A recent report found that 52 per cent of people aiming to move home would not consider using a professional removals company. Instead, they prefer to load their stuff into a car or van and – possibly calling on some mates or relations to give them a hand – complete the whole process by themselves.
For those who are renting a flat or house-sharing, this may be a perfectly sensible option. A handful of cardboard boxes, someone who is reasonably fit and has been to the gym in the past six months, and you're away.
But for many thousands of others, who may be moving a lifetime's collected goods, including large pieces of furniture, stacks of books, fragile items like crockery and electronic appliances, the story can be one of upset, financial disaster and physical and mental distress.
"Why risk your long-term health by trying to do something that you're not trained to do?" asks Paul Swindon, head of marketing at the British Association of Removers (BAR). "All our members employ people who have been professionally trained in how to lift things. You shouldn't underestimate what it takes to lift a piano or a set of wardrobes. Why break your back when someone else can do it for you?" (I think he means do the lifting rather than break your back for you).
BAR has members in more than 700 locations across the UK, all of whom have signed up to the industry's code of practice, including a generous offer to repay 150 per cent of any deposit paid to a company if the remover cancels less than 10 days before the move. They will also offer insurance to protect you in the case of any damage or breakages. "If you drop your TV while moving it yourself, what's your come-back?" Swindon wonders.
Even the act of packing is a skill that takes practice. "It's not just a matter of throwing things in a box," notes Swindon. "Our members are specially trained to pack in a specific way. They can wrap crockery and box it up so it could be dropped from several feet and nothing would break."
Better than having to deal with any kinds of claims, the ideal is not to have problems in the first place. Hiring a professional removals company means the likelihood of trouble is much reduced.
Swindon runs through a list of the benefits of using a professional removals company, and how they can prevent problems occurring:
- The company will draw up a thorough estimate for the time and expense needed to pack (if requested), remove, transport and unpack all necessary items.
- They will make sure issues such as parking, congestion charge payments and loading requirements are taken into account.
- They will be able to move large and heavy items quickly and with minimum fuss.
- They may be able to offer additional services such as IT decommission and commission, to help you get your computer system working quickly in your new home.
- They offer peace of mind no matter how much (and what) you are moving and how far.
By contrast, the 'man and van' approach to moving home will often stumble on several of these points. Self-sufficient Steve will have forgotten about all the stuff in the garden shed, including the lawn mower, the hammock and the kids' football goalposts. Then DIY Diana will remember all those back-issues of Cosmopolitan sitting in the attic, along with her mother's sewing-machine table and ten acres of curtain material. Then they'll find that the van isn't big enough for everything and it will mean a second round trip of 250 miles.
Because loading the van has taken five hours instead of two, they've picked up a parking ticket and only just escape clamping when Diana appears out of the house, shrieking and clutching a hat-stand and wicker basket in time to stop the parking police.
Steve almost puts his back out trying to lift the fridge, so they enlist Stanley from next door. But since Stanley is 73 years old, he can only manage five minutes (achieving all of ten yards from the kitchen to the hallway) and has to go back to his cats. A workmate called Chris turns up, but warns that he has a partially recovering hernia so can't lift heavy objects. His wife Becky is five foot nothing, but tries her best and goes bright purple as the fridge makes it into the van.
Then comes the filing cabinet. Each draw has to be carried individually out to the van, papers flying in the breeze, followed by the empty cabinet. (You need to have seen a professional removals man lift up a packed four-draw filing cabinet, then skip out to the van, to believe it. It's like Obelix in the Asterix books.)
In the average home, there are multiple items that need specialist care and attention. Removals companies understand this, but your mates don't. So when Steve has carefully bubble-wrapped his framed pictures and prints, with their glass frames, and laid them all in a neat pile in the van, what happens when Chris arrives with a bag of children's toys, including metal trucks and heavy wooden bricks and chucks it on top of the pile? There's a sickening sound of breaking glass.
And what becomes of the spaghetti dish of wires that has accumulated behind your PC, TV and hi-fi when Chris and Becky decide which boxes to put it all in?
Of course, since it's your mates, you can't complain about their work, you can't be sure that they'll put things where you want them, or not break things, or not damage the wallpaper on the way in, or actually give themselves a hernia or a slipped disc while they're moving things. Or that they won't blame you for having to take two months off work.
Better by far to get a professional to carry the can, and the box, and the piano...
related information
- how to choose a removal company
- moving checklist
- storage guide
- recommended moving companies
related links
- British Association of Removers (BAR)
Better than having to deal with any kinds of claims, the ideal is not to have problems in the first place. Hiring a professional removals company means the likelihood of trouble is much reduced.
