A settled household · II
Five to ten years
Long enough to have furnished the house properly and filled the cupboards, not long enough for the loft to have become archaeology. This is the most predictable move there is, which is precisely why it is worth doing well rather than casually.
Predictable is not the same as small. Everything you own is going, and all of it exists.
What the day involves
Where a five-year household differs from a two-year one
By this point the shed is full, the top of the wardrobes is in use, and a loft hatch has been opened at least once. None of that shows from the rooms, and all of it is real volume.
It is also the tenure where people most often assume a phone quote is fine, because the house still feels manageable. The gap between what the rooms suggest and what the property actually holds starts here.
The completion hour
Where the move depends on a sale, the hour keys are released is decided by solicitors and lenders working up a chain, and it is outside everybody's control including ours.
So we load early and plan to wait. Tell us how many households are in the chain when you book — it changes what we plan for and it is the piece of information customers most often leave out.
Packing before, not during
Nothing should still be going into boxes when the crew arrives. It sounds obvious and it is the commonest way a day loses its margin — and the margin is exactly what absorbs a late key release.
If you are packing yourself, be finished the night before apart from the kettle and the beds. If we are packing, it happens as a separate visit ahead of the move.
Getting out of the borough
The A40 and the M40 are the usual way out west and north, the M25 for everything else. Where the new address is inside London, the far end frequently needs a parking arrangement or a building booking made in advance rather than discovered on arrival.
Five to ten years
Questions about five to ten years
01 When should we book?
Talk to us at offer stage and confirm at exchange. A survey costs nothing and settles the volume, and we would rather hold a provisional slot than take a deposit against a date that has not firmed up.
02 Do you dismantle beds and wardrobes?
Yes, as standard. Anything that cannot come out whole is taken apart here and put back together at the other end.
03 Is our loft included in the quote?
If we have seen it. That is not a formality — a boarded loft roughly doubles the storage capacity of a semi and it is invisible from the rooms.
04 Can you suspend a parking bay?
We will apply where a street needs it. It has to be done in advance and we cannot guarantee it is granted or that the bay is clear on the day.
05 What if completion slips?
The load stays secured on the vehicle. If the day fails entirely, goods go into store rather than back into a house you have just emptied.
06 Do you go long distance?
Yes, across the UK and by road into Europe. The house end is planned identically; what changes is the departure hour and the packing standard.
How long have you been there?
Both addresses and the number of years in the one you are leaving. That second answer tells us more about the job than anything else you could send.