Why do I want the removers to do the packing?

[biser]

Not me, I need advice to give to DC.
What is the benefit in getting the removers to do the packing? If all they do is wrap drawers, complete with contents, in clingfilm then what are you paying for? What else do they do?

Pretty sure you only have insurance if they pack.

Best money we ever spent ,they were incredible.

I do think you were really unlucky, we’ve fortunately never had that experience and it was an excellent experience when moving my DM from her home of 50 years. I’m guessing timing and time of year weren’t on your side but that’s really no excuse for shoddy work.

Because it’s the easiest way to move. They do the worst bit for you and it’s worth every penny

Books, ornaments, paperwork, pictures/ photos on the walls? Toys - likely to be quite significant if they have a young child. Will all the clothes fit in the suitcases? Mine wouldn’t!

There’s also the time it takes to pack. The movers are much quicker because they are professionals, and don’t have the sentimental attachment to objects that you might have. They won’t stop to think ‘should we keep this or not?’ - it will just go in the box.

You mention having six adults there on the day, with one of them responsible for the child. That’s too many - you’ll be getting in each others way. And the child should be taken elsewhere for the day so they don’t get in the way!

@Doris86 you also have somewhere to store stuff. Not everyone wants boxes everywhere for weeks, if you haven’t got a garage or spare room to put them. If you have young DC they might not appreciate their toys being packed away for days.

I hope you don't mind my asking but do you have DC and how many, partner, etc? I think the reality is that it is extremely hard for working parents to pack a whole family sized house alone as well as caring for their DC. If you have done it all by yourself, hats off to you!

With respect to clothes packers have hanging wardrobes which they use to transport clothes that are in wardrobes. They didn’t pack items that were in drawers in freestanding units. They just took out the drawers to move the units to reduce weight and then just put the drawers back in

But the thing I noticed the most was that they used so much more packing material than I would have done so everything was packed more securely than it would have done if I had done it. Also they are expert at not overpacking boxes (not putting too many books in a box just because they fit) so they are not too heavy

You still have the same amount of stuff, just that some of it’s in boxes. So you shouldn’t really need any more space to store in.

In my original post I said I start with stuff I want but isn’t needed day to day. Obviously children’s toys is something that I would leave till the end.

No not everyone wants boxes around for weeks. But not everyone wants strangers going though all their personal items and packing it for them. Like I keep saying, each to their own.

Exactly this. They are adults. Let them make mistakes.

@Doris86 of course boxes take up more space. We have bookcases in many rooms. Once books are packed we will have the bookcases and then the boxes with books in them. Again with everything in the kitchen, you still have the kitchen cupboards but then the boxes with the contents of those cupboards. Plus those boxes will also contain packing material as well as the items. How can they not take up more space?

I look at it like this. If I want a curry I could find a recipe, source all the ingredients, chop everything up, let it simmer for hours and it still wouldn’t be quite right. Or I could go down the road to the takeaway where the chef there had made it a thousand times, and wasn’t detracted by DC or the cat while making it. It’s costs more but I’m paying for his time and experience.

You can dismantle rhe bookcase and stack it next
to the boxes = same amount of space. Or move other stuff into the bookcase as you sort things out.

Like I say, each to their own. Everyone has their own preferred ways of doing things.

@Doris86 some of our bookcases are solid, they don’t dismantle. There is no way packed boxes don’t take up more room than when items are in their usual place

What about things like curtains, ornaments, pictures on walls? They are going to take up more space in boxes. Maybe you don’t have much stuff

We've just moved and got them to pack. They bought all the boxes and packing paper etc so we didn't buy any at all. We could use everything right up until the day before we moved. The kitchen had the most boxes as all the drawers and cupboards needed emptying and a lot was breakable. The company we used were amazing and advised if they packed everything was fully insured, which they couldn't guarantee if you pack as you may overload or not secure boxes properly. It was well worth it for us and would use the service again. Oh and we had no breakages, they were very careful and thorough.

They are so insanely much faster. They're better at it so less gets broken. They pack it so that everything easily gets put away when you get to the new house. They're worth every penny

We usually have packers and unpack ourselves. Because we haven't had the stress of packing we have the energy and enthusiasm to do the unpacking and working out where everything has to go. Taking the stress out of moving out adds to the ease of moving in

Surely it’s not that hard to understand?!

So they can pack their entire home and have it on a van in 3.5 hours?

The people who think they can do it as quickly as packers are probably the people you read about on here who delay new people moving in by hours if not days!

It’s obviously not your preferred way of doing things but it is mine. Each to their own.

Yes of course. The quotes have been much higher than I originally expected, and they have ranged from £8-15,500. The two middle quotes were from large companies and the lowest and highest are from smaller companies. We’re moving from a very full up five bedroom house to a slightly larger house, about three miles away. I don’t know how much of a difference the area makes but we live in south London. There’s another thread on here at the moment about moving costs with most people thinking that sort of price is very high, but taking into account that our move will involve 24 man days, I don’t actually think our lowest quote is that bad. When you consider how quickly professional packers can do things, I think it would take us as a couple in our late 60s/early 70s several weeks of doing nothing else to pack everything, and we certainly don’t have access to three large removal vans!

I've moved twice once with the packing service.

The more stuff you have the more the packers are needed. I wouldn't move again without them now.

You will need to empty drawers -the removers will not move full furniture.

Everyone also has more stuff than they think and it will take a lot longer than you think packing it up. Even with packing service you normally do a few bits yourself if you want to sort some things out.

The Packers are quicker at packing and better at getting it into fewer boxes.

They also provide all of the packing materials which are pricey. Plus I would have scrimped on helpful items like the hanging wardrobe boxes 😁.

Ours also took empty boxes away after we unpacked and reused what they could which I liked. I didn't have to guess how many and what size boxes I needed. (Plus it motivated me to unpack quickly).

On the day, if they dismantle and reassemble the house owners can focus on the more strategic side of things like directing where everything's goes. You are more likely to have a useable house with beds ready for the children that day.

If you have to clean the old property on the day you have more time and energy to do it .

I would also consider the strength and fitness of the adults helping before dismissing the packing service.

Our removals people didn't charge much of a premium Vs the basic removal. I think it's because they find the whole day goes better when they have packed.

They should get a couple of quotes and see what price difference packing makes as they might be surprised

We packed ourselves. It depends how much stuff you have - we made a start early, so we had boxes stacked up in the corner for weeks. But obviously day to day stuff is quite a lot as well so in the days leading up to completion there were some late nights!

It isn't always that easy getting your hands on boxes the right size either. We were lucky, a friend moved just before we did and gave us boxes and also our movers dropped some off for us and collected them a few days after we moved.

It was fine, but if packing wasn't £££ I'd probably pay just for the convenience and having everything in the right room rather than slightly random combinations of stuff that happened to fit in the specific box.

Thank you for replying, it’s much apppreciated. It does seem a lot of money but if you can afford it, it definitely sounds worth it. Sadly, I don’t think my in laws would stretch that so I fear we’ll be roped in!

@Reportingfromwherever it’s a cost that we factored into our moving expenses as we didn’t think we could do it ourselves and we don’t have enough able bodied people we could call on to help us. It’s a huge amount of money but the way Im looking at it is at least we will get a service for the money, unlike the exorbitant amount we will have to pay in stamp duty!