Preparing for our arrival

IF WE ARE PACKING FOR YOU

Before we arrive to commence packing:

• Set aside an overnight bag for all members of the family containing all the clothes, favourite cuddly toys, toiletries etc. that you need for the night. Keep the bags to one side, we suggest to put these on top of the beds as we do not pack the beds/bedding until the morning of the move).
• Keep aside anything from the kitchen / elsewhere you require for the night and morning – usually things like cleaning products, cereal for the morning, a set of cutlery and crockery (although most people get a takeaway for the night for ease). We suggest to put these items on the dining table.
• Put aside any important documents and electronics etc. if you need them or don’t want them packed – I.e. documents for the house, passports, laptops etc. We suggest to keep these on you, or in your overnight bags.
• Have a think if there’s anything from a certain room that will be going into a different room in the new house, so you can let us know on arrival on the pack day.
• You do not need to do the above for large furniture, as we will ask you where you’d like the items when we are unloading. This is just useful for contents that we are packing.

Other things to note:

• We won’t pack your beds / bedding on the pack day – we will do this on the morning of your move (so you have somewhere to sleep for the night).
• We usually don’t pack your main TV, Sky etc. until the morning of the move, so you have a TV to watch for the evening.
• If we are moving your fridge/freezer – the freezer contents can remain, however the fridge must be emptied (we will pack these last things on the moving day and not on the pack day). We do also suggest to try and ‘eat your way’ through the contents as much as possible before the move to make things easier when moving house. If your fridge/freezer is not being moved, we will pack the contents of both, on the moving day.
• We will take a walk round with you when we arrive on the packing day, before we start packing, so that you and the team are both happy that everyone knows what is and isn’t to be packed.
• You don’t have to stay in all day on the packing day, once we have walked round with you and everyone is happy with regards to what is/isn’t to be packed.

IF YOU ARE PACKING YOURSELVES

• Ensure you use good quality boxes for your packing. These not only protect your items, but also enable safer and better loading inside the vehicle(s). Please avoid using open top banana boxes, crisp boxes, plastic bags, or lots of different shape and sized boxes. Double wall boxes are best, and can be purchased from us if required.
• Label the boxes clearly with the room they are to be put into plus their contents. If the contents are fragile – label this clearly on the box.
• If there are boxes that contain items that you need urgently, label the box clearly with **Unpack first** The house removal company can then set these to one side for you so that you can access them easily.
• Do not overload the boxes (you should still be able to lift them), however ensure that they are filled to the top (even if this is with padding), as this creates a strong box and helps prevent the top of the box from collapsing when stacked in the vehicle.
• Use smaller boxes for heavy items such as tins & books, and larger boxes for lighter, bulkier items such as bedding & board games.
• Ensure the boxes are taped up properly at the top and bottom – do not rely on just folding the flaps.
• Avoid unnecessary packing – If you have chest of drawers, bedside units, sideboards etc. with light / non-fragile contents in, or with drawers that can be completely removed, then you do not need to pack the contents. On moving day, the team will move the unit whole if safe to do so, or if not, they will remove the drawers, move the carcass to the vehicle, and then place the drawers back into the carcass for transport, repeating the process on the unload.
• If we are moving your fridge/freezer – the freezer contents can remain, however the fridge must be emptied, although you can pack this once we arrive so that the contents are kept cold for as long as possible. We do also suggest to try and ‘eat your way’ through the contents as much as possible before the move to make things easier when moving.
• Ensure that the packing is complete before we arrive.