Family & long-stay
Long-stay family moves
Four things happen to a house over twenty years, and all four of them change what the move costs. None of them show up in a bedroom count.
The loft fills from the back
Things go in at the hatch and get pushed backwards. What is nearest the opening is what went in most recently and matters least; what is against the far gable has been there since the family arrived. A glance from the ladder tells a surveyor almost nothing, which is why we ask for it to be properly opened.
The garage stops holding a car
It becomes a workshop, then a store, then an archive. Tools, tins, bikes, the bench, the freezer. A good proportion of it cannot legally travel — paint, fuel, gas, anything pressurised — and the rest is heavier than it looks in a photograph.
Furniture stops being moveable
A wardrobe that went up before the stair carpet was replaced does not necessarily come down. Fitted units get fitted further. Doors get replaced narrower. None of this is a problem if it is known; all of it is a problem if it is discovered.
Deciding takes longer than carrying
This is the real difference. On a long-stay house the packing is the easy part — what takes time is working out what comes. We pace the job to allow it rather than loading everything and making it somebody else's problem at the other end.
Open the loft before we come
It is the single change that most improves the accuracy of your figure, and it is free. Everything else on this page follows from it.
Get a quoteLong-stay moves — questions
We have been here decades. Where do we start?
With the survey, before the sorting. Knowing the actual volume makes deciding far easier, and stops you throwing things out under time pressure because somebody said the van was too small.
Can some of it go elsewhere?
To family, to storage, to a tip run you are doing yourself. All normal, all much cheaper planned than improvised. Two drops on one day is one job.
What if the new place is smaller?
We measure the awkward pieces and, where you know the new dimensions, we will tell you plainly what will not work. Better now than on the pavement.
Will you help with the sorting?
We will pack what you have decided to take and work alongside you while you decide. We will not clear the house — different trade, different licence.
Storage while dates settle?
Yes. Containerised and listed on the way in, which matters more on a long-stay move than anything else — you want to find one box later without opening all of them.
Moving after a long time in one house?
Tell us roughly where things stand. We will arrange to see it before you start sorting, which makes the sorting far easier.