What do I need to know about packers and removals?

[NormaCore]

We are hopefully moving house in a fortnight after six months, and I have taken the plunge and opted for the packing service.

I asked the removals man lots of questions when he came to do the quote but I am sure to have forgotten something.

Do you have any tips for me about things to do before/while they are here? How will they know where to put things in the new house? Do I label eveything or does someone need to be there to direct them?

They are planning to come and pack the day before, leaving out what we need overnight, then load the van on the actual moving day.

I am thinking I will stay to clean the fluff they uncover and DH can go to the new house to let them in. Does that sound about right?

We did this about 4 weeks ago.

They will pack by room and will label well. Top tip from ours would be to make sure everything is in the room you want it to end up in. I made the mistake as we were leaving on the final day of moving all our overnight bedding into the same room which meant it didn't go into the bedrooms here and ended up in the carport instead.

Also. They will pack everything. Even a fruit bowl with fruit still in it. We found ours 4 days later. Luckily before the pears had got too oozy.

Our guys also said they'd do that, but brought a van and packed it anyway so our house was pretty much empty the day before we moved.

Fab service though. What a relaxing move it was :)

You may not get your new keys before you have to be out of the old house.

Label your rooms at old house using a bit of paper with blutack. Packers Will label boxes from that. Take labels to new house so packers can see Bed 1 etc.

They will pack everything except keys. Make sure you have a designated No Pack zone to keep things that you don't want packed like Hoover kettle and cutlery.

I would spend the next couple of weeks seeing if you have stuff to dump/chuck/give away.
It is such a good service, when DS2 was aged 2 and DS3 aged 1 we used packers for the first time. We had a 5 bedroom detached house and absolutely everything got packed in 2 1/2 hours the afternoon before the move. It would have probably have taken me a week to do it myself.

They will label each box and put it in the matching room at the new house, so you don't need to do more than make it clear which room is which when they get there.

Yes to clearly marking things which are not to be packed. It might be worth DH taking a suitcase or two across with him, with enough to get you through the first couple of nights, so you don't have to worry about finding things right away.

If you can do any sorting before the packing date, it will be a good idea. We had boxes full of stuff that, when we opened them we were thinking 'What is all this garbage?' since it had come out of drawers that hadn't been gone through in ages. We ended up putting tons of things back into drawers etc and never getting round to that clear-out we'd promised ourselves...

Have a good clear out first because they will pack EVERYTHING (including the dirt from the garage dh had swept into a bucket..)
Have clean bedding and towels ready in "No pack" zone - I didn't and had to remake beds with old bedding (our unpacking took 2 days)

"I am thinking I will stay to clean the fluff they uncover and DH can go to the new house to let them in. Does that sound about right?"

You will be able to do a load of cleaning after they have finished on their packing day, then clean rooms as they empty them on moving day.

If you are both selling and buying it is likely that your buyers will be on your doorstep and ready to come in simultaneously with you having keys to your new house. The keys all exchange hands when the money passes down the line, electronically.

Generally the removal men pack (they move at the speed of light) and then go and have lunch close to the new house...while you faff about waiting to get the call from your solicitor that you have completed, and can collect your keys from the EA or they will bring them. This can go on a bit: the solicitors all seem to go out for a long lunch or be unavailable on the phone in the middle of the day, or Fridays are busy for them with several completions in progress. So you can stay behind and clean while the removal men go for lunch, and then hot foot it to the new house as soon as you get 'the call'.

Or you could get lucky and get a 'completion' text at 10a.m.

Agree with 'no packing' zone - they'll wrap and pack your family members if they stay still for long enough! Use the time before moving day to do as much sorting and de cluttering as possible.

The packing service is worth every penny imo.

That packers are amazing! (And echo no pack zone.)

"Or you could get lucky and get a 'completion' text at 10a.m."

In which case your buyers will be banging on the door to get into their house!

I would consider 10am to be way too soon in a chain!

Thanks so much for the advice everyone - really good idea about the bedding. Blu why does it not surprise me about the long lunch? And Haggisaggis that is brilliant about the bucket of dirt!

So glad I have booked the full packing service. This move has nearly broken me and with a toddler in tow packing up myself would be the last straw.

Potentially stupid question: what do you do about fridge and freezer? Do they move them full or should they be emptied?

our movers say to move it emptied and defrosted - your company should give you a list of guidelines eg around flat pack furniture, valuables, white goods etc

Check what yours say about drawers - ours are happy to move drawers with contents in.

Fridge should be emptied but freezer can stay full and moved as is - in fact they said the fuller the better (up to a point of course!) as it helps the stuff inside to stay frozen.

We need to disconnect the washing machine & drain it the day before.

I'm so looking forward to having someone else doing my packing it's worth every penny!