Packing & careful handling
More moving damage happens during packing than during transport. A well-packed load survives a bad road; a badly packed one breaks on a smooth one. This is the part worth getting right.
It is tempting to treat packing as the bit you save money on. Sometimes that is exactly right — if you have the evenings and you are methodical, packing your own books and clothes is genuinely easy and there is no reason to pay someone. But there are parts of a house where doing it yourself reliably costs more than the packing would have, and the kitchen is top of that list.
So we offer it three ways, and we will tell you honestly which one your house wants.
Anyone short of time, moving a large house, or going abroad.
We arrive with all the materials and pack everything, usually the day before the move. You do not touch a box. Every carton is labelled by room and contents as it is filled, which is what makes the other end quick.
The most common choice, and usually the sensible one.
We take the rooms most likely to break or take longest — kitchen, china, glassware, artwork, mirrors — and you handle clothes, books and personal things in your own time. You keep control of what you actually care about sorting.
Packing yourself, on your own schedule.
Boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, tape and wardrobe cartons dropped off well ahead of the move. Unused materials go back, so order generously rather than optimistically.
A cardboard box protects against knocks. It does nothing at all against the load shifting, which is what actually happens on a vehicle. So some things get purpose-built crates instead:
Because it is the room that goes wrong. Plates travel on edge, not stacked flat — stacked plates crack under their own weight when the load settles. Glasses get individually wrapped and go into cell dividers. Small boxes for heavy things, large boxes for light things, which is the opposite of what everyone instinctively does.
Everything is labelled by room and contents while it is being filled, never afterwards from memory. And nothing perishable, nothing frozen, nothing open.
Pack one, and tell us it exists so it goes on last and comes off first. Kettle, mugs, tea, a bit of milk, phone chargers, loo roll, hand soap, medication, a change of clothes, and whatever the children or the dog cannot manage an evening without.
It is the single most useful thing you can do for your own first night in a new house, and it costs nothing.
Export packing is a different standard. Goods are on a vehicle far longer, over rougher roads, with more handling at each end. Upholstery is wrapped and sealed rather than blanketed, voids are filled so nothing can shift, and the inventory has to be detailed enough for a customs officer to reconcile against the load.
If you are moving to France, Spain, Italy or Portugal, packing is not really optional — the paperwork depends on it being done properly.
Good to know
Full packing means we arrive with all the materials and do everything, usually the day before the move. Part-packing means we take the things most likely to break or take longest — kitchen, china, glassware, artwork — and you handle clothes, books and personal items in your own time. Materials-only means we drop boxes, paper, tape and wardrobe cartons off and leave you to it.
More than you think. Everybody underestimates the kitchen and everybody underestimates books. If you are packing yourself, order generously — unused boxes go back, and running out halfway through the night before a move is genuinely miserable.
Mirrors, glazed cabinet doors, framed artwork, marble and stone tops, and anything with a surface that will not survive pressure. A box protects against knocks; a crate protects against the load shifting. Televisions and monitors travel in their original packaging where you still have it.
Yes, and tell us it exists so it is loaded last and comes off first. Kettle, mugs, tea, phone chargers, loo roll, medication, a change of clothes and the children's or pet's essentials. It is the single most useful thing you can do for your own first evening.
Anything flammable, explosive or corrosive — gas bottles, paint, solvents, fuel. Perishables, plants and anything living. Jewellery, cash, passports and deeds are better kept with you. If you are unsure about something, ask before packing day rather than after.
We will walk the house with you and tell you honestly which rooms are worth handing over and which you can comfortably do yourself.