What Customers Underestimate About Moving House

After more than 1,000 moves, the biggest thing customers underestimate is labour. Not distance. Not van size. Labour. Carrying, packing, dismantling, protecting, loading and unloading take time whether the new house is 100 metres away or 200 miles away.

People often judge a move psychologically by distance. A long-distance customer usually knows the move is a major event. A local customer can assume that because it is “only round the corner”, the move should somehow take much less effort. The sofa does not become lighter because the destination is nearby.

The “we’ve just got to” problem

One of the most common signs a customer is not ready is the phrase “we’ve just got to”. We’ve just got to finish packing. We’ve just got to take that off the wall. We’ve just got to wrap those. We’ve just got to take this apart.

Each item sounds small on its own, but together they can double or triple loading time because the removal team cannot simply work around unfinished preparation. We need access to the whole selection of goods so the vehicle can be loaded safely and sensibly.

Property size can be misleading

A one-bedroom bungalow can contain a surprising amount of belongings, especially if someone has lived there for decades. We once expected a one-bedroom bungalow to be wrapped up by mid-afternoon and were still there at 8:30pm because of the sheer volume that came out of the property.

Lofts, garages, sheds, spare rooms and cupboards hide volume. Customers usually know they have been packing for weeks, but they may still not see the full scale until the move starts.

Customers worry about the wrong time problem

Many customers worry about being out by 1pm. In reality, keys are rarely released before mid-afternoon in a chain. Solicitor delays often cause more moving-day pressure than the removals team. We have seen keys released as late as 5pm.

The best preparation is to be ready, packed and realistic. The things within your control should be done before moving day, because the legal process may already create enough waiting around.