Anyone who has been through a house removal once or twice, knows that what seemed like a simple operation, has the potential to become an absolute nightmare, which doesn’t even end once you are in the new house. People moving house for the first time are the ones most likely to totally underestimate the size of the job and think they can deal with it, with a rented van and a couple of mates, who may well not be your mates any longer, once the move is finished. What many do not appreciate is that a professional house move is orchestrated like a ballet, with the choreography and fine attention to detail making it a success. Trying to do it yourself is like blindfolding a bunch of people and asking them to work together on a jigsaw puzzle, which simply is not going to work out well.
The Logistics of the Operation
This is where most first time movers especially get it totally wrong, because they completely misjudge the amount of stuff to be moved. The first mistake comes when people assess what is to be moved, and their primary focus is on the big stuff, like the sofa, beds, fridge etc. and totally underestimate the amount of time consuming small stuff. And this is when the problems really get started. Small stuff, tends to get put into boxes, which are duly loaded up and travel along with everything else to the new address. Then they get unloaded, but unlike the large items which are easy to place, tend to get deposited to one side while the heavy lifting is going on. You then end up with dozens and dozens of boxes, which are normally completely unlabelled, so working out what is in where, is almost like a lottery. You have found the kettle so want to give your workers a cuppa, but the mugs, tea bags and even the spoons are nowhere to be found, buried as they are at the bottom of a pile of boxes in your now totally full garage. It can take weeks to find it all.
The Professional Move
People employed in removals do it every day and have developed it into a fine art, from knowing which pieces to move first, and how to get a large piece of furniture through a tight angled turn. You do not see them lifting the same piece of furniture more than necessary, as it exits building one, with forethought on the order in which it will be unloaded at the other end. After all, who wants to pull out the TV and three piece suite and put it in the front room, only to then have to navigate every other piece of furniture coming into the new house past it all? Boxes are accurately labelled, so they can be correctly delivered to the appropriate part of the new house.
Moving house can be stressful enough, especially if you have children, so the smart advice is to accept that the cost of a professional removals company is just part of the cost of moving, and let them take as much of the stress as possible out of the affair, so that all you have to worry about is enjoying your new home.