Moving Help Centre

How do I pack plates and glasses so they survive the move?

Use acid-free wrapping paper and wrap each item individually, gently rather than tightly. Acid-free matters because newsprint transfers ink onto china and glass, and you will be washing it all again at the other end.

Stand plates on their edge in the box rather than stacking them flat - a plate on edge resists the vertical pressure of a stacked load far better than one lying down. Scrunch spare paper into loose balls and pack them into every gap, particularly along the top, so nothing can shift when the box is lifted.

The box should not rattle when you tilt it. If it does, add more paper.

What size boxes should I use for a house move?

Strong double-wall corrugated boxes throughout. Single-wall boxes are for storage, not for a move where they get stacked five high in a van.

Match the box to the weight of the contents, not the volume. The commonest packing mistake is a large box filled with books - it will fail at the base or injure whoever lifts it.

How should I pack a television?

Use the original box if you still have it - it was designed around that exact panel and nothing else protects a screen as well.

If not, buy a purpose-made TV box. These are double-wall, sized to common panel dimensions, and usually come with foam corner protection. A flatscreen travels upright, never flat, and never with anything resting on it.

How should I pack oil paintings?

Wooden crates or purpose-made art cases. Oil paint continues to cure for years and stays fractionally soft at the surface, so anything pressed against it can mark the paint permanently.

We do not recommend bubble wrap for oils. Bubble wrap in contact with the paint surface can leave a print of its own texture, particularly if the load gets warm in transit.

How should I pack standard canvas prints and paintings?

Bubble wrap works perfectly well for standard canvas prints and acrylics. The concern with bubble wrap is specific to oil paint surfaces, which stay soft.

Wrap with the bubbles facing outward, protect the corners, and carry the canvas on its edge rather than flat.

What time do I have to be out of the property on completion day?

You need to have cleared the property by 1pm on completion day. This is the standard contractual position in most English and Welsh sales, and it exists so the buyer has a realistic chance of moving in the same day.

Plan the load around that deadline rather than the completion call. A three-bedroom house takes a crew most of a morning to load, so a 1pm handover means starting at 8am, not waiting for the solicitor to confirm funds have moved.

Can my removals company do multiple trips on completion day?

Realistically, no. The old property has to be cleared completely so the keys can go back to the estate agent for the incoming owner, and that has to happen in one pass.

If the volume genuinely will not fit in one vehicle, the answer is a bigger vehicle or a second crew on the same day - not a return trip. Book the right capacity in advance; discovering the problem on the morning is what turns a move into an overnight storage bill.

What is a late key waiver, and should I take one?

A late key waiver caps what you pay if the chain runs late and the crew is left waiting for keys at the new property. It typically costs around £45 per removals operative.

It is usually worth it. Waiting time is chargeable, completion delays are common, and the waiver converts an open-ended risk into a known figure. Across the 1,200-move dataset behind our cost study, late key charges were applied more than 100 times and averaged around £95 per move - which is roughly what a two-person crew waiver would have cost.

Should I tip the removals crew, and how much?

Tipping is not expected in UK removals and no reputable firm builds it into their pricing. Nobody will think less of you for not tipping.

If you want to and can afford it, £20 to £50 per crew member is the normal range for a good job. Offering to keep the tea and coffee coming through the day is genuinely appreciated too, particularly on a long load.

Can the movers pack and move me on the same day?

It depends on how much packing there is. Up to roughly 20 boxes, a crew can pack and load in the same day without pushing the completion deadline.

Beyond that, packing needs to happen the day before. A full three-bedroom pack is around 100 boxes - attempting that alongside the load on completion morning is how properties fail to clear by 1pm.

Can the removals company dismantle and reassemble my furniture?

Yes. Professional dismantling and reassembly is a standard service and is charged per item rather than by the hour, so you can price it precisely before the day.

Flag anything unusual when you book - corner wardrobes, sliding-door units and sheds all take substantially longer than a flat-pack bed frame.

How much does furniture dismantling and reassembly cost per item?

Typical per-item prices for dismantling and reassembling, based on completed jobs. The figure covers both ends - taking the item apart at the old property and rebuilding it at the new one.

How should the removals company protect my furniture?

Thick transit blankets for furniture and proper mattress covers for beds. Blankets pad against impact, absorb vibration and can be reused for years.

Do not let a crew shrink-wrap your furniture as its only protection. Shrink wrap provides no padding whatsoever - it holds drawers shut and keeps dust off, nothing more. It is also single-use plastic that cannot be recycled, so a firm wrapping everything in it is generating waste without protecting your things. Blankets first, wrap over the top if needed.

What size van or lorry do I need for my move?

Capacity is measured in cubic feet, and payload in kilograms - you can run out of either. A van packed with books hits its weight limit long before it fills; a van of duvets fills long before it gets heavy.

As a rough guide, a one-bedroom flat is around 500 cubic feet and a three-bedroom house around 1,500. Book on the larger side: a second trip is far more expensive than a bigger vehicle.

How long does it take to load and unload a removals lorry?

A full 7.5-tonne lorry - about 1,250 cubic feet, the usual vehicle for a three-bedroom house - takes roughly two hours to load and an hour and a half to unload.

Unloading is quicker than loading because the crew is no longer deciding how to stack for transit. Add time for stairs, long carries and awkward parking at either end; a second-floor flat with no lift can add an hour on its own.

How do I find a good removals company?

Read the negative reviews first, and read what happened next. Every established firm has damaged something eventually - what separates a good company from a bad one is whether they resolved it. A one-star review about a broken lamp that ends with the customer confirming it was replaced tells you more than fifty five-star reviews.

The complaints worth walking away from are the ones about conduct rather than accidents: extra charges appearing on the day, crews turning up late without warning, the wrong van size, or fewer people than were quoted. Those are not mistakes, they are how the business runs.

Check they carry goods-in-transit and public liability insurance, and get the quote itemised so you can compare transport, packing and extras separately between firms.

Why do removal quotes for the same move vary so much?

Quotes for an identical move commonly vary by 30 to 50 per cent. The main drivers are the day you pick, whether the firm has a vehicle already heading that direction, and how much of the job is priced as extras rather than in the headline figure.

Fridays and month-ends are the busiest completion slots and price accordingly - moving midweek and mid-month is the single easiest saving available. Ask each firm to break out packing, dismantling and materials so you are comparing the same thing.