All you house movers, can I have the low-down on removals, please?

[frogs]

Despite nightmare vendors, it now looks as if our move will really take place in the next few weeks. We've been in our current house for 11 years and did the move with a bunch of friends and hired transit van (I still bear the scars).

So this time I've had a couple of quotes from proper removals firms. The ones I'm minded to go with are not the cheapest, but come very highly recommended by very fussy friends who've used them three times.

I've had quotes for full-service (ie they do everything) and the cheaper option where we do most of the packing ourselves and they just do the fragile and kitchen items. Surprisingly, there was only £200 between the two options -- I was really expecting it to be more.

So all you house movers, what did you do (or wish you'd done) when it came to removals? What should I be considering and what will I regret doing or not doing? What would you consider a reasonable price for moving the contents of a five bedroom house (central London)? Is it worth paying slightly more for a firm that come recommended?

Thanks

Last time we moved I went for the cheap option and packed ourselves. I had time to do it then as I wasn't working - but I regret using an unrecommended company ! They used young lads of about 19 who had little respect for either the house or the contents - I saw my dining table being ran past the window upside down on one young lad's head ! Of course it was too heavy and he staggered and it got severely scuffed against the wall - we had insurance but they decided it was repairable and send a man round to fill it rather than replace it - and I can still see the marks !

This time I will use either Pickfords or Bishops Move, both of whom I have used before with no problems, and I will ahve the full packing service as we have no time to pack.

Depends if you can aford it really - I have borrowed extra to pay for the removals !

Any more opinions? I still don't see why the differential between the full-monty option and the pack-it-yourself option is so small.

I'd really, really recommend getting them to pack and unpack

did you do it the other way? How hideous was it?

I don't understand why they're only charging £200 more to do all the packing themselves -- surely the hassle must be more than that? But still, £200 is £200 and we're not in any position to throw cash away atm.

don't go with Pickfords! They're so not worth it - had dodgy, lazy,moany staff wanting a tip (wtf?) and complaining about how much stuff we had. Labelled all the boxes up wrongly. We had chosen them because we assumed they would be the most professional, not so (but they were relatively expensive!). I'd go for a local firm on recommendaiton only.

I have a recommendation, from a friend with v. high standards, so I'm keen to go with that firm even though it's not the cheapest.

Just trying to weigh up the pros and cons of the different options they offer, and whether there's anything I can do now to make life easier for ourselves (apart from putting the children into kennels and selling off their toys).

Pay the packers.

Pay the packers.

Pay the packers.

Are you spotting a trend here ???

Where are you moving to ?

can I offer some advice please re moving?
Learn from my costly mistake for free!!

We took out the removal companies insurance without checking our own home insurance policy.
The removal company on the day managed to break or damage quite a few pieces and moved our 2 winter white fabric sofas without putting covers on them hence they were filthy.
We put in an insurance claim with the removal company whihc tool ages to sort and we only got a measly sum as it was a policy that takes the age of an item into account.
had we not taken out the extra insurance (which obviously cost us money) we could have claimed under our house contents which was with a large reputable company and was a new for old policy.

So, to summarise, we paid out extra money to then lose money

Please don't make out mistake. Check your own home contents policy first and if you then must take the removers insurance, make sure it's worth it and doesn't have too many restrictions like ours did.

Second what mckenzie says about checking on house insurance. We used it to move across Scotland, but international you'll need special insurance but that can be bought separately too. And SherlockLGJ is sooooo right. Get them to do everything for you. It's stressful enough without having to pack everything yourself. Funny how experience of Pickfords varies so much. We used the international arm and they were incredible yet Britannia who I used to move us "inter" Scotland as it were were appalling. He ho. Good luck. Just don't forget to take your meter readings at both ends and keep a copy of it. And if at all possible, arrange for someone to help you clean the cupboards and your new place - hopefully won't be necessary, but you never know.

Thank you ladies, this is the kind of detail I was looking for. I am wanting to learn from all your mistakes...

LGJ, we're moving a couple of miles further north to a differetn part of london. Long story. New house is a project ie. polystyrene ceiling tiles, outdoor loo, blah blah. So trading in immediate quality of life for size of house and niceness of area.

I usually allocate one room for boxes and fill the room as I go.If you have a spare room it is great As each box is filled put it in the room and close the door.I usually leave out the minmium of clothes and crockery for the last week

We moved last Friday. We used Bishops Move and paid them to pack.

The packing is not as careful as if you did it yourself I think. Things like, I had 3 kitchen drawers full of stuff, including a lot of small bits in a tub (clips, candle holders etc). They just tipped all 3 drawers and the tub into one packing case, so unpacking was a pain! And they dumped all the clothes from dd's wardrobe in a box - didn't fold them or even take them off the hangers, so will have to iron all her school uniform before next week. They weren't very careful with the children's stuff generally. And I had some rolls of wrapping paper which got thrown on the van unpacked and are now all creased up. Stuff like that - nothing you'd bother to claim for, nothing broken. But! What you need is a removal firm that employs women to pack ... [deeply sexist emoticon]

I think, pay the packers, and then get someone to look after your kids so you can supervise the packers! Be very fussy.

The reason why a removals company can differ so much is cos a) there are a lot of franchises and b) depends on the people on the day. Pay for recommended ones, def.

Pay for local recommended. That's what I did last time, and it was good. We did give them a tip, though, due to temperature (see below) - 20 quid which dh thought was a lot and I thought pretty stingy....

I'd say pack yourself, tbh, unless very pregnant or moving on the hottest day of the year (I was both, last time). It was bliss watching them do it for me, but then again I'd packed up about 70% of the house over the previous month anyway in order to sell the house. I would rather spend the £200 on good boxes, bubble wrap and self-storage (unless you have somewhere you can keep the boxes) and do it in the weeks running up to the move. Packers just do not do it as carefully as you do, and with your logic. But there's a risk of making the boxes unfairly heavy for them, I guess - hence why packers put 3 things per box.

I've always paid for them to pack and ime, there has always been a paltry difference in the quote (to pack or not pack). When you have as many books as we do, you almost weep with joy when they pack and unpack them.

My only tip would be that you are clear about where everything is going before they start unpacking - I know you can never be 100% sure but there is nothing worse than them unpacking a huge bookshelf, putting the books on it then realising you want it in another place. Soul destroying.

I can't exactly remember our quote - it was somewhere around the £1k mark and that was moving 1 large 3 bed flat in London and a big storage unit into a 2 and a half bed house with full packing.

Also, check if your quote is a Fixed Price or is going to go up per hour. A lot of the cheaper firms quotes are based on time (so they estimate it'll take 4 hours, any longer and they charge more).

Pay the packers. The people I'm buying from had a similar double-take at how little the difference in quotes was. It's well worth it. I haven't had fruitful's experience, they were uber careful (and all male).

One tip I have had from my vendors is that it might be worth using the same firm as they are (or agree a firm between you) so that you aren't charged for waiting time if the vendors haven't shifted all their stuff when they said they would.

If you can use a firm that's recommended the peace of mind is well worth it. I had to choose one at random and was fortunate that they were brilliant, would totally recommend them to anyone moving in the Bury St Edmunds area (which I appreciate you are not!)

oh and make sure you can get wardrobe boxes for the clothes - they are great (they are like tall boxes with a hanging rail) - it's so much easier to lift the clothes in and out of those and the clothes travel much better (crucial if you or dh has to wear suits for work!).

Yes, the books is the thing that's giving me the heebiejeebies. And we have stacks in storage as well. Mmmm, tending towards the letting them pack option, but dh is very very anal about his books, so knowing him will insist on packing them anyway, which will be vvv annoying.

Agreed fox - they are brill. I've never really used the firm to unpack because we've always moved a horrific distance and they needed to get back / weren't wanting the boxes back. Will def do that this time though. As you say, pre-planning required as to where everything belongs, so am off to new house next week to figure it out.

that's true trib - thinking about, they've never unpacked the lot (normally because we're left with about 15 boxes of books and nowhere to put them - they are currently in our loft at the moment!).

Frogs, you must have married my dh's twin - he's not precious about his books but he is very very fond of them . Even dh saw the light when he realised just how long it was going to take to pack all the books (and it's hard work!).