Removals stress!!

[superlambanana]

We are moving to other end of the country (about 150 miles). Can't get a quote for less than £2k. Also having major problems finding someone available because we could only confirm the moving date a month beforehand - but surely lots of people only have a couple of weeks between exchange and completion? How far in advance do you normally book?

This house move is turning me grey....

I've just had this stress recently too. We weren't pro-active enough immediately after exchange, so today we panicked into booking a somewhat expensive company for moving in a week and a half. It's pissing annoying . It's our own fault though.

I just don't see how we could have done it differently - we didn't have a date before! How has anyone else do it? Did you have the same problem or were you just lucky?

I wonder if you're moving at a popular time, though I think the most popular time is the school summer holidays. I moved last September and I found that removal companies needed about 2 weeks' notice and I could pick my date. Basically they were all booked for the next week but not after that. We were moving into storage first. I moved into the new house this year and I rang on a Saturday and asked them to move me in asap. It was a 1.5 day move, from their warehouse to my new home 200 miles away. To my surprise, they did on the Tuesday, so only really one working day after I'd asked them.

Each time we've bought a house, we didn't move straight in so didn't need a move date immediately on completion, which obviously helps. We rented and then bought, then sold and rented and then bought again, so there were always overlaps where we were still renting and had bought a house and did work before moving.

The buyers of our old house only had 6 days between exchange and completion and were selling too so they moved straight in. So they must have found a remover to do it quickly (last Winter) but it was a local move for them.

If you don't need packing then try quotes from man with van type companies. We did a relocation move for about same distance for three bed house and it was £1k (incl £50 tip) which included three blokes and a two day move (they came back for our beds the day of the move). We moved from Basingstoke if that's anywhere near you?

If possible try to avoid Fridays as that is the most popular day for completion (though Lord knows why since if anything goes wrong there is no-one in the office the next day).
Also check your home insurance to see if it covers removals (most do so long as valuable breakableq are packed professionally) as all but Bishop's Move tried to sell us additional insurance along with their quotes!
Good luck.

We used pickfords - if you get a cheaper quote from someone else you can negotiate with them. They were brilliant - we moved from Liverpool to Surrey. We did our own packing - wouldn't normally do this, but was having a clear out at the same time.

It was nearer 1k, but a couple of yrs ago.

i have to say- be careful! £2k might seem a lot but for a move of 150 miles, if you have a lot of stuff and it is a really reputable firm it will be worth it. avoid man with van like the plague. we used man and van once on the basis that we were moving round the corner. turned into Laurel and Hardy.

if that is with packing, it's a good deal.

what most people do regarding dates is book a provisional one and then confirm it once exchange has happened. If you can avoid Fridays and school holidays your quotes will be cheaper.

reallymoving.com is your friend.

We only had around two weeks to sort out removals. We had quotes done a few months earlier but until you know the exact date, it's impossible to book a definite time. Our removal company were able to move us with little notice but we did move on a Tuesday. Friday is the busiest day - I think it's the solicitor's who seem to work towards completion on Fridays.