House removals
House removals, planned not improvised
Nothing about a house move should be decided on the morning. The vehicle, the crew, the start time and the order the load goes on are all set at survey — which is why a well-run moving day is a boring one.
- SurveyVolume, access, stairs and street. In person, or on video for a smaller house. The output is a written scope, not a verbal figure.
- PlanCrew size, vehicle, start time, loading order, and whether a shuttle or a permit is needed. All of it agreed before you commit.
- PrepareMaterials delivered if you are packing. If we are packing, that happens the day before loading and the house is left usable.
- LoadProtection down first at both ends. Wrapping in the room. Furniture that sets the load goes on first, boxes by room after it.
- DeliverInto the rooms you point at, beds rebuilt first, inventory checked with you before the crew leaves.
What we are looking at during the survey
- The real volume. Including the loft, the garage, the shed and the garden. Those four are where every underestimate comes from.
- The street. Where a vehicle can legally stand, for how long, and how far the carry is from there to the door.
- The stairs. Width, turns, and whether anything large came in before a wall went up — which happens more than people expect in older Kent houses.
- What comes apart. And, honestly, what will not survive coming apart a second time.
- The far end. Same questions again. Half the problems on a move live at the destination.
Older houses take longer, and that is fine
A Wealden timber frame, a ragstone cottage outside Maidstone, a Victorian terrace on a Medway hill — all of them load more slowly than a modern semi, and all of them are perfectly ordinary work. What causes damage is a crew running to a schedule built for a different kind of house.
So the quote reflects the house you actually have. If that means an extra crew member and a longer day, it is on the quote with the reason rather than discovered halfway through the afternoon.
Newer houses have their own traps
The estates around Ashford, Maidstone and Gravesend load easily — decent doorways, room to park — but plasterboard marks, stair spindles chip, and unfinished estate roads turn to mud in wet weather. Protection goes down in a new house exactly as it does in an old one.
When the chain gives way
Kent chains are long and they do fail. The household goes into storage, inventoried as it loads, and comes out when you have keys. Arranged in advance it is a line on the quote; arranged on the morning it is a scramble.
If the move is tied to a school place, read family moves; if it leaves the county, long distance covers how those are planned.
Worth knowing
House moves, the practical questions
What does the survey actually establish?
Volume, access and order. How much there really is once the loft and the garage are counted; what a vehicle can do at both ends; what comes apart; how many crew the day needs; and what would change the price. All of it written down before you commit to anything.
Will the crew dismantle and rebuild?
Beds, wardrobes, table legs and anything that will not pass a door assembled — it is part of the job, not an extra, and it goes back together at the far end. The exception is flat-pack that has already been moved once; we will say honestly when a piece is unlikely to survive a second dismantle.
Our house is timber-framed and nothing is square.
Common across the Weald and entirely workable. Uneven floors and low beams mean more dismantling and a slower carry rather than a problem — what causes trouble is a firm that quoted for a modern semi and arrives to find a sixteenth-century staircase.
What protection do you put down?
Floor runners and door-frame protection at both ends before anything moves, blanket wrap on upholstery and case furniture, corner protection, crates for mirrors and glass, and wardrobe cartons so clothes travel hanging.
How far ahead should we book?
As soon as a date looks real, and earlier for a Friday or an end-of-month completion — those fill first across the whole trade. Short notice is still worth a call; it works more often than people expect.
Do you move on Saturdays?
Regularly. Sundays are possible but harder, and some buildings restrict weekend moves in the lease — worth checking before you settle on one.
Book the survey before you book anything else.
Volume and access decide the crew, the vehicle and the hours. It costs nothing and it is the whole difference between a plan and a hope.