How to decide on removal company

andyb_sv

House sale looks as though it's plodding along so we thought we better get some quotes from removal companies. We weren't impressed with one of the surveyors so ruled that company out straight away but the other two have come back with vastly different volumes to be moved and therefore quotes. One has estimated 1100cuft with the other at 1550cuft, after speaking to both surveyors both insist they're right and both work for fairly large national companies.

We're moving from a 3 bed semi to a 4 bed approx 20 miles away, obviously we don't want to pay over the odds but equally if one company has vastly underestimated I can see it all going a bit wrong on moving day so not sure whether i should err on the side of caution?

Any suggestions?

mouthscradle

If they've been to look round and have estimated, but they've got it wrong, then on moving day they might have to make two trips instead of one but I would expect that to be at their own expense. Or maybe I'm being naive.

What's the price difference between the two?

We're just about to start getting quotes so will be watching this thread

SCOYA

Have you tried check a trade for locally based removal companies. When I was getting quotes I found a particular national company totally OTT.

andyb_sv

Both are intending to use the same size truck which holds up to 19cuft so that's not a problem. The more expensive company intend to have 2 people start the pack for a full day before then 4 on the actual move day whereas the cheaper one is intending to use 2 the afternoon before move day and 2 on the move day. There's £500 between them.

Had a look on checkatrade but they're all coming up miles away, based in Manchester if anyone has any recommendations?

LandyAndy

I used GB Liners, who have a depot in Altrincham, when I moved across country about 9 years ago. They were excellent, although not cheap.

Hoploz

Have you spotted any vans in use in your local area? Any houses where people have moved you could knock on the new owners door and ask?

I got three quotes, planned to use one which a family member had used before and who were also cheapest (I think they may have quoted a lower price for repeat business) but in the end sadly could not. The rest of the chain ended up in a hurry so despite my best efforts for a gap between exchange and completion for this very purpose, it ended up being a case of phoning around to see who had availability on the day! I used a company I had not originally had round, but they came in beforehand gave me the price and all went great. I just had to swallow the extra £500!!!!!!
They came to me the day before and took almost everything! I was not expecting that! So I was able to clean beautifully ready to leave on the day.

Btw I have never found the national companies anywhere near the price of local firms.

phoebe1989seb

We're also currently obtaining removals quotes and we have found that the smallest, local firm was the most expensive

Admittedly we have one heck of a load of stuff - and that's with some already moved out to a storage unit and unwanted furniture items having been sold on *the bay* - around 3600 cu ft and we're moving approx 150 miles cross country.

Our four quotes had £700 between the lowest and highest. We actually were most impressed with the lowest and second highest (£3500 & £3900 - not including packing which we prefer to do ourselves) and will hopefully, assuming things don't fall apart at the eleventh hour, be choosing one of these.

Last move we DIYed, but never again, lol

Hoploz

Andy I wouldn't worry about the cubic feet, size of van etc, that's what you pay them to sort out!
They are doing this all day every day. If they are coming the day before they will not run out of space, they'll just get another van over the next day
It really shouldn't go wrong on the day, try not to worry. You've shown them your stuff, they've given you a price. That's all you need to worry about. Apart from when you get dates mentioned you need to see if they can do it!

BroncoBill

LandyAndy wrote: »

I used GB Liners, who have a depot in Altrincham, when I moved across country about 9 years ago. They were excellent, although not cheap.

I also just used GB Liners based in Leeds. They were excellent, in fact, more than excellent and their quote was within a couple of hundred pounds of 3 other BAR companies. I fully recommend them, their assessment of our 3 bedroom house on 3 levels with loads of "stuff" was exactly right and there were absolutely no adverse comments to be made about them.

trailingspouse

The last time we moved, we did indeed run out of space in the big van - the guys simply rang another guy, who turned up in a luton size van, and took the spare capacity. No extra cost to us.

If you can afford it, I would certainly spend the extra on having them do the packing - so much quicker (my guys packed a large 4-bed house in half a day), and more importantly the insurance cover is better. If they've packed, and something gets damaged, they pay out no bother. If you've packed and something gets damaged, you have to prove they were negligent, which can be difficult to do.

And as a previous poster said - they do it all day every day, they know what they're doing. It's a joy to watch!!

kaya

Get lots of quotes, we have just had 3 quotes for packing and moving all by BAR registered companies, they were £800, £1200&£1500 so its definatley worth asking as many companies as you can, the best quote came from Britannia , all fully insured etc.