Basics To Decide Which Removal Company To Hire For Your Forever Home

Introduction

Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or a frequent house-hopper, there’s no shred of doubt that moving can be a stressful experience. Not only are you moving into an unfamiliar space, you constantly have to keep an eye on all your stuff in the moving process. From packing to unpacking, wouldn’t it be nice if you could have it all taken care of for you from the get-go?

Luckily, that is indeed an option for us. By engaging a reliable and trusted removal company like KASA Removals, you can take most of the physical hard work — and all of the mini panic attacks — out of the equation.

That said, it’s important to find a reputable and safe removal company to help you with your moving needs. If you’re looking for one, you’re in the right place! Here are four things to look out for to ensure you get the best removal deal you can find for a worry-free move.

1. Accreditations and Reviews

There are hundreds, if not thousands of different moving companies for you to choose from — so the first step to narrowing down the lot is by looking at their accreditations and reviews. These help you to strike out moving companies that are iffy and untrustworthy from the get-go.

The respective accreditations differ by country, but there are usually a few accreditations that are stamps of good quality. For instance, in England, the British Association of Removers (BAR) has a list of removal companies that have been screened to ensure quality standards and code of practices. As such, if you’re a mover in the UK, you should definitely look out for the BAR stamp of approval.

Another indicator of quality is the reviews left on the removal company’s websites and social media. Genuine testimonials can be really telling since they’re usually made by people who have engaged the removal company and have had a firsthand experience with them. While it’s unlikely that any long-standing company has a perfect track record, do observe how complaints are dealt with as it’s telling of the company’s professionalism. As a rule of thumb, the company should be safe if the reviews are mostly positive, especially on third-party review sites like TrustPilot and ReferenceLine.

2. Additional Services Provided

Apart from the firm’s accreditations, you also need to look carefully at the services provided by the removal company. A protip is to decide early what kind of services you need, especially for additional requirements like upfront removal services, packing materials, even an extra-large truck for big family moves.

A common requirement when moving is also storage services. If you have bulky items or a large volume of items to store, perhaps it’s best to engage a removal company with secure storage facilities. This renders the need for a third-party facility unnecessary — and the less your items change hands, the easier it will be for you.

In addition, you may want to engage moving companies with cleaning or assembly services to help you with the moving process. You may have to pay a little more for these, but it’ll make your move so much more convenient and hassle-free.

Once you have a general idea of what kind of services you need, you can look out for those on the removal company’s website or list of services provided.

3. Basic Services Provided

Additional services aside, do note that there are some basics that the moving company should do without incurring hefty additional charges.

For instance, before the big move, a quality moving company would usually provide a pre-move visit. It’s common practice to send a consultant or a survey team down to your house to inspect and understand what resources your move will take. They may also ask for photos and videos for a virtual inspection. From this initial survey, they will look at the volume of things that need to be moved and will be able to give you an estimate of how much time and manpower is needed on moving day.

After the pre-move visit and analysis, they should also provide you with helpful planning and coordinating between dates to prevent any hiccups and delays. On top of that, you should expect some assistance in packing, or at the very least, providing the materials needed to pack like boxes and tape.

On moving day, the removal company should send a uniformed, professional team and an accompanying truck for all your stuff. Prior to the loading of the truck, they should put down protection for your flooring and note the fragile items first. Then, ideally, you should be able to leave all the physical labor to them.

Something you may also want is for the company to provide insurance. That way, you can have peace of mind knowing you’ll be duly compensated in the event of any damage or missing items during the move.

4. Cost of Services

Once you’ve settled on a few removal companies that meet all of the above criteria, then it comes down to the cost of the services. For this, you should always aim to get a quote in writing, which is usually done during or shortly after the pre-move visit.

If you intend to compare two or more quotes, it’s best to still have two different consultants come down rather than to rely on one consultant’s analysis. That way, you can ensure that you’re comparing prices fairly and that the company is well-equipped to provide the services you need on moving day.

Also, it’s important to check the quotes to make sure that the company has not missed anything out. The worst-case scenario is to have the movers come down on moving day, only to realize they don’t have enough equipment or manpower to move everything at once.

If everything looks fine, then compare the costs and decide if the services provided are worth the money! Other important considerations include hidden fees and insurance costs that can quickly add up.

Conclusion

All in all, moving day can be stressful, but with the right removal company, you can easily alleviate much of that stress. From checking reviews to comparing quotes, these four simple things will certainly make looking for the right moving company — and moving — a total breeze.