Booking removals

[Needmorecoffeeortea]

We are STC and keeping everything crossed. I presume I now get removal quotes but when do I actually book this? What’s normal for exchange and completion? Two weeks between?

We were told it needed to be at least a week as it may take 5 working days to sort.

Get your quotes, then once all buyers/sellers in chain agree on the dates for exchange and completion just ring and book.

So we exchanged on a Thursday then completed following Thursday.

A week to complete usually. Book them when you've exchanged

So the removals are okay being booked so late?

You cannot book removal until you exchange.
Well to be fair you can but if the exchange is delayed you may well be subject to cancellation costs from movers who may have turned down other work for your cancelled date.

My wife & I moved 18 months ago from London to Lincs and had quotes from 5 movers ranging from those we really liked & wanted to use to a company we hated & would never use simply because the estimator stank. These quotes were obtained as soon as we had our offer accepted. As we got close to exchange buyer at bottom of chain of 4 (we were #3) started asking questions that should have been asked 5 months before and over the course of 6 weeks pushed exchange back 4 times.i ended up making lots of calls to companies asking what dates they could do and expressing provisional interest in possible dates then cancelling.

When we finally got to the finishing post we ended up using company number 3 on the list as the 2 favourites were already book up. Bum.

Get a few quotes. As you head towards exchange, a potential completion date will be being discussed. Ask your preferred removal company to pencil you in for that date, to be confirmed on exchange. They will pencil you in but will tell you that they can’t guarantee the booking before you confirm it, in case they get a rush of other confirmed bookings on that date. However, in 4 moves, I’ve never had a removal firm not be able to do it, even with some last minute date changes. You can use the other removal firms who quote as back up, just in case.

Some removals will do insurance in case of postponement or cancellation. One of our moves was v tight and our first choice dropped out on the day before exchange. We had to book second and only other choice the same day but took the insurance in case exchange didn't happen the next day (or at all).

We've always done as Hedda says and never had a problem. As long as you keep them posted they fit you in.

As others have said we got 3 quotes and chose one. We reserved a date when we thought we were close to exchange and ended up moving it 3 times before we finally fixed it. The firm expressly told us to give them provisional dates and said they'd let us know if anyone else wanted to book and pay for them (they didn't).

When we exchanged I fixed and paid a 30% deposit. I get the feeling the London firms are massively busy at the moment though as there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of moving at the moment around us.

I have given mine 3 possible provis dates and they keep upselling if you want 2 dates its 80 quid if you change a date its another £70 for pitys sake do you want the job or not aibu

I used to work in the industry. Pencilling you in means nothing, unfortunately. You will need to pay in order to secure your date and take out a cancellation/postponement waiver (a % of the price of the job) You won't get this back if the move does go ahead on the planned date, like an insurance policy. Yes it's more £, but it avoids the stress of being told they can't move you on your pencilled in date and you having to ring round to find anyone at all to do the move.