Moving house is always going to be a bit stressful. You’re leaving the old place where you’ve done so many things together and although you’re excited about the new place and moving on, this is home right?
And walking out of here never to return, well, it is a bit challenging really. The excitement of arriving at the new place is great but upping sticks and leaving your old place behind; it’s a funny feeling.
So in the following article we’re going to attempt to dispel a few myths about the moving process. What everyone needs is for their removal to progress in a calm and orderly manner, more haste less speed. We all just want to see all of our belongings handled with care, put where we want them in the new place and then we want to sit down with a nice cup of tea/ mug of coffee/ bottle of Peroni/ glass of Merlot and feel like we’ve arrived and the new chapter is off to a great start!
Lots of people want to move house on a Friday. Makes sense doesn’t it? You’ve got the weekend to get yourselves sorted out, if you do it in the middle of the week you’re going to have to use some annual leave, it may be disruptive to the kids schooling and so on.
There are some problems with Fridays though. Here at Philip Marks Removals we’ve been moving people for 20+ years and occasionally there are hitches in the buying and selling process. Not often, but sometimes, there can be hold ups due to legal or financial issues and if this is all going a bit Pete Tong on a Friday it really can get very stressful for all concerned.
I love lawyers and solicitors just as much as the next man but these girls and boys really do seem quite averse to weekend working so if you can’t get into your new place and it’s now 4.30 PM on a Friday, well, it’s not a good feeling!
Another issue with Fridays is that all of the removals companies are busy that day. So if the company you’ve decided upon has a problem with that day then you may struggle to get someone else.
Here is another thing I’d ask you to consider. If you are able to arrange your move on a Tuesday or a Wednesday say, you’re much more likely to get a discount when you book. Here at Philip Marks Removals we are more than happy to give you a quote for a Friday removal and then, assuming we have an early or midweek day free, tell you how much of a discount we can offer. We love transparency here, no hidden charges, no “waiting time” clauses tucked away in the T&Cs, you ask : We answer!
Actually it’s a really good idea to get a handful of quotes as soon as you put your home up for sale. For medium size to larger sized removals most companies are going to want to send someone round to assess how big the job is and look at things like access, items that require specialist care i.e. pianos, statues etc etc.
If you want a quote from us then it’s Philip Marks who will be visiting you. He’s a very affable guy who knows this business inside out. It’s a good idea to get Phil in and anyone else you’re thinking about using because you may have some preconceptions about how the move needs to be executed that are incorrect.
Some customers think that their removal will occur in the course of just 1 day but this might not be practicable. Moves over long distances may run into issues around lorry tachographs that the layperson is unaware of. Other customers assume that because they’ve got a lot of belongings then they’ll definitely get a lorry but access problems mean that sometimes it’s better to do the job with 2 or 3 Luton type vans instead.
So I can’t emphasise this enough: Definitely get quotes sooner rather than later. The quoting process will invariably throw up a few things you haven’t considered and that’s good, well informed early on is always so much better than ill informed late in the day.
And you can gauge how you feel about your prospective company by the conduct of who they send round, get a feel for how professional they are.
Don’t worry if you get a handful of quotes and then for various reasons you end up not moving until 6 or 8 months later. Once we give you a quote we put you on our system and Sally (our admin guru) will probably call you a month later to see how things are going. If they’re not going too well, chain problems and so on, and it looks like you can’t move for 3 months no worries, Sally will simply flag your quote as ‘on hold’ and ask you if it’s okay to give you a call in say, about 6 weeks time and see how you’re doing. So we keep an eye on you but we don’t pester you. We’re not going to be phoning you every week for 3 months saying “do you want to book yet?”
“Keeping each other in the loop” is how we like to think of it. Also remember that you’re not committed to any particular outfit until you’ve paid a deposit and if there’s a couple of companies you’re thinking of using then it’s good to communicate with them just in case 1 of them turns round nearer your actual moving day and says “we’re really sorry but we are actually now fully booked on the dates you require.” This can happen and it’s better you know it sooner rather than later.
If you’re a young person living in a studio flat and the biggest thing you’re taking with you is a TV then you may well be right. If you’re a couple of young people sharing a 1 or 2 bedroom place and you’re taking a bed and a wardrobe and lots of smaller items and you have a mate with a van then it’ll probably work out okay and good luck to you.
If your move is any bigger than that then I’d advise you to get some professionals in to do it for you. Some people think that they can hire a van easily and do it themselves. They might be right but if you do this you need to be extremely careful with that van. We hire vehicles occasionally and the T&Cs make for some scary reading, put a big long scratch down 1 side of it and they could be charging you for a full respray, I kid you not! The insurance excesses can be eye wateringly high, if someone crashes into you and it’s not your fault you could find yourself liable for considerable expense, then you’ve got to get yourself a lawyer (see, I told you I love lawyers!) and try to prove it was the other person's fault.
Even if you have your own suitable vehicle and some strong friends it can be a bit more daunting than you might think. Everyone, and I mean everyone, underestimates how much stuff they’ve got. Trust me, you’ve got more stuff in your home than you realise!
There’s a knack to getting large items up and down stairs and your muscular friends might not have it.
There’s considerable skill required to load a van in a way that ensures everything is not going to slide around and get damaged. The professionals have tons of blankets that they can wrap stuff in so it doesn’t get scratched. Their vehicles have side rails enabling the tying off of larger pieces of furniture so that they don’t move around damaging themselves or crushing other items.
So if you’ve got a house or a 2 bedroom flat that’s chock-full of possessions please get the pro’s in, there’s quite a lot to it and all you want to be doing is telling the lads where you want everything and putting the kettle on while you wait to settle down in your new home.
No you can’t.
This was a nice short one eh?
But seriously you’ve got to be properly packed and ready to go on removals day. If you’re selling your home then the buyer is expecting to have vacant possession by an agreed upon time. If there’s loads of stuff still to be packed it’s going to really slow the whole procedure down. If you’ve told us you’ll be packed and ready to go then we aren’t going to be bringing empty boxes and bubble wrap with us.
You need to think about what you’re going to do with the bedding you used last night. If you wanted to sleep in your bed on your last night and the bed needs disassembly on removals day then we need to know about that in advance as we charge extra for that type of work. Some people dismantle their own bed and just sleep on the mattress for 1 night. All sorts of options are do-able, we just need to know what the plan is.
Some people are pretty disorganised and they end up having to throw all sorts of stuff into bags at the last minute. It’s better for you as the customer and us as the service provider if this can be avoided. Get everything into strong, stackable boxes. Write what’s in there and where it's going (eg. Kitchen) on the top of the box. Then we can load it efficiently and get the job done in a reasonable time frame.
You can do this and lots of people do. I can assure you though that multiple customers who’ve we’ve moved more than once have unfailingly told us that they really wished they’d decluttered and sold unwanted stuff before they moved.
We’re all super busy and that stuff you don’t really want or need any more is going to get in the way of you sorting out your new home and you’re going to shove it somewhere and that somewhere is, unfortunately, where it’ll stay until you move again.
We literally move boxes out of peoples lofts that are still sealed up with a different removals company’s tape and go and put them in their new loft!
If you can find the time, before you move, to sell or charity shop unwanted belongings you will really feel the benefit of being in your new home and only having to find the room to put the things that you really want and need around you.
It can be so pleasurable to move into your new home and have a bit of space here and there that isn’t desperately needed for some or other item. Then, when you decide you want to start a new hobby, in your new home, like say writing articles for the removals company you work for, and you need a work desk, there’s a space for it ready to go: Bliss!
You need to double check with whatever company you’re thinking of using that they have full insurance.
Most of them probably will have it and that’s great.
You need to be a bit cautious about what this actually means in practical terms however. Lots of people seem to think that if a removals company drops and breaks their 50” flatscreen TV that they paid £500 for 3 years ago then they are going to be recompensed to the tune of £500. This is incorrect, the insurance company is going to say “ok, a 3 year old TV that was £500 new is probably worth about £150 now so we’re happy to pay you that amount.”
Here’s another point, if you have a highly valued 40 piece china tea service and 1 plate gets broken and the set is no longer produced they’re not going to replace the whole lot. They’re going to give you what they think the value of the 1 plate was and that’s that.
So I would suggest that what this means for you, the potential customer, is that if you do have something very valuable that you really really don’t want broken or damaged then you must emphasise the importance of the item when someone comes round to quote for your removal.
Most insurance companies will require that very valuable items are listed on the paperwork separately and that each of these items has an estimated value alongside it.
There may be cost implications for this as well.
Here at Philip Marks Removals we recently moved a fabulous model ship that was sitting in a glass display case. It had tremendous sentimental value to the customer so we purpose built a crate for it to sit in and sat that on top of 5 folded blankets to protect it from being jolted by potholes and just ensured that it was going to arrive at its new destination 100% intact, which it did.
So what I’m trying to say here is :- don’t lean too heavily on insurance, try and find someone who provides excellent service and takes really good care of your belongings, simple as that!
It can be but it doesn’t have to be.
If you’ve got a good team of guys in to do the job it should be pretty straightforward and dare I say it, even pleasurable. Communication is essential so your chosen company should have come up with a plan of how it’s all going to go and told you what the plan is.
That way as the removal unfolds you can see the progress being made and relax a bit and think to yourself “this is great, it’s all going to plan.”
Most people like to clean the old place up as it empties out so you can busy yourself with that as various rooms get totally cleared. Then onto your new home! And it’s nice seeing all your stuff coming into the new place, directing traffic and getting everything where you want it.
The new chapter starts here, it’s all done, the guys are wishing you well in your new home and then leaving. You flop down on the sofa (which you now realise should’ve gone in the other corner, c’est la vie) and that’s it, piece of cake!
I really hope that this article has dispelled a few myths and misconceptions that you may have had regarding your impending removal. Whoever you’re using phone them up and ask them lots of questions. Here at Philip Marks Removals we’re happy to answer any questions about how we do what we do. If it’s super important, phone us.
If you think it’s a bit too trivial to bother us with, phone us.
Experience has shown us that customers need to know what’s going on so as to keep stress levels low and we’re more than happy to explain what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it.
“Good luck and best wishes from Philip Marks Removals!”
