We move households, and we help with the two things that go wrong alongside a move: the money, and the property at the other end. Everything below is something we do rather than something we subcontract and hope about, except where it says otherwise.
Full house moves
The whole contents of a house, packed, loaded, transported and put back where it belongs, with the crew and vehicle sized to the job rather than to a price.
Volume decides most of it, which is why a survey is worth twenty minutes. Four bedrooms of furniture does not fit in a vehicle sized for two, and the difference between a load that goes in one trip and a load that needs two is the difference between a day and a day and a half.
Tell us about anything that will not come apart, will not go round a turn in the stairs, or will not fit through a door that looked fine until somebody measured it. Those are the items that decide the crew size, and finding them on the morning is what turns a booked day into an unbooked second one.
The job is the same shape every time and the detail decides the price. Which floor, whether there is a lift, how close the vehicle can get to the door, what the largest single item is, and whether the new place is ready on the day the old one has to be empty. We ask about all of it before quoting, because a price built on a guess is not a price.
Furniture moving
Furniture on its own, without a whole household attached. An inherited bedroom suite going three counties away, a dining table to a son or daughter, an office fit-out delivered in pieces.
Dismantling and reassembly is part of it rather than an extra. Beds, wardrobes and anything flat-pack generally travel better in parts, and a wardrobe that goes up a staircase in three pieces may not go up in one.
Export packing
A different standard from domestic packing, for anything entering a container or going onto a plane.
Domestic packing has to survive a van and an afternoon. Export packing has to survive weeks at sea, a crane at each end, and a climate that may be nothing like this one. Corners get protected rather than covered, cartons are rated for stacking, and anything with a finish gets wrapped so that the wrapping does not become the problem when it is opened.
It also serves a second purpose that people do not expect. Customs at the far end reads your inventory, and an inventory built during a proper export pack is the one that matches what is in the box. A vague list is the commonest reason a shipment sits at a border.
Man and van
Smaller households and part loads, charged by the hour rather than by the load. A one-bedroom flat, a student move, or furniture going into storage between two dates.
Two things worth knowing before comparing hourly prices. Ask whether the clock starts when the van leaves the depot or when it reaches your door, because on anything but a local job that is a real difference. And ask what crew size the price assumes, since one person and a van is cheaper by the hour and slower on stairs, which can work out dearer overall.
International moving
Europe by road, the rest of the world by sea and air, with the customs paperwork a move out of Britain now requires.
How that works, what Brexit added to it, and what actually drives the price is set out on our international moving services page.
Currency exchange
On a move that involves buying property, the exchange rate usually costs more than the removal does. We are not a currency firm and we do not hold anybody's money. We introduce you to one that does this properly, and they take it from there.
Our currency exchange page explains where the cost of a transfer actually sits, with separate pages for the Caribbean, the United States and the parts of Europe that do not use the euro.
Packing
Full packing, part packing where you do the straightforward rooms yourself, or materials delivered for you to do all of it.
One point that catches people out. Items packed by the owner are generally covered differently from items packed by the crew, because nobody can verify how something was wrapped after the event. Ask how your cover treats it before you decide which way to go, rather than afterwards.
Export wrapping is a different standard again and applies to anything going into a container or onto a plane.
Storage
Short or long term, at either end of the move.
Most storage bookings exist because two dates that were supposed to line up did not. It is worth asking about before you need it, since arranging storage in the week of a collapsed completion is expensive and arranging it in advance is not.
Fragile, art and antiques
Pianos, artwork, antiques and anything that needs its own crate rather than a blanket.
Crating is made to measure and takes time to build, so it wants deciding at the survey and not on the morning. Tell us what the piece is worth as well as what it is, because the per item limit on goods in transit cover is often lower than people assume and a high value item may need declaring separately.
Vehicle shipping
Cars and motorbikes, usually by sea.
The important part happens before anything is booked: whether the destination country will let the vehicle in at all. Many will not accept a UK-specification vehicle that does not meet their own safety and emissions standards, and age exemptions vary. Establish that first, because it decides whether shipping is worth pricing.
Pet transport
Arranged through specialists rather than carried on our vehicles. Animal movement has its own paperwork, its own approved routes and its own timings, and it is not something to bolt onto a furniture shipment.
Mention it early. Vaccination and documentation timetables are counted in weeks and months, not days, and they are the commonest reason a pet cannot travel when the family does.
Office and commercial moves
Usually out of hours, so the business loses as little working time as possible. The planning matters more than on a house move, because the order things come off the vehicle decides how quickly people can work the next morning.
What every job includes
- A survey, in person or by video call, so the price reflects what you own
- A written, itemised quote with the access assumptions it depends on set out
- A named contact who answers the telephone
- Goods in transit cover, with the per item limit stated in writing before the day
Getting a price
Tell us about the move and we will come back with a price. If money is crossing a border as well, ask for a currency quote at the same time and we will deal with both together rather than asking you the same questions twice.