How do packing services work?

[ChocolateHobnob]

I'm ignorant - we're hopefully moving very soon, and last time we packed ourselves and moved ourselves as we were in rental and moving into a bought house and had an overlap on rental contract so no rush. This time in the usual chain situation... so if we buy packing service as part of removal, do they come the day before to do that, or how does it work?
Thanks!

Ours came the day before, and provided all of the tissue and boxes, as well as did the packing.

It wasn't as expensive as I had thought (some years ago though!), and with them wrapping the items, their insurance covered any breakages.

Happy move!

Once you've moved with packers you'll never go back, they turn up wrap everything, label the boxes and usually leave you with just what you need overnight, beds etc. Then the next day they pack the last few bits, job done.

All you have to provide are drinks and biccis.

We were told not to even remove paintings from the walls. The only thing I pack was my smalls and passports.

They usually come the day before unless you move on a Monday, in which case they do it on the Friday, so you have a couple of days of being surrounded by boxes. We had 2 lads come to pack up our 3 bed house, and it took them about 4 hours in total - was amazed how quick they were. The only downside is that they don't label the boxes as well as you might do, so it took ages to find some of our stuff once we had moved. Mind you, we have still got boxes full of stuff in the loft, one year after moving. All that stuff that you might need, just in case......

They come the day before. You let them in, go out/to work leaving everything pretty much as it is, come home to spookily packed up house in boxes, everything professionally packed. It is utterly fab. Get them to commit to coming back to pick up the empty boxes though or you'll have to get rid of them which is a pain.

it depends

Some companies come on the day and pack the whole house up, or some come the day before

this time around, the packers came to us a day before and did around 60% of it and finished off on the day of the move

the provided everything - they even dismantled DS's cot and re-assembled it in the new house

it is usually around £100 - £200 more for a packing service and it is worth it

Yes agree fab service and well worth the extra money.

I found last time they were so efficient that if it wasn't nailed down they packed it. Unfortunately, they also packed stuff we were leaving for the purchasers, such as instructions for the boiler/central heating, etc., some pictures/mirrors.

My fault for not making it clear but just something to be aware of. Ime, they pack sooo fast!

The last time we moved we had packers and it was fantastic. They turned up at 9am, there were about 7 or 8 of them and they packed up a whole 3 bed Victorian house by lunchtime, it was great. As an added bonus it was a hot summer's day and they were all young, fit antipodeans in shorts, so plenty of eye-candy too. We were only moving an hour's drive a way so we were in the new place with all the boxes in the correct rooms by 4pm.

As Raffaella says, if you intend to leave anything then mark it clearly, or put it in a box/drawer marked "not to be moved" and make sure the packers know about it. It's better to have done that kind of stuff beforehand and then stay out of their way rather than hovering to give instruction as they pack. Also, after they've finished but before they leave check every room and in every drawer and cupboard just in case they've missed something.

Ys - agree with all the others. It is the way forward!

We used a company with a packing service and it was great. They packed on the day. So while some of them were moving large items into the van others were packing boxes. They just took the drawers out of chests of drawers and replaced them again in our new house. I did pack my underwear drawer myself though. They had cardboard wardrobe boxes and took all hanging items out of the fitted wardrobes and hung them in the boxes. The house we were moving to had no fitted wardrobes, so they even lent us the hanging wardrobe boxes until our new furniture arrived. One thing I would say though is I couldn't understand why all my clothes smelt of aftershave until I worked out that it was the removal mans!

Thank you all for the advice! I think we will definitely go for it, and we have Pickfords coming tomorrow to give us a quote...

pickfords are V expensive

where are you based? I can recommend a firm in the South East

The north... so SE no good. Am going to try a few companies for quotes.

can you recomend the firm to me ruby?
we are moving soon and in south east

ELR - they are called Arthur Brown and Sons, based in Romford

number here

Last big move but one, we found that Pickfords were much the same as all the other companies - this time we had to have them as it was a corporate move.

They are just amazing with the packing - put a deckchair in the garden, absolutely everything that you don't want them to pack in the car, and sit back and enjoy. Our last house was packed in a day, and its beautifully done.

On Thursday morning our house was its usual crammed with stuff self, Friday lunchtime it was 150miles away and in our new house in the right rooms.

After we were packed for the first time we said we'd never do it ourselves again

cheers