Removal firms that pack?

marjrie_2

We are moving about 50 miles and want to get a removal firm to pack for us.

Can anyone help with the following;
Would you use a company from near the old or the new house?
When they do the packing, do they really do everything?
Do they supply all the packing materials?
Can I really do very little, what preparation should I be doing now?

Thank you

cte1111

We've used the packing service before. They packed everything apart from the clothes in drawers, which they wanted us to put into cases. (Think they didn't want to be sorting through our smalls!) Clothes that are hung up can be transferred to hanging rails.

I think people usually choose a removal firm close to where they are moving from. They will include all the packing materials. Get a couple of quotes, they'll probably want to come round to check how much you've got. It was the best money we spent, so much less stressful, it's amazing how quickly they can go.

Preparation - get rid of everything you don't want! There's no point paying for something to be packed and moved, if it's something you don't really need. If you haven't used it in 2 years, then chuck it out.

Tigsteroonie

We had the packing service from our removals company - only moved two miles, but circumstances meant that we couldn't do it ourselves.

Do they pack everything? Yes. Everything that isn't clearly labelled in huge writing with "do not pack" gets packed. I told them not to pack stuff on top of our double bed, but didn't label it - and it got packed. It was rubbish that I was planning on throwing out!!

Do they supply the packing materials? Yes but ours only consisted of 53 cardboard boxes, and packing paper, which they brought themselves.

Can you do very little? We did We popped out to the shops at one point, and we made quite a lot of brews. The main bulk of our involvement was before the packers came - clearing out everything that we didn't want to move, trips to the dump, trips to the charity shop, etc.

marjrie_2

This sounds just what we will need, will they collect the empty boxes after we unpack or do you think we will have to return or dispose of them?

Soleil_lune

If I could afford it next time we move (if we ever do,) I would pay someone to do the whole lot! It was SUCH hard work last time. And we're not getting any younger!

I think it costs between £800 and £1.5K in many cases, depending on how much stuff you have - and the distance they have to go. Worth every penny I reckon.

Paully232000

marjrie wrote: »

This sounds just what we will need, will they collect the empty boxes after we unpack or do you think we will have to return or dispose of them?

We had packing and removals service and was the best £1K ish we spent. The removals men came early in the morning of our move and packed by lunchtime. They went off and had their lunch and met us at the new house, about 15 miles away just after lunch.

We left things we wanted to keep in one corner of the dining room with a sign on not to move. Things like clothes, jif, hoover cups/tea/coffee/biscuits and a few toys that fitted in our cars when we went to the new house.

Then they unloaded the labelled boxes into the correct rooms. They also re-fitted some of the furniture together, beds, wardrobes/drawers.

They left clothes in drawers and took the drawers out and wrapped them, and clothes hung up went in hanging boxes and at new house took clothes out and put them into wardrobes.

They left most of the boxes with us and came back to collect them a few weeks later when we phoned them. We did keep a few at a cost per box, although it was just a few £s and the boxes have come in handy for storage in the garage and loft.

We went with a personal recommendation, and also got two other quotes through the british association of removals website. Ended up going with the recommended one but good to see the price and service was roughly the same within a few £100.

Tigsteroonie

marjrie wrote: »

This sounds just what we will need, will they collect the empty boxes after we unpack or do you think we will have to return or dispose of them?

That'll probably depend on whether you use a firm that is local to your new house (ie local for them to collect) or local to the house you are leaving (they might not fancy a 100-mile round trip just for boxes).

As we didn't move far, our firm were quite happy to come and collect the boxes - it only took us a day to unpack the majority of them. I think we still have two packed and two flattened, but they collected the rest in one pickup.

Annie1960

marjrie wrote: »

This sounds just what we will need, will they collect the empty boxes after we unpack or do you think we will have to return or dispose of them?

Advertise your empty boxes as an offer on Freecycle. You'll get lots of people who want to re-use them.

phoebe1989seb

Our removers drove 150 miles to collect our empty boxes last month

We didn't have the packing service as we'd rather not have strangers potentially damaging our stuff.....our move took five days and cost around £3600 including all packing materials (150+ boxes, bubble wrap, paper, packing tape and 12 wardrobe hangers) as well as export wrapping majority of our furniture.

Anything we were taking ourselves they told us to leave on our bed, which was one of the last things to be dismantled/loaded. Things such as kettle, mugs etc we put large post-it notes on, saying *DO NOT REMOVE* - nothing was taken that shouldn't have been

Ours came out to do a recce and list all items to be removed a few days before completion day. They also required payment in full beforehand.

Francesanne

marjrie wrote: »

We are moving about 50 miles and want to get a removal firm to pack for us.

Can anyone help with the following;
Would you use a company from near the old or the new house?
When they do the packing, do they really do everything?
Do they supply all the packing materials?
Can I really do very little, what preparation should I be doing now?

Thank you

We chose a well established local (to old home) family firm when we moved 270 miles. Obtained 3 quotes but eventually decided to go on recommendation of friend that had previously used company. We hadn't moved in 38 years and was traumatized at the thought of upheaval but the firm we used made it so much easier. We'd been preparing for a couple of months before the move & had good clear out of unwanted belongings. Thankfully, our loft was completely empty & no garden shed to clear out. Our move was spread out over 3 days due to distance. Team of 3 guys did ALL the packing for us & came supplied with vast amounts of paper and flat packed boxes. We supplied endless cups of tea & biscuits and kept out of their way. Our two dogs were shipped off to kennels for 2 days. The whole move from start to finish went like clockwork and apart from hard work it was a painless experience despite all my worries. The guys did a great job and really impressed with company. We were left to dispose of wrapping paper and boxes but that was to be expected due to our location of new house. Thankfully we had empty garage to store all boxes before we could recycle. So glad we had them do all the packing despite the cost. It was worth every penny.

stator

If you're anywhere near Devon there is this firm who call themselves Pack First
http://www.devonremovals.co.uk/