Logistics of move day & cleaning

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How does it work on move day when you're using a moving company? Do they stay parked at your property until completion time, and then set off? Our (potential) new house is a half hour drive away.

How does it work if you want the house cleaned before the movers start unloading, either by ourselves or a cleaning company? Or would we just do it around the boxes?

We've always moved ourselves in the past, but with three children and a lot of stuff we need some help this time...

You will need to do it around boxes normally. The movers want to get in to the new place and unload and go home. They don't want to wait for you to have the place cleaned for a few hours. If the new place is empty the vendors may let you have it professionally cleaned if you have exchanged before completion (our vendors let us have the carpets cleaned, but the company had to be insured and leave the details with the estate agent).

You would have to do it around the boxes - I wouldn’t unpack and then you can clean cupboard etc without having to empty them

We moved in the summer last year. The movers packed our old house up pretty quickly - they then set off for lunch/new house and we then let them know we had the keys so they met us there - the unpacking was very swift and then they left
Was all very smooth

The removal men will probably disappear once the van is loaded and go and have lunch etc. They then wait near the new property.
You won't have time to do a full clean in the new place before half the van has been unloaded....get on their good side and ask if they wait 10 minutes while you whip the hoover around.

Alternatively pay them to store the lorry/contents overnight and come the next day.

Do not think....they can just unload into the garage/garden and we'll move it in when everything is clean......the job takes them less than an hour, they know how to manoeuvre the big wardrobe up the fight staircase etc, you might have them reassembling beds/Bunks again this takes them minutes because they are so experienced (don't have 3 kids demanding things at the same time). It will take you and OH hours as you are tired after leaving the old house.

The most important rooms for cleaning are the kitchen and bathrooms which don't generally have much furniture to go in them. Put anything to go in those rooms somewhere else so that you can blitz them first. If you've got a garage or conservatory or spare room in the new place try and get as many boxes as possible stowed in there. Essentials for the first couple of days should be in your car or easily identifiable so that you can unpack them first. Good luck.

Just get the furniture put in place by the professionals and don't forget drinks and biscuits for them.

Good luck for your move OP.

I cleaned all kitchen & utility room cupboards as I packed them. On the morning of our move, we were all up early for shower and then clean the bathrooms. Once all upstairs bathrooms were cleaned, we only used downstairs loo etc.

Removals arrived at 8am, started loading, left at 11:30 for our new home, 2.5hrs away.

We hoovered through, checked every room again, cleaned downstairs toilet.

Got in the car and left for our new home, collected our keys at 4.10, removers had already called us to say they were outside our new address.

It’s a busy. But mush easier than our last move when we had a toddler, baby, three cats and a dog 😂 We took bedding, hoover and essentials for the next few days in the car with us inc kettle tea coffee bread butter.

Another tip, label boxes with a description of what’s inside, not just kitchen, make life a lot easier.

I also gave removal men a bag containing snacks and money to buy lunch coffee on the journey.

They would set off when packed up, you can then do a final clean. Presumably you would have cleaned cupboards etc once they were emptied.
Clean the new place around boxes.

Excellent tips, thank you!

When we moved into our current house, the filth and rubbish everywhere was horrific, so I'm having nightmares that this will be the same. They look like normal clean people, but then so did this house's previous owners.

Even houses that are 'normal' clean will have some grot somewhere, unless an obsessive cleaner has been through it.

Definitely a good idea to label all the kitchen boxes with the contents, ask the packers to use a marker pen or print labels in advance and ask them to use them. Then at the new place, don't empty kitchen boxes until you've cleaned. Keep a box of a few essential plates/cutlery/mugs in your car with kettle/tea/coffee/mugs for the new place and then you won't be ripping open boxes just to eat dinner!