Self survey
Walk through your home room by room and tell us what is coming. It takes about fifteen minutes, you can stop and come back, and unlike most survey forms this one shows you the running volume as you go — so you can see the shape of your move before you send us anything.
Before you start
- Takes about
- 15 minutes
- Work
- Room by room, front door inwards
- Don't forget
- Loft, garage, shed, garden
- You'll see
- Your volume, live, as you tick
- We reply
- Within one working day
1. About your move
Enough for us to price it properly. Nothing here commits you to anything.
2. Who does the packing?
For an overseas move we would normally pack everything ourselves, because export wrapping is what gets your belongings through months at sea. But it is your choice.
If you pack yourself, note that insurance cover on owner-packed cartons is narrower than on cartons we pack, and some destinations inspect self-packed boxes more closely.
3. Room by room
Start at the front door and work through methodically. Open a room, set quantities, move on. The things people forget are always the same: the loft, the garage, under the beds, and the garden.
Tap a room to open it. Your totals update as you go.
4. Access at both ends
This is what decides the vehicle, the crew and often the price. A five-minute answer here prevents most of the problems that happen on the day.
5. Anything that needs special handling?
Tick anything that applies. These are the items that need a decision, a crate or a permit rather than just space on the vehicle.
Things that cannot travel, wherever you're going
Aerosols, paint, thinners, bleach and household chemicals, petrol and gas cylinders, fireworks, and anything with a fuel tank that has not been drained. Please empty and dry the lawnmower and the strimmer before packing day.
Your destination will have its own list on top of that — food, plants, seeds, timber and soil are restricted almost everywhere, and Australia and New Zealand inspect every shipment. We will send you a written list for your country once we know where you're going.
6. Send it to us
We'll come back within one working day. If anything needs a closer look we'll suggest a short video call rather than guess.
What a self survey can and can't do
This gives us a good working figure and is often enough to quote from. What it cannot do is see the things you have stopped noticing — the wardrobe that will not come apart, the stair turn that a sofa will not make, the loft you have not opened in four years.
For an international move we would usually follow this with a fifteen-minute video call before issuing a fixed price. That way the figure you accept is the figure you pay.