Removals advice please! (Plants??)

Bill23h

Hi all,
Will be moving soon (Manchester to Yorkshire) and I'd like anyone's thoughts on Removal services.
We don't have a huge amount of furniture, but we do have a lot of 'stuff' (books, clothes, records).
We also have some large indoor plants and would like to take a dozen or so plants from the garden, potted up - any specific problems with this?
Is there anything the big companies won't handle?
Do you 'rent' storage boxes, or buy them? what sort of weight will they take?
Any info or advice from experience would help.
Cheers!

tea-bag

We are taking plants no problem.

Annie1960

On the small print of my removal company's contract, there was a whole section about not taking plants. I had a few cuttings and one indoor plant, so I left these at my sister's house.

On the moving day, I mentioned to one of the removal men that I had left my plants at my sister's, and he said they would have taken them in the van. It's only if they go into storage they could not take plants.

Ask your removal company what their policy is.

Bossypants

Have you mentioned to the buyers that you'll be taking plants from the garden? Out of curiosity, does anyone know whether these would be considered 'fixtures and fittings'?

rosie383

On the F+F list that we filled in and also received from our vendors, plants were mentioned in the included/excluded list, but you could have hundreds of plants and be taking a dozen. It's definitely not specific on the forms we have.

Bossypants

It's not something I've ever really thought of before, not being green-fingered myself, but I imagine if I bought a place with a lovely landscaped garden, I might be slightly peeved to turn up on completion day and found that the vendor had taken half of it with them.

Mojisola

You should be labeling the plants you are taking and making the buyer aware of them.

Bill23h

Bossypants wrote: »

It's not something I've ever really thought of before, not being green-fingered myself, but I imagine if I bought a place with a lovely landscaped garden, I might be slightly peeved to turn up on completion day and found that the vendor had taken half of it with them.

No, not really. Some are already in containers, so aren't 'fixtures', and of those in the ground I'm just taking small samples from large clumps, they won't be noticed.


I guess i'll ask the removals firm nearer the time.
cheers

sheramber

We have moved plants , including large bamboo in a pot.

I lifted any plants and potted them up before selling. Lifting was done at the appropriate time to avoid killing the plant.


I also showed them to the removal company when they came to estimate for the cost of removal.

Our last move also included a summer house broken down into the sections- walls , roof, base. This was no problem but was also explained to the removal company beforehand so they could send a big enough van.

Davesnave

We had a small plant nursery to move, but we also had a 3.5 tonne high top van, so that did most of the work.

Nevertheless, we managed to get quite a few of the really big pots into the removal lorry without any problems or complaints.

The plants were on a different site from the house, which was a temporary rental. This was fortunate, because we had to do 5 trips along the M5 over 5 days to relocate the bulk of the plants.

So, for a short while, we were driving 200 miles to do the watering.... Never again!

DaftyDuck

Most removal firms will move plants, if asked. However, they tend to be clumsy-fingered, not green-fingered.

I tend to move my plants by van myself, like Dave. It's a bit of a business, as I'm a bit of a garden fanatic. I'm going through the stress this very moment, as house (my home this time, hence sparse posting recently) went on the market last week.... and reasonable offers in already.

Plants? There are currently 2,314 pots, varying from small ones with cuttings, through to two olive trees in 36" diameter pots. They are h.e.a.v.y.... VERY h.e.a.v.y.....

So, for foliage plants, last minute we wrap them in newspaper cones, string round the outside, and sprinkle water them. Stakes can help keep them protected... For house plants, remember that even now, temperatures can get too cold overnight, if parked up.

Travelling on their side can help stop damage to tall plants. Cling film works wonders keeping soil in pots, ordinary polythene bags do similar, if not so well. Cardboard boxes will die very rapidly from the damp.

Moving boxes can take huge weight, if well-packed, and well-taped. However, neither you, nor removal men will thank you for the weight. Regular-weight boxes, whatever the size, work out best.

The big firms won't take paints, gas bottles, petrol cans, filled lawnmowers, livestock, guns(!) explosives (!!) or radioactive material(!!!).... if you tell them, that is.