precious goods, then you want to feel you have a good bond with them, don’t you?
On the day
So, your removal company knows where they have to go and you’ve briefed them on which rooms all the boxes need to go into on arrival. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard this advice masses of times but it’s worth mentioning again. Don’t forget to take a box in the car with your kettle, some teabags, coffee, milk, sugar, mugs and LOTS of biscuits. Not only will your movers really appreciate it, it’ll give you something to do rather than get in their way…
Have you moved home or office before? How did you go about choosing your removal company? Have you got any other tips for a stress free house move to share? And did you remember tea/coffee/biscuits on the day too? 🙂
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This is such a helpful post! J and I are hoping to buy early next year and I have stuff stored all over so I definitely needed these tips!
Soph – https://sophhearts.com x
Oh, great, I’m so pleased it was helpful, and good luck with the househunt! X
Some great tips. I recently moved from Australia to the UK and spent a lot of time researching who we were going to trust to move all our belongings.
Thank you, and wow, that’s some move, I hope it went well!
I’ve always wondered what company I’d use if I ever did a big move! This is such a helpful post x
Oh, thank you, I’m so pleased it was helpful! X
These are all super helpful tips, I’ve never really thought about most of these before. Thanks for sharing x
Thank you, I’m glad they were helpful 🙂 x
This is something that I’ve never thought about, but I definitely need to take all of these into account when I finally find the right house to buy with my husband!
Love, Amie ❤
The Curvaceous Vegan
It does seem quite a lot to think about (!) but I hope it’s helpful. Good luck with your househunt! X
This post is so helpful! Thanks for sharing your experience & all of your tips! 🙂
melissakacar.blogspot.com
I’m very glad it was useful, thank you!
A good article and suggestion to all who are considering in moving places.
Thank you, I’m very pleased you found it useful 🙂
I wish I had read a post like this when we moved last year, it was the most stressful time and I felt so disorganised, we’ll probably move again next year as we haven’t found our forever family home yet so I’m going to save this post to help me prepare when the time comes 💕 thank you x
Ah, I’m so sorry your previous housemove was so stressful (!) but I’m glad this post might be useful for your future housemove, anything to make the process easier! X
Great advice! I’ve moved MANY times (lived in 12 different houses/apartments in a 10 year span for a number of reasons) but I’ve always just done it all myself. I don’t plan on leaving our current house anytime soon, but if I do I think I’ll be calling the professionals this time around!
Thank you, and my goodness, that’s a LOT of moves to carry out all by yourself! Definitely not something I would ever contemplate, I’m all for an easy life 🙂
This is such a helpful post Lisa. I’ve moved house a couple of times but rented a van and did myself. I’ll definitely consider a removal company next time.
Thank you, Kim, and my word, you’re brave, I haven’t moved by myself since uni days, we have FAR too much stuff now, haha!
I’ve never had to move or at least I was young so I never had the responsibility of thinking of a moving company and such but these are such helpful tips!! I’m really hoping to move within the next 5 years or so. Thank you for sharing this information!!
Geraldine
Ah, that’s so exciting to look forward to! I’m glad these suggestions were helpful!
What a great post 🙂
My parents moved not long ago and had a company move their piano plus a few other very big pieces of furniture, and it took my dod forever to find the right company for the job.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you 🙂 and wow, yes, I’m sure it took a lot of research to find the right company for such a precious piece as a piano!
This is great advice Lisa! Thankfully, I’ve not had to move house in nearly 10 years now but I have helped my sister move a number of times over the years, and it can be quite stressful with so much to think about! You have offered so many excellent tips here, I especially agree with making sure you have easy access to tea and LOTS of biscuits, that is definitely an essential requirement to get you through the day! 😀 Fab tip about choosing a weekday slot too, anything that helps save a bit of money is well worth considering, especially as the cost of moving can quickly add up. Thank you for sharing, so informative and helpful! <3 xxx
Ah, thank you, Bexa 🙂 I wouldn’t want to get involved with anyone else’s housemove, the responsibility is too scary! And yes, tea and biscuits is definitely the way to go – or even cake if you can stretch to it! Glad this post was helpful, thank you for your lovely comment xxx
Don’t forget toilet roll in your box of stuff in the car!
Oh my goodness, you’re right, what an oversight on my part, thank you, that’s a great tip!
Great advice! We just recently moved and doing it all yourself is such a pain! Unfortunately, my boyfriend refuses to pay a moving company so we always do it ourselves haha. Eventually we will have to hire a company as we simply have too much stuff!
Casey
DIY is such a pain, admittedly I haven’t done it since uni days but I can still remember, haha. Good luck for your future moves, I hope you can persuade your boyfriend to reconsider next time!
such a helpful post… we have moved a lot in past few years from one state to another so I know how hectic and stressful everything is… thanks for covering so many important points in this post… loved it…❤️
http://www.geniusenough.com
Oh thank you so much, I’m so pleased you found it helpful, and good luck for any future interstate moves!
We usually use friends and family to help us to move but we’ve now been in our home for 8 years and I couldn’t even think about doing all of that again. Next time it would be proper removals for sure.
I think the longer you stay in one pkace the more stuff you accumulate. I am dreading the day we have to move, our loft and garage are crammed, haha!
These are some really important points you have mentioned Lisa. I have moved a few times and have done all the work on my own. It is super-super tiring. Once back in India we hired a company to move our things from Delhi to Mumbai and so many things went missing. But now with our international moves I leave and give away most of the things and only carry what is important for me. As it is more costlier to carry things with us than to purchase it again. I also try not to hoard lot of things but over period of time we do collect a lot. Some really helpful tips especially about the tea and biscuits. 🙂
Via | http://glossnglitters.com
I can’t even begin to imagine sorting things out for an international move, I found moving locally was more than enough to organise. And I’d never do it myself, always get a local company to take care of it for me. This is one of the only times I’m happy to be a tea girl, haha! Thank you for your lovely comment and good luck with your next move xx
Great tips! We don’t have a move coming up really soon but it is inevitable. It’s so daunting to even think about it.
Thank you – I’m glad this was helpful – good luck for when you do move!
Oh, I remember when we moved house twelve years ago! We left the city and came to the country, and we had a wealth of possessions after living in town for close to nine years.
It was not easy figuring out how to safely move the bigger items, like the dining table and stove, but we did most of the hauling ourselves by renting a truck and going back and forth a couple times. Luckily, our new home was only forty minutes away from the old one and nothing (to my recollection) broke. 🙂
Goodness, that sounds like quite the moving journey – however did you manage with all the bigger items by yourselves, you must have been exhausted! Kudos on not breaking anything, I’m not sure we were that successful, haha x