House removals
House removals across London
A whole house is not a bigger flat move — it is a different job, with a loft, a garage, a garden and thirty years of accumulation in it. This is how we work through one.
The walkthrough, room by room
A survey is not someone glancing at a hallway and naming a figure. It is a walk through every room in the order the crew will work through them, writing down what is in each one and what it will take to get it out.
- The kitchen
- The longest room to pack and the one people most underestimate. Glass and ceramics are wrapped individually and boxed small so nothing is lifted at a weight that invites an accident. Appliances need a qualified engineer to disconnect; we plan the day around that visit rather than improvising.
- Reception rooms
- Where the awkward pieces live. Sofas get measured against the door and the turn on the stairs before anything is lifted, mirrors and pictures are cased rather than blanket-wrapped, and anything with a glass shelf comes apart before it travels.
- Bedrooms
- Beds are dismantled by hand and the fixings bagged and labelled to the frame, which is the difference between a bed rebuilt in ten minutes and one rebuilt badly. Wardrobe cartons keep hanging clothes on their hangers so nothing needs re-ironing at the far end.
- The loft and the garage
- Almost always more than anyone remembers. We ask you to open both before the survey, because volume found on the day is the single commonest reason a move overruns. Fuel has to be drained from garden machinery and paint cannot travel at all.
- The garden
- Pots, furniture and anything that has been outside for years. It travels last and comes off first at the other end, and it is the part most worth being honest about — half of it is usually not worth the space on the vehicle.
London houses, by type
Victorian and Edwardian terraces
Narrow hallways, a return at the half-landing, and original floorboards that mark if you drag anything across them. Floor protection goes down before the first carry, not after the first scuff.
Stucco-fronted and basement properties
Area steps, railings and a basement kitchen with its own door. Frequently two loading points rather than one, which has to be in the plan and in the permit application.
Interwar semis and suburban houses
The easiest London houses to move, usually with a driveway and a straight hall. The complication is volume: a family that has been in one thirty years fills more vehicle than the room count suggests.
New-build houses
Tight turning circles, unadopted roads and managing-agent rules about where a large vehicle can stand. Worth checking before the day even when the house itself is straightforward.
Where the house move ends somewhere else
A large share of London house moves finish outside the capital — the home counties, the coast, the Midlands, further north, or abroad. Those run as one long-distance job with a single crew at both ends, or as a European road move with the customs work done before the vehicle travels.
House removals — common questions
Do you move whole houses or just parts?
Whole houses, routinely — and a part-house move is perfectly normal too, whether that is furnishing one property from another or moving a household in two stages. Both get surveyed the same way.
How much notice do you need?
As much as you can give, particularly for a Friday or a month-end, because permits and crews both get committed early. We do take short-notice work and will tell you honestly what is possible rather than promising and scrambling.
Can you move us on completion day?
Most London house moves are completion-day moves, so yes — but completion times slip, and a plan that only works if the keys arrive early is not a plan. We build in what happens if they do not, and storage bridges the gap where a chain breaks.
Do you take the beds apart and put them back?
Yes, and the fixings are bagged and labelled to the frame. The same goes for flat-pack wardrobes and tables, though anything that has already been dismantled once is worth discussing — some of it does not survive a second attempt.
What happens to the things we do not want?
They stay. We do not carry out house clearance or take rubbish away — that is a different trade under a different licence. We will take away our own packing materials, which is a different thing entirely.
Moving house in London?
Send both addresses and a rough idea of the property. We will arrange a survey and put the specification in writing.