Packing service

Packing is the part people underestimate and the part that makes a move go wrong: the kitchen takes a day, the loft takes another, and a van full of half-filled boxes takes twice as long to load. Our packing team does a three-bed house in a day with the right materials, and it is the single thing customers say they would pay for again.

Two or three packers arrive the day before the move at nine and work room by room: kitchen first because it is the longest, crockery and glass wrapped individually in paper, pictures and mirrors in corner protectors and card, lamps boxed, books in small boxes so they can be lifted, clothes straight from the wardrobe onto hanging rails in wardrobe boxes. Every box is labelled with the room and a word about what is in it, and a list of the boxes per room goes on the fridge.

The price includes all the materials (we bring about sixty boxes for a three-bed and take back what we do not use), and the move the next day is faster, which saves you hours at the hourly rate. Unpacking at the other end is half the packing price: boxes emptied onto surfaces, the kitchen put away where you tell us, the flat-pack cardboard taken away. If you would rather pack yourself, a box pack of twenty boxes, tape, paper and a marker is £45 delivered, with buy-back on unused boxes.

What is included

• Two or three packers, the day before, from 9am
• All materials: boxes, paper, bubble, tape, wardrobe boxes
• Every box labelled by room, a list on the fridge
• Kitchen, glass, pictures and lamps wrapped individually
• Unused materials taken back
• Unpacking at the other end for half the pack price

What it costs

One-bed £250, two-bed £380, three-bed £520, four-bed £650, including materials and VAT. Kitchen only from £120. Unpacking at the other end half the pack price. A box pack to do it yourself £45. Including VAT, fuel within 30 miles and £10,000 of cover. The vans page has the four sizes and what each holds; the estimate page turns bedrooms into a figure.