Category Archives: News

The team at Kiwi Movers is delighted to announce we’ve partnered up with Under The Doormat, a luxury platform for people to rent out their properties in London.

This joint partnership will help to bring our two businesses together, and encourage residents and visitors to London find unique and interesting places to stay.

Regan McMillan, our Founder and Director, has stated:

‘’We are extremely happy to have signed a partnership with Under The Doormat. We share their vision for bringing people together with vibrant, exciting neighborhoods in London – and showcasing everything our city has to offer.

We hope this partnership will be another chapter in our growing relationship with the business community around us. And if we help a few Kiwis along the way to find somewhere nice to stay, then we’re even happier.”

Movers and shakers in London

UnderTheDoormat provides the opportunity for homeowners to earn effortless extra income when they are away, and offers guests the local experience of staying in homes with personality and character during their visit to London.

To let your home when you are away, just share your home and your story with them and they do the rest so you come home to a clean home and some extra money each time you travel.

To book an introductory meeting, please get in touch with their great team on 0207 952 1650 or email [email protected]

This partnership with Under The Doormat is more good news for Kiwi Movers, having also received Which? Trusted Trader status in the last month.

For more news about our team and Kiwi Movers, follow us on Twitter and say ‘ello.

If you’re planning on moving to London soon (there’s lots of Kiwis and Australians already here, we know most of them!) there’s a good chance you’ve got baggage on the brain. No, not the emotional kind. Luggage. Things like suitcases, bikes, and all those lovely gems you’ve collected along the way.

It’s not always easy taking these things home. And there’s nothing worse than having to abandon your possessions because you’re worried about the cost and fuss of taking them on a flight.

That’s where a good excess baggage service comes into play. So, if you’ve never heard of excess baggage before, here’s six things to think about before you travel abroad.

1. Heavy luggage. Good for arms, bad for morale

This is top of our list for a good reason. If you’ve ever tried to lug heavy bags across an airport, or get from one side of London to another with your bike, you’ll know this stuff slows you down. And it’s not a good start to your journey home, either.

That’s why we offer a door-to-door removal service. We’ll collect your baggage and deliver it exactly where it needs to go – at a time that works for you.

2. International shipping

It’s not always easy finding a baggage service that travels to the same places you do. We’ve been there, and the unhappy result is shipping your luggage and possessions to awkward destinations and having to pick them up from there.

So, to keep things as convenient as possible, here’s a list of the locations we ship to:

• New Zealand
• Australia
• South Africa
• Canada (both coasts)
• United States (yup, both coasts)
• United Arab Emirates
• Cyprus
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Thailand

What’s better?

Our air freight means your luggage will arrive at its destination within 7-10 working days.

3. It could be more cost effective than flights

You know the feeling. You’re at the airport. They’re weighing your luggage… you have that sinking, nagging feeling that maybe you didn’t need every season of The Sopranos on Blu Ray/DVD to take back home (pfft, who are you kidding?). And that’s it – you’re baggage is too heavy and you’re slapped with a fine.

With a global network of handlers, we’re able to compete with even the biggest airlines and offer a cost-effective alternative to carrying all your luggage on a flight. You won’t need to worry about weight restrictions or – more importantly – about having to leave your important stuff at home.

It can also be cheaper to ship your cases, bags and backpacks compared to a lot of airlines.

4. You can take your bike, gym other favourite stuff with you

Speaking of important stuff, we’ll also to ship things like sports equipment and anything else you’ve collected along your journey. Tools are a popular request for us. Due to their weight, there’s a good chance you’ll get ‘hammered’ on the cost of taking these on a plane.

It sounds odd, but we ship a lot of snowboards from London too, due to the number of London movers who venture off on adventure breaks while using London as a base. And don’t forget guitars. Canadian crooner Brian Adams stands as one very good reason you should think hard before entrusting your treasured axe to airline handling staff.

If you’re moving from London, but don’t to part with your favourite couch or even want to take your entire household’s worth of stuff with you, we can ship that for you.

Leave no man behind, etc.

5. We’ll give you the packing materials

No, we aren’t trying to force you to go. But let’s face it, when it’s time, it’s time – and you might as well make everything super straightforward and simple.

As part of our excess baggage service, (but hopefully not as part of your permanent move from London), we sell boxes and lots of other packing stuff you need to get ready. We’ll bring it with us if we’re doing your move.

6. You can track your order

Just because you’re shipping your bike and bed doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to track your order.

As part of our service, you’ll be able to see exactly where your belongings are and how long it’ll be before they arrive. Nice and simple.

So, there you have it – our top reasons for trying out a baggage removal service if you’re traveling in and out of London anytime soon.

For more information, have a look at our excess baggage page and – as always – get in touch if you have any questions.

It’s easy to forget how stressful moving can be on little ones. After all, it’s not as if they need to worry about packing, organising the insurance, or working out what to do with all that leftover food in the cupboard.

The biggest thing on their mind is usually how their new room is going to be decorated (and to all parents out there, getting stuck into bright pink paint and never-come-off again dinosaur stickers, we salute you). But that doesn’t make the journey into their new home any less daunting.

Recent research has show that moving home can cause just as much stress and anxiety to children as it does to adults. Moving in London can be especially stressful, especially when you consider parking restrictions, traffic and the difficulties of access some of our city’s quirkier properties.

And like most big events in anyone’s life, it’s not until the day of reckoning that kids need extra support. So from one family to another, here are our tried and tested methods for how to move home with children.

Let them pack some of their own things

There’s a real temptation to pack and organise everything for your kids, especially if it means you’ll actually be able to find fluffy socks and Mr. Oink at the end of a long moving day.

But we think it’s a great idea to let kids get used to the idea of moving as soon as possible. Letting them box away possessions, choose old toys to donate to charity, and say goodbye to their room can help bring much-needed closure before transitioning to a new home.

Of course, this will depend on the age of your children. Too young and there won’t be much they can do (and we can’t really blame them for that). However, if they’re a toddler or older then this is the perfect time to get them involved.

Give them a special task on the day

One of the best ways to minimise anxiety and help get them involved with the move is with some light-hearted responsibility.

We aren’t suggesting you ask them to bubble wrap the household dishes, but instead encourage them to take charge of special tasks. It could be anything from collecting their toys – and keeping them safe – to making sure the family dog gets his lunch on the big day.

Either way get creative with it. Any distraction will make the day go by quicker and help your little one feel more involved. Plus, it’s one less thing for you to worry about. Everyone wins.

Get their room set up first

In the days before children, the first priority when moving into your new home was probably making your own bed (who wants to change sheets at midnight after all of that?). But when you’re travelling with kids it’s different.

Getting their room comfortable, familiar and safe can go a long way to making a new house feel like home. All you really need to do is unpack their favourite toys, make the bed and anything else that reminds them of their old room.

It’ll help them settle into a routine and make sure they don’t miss out on sleep too.

Then, once they’re set up and happy, you can get on with the rest. You won’t even need to worry about keep them occupied, or if they’re hiding in a box somewhere looking to surprise a unexpected mover (it happens).

Make the move into an adventure

This is probably our favourite part of getting the move right with children.

They already have wonderful imaginations, so turning the big move into an adventure of a lifetime can make all the difference. Let them explore every nook and cranny of the home, from the hidden cupboards to your own bedroom.

Need inspiration? Think Indiana Jones meets Kirstie Allsopp.

Bringing some excitement into the move will help them get used to their new surroundings and make the day actually enjoyable.

And if you have the dress-up outfits already, even better.

Make the most of being a London mover

Yes, the traffic is difficult and parking can be a nightmare, but you’re moving to, or within, one of the world’s most dynamic and exciting cities. This means you’re surrounded by great places to visit, eat and relax – so once you’ve got your unpacking in order and have done the boring admin stuff, you really should treat yourself and the kids.

If the kids have been particularly helpful (or just well behaved) during the move, you could use the day out as a reward. Here’s three free activities recommended by the Kiwi Movers team.

London Sky Garden – Great views, central location and fully accessible for wheelchair users. Oh, and it’s free. Book a free visit.

Golders Hill Park and FREE Zoo – Located in Hampstead Heath, this pretty park is one of London’s best kept secret attractions. It’s got a free zoo (with ring tailed lemurs), table tennis, normal tennis courts, a butterfly house and is conveniently close to Golders Green station. Find out more

.God’s Own Junkyard – One for older kids and young teens, this Walthamstow salvage yard plays host to neon artist Chris Bracey’s personal collection of work, from signs to movie props. It’s a neon wonderland. A great day out for any aspiring artists in the family. Pop into the Rolling Scone cafe for refreshments when you’re done. Learn more.

Image credit – Wiki Commons

We are extremely pleased to announce that Kiwi Movers is now officially endorsed by Which? Trusted Traders.

After several months of contacting our customers, collecting feedback, and getting a feel for what we do, Which? now recommends our team as one of the top London movers in the business.

It’s great news for Kiwi Movers – but it’s even better for our customers, who now know we’ve been fully assessed and checked out by the best in the industry.

Getting endorsement

Being endorsed by Which? Trusted Traders isn’t always a quick and easy process. It can take months – and not all movers make the cut.

The first step was doing a credit check on Kiwi Movers to make sure our business was in tip-top shape (and not likely to drop off the map anytime soon). Next, Which? Trusted Traders got feedback from our customers and made sure our work met their strict standards. They examined our business procedures – to make sure everything was in working order – and even interviewed members of our team one-to-one.

After all that was done and dusted, we signed up to their Code of Conduct scheme. This was probably the most important step in the assessment process. It is an agreement between our team and Which? to ensure we always follow the best business practices for consumers. It’s like a promise between us and anyone we work with again in the future. And it means we’ll always strive to deliver the best possible service – one that’s worthy of accreditation from Which? Trusted Traders.

Going forward

Listen, we’re obviously proud to be a Which? Trusted Trader. But what makes us really chuffed is knowing that our customers, now and in the past, have grown to expect these high standards from our team. It means we’ve been doing what we set out to do – and we have a new opportunity to keep the momentum going into the future.

There’s still a lot of hard work ahead (and stuff to move). But we’re confident this endorsement will be good news to our customers, safe in the knowledge we’ve been fully checked and assessed by independent experts.

Plus, we’d be kidding if we said it didn’t feel good too.

Image courtesy of trustedtraders.which.co.uk

Changes to how banks process large payments could lead to moving delays and costs of up to £28 million a year, warns a London removals and logistics firm.

The cut off time for payments made using the Clearing House Automated Payment System, better known as CHAPS, is being moved back an hour and forty minutes, to 17:45. This means that money transfers made as part of house purchases could be made any time up to 18:00 in the afternoon, potentially delaying the handover of the keys by almost two hours.

With professional removals costing in the region of £55 per hour, that’s around £110 more per move. Multiply that by the amount of house sales in a year (255,000 according to the Land Registry), that’s a whopping £28 million per year.

The knock-on effect of this is that movers will be waiting until later in the day to collect their keys, resulting in increased removals costs, especially if they’re hiring their removals team by the hour.

Currently, most removals firms work on the basis that transactions that haven’t cleared by the 16:00 it will be delayed to the following day. This means movers are unable to get their keys on the intended move date. With the extended operating hours of CHAPS, removals firms could be kept on standby for a further two hours, resulting in extra costs for customers. Transfers that remain incomplete by 18:00 could result in extra waiting time and an extra day’s removal costs, plus storage.

Firms often have to store goods over night to avoid having staff working later than is safe. Unexpected late working for removals professionals has obvious fatigue implications and we know any reasonable house mover wouldn’t want exhausted crews handling their stuff.

Extended working hours for crews also have industry-wide reputational implications. It makes things very difficult when staff have to work late with another big job on the next day. This puts additional pressures on the industry, making it harder to retain or attract new team members when they are immediately faced with potentially long and unpredictable working days.

Regan McMillan, director of Kiwi Movers explained how the changes could impact his customers:

“Moving is stressful enough and when a move involves a transfer of funds, things can be extra tense. Customers can’t get the keys to the property until the money transfer is complete, so if there’s a delay at the bank end, it has a knock-on effect with removals, storage and deliveries.

“The one upside of the current system is that we usually know by 4.pm whether a transfer will go through on a given day, giving us enough time to get things into storage if necessary. With the time being pushed back, removals firms could be waiting on keys for a further two hours still to be told they’ll need to come back tomorrow. It could get quite chaotic and expensive for a lot of movers.

“We’ll be looking to offer a discounted hourly rate for customers who experience big delays due to the extended CHAPS rules.”

UPDATE

Two in five house buyers get into debt due to unexpected costs 

• 65% of house buyers exceeded their moving budget by more than £100 due to unforeseen moving costs
• One in ten had to find £500 or more to meet extra costs
• Bank charges account for most common unplanned expenditure
• 2 in 5 forgot to budget to buy furniture
• Changes to bank processes could increase moving costs by further £100 (£28 million in total*)
• Almost two in five (17%) borrowed to meet unexpected moving costs
• The majority of people who’ve bought a property in the past five years faced unexpected costs that meant they exceeded their original moving budget, according to new Kiwi Movers research.

The most common source of unexpected expenditure were bank charges for money transfers. 65% reported not budgeting for these.

Transfer fees are typically between £40-£60 and cover the bank’s charges for moving the balance to the conveyancer’s account.

Insurance add-ons were another common expense that movers didn’t expect. More than half (51%) said they paid for indemnity insurance and went over budget as a result.

17% said they had to borrow, either on a credit card, overdraft, loan or from friends or family to meet unexpected house move costs.

Top budget-busters for house movers (expenses that weren’t originally budgeted for)

Time saving tips for movers

We can’t control the banks, but these tips might help you save a few minutes (and a few quid too).

• Get a survey done beforehand. We offer these for free and so do many other removal firms. If there are parking issues, space issues due to property modifications made after you moved in, then it’s smart (and cheaper) to plan for these in advance.
• Do your big clear out before you move. Why waste time and money lugging stuff that you actually don’t need?
• Consider planning your move for the day after completion. Not always convenient and potentially more expensive due to time needed away from work, but it can help reduce the stress of dealing with the unknown.
• Label your boxes by room. An old tip but it really does save time and energy when people are loading out your stuff.
• Keep pets and kids away if possible. Moving can be stressful for pets and with kids on the scene too you can find you spend a lot of your time keeping them safe and entertained. If possible, enlist the help of a friend, relative or neighbour to watch them while you move.

We know moving can be stressful, but we like to make sure our customers enjoy a hassle free move regardless. But what happens when the removal trucks have all gone and you’re left with boxes and the task of finding a home for all your stuff?

New research by us says that almost three quarters of Britons say they experienced relationship problems after moving home with a significant other. The figure increased to almost nine out of 10 for those moving in together for the first time, with more than one in 10  of those saying the house move contributed to their relationship breaking down permanently.

Just 2% of those moving together for the first time experienced no relationship issues – even temporary ones – at all, while that figure jumped to almost one in three for couples already cohabiting.

Disagreements over the pre-move clear out and what to throw away were the biggest source of conflict among couples moving home together, ahead of financial issues and general move-related stress. Adjusting to one another’s habits was the biggest cause of friction for couples moving in for the first time.

11% of people moving in with a significant other for the first time say the move contributed to the end of their relationship. 6% of already co-habiting couples say a house move contributed to the end of their relationship. 17.5% in total say they experienced “serious” relationship issues of some kind after moving house together.

However stressful house moves are though, it seems practice makes perfect. The research revealed that the more moves a couple did together, the less likely they were to experience relationship problems.

Fewer than half of couples who’d moved together more than twice already said they experienced relationship problems on subsequent moves and of those, just 10% were described as serious.

Top causes of conflict for couples moving in for the first time

• Adjusting to new habits
• Lack of personal space
• Financial disagreements
• Sharing chores
• Move-related stress
• Disagreement over what to keep and what to throw away

Top causes of conflict for already cohabiting couples

• Disagreement over what to keep and what to throw away
• Financial disagreements
• Move-related stress
• Sharing of chores
• Lack of personal space
• Adjusting to new habits

Less common sources of friction came up too:

One female respondent said she resented splitting the food bill because her boyfriend was an avid gym goer who ate everything in sight.

Another reported that having to share a bathroom with her boyfriend caused problems, having been used to sharing with girls before.

One male respondent reported that his expectations of how the relationship would progress were too high, reporting that he was disappointed that nothing much had changed at all.

Another said he found his significant other’s commitment to tidiness difficult, especially when he couldn’t find belongings that had been “tidied away.”

Relationship coach and author Annie Kaszina offered this advice for couples planning on taking the plunge together.

“Agree on your game-plan ahead of time. Work out together how you can make this work; together.  Have a strategy for handling the issues that are likely to crop up, as well as an agreed method for resolving conflict (hint: pistols at dawn, sulks, and screaming matches are not the best methods of conflict resolution).

“Have a clear, shared policy on bills and money management, standards of cleanliness and hygiene, mutual support, and chore management.

“Be realistic. Don’t expect your partner to be a domestic god or goddess, especially if they showed no signs of that in their own place.

“Have a designated, shared bank account for shared expenses.”

Image credit – Wiki Commons

We were recently acknowledged by the Wandsworth businesses community in recognition of our campaign work throughout 2015.

It was a fantastic privilege to take home the Highly Commended award for Marketing and Social Media at the Wandsworth Business Awards, run in association with the Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce.

Throughout 2015, we’ve been conducting research and campaigning to learn about and raise awareness of issues faced by private tenants in London and throughout the UK. 

One of the cornerstones of our campaign was to highlight the financial hardship faced by renters forced to chase unscrupulous landlords for the return of their deposit.

Their research was cited by a spokesman for the campaigning and lobbying group Generation Rent in an editorial for the influential political website Politics.co.uk.

By campaigning on issues that affects thousands of UK residents every year, our research earned national and international media coverage , including The Independent, Huffington Post and Politics.co.uk.

Kiwi Movers director Regan Mcmilan said: “It’s great to be recognised by our local business community for the awareness raising work we’ve done this year. Every day we help people move house so we get a first hand understanding of the various stresses they face.

“We do our best to make every move stress free, but we were alarmed by just how many of our private tenant customers had problems getting their deposit back after leaving their home in a pristine position. That’s something we wanted to help with, so we decided to try and raise awareness of this issue using digital content and social media.

“We’ve earned coverage nationally and internationally, which has been great, but we primarily serve local people and businesses, so it’s fitting to end the year with award that’s about local businesses. “    

We’ve recently conducted some new research. After noticing a growing trend among home movers for leaving gifts for the next people to move into their property, we decided to run a poll to see how many people actually do it.

Britons spent on average £22 on gifts for the people moving into their home in 2015. 7 in 10 said they had left a gift for the people moving into their new home.

The study of just over 1,000 people who moved house during 2015 found that wine was by far the most popular choice, with over half (55%) of those leaving gifts opting for a nice bottle of something for the new inhabitants to enjoy. Other popular gift choices include;

• Chocolates
• Flowers
• Ready meals for the first night
• A collection of essentials for the first night, including toilet paper, tea bags, milk and other basics.
• Houseplants

A similar number to those who’d left a gift said they’d been the beneficiary of the same generosity, with 68% saying the previous occupiers of a home they’d moved into had left a gift for them.

Almost 1 in 5 (19%) say they’d now expect to receive a gift next time they move house.

Nice things you did for fellow movers in 2015

• Buy a gift – 72%

• Leave a card – 66%
• Prepare useful information such as bus timetables and takeaway menus – 60%
• Leave behind useful items such as paint, spare wallpaper or tools – 51%
• Hire a cleaner before moving out – 48%

Most generous movers

People moving into property in the Surrey are the most likely to discover a gift from a previous occupier, while those living in the West Midlands are least likely to get a nice surprise.

Movers in London spend the most on gifts, at an average of £26 per household. Movers in the North East spend the least at £18.

From cash to sex tapes – the weirdest things people left behind when moving house in 2015

As well leaving traditional housewarming presents, Britain’s movers have also been leaving some more ‘exotic’ offerings.

Ellis King of London reported that the previous occupants of her flat had hidden a copy of the Paris Hilton sextape ‘A night in Paris’ in a makeshift wall in the kitchen, which she found while replacing the tiles.

@gemmacombellack ha! @seanomeara I found a copy of A Night in Paris hidden behind a makeshift wall in our kitchen while we were untiling!

— Ellis Sian King (@ellissianking) November 16, 2015

Pauline Johnston and her partner found £300 stuffed behind the bathroom radiator when cleaning their new house in Manchester.

“The place was in need of a good clean when we moved in so I set aside an entire weekend. When a roll of £5 notes dropped out from behind the radiator, it was a very unexpected surprise.”

Other unusual ‘gifts’ left by house-movers included;

• A corn on the cob-shaped sex toy found by a property developer in Nottingham
• An antique dentist chair left behind by a London-based author
• A letter from a child asking the new owners to take care of her first home.
• A pair of glasses left in the freezer discovered by the new owners of a house in Glasgow.
• A detailed history of the property stretching back to the 1800s found by an Internet entrepreneur when she moved into her Kent cottage.
• An almost brand new washing machine left in the garage of a house in Berkshire, despite it not being mentioned in the contract.

Regan McMillan, Director of Kiwi Movers, believes the trend for leaving gifts is growing.

“It’s something we’ve seen a lot more recently while helping people move. Wine, flowers and cards are quite commonplace now, whereas they weren’t so common maybe five years ago.
It’s impressive to see how generous and thoughtful people can be during what is possibly one of the most stressful events in their lives.”

Kiwi Movers are proud to be a London company. Many of us moved here from other parts of the world. We love being here and we love helping Londoners move their stuff.

We recently did some research to see how others view London. We got stuck into Google’s data to see how London was viewed by estate agents. We wanted to know how an estate agents and online letting agents describes a neighbourhood, or a street, or an entire borough. There’s an infographic below, but here are some interesting findings too.

• The most common adjective used to describe neighbourhoods in London (as opposed to those used to describe properties, like “spacious” which we filtered out) was “lovely.” It used over 280,000 times on one of the biggest estate agent websites.
• The word “affordable” appears fewer than 700 times on the same site.
• The word “coffee” is used more than twice as frequently as the word “family/families.”
• “Up and coming” is still a favourite for describing less than “sought after” areas. West Ham, East Ham, Plaistow and Upton Park are among the most commonly described as up-and-coming.
• The word “burger” is used in the descriptions for Wapping, Golders Green, Haggerston, London Fields and Gospel Oak.
• The word “cocktail” is used in the descriptions of Shoreditch, Hoxton, Holborn, Clerkenwell and Brick Lane.
• The word “coffee” is used in the descriptions for Tooting. Wandsworth, Islington, Shacklewell, Hackney and Clapton.

London according to estate agents.

Comparison of terms

Terms by inner London borough

We used Google data to analyse the range of words on each web page. This research was conducted between the 15th and 27th October 2015 using Foxtons.co.uk, Chestertons.co.uk, Green.co.uk, Hamptons.co.uk, Zoopla.co.uk and Rightmove.co.uk. We used a process which automatically discounted words used to describe property, such as ‘spacious’ or ‘modern.’

Moving house is exciting, but it’s not what you’d called fun (unless you happen to work for Kiwi Movers!). You’re most likely going to be stressed, worried about your stuff and trying to get from place A to place B in an increasingly unrealistic time.

For small-scale moves that you want to tackle on your own (we recommend calling in the professionals for bigger moves), here are some of the Internet’s best tips for taking the stress out of a moving house.

Have a good clean out.

According to our research, one in four house-movers pack at least one box of stuff they don’t need. This is a waste of effort and money. Get rid of everything you haven’t used in the last six months.

Start with anything that is duplicate. Whether it’s ‘spare’ mobile phones, fondue makers or clothes; if there’s multiple versions of pretty much the same thing, give it to charity.

But keep at least one pair of fitted bed sheets.

The single exception to this rule is bed sheets; these are perfect for protecting your mattress during the move. You can even keep them after you’ve moved if you plan to do any painting at the new place as they’re ideal for covering furniture.

Get some proper boxes.

It’s very tempting to grab a load of used cardboard boxes from your local shop – and this is fine for transporting stuff that is either unlikely to break or unlikely to leave you upset if it does break – but for the important stuff, like audio equipment, crockery and glassware, you’re going to need proper boxes. You can order removals boxes from your removals company in advance.

The difference between proper, double-walled removal boxes and cardboard boxes is massive. When you’re carrying half your kitchen in a slightly damp banana box, you’ll feel the bottom buckle, the sides bend and thin cardboard is hardly going to protect the contents from bangs and bumps. When you lift a proper, sturdy removals box designed to protect your valuable stuff, you’ll be grateful this is one area you decided not to cut corners.

Keep clothes on their hangers during the move.

This saves space and time. Transporting clothing is a bit of a faff. Clothes are heavy, cumbersome and difficult to pack efficiently. Using hangers in this way at least removes the effort of packing and unpacking.

Image courtesy of Wickerhouse.blogspot

Download EvidenceCam for iPhone or Android.

This nifty little app time-stamps, dates and watermarks your photos with GPS coordinates; ideal for proving beyond doubt that the meter reading you sent to your gas supplier was accurate and legit. No more debates about when you took your reading and whether it’s accurate, all the proof you need will be on your phone.

Take photos of meter readings.

Sort of self-explanatory after the previous tip, but important nonetheless. Send these off on the date that you vacate the house if it’s at all possible.

Invest in some sandwich bags and strong sticky tape.

When dismantling furniture, put all the screws, nuts and bolts in the sandwich bag and stick it to a non-visible part of the furniture. Don’t do this with antique oak furniture please.

Use rope or very strong string to keep drawers shut when moving them.

This saves fingers and drawers from damage. If your drawers contain fairly light objects, it may be worth moving them full. This obviously means you’ve got one less packing job at each end, but it’s only a smart thing to do if the full chest of drawers can be moved with its contents in place.

Photograph wiring configurations before packing electronic equipment.

This way you’ll have a handy reference for when you come to rewire your TV, stereo and anything else that requires such attention. So many hours are lost to trying to figure out exactly which wire went where and why.

Put a rubber band around the lock on your front door.

If you’ve got one of those doors that lock automatically, this will stop that annoying scenario when the door swings shut as you’re carrying a box of books.

Use soap to fill in small holes left by hanging pictures.

Take photos of your freshly cleaned and tidied rental property

Don’t be one of the 8 in 10 private tenants who struggle to get their deposit back. If your moving budget can stretch to it, hiring a professional cleaner as for your move can take a lot of hassle out of the process. This is especially true if you’re vacating a rented property. Even if you aren’t renting, it’s never nice to move into a dirty house, so if you’re feeling gracious to the people who bought your house, this could be a good way of earning some house move karma. You never know when you might need the removals Gods to smile down on you…

We know how stressful moving house can be and we know it’s especially tough (although also very exciting) moving to a new city. So to help anyone and everyone planning on heading to the greatest city in the world, we asked Twitter to recommend their top hacks for moving to and living in London.

Tips for moving to London

One of the best tips we received was from @Iain_Alexander on Twitter who advised Londoners-to-be to do a fact-finding trip before settling in somewhere. He set aside budget for a hotel and then viewed 16 apartments before putting his money down. This surely beats committing to a place before you’ve seen it.

Once you’re here, TaskRabbit is a handy tool for getting organised and getting things done. This location-basd app lets you outsource tasks locally. Whether it’s help with packing for a move (we do that of course, don’t forget) or hiring someone to help with work around the house, this app is a winner.

Use Mapumental to find the perfect place to live based on where you’re going to be working. This tool uses public transport data to calculate the place where you’re best suited to live based on having a better commute.

Make sure your tenancy deposit is taken care of. We reported earlier this year that 8 in 10 private tenants experience problems getting their deposit back. All you need to check if your deposit has been placed in a tenancy deposit scheme is your postcode, the start date of your tenancy and this link.

A lot of London properties don’t have room for washers and driers, so Laundrapp – an app that helps you arrange affordable laundry services – is a great tool.

Getting about

Don’t buy a car, you can rent them by the hour using City Car Club (now owned by Enterprise and called Enterprise Car Club). Parking spaces in London can cost as much as actual houses elsewhere in the country, so don’t even think about being a car owner in the capital. For membership from £50 a year and car for around £5 an hour, City Car Club is a great shout. They’ve got locations all over the place too. If you’re already a car owner, Autotrader is possibly the best place to sell it. If it’s an older car or a bit of a banger, Scrap Car Network offer competitive prices for car recycling.

A tube map is fine but knowing whether the Underground beats walking is the sort of knowledge you pick up as a local. Cheat the system @citymapper – it’s great for navigating your way between obscure points on the map.  

Download the Stationmaster app to familiarise yourself with the London tube network. This app is great, its got shortcuts to help you avoid rush hour crushes and other great hacks.

Look for worn out parts of the platform. This will help you calculate where the train door will be when the tube pulls in.

The London Bike Kitchen is a great place to go for a coffee, but the team there will also show you how to fix your bike. It’s also a good place to get second hand parts.

Work at The Barbican Centre. The iconic arts centre and Brutalist masterpiece is set up for students and freelancers. There are loads of places to sit, charge your laptop and the laptop is top notch.

Heading out

@TheBookClubEC2 @DrinkShopDo @LondONtheinside all come recommended as affordable spots for socialising. While music fans are advised to sign up with the @RoundhouseLDN to get great deals and alerts on performances from emerging artists

If you want to snag a table at an exclusive restaurant without paying the hefty price tag, Uncover London is a great service for hooking up spare covers with frugal diners.

Other highly recommended tech for London newbies

@Jukely – Cheaper gig, concert and festival tickets. Subscription based.

@Frugl – events and offers for under £10

@SkintLondon – more fab things for a tenner and under.

@handy – get home services on demand, without the hassle.

The high cost of living and working in London means it can actually be cheaper – and better – to commute in from Europe

For those who love their London job but hate the cost of living, there’s now a way to keep their career on track without the financial stress of living in London.

At least 12 major European cities are now financially and logistically commutable* from London, according to new research.

Kiwi Movers have created a European Commutability Index to help London workers find a city to commute from that suits them – the higher the index score, the better.

See full infographic and data

See the full sized image

Taking into account a range of lifestyle factors, such as commute time, commute cost, rent, cost per square foot and local climate, we’ve come up with the ‘commutable 12’ – Europe’s best cities for working in London.

As well as offering a financially better alternative, the cities – which include Barcelona, Zagreb, The Hague and Berlin – offer other advantages too, including better rights for renters, more sunshine and in the case of the The Hague, a commute that is actually quicker than some tube journeys.

With average rents now hitting £1,211 for a one-bedroom flat in the London and a monthly Zone 1-4 travel card adding a further £177 to your living costs, heading for mainland Europe, where rents are as much as £977** cheaper per month, can be a financially savvy decision.

In fact, one Londoner did just that in 2013. Social media manager Sam Cookney relocated to Barcelona and saved a reported £339 per month.

But some cities are even cheaper and offer more space, more luxury and far better weather to boot.

Prague’s relatively short commute time, cheap rents and affordability make it the highest scorer on the index. Budapest follows closely behind but would-be commuters should note that not everyone speaks English, so it would be necessary to learn Hungarian to get by here.

If it’s a short commute you’re after, you can get from your front door in The Hague to Bank Tube Station in approximately 1 hour and 25 minutes. That includes the commute from The Hague to Rotterdam Airport and then on to London City Airport.

Best cities overall for commuting to London

How do the Commutable 12 compare to London?

Best weather – Lisbon – average temperature is 20.8 degrees celsius and an 68% annual average probability of sunshine.

Best value for money on rent – Prague – £243 per month for a 70 sq metre 2-bedroom apartment with wrap-around balcony and hardwood floors near the centre of the city.

That’s £1 cheaper than a Zone 1-7 monthly travel card

Shortest commute – 1 hour and 17 minutes The Hague. 22 minute commute from The Hague to Rotterdam Airport, followed by a flight time of 55 minutes straight into London City Airport.

This commute is six minutes shorter than a Central Line journey across London from West Ruislip to Epping!

Cheapest commutes

You can fly to London from Warsaw, Barcelona, Berlin and Milan for under £40 return. Compared to the £316 cost of a monthly rail pass to get from the Buckinghamshire commuter town of Gerrards Cross to London, we’ve calculated how many journeys people living in the Commutable 12 could make.

Warsaw and Barcelona are cheap enough that a commuter could feasibly travel to London ten times a month, almost equivalent to half of the working days in a month.

Shortest commutes

*assuming one weekly commute, returning on the same day so no hotel expenses.

**Based on living in Prague.

kiwimovers.co.uk European Commutability Index – PDF
Kiwi Movers European Commutability Index Data and Methodology

Earlier this year we revealed that private tenants are losing as much as £40 million a year due to withheld deposits, many of which are withheld unfairly.

In our survey, we asked respondents to give the reasons why their deposit was withheld and some of the responses were interesting, unusual, absolutely ridiculous.

Here’s a selection of the best from our poll plus some we saw on social media that we just couldn’t leave out.

“Someone blocked the toilet after you moved out.”

“It was definitely clear when we left. If it was blocked, it must have been someone from the lettings agency that did it. However, it was £75 from a £1,000 deposit, so I didn’t bother challenging the landlord.”

“You didn’t give sufficient notice before a hurricane flooded your apartment.”

“Someone tried to break in before you lived here.”

“The house had been broken into before we moved in. We gave up reporting the damage to the window that was caused, even though it prevented us from fully opening it. When we moved out, the landlord tried to blame us for the same damage.”

“There’s detergent residue in the detergent tray.”

“I hired a professional cleaning company because I didn’t have time to deep clean the apartment myself. The letting agency still deducted £35 from my deposit because there was detergent residue inside the detergent tray.”

“Despite the murder that occurred in the property, you didn’t provide sufficient notice.”

“I never had it, it’s not my problem.”

Image credit – Giphy

“The flat we lived in was sold while we were living in it. The new owner was a buy-to-let landlord and when it came for us to leave, he tried to fob us off by saying that the old landlord had got the deposit.

“We pointed out that he’d broken the law by signing an assured short hold tenancy agreement without protecting our deposit, he didn’t care. He just told us to take it up with the old landlord who’d since moved to Portugal to retire.”

“You left my furniture in the house.”

“We’re waiting for someone else to move in before we return your deposit.”

We’d like to point out that not all landlords are unscrupulous or dishonest – we actually work with some great landlords who really care about their tenants – but it’s always a shame to see the bad ones letting the side down.

That said, a lot of withheld deposits are due to people simply not cleaning up properly at the end of their tenancy. Many removals firms, including us now offer a professional end-of-tenancy cleaning service that can help make that deposit retrieval process a little bit simpler and make the whole removal process a little less stressful.

Here’s what happens if you knock down an historic pub without asking permission…

Kiwi Movers HQ is based in the heart of Wandsworth Common. It’s a beautiful place to work and the team appreciate being in such great surroundings.

So we were surprised and a little sad to see a local landmark recently get knocked down. The Alchemist pub in Battersea had seen better days of course, but with a bit of consideration, it could – and should – have been returned to its former glory. Instead it was knocked down to make space for an apartment development. 

The Alchemist pub – a valuable example of Victorian architecture

Gone – the former site of the Alchemist pub near Kiwi Movers headquarters.

Picture Credit – Nigel Howard/London Evening Standard.

After the pub was destroyed, it emerged that property developer Udhyam Amin had torn it down without getting permission. The pub stood in a conservation area and planning permission was required to alter the external appearance of the structure, let alone completely destroy it.

Mr. Amin attempted to get permission via the back door by applying for retrospective planning permission, claiming the building was dangerous.

Fortunately, the powers that be weren’t having it.

Planning chairman Cllr Sarah McDermott said: “The developer was trying to get permission for this unlawful demolition by the back door. This attempt has been roundly rejected.

“The loss of such an interesting and important local landmark was judged to be against the public interest.

“In our view the demolition was a very serious breach of planning rules which can only be put right by the complete rebuilding and reconstruction of this important community asset, using the same materials and to the same architectural design.

“This building was an integral part of the St John’s Hill Grove conservation area and its loss has been keenly felt by local people. That’s why we are determined to take action to ensure it’s restored for future generations.”

Hopefully the next time a property developer thinks about destroying an historic building without getting the required planning permission, this case will discourage them. And on the off-chance you’re reading this Mr. Amin, Kiwi Movers also do builder’s cleans.

So when you’re finished putting that pub back up, give us a shout and we’ll come and tidy up the mess.

What is a digital nomad?

Digital nomad is a relatively new term that describes those lucky so and sos who aren’t tied to a fixed location through work. They typically work in the creative and digital industries and make use of remote commuting techniques to take their work on the road with them.

The best description of a digital nomad is someone who is location independent and able to take advantage of the cheaper cost of living overseas. Graphic designers, copywriters, web developers, SEO execs and the like can conduct all of their work remotely, communicate with clients via the web and never need to be in one place for a specific length of time.

Because many digital nomads choose to travel to where the cost of living is much lower, they have smaller overheads and are able therefore to offer cheaper rates to their clients as a result. A win win.

What are the benefits?

The benefits are pretty obvious. You get to travel, live overseas and explore the world while working. You can pick and choose your work, invoice your clients from the hostel or hotel and generally live a great, adventurous lifestyle without having to save up or losing money as you do so.

But it’s not a complete picnic. There are sacrifices and challenges too. So we asked Twitter’s army of digital nomads to give us their best tips for living the location independent lifestyle.

Alan Donegan, founder of @popupbusiness school had this to say.

 wifi is so important! Costa Rica nearly killed me as the wifi was so bad! #digitalnomad

— Alan Donegan (@AlanDonegan) July 21, 2015

Travel blogger and digital marketing expert Tom Bourlet offered a great tip for staying productive while away from home.

having a dongle, buying a backup laptop battery & phone battery, keep all docs saved on Google Drive as well as laptop — Tom Bourlet (@tom_bourlet) July 21, 2015

Freelance photographer and PR genius Kate Stewart gave us some less glam, but equally useful tips for staying connected.

Not quite as exotic but @Wetherspoons can be cheap lifesavers for free wifi & Starbucks have started wireless phone charging — Kate Stewart (@Katiness) July 21, 2015

She also recommends @aircharge1 for finding which places do wireless charging.

British entrepreneur in Australia Anita Lee gave us some good advice on running your life as a business.

Keep in *regular* touch with ur team to maintain some structure and momentum in your business. & Use time zones to advantage.

— Anita Lee (@Anita_M_Lee) July 21, 2015

Meanwhile, ‘sextech’ entrepreneur Darren J Smith implores digital nomads to take full advantage of their fortunate circumstances.

find the right balance of work and social interaction. Life is no longer scripted. You have full control! :)

— Darren J Smith (@Darrenux) July 21, 2015

Productivity Hacks for Digital Nomads

We caught up with Alex Perron, head of growth at Canadian startup Pressly – a new content marketing platform – to get his insights on living the professional life on the road.

“I’d say the most important thing when you work online is a good wi-fi connection. And there are lots of places out there where it takes a minute or more to load a web page, which is both frustrating, depressing, and kills your productivity.

In most cities I used to find a five-star hotel nearby, get a room for one night and find a cooler-than-average employee who would give me the staff wi-fi password in exchange for a good tip. It helped a lot.

“The second thing you need to be careful about is productivity. When you work for yourself, especially from a place that you always wanted to go visit, it is very easy to get distracted and spend most of your time wandering around and lose focus on your deliverables.

I used to wake up every morning at 9, and see the coffee shop or the hotel bar next door as my office. I would get dressed, and go there before 10 to start my day. I’d stay there until 4 or 5 and leave. That’s the way I found to structure my days in that type of environment.

“Logistics: get a few chargers for every of your devices on Alibaba. I tend to lose stuff all the time. I once lost my laptop charger in Essaouira, Morocco. Lesson learned. This is why you want your current work to be saved in the cloud at all times. Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud. Whatever it is, save your stuff online!”

Digital Nomad Survival Tips

• Keep everything backed up in the cloud. That way, if any devices get stolen you can still access your work. This applies to copies of your important documents too.

• Check out free wifi availability before traveling. Seoul, Tallinn, Paris, Stockholm and Mountain View, California are among the best-served cities for free wifi in the world.

• Send your stuff home as you collect it. If you spot something on your travels that you simply can’t live without, don’t lug it about. Use an an affordable excess baggage service like ours to send it home where it’ll stay safe.

• Be disciplined. You’ve got to work to keep up this amazing lifestyle, so keep on top of your hours. Use a free time-tracking app like Toggl to monitor your productivity.

• Invest in good quality mobile broadband when you’re heading to remote locations. Global Gig offers low cost, reliable mobile broadband for a fixed price.

• Get good health insurance. Speak to your current provider to see if they’ll do a good deal as an existing customer or use a travel insurance comparison service to get the best deal.

• Enjoy it. Not everyone gets to live this sort of lifestyle.

The Office for National Statistics estimates that 3.3 million adults live with their parents. With house prices and rental prices making solo or even shared living prohibitively expensive for many, living in the parental home is often the tricky reality. Some of us have never managed to move out, while others have tasted sweet freedom and have chosen to move back.

But don’t be too downbeat, Rafa Nadal, singer Adele, Steve Jobs and even Alexander Graham Bell had to live with their parents in adulthood. If it’s good enough for them, it’s got to be good enough for the rest of us.

Why move back?

Saving up for for a place of our own is one of the biggest drivers for adults living with their parents. But while we’re waiting for that bank balance to begin to grow, living with the folks can prove to be quite a challenge and not just for us – you will never know how much your parents cherished having their home to themselves until you rocked up back on the doorstep – so here’s eight pro tips for making the most of being back in the nest.

• Be as productive as possible – You might as well face it from day one, you’re here because you either have no money or you want to save up what little money you do have. That means that going to the pub or on holiday to escape the parental reigns are neither of your immediate priorities. To that end, you’d better make being at home as enjoyable and comfortable as possible, otherwise you risk extending your stay at Hotel Mum and Dad by frittering away money you could be putting towards a nice deposit.
  
  Netflix and Youtube are two very inexpensive modes of entertainment.All you need is a laptop, mobile or tablet. Get into a new series, learn a new skill via Youtube or simply find a way to relax.You could even massively improve your employment options by learning to code or by learning another language. Khan Academy is an excellent place to start if you want to spend some quality time developing a new skill. It’s absolutely free too. Find out more here.Mike Upjohn is a web developer for top UK marketing agency Venn Digital.

  He recommends combining an existing interest with the learning process to make it more rewarding and relevant.“Learning to code is extremely rewarding and you never feel alone with the amount of forums, tutorials and other content that is online to help you get started.“The best advice I have for getting into development is; pick something you are really interested in, and then develop a website, a piece of software or a piece of code to solve a problem in that area. The combination of learning development and having an interest in the topic can make for an exciting and rewarding project, interest and potentially a career too.
  
  “Groups such as StackOverflow are extremely helpful in assisting with solving problems or developing your programming skills and as everyone is there for the same reason, it’s a fantastic environment for bouncing ideas off one another.“New developers shouldn’t be put off by the numbers of different languages out there. Once you develop the right problem solving skills and understand the method of programming, it’s simply a case of learning the syntax and its power (a bit like learning a foreign language).

  “Developing anything, with any form of code is as much about testing the code you write as it is about writing the code in the first place.”

  You don’t need to undertake something of this magnitude to make living with your parents rewarding. Hobbies can lead to interesting things too. For example, instead of going to the pub and spending deposit money, why not use the garage to set up your own home brew operation? The likes of Muntons and The Home Brew Shop offer very reasonably-priced starter kits for new brewers. You might even make a bit of cash on the side.

• Plan your exit – Nothing will make living at home with your parents more of a drag than having no light at the end of the tunnel. Even if it’s not for two years from now, have a plan of when you want to move out and know what steps you need to take to achieve this. How many months will it take you to save up a deposit? How many extra hours at work would you need to do per week to bring that date forward by a month? Knowing how you’ll make your escape for freedom will help you make the most of this period of your life.

• Make your contributions obvious – We know you pull your weight but sometimes your contributions can be overlooked. We’re not saying walk around with a placard saying “I did some vacuuming” but if you have indeed done some vacuuming, make sure you do a good enough job that your parents know about it.That means moving furniture, vacuuming under the rug and so on. Same goes for cleaning. If you’ve made the effort to clean, do the best job you can without hating yourself. Pro tip; ‘accidentally’ leaving the Pledge out will tip off an under-appreciative parent that you’ve not been watching Cash in the Attic all day long.

• Don’t be an expensive house guest – You cost money. Your parents will no doubt be aware of this due to the increased food and fuel bills. They won’t say anything though because they love you. If you can contribute, that’s great, but even if you can’t it’s good to minimise the expense that you represent. Showers are cheaper than baths, an extra blanket is cheaper than having the heating on all day, tap water is cheaper than writing “Evian x12 please!” on the shopping list. You get the picture.

• Get regular respite – Living with the folks is a challenge for everyone. That’s why you should make good use of your friends to give yourself and your folks some space now and then. Make a weekly thing of it so your parents can plan to make the most of your absence. Whether it’s five-a-side football, yoga once a week or simply walking over to a friend’s house for a cup of tea and a biscuit, knowing you’ll be out of the way at least once a week is good for everyone.

• Coordinate and plan your movements – Following on from the regular respite route, it may not feel like it but giving your parents as much advance info on your movements will reduce stress for all of you. Don’t want your mum ringing when you’re at your friends’ place? Tell her you’re going out and give yourself an hour’s grace on your ETA. That way she won’t fret (she loves to fret) when you’re ten minutes late back.Planning and coordinating can also result in some extra bonuses. Let’s assume for a second that your parents are going on holiday. That leaves you in the house by yourself. Now let’s assume that you’re planning on staying with a friend for a week.You’ve got a choice of when to go, when your parents are away or when they’re back. The latter is the correct choice as it maximises your time away from the house and gives your parents extra time together.

• Set boundaries and expectations – Your parents respect you but definitions of respect vary from generation to generation, as we’re sure you know. If you don’t want your dad washing your delicates, don’t just say so, prove it by doing your own washing. For every week your festering pile of laundry sits in the corner of your room, the more entitled your dad is to pick it up and do it.The same goes for meals. If you don’t want to be obliged to eat with your folks every night, let them know. Don’t let good food go to waste through a simple lack of communication. You’ll feel bad and your mum’s inherent aversion to throwing out perfectly good food will stress her out.

• Embrace it – Here’s something you might not have considered. Your parents are actually thoughtful, funny, interesting people. Instead of worrying about how to avoid your parents’ company all the time, maybe you could make the most of it.Your mum still loves a chinwag and your dad is only watching that documentary on steam trains by himself because he thinks nobody else is interested. You might not have chosen to be thrown back into the parental home, but with the right attitude it could actually be a really positive experience.

New research conducted by us has revealed that 51% of people who’ve moved house in the last five years still had unpacking to do by the tenth month of being in their new place. Three quarters of those admitted that not being fully unpacked was causing stress in their lives, while half of those said it had caused arguments.

Furthermore, one in four surveyed said their inability to fully unpack had caused them to leave one or more boxes packed for the duration of their stay in a property. Sandwich toasters, cocktail shakers and other non-essential kitchen items were the things most likely to remain boxed, while the kettle (obviously) and phone and tablet chargers (naturally) and bathroom essentials (definitely!) are typically the first items to be unboxed after a move.

Our survey of more than 1,000 people found that most people still had unpacking to do 304 (ten months) after stepping over the threshold of their new place. One in five (18%) said they took more than a year to get fully unpacked, while seven percent were still living out of boxes two years after moving.

This news must be hard to contemplate for the super organised minority in our survey. Three percent of our respondents claimed that they’d unpacked everything within a day of moving, while seven percent said they’d got the job finished within a week.

Decorating was the most common excuse given by the slow unpackers, with 44% saying they’d properly unpack once they’d completed the necessary tasks. 31% said they needed to get more storage solutions, 12% said they were still debating where to put things, while 7% said they were too busy and 6% percent just admitted they couldn’t be bothered.

Almost two thirds still having unpacking to do by month nine in a new house.

A third (31%) said the delay in unpacking was due to having insufficient storage, while 12% said they couldn’t agree with their significant other on where to put things.

13% blamed themselves, with 7% saying they were too busy to fully unpack and 6% admitting to being too lazy to finish the job. Men were far more likely than women to be living out of boxes and couples were less likely to be doing so than singletons.

Regan McMillan, Kiwi Movers director reckons a lot of folks make their lives unnecessarily hard by packing items they don’t actually need.

“If a quarter of people are saying they’ve got boxes they never unpacked since their last move, you’ve got to wonder if they really need what’s inside. We recommend having a thorough de-clutter prior to moving house so our clients don’t end up paying to move, then storing or living among items they don’t actually need. In most cases, if you haven’t used it in the last six months, you can most likely do without.”

The first thing anyone who needs to move their stuff should do is get removals quotes. You can do this easily online. Going off recommendations is great but you can’t be sure you’re getting the right deal on your move until you’ve run through a few quotes.

Certain factors can make a company unsuitable for your needs and this can result in a higher than normal quote. For example, some firms specialise in small, local jobs and don’t have the resource or capacity to efficiently complete a large, long-distance move, so they’ll quote you higher to cover this. Certain firms don’t like to do certain areas so again, may quote higher than normal to cover this.

At Kiwi Movers we specialise in moving people in and out of London. We know the city, the buildings, the roads, the parking situation and how to get around all of the unique challenges that come with working and living here. That’s why we’re confident in our quotes for London removals, but we still advise any customer to ensure they have a good understanding of the following factors before settling on a removals firm.

Removal Price: Per Hour or Per Job?

There are two ways to price up a move; either you will receive an end to end price for the entire move, or you’ll be quoted an hourly rate. With hourly rate quotes, it’s important that the firm provides an estimate of how long they’ll take to do the job.

Professional movers will be able to give a fairly accurate estimate on a job, but to do so it’s important that the client provides as much information as possible when getting the quote. This is especially handy for smaller moves, such as man and van jobs, where there isn’t a whole lot to shift. Although regardless of how much stuff you own, your removals team need to take into account a number of key factors, such as;

• Distance to move – This is one of the biggest factors in determining the cost of your move.
• Day of the move – We need to anticipate flow of traffic and factor that into our time estimates, for example it’s good to know whether we’ll    be hitting London traffic on a Friday afternoon.
• Stairs – If you’ve got them, we need to know about them.
• Complexity of move – Features such as sash windows and spiral stairs can influence the quote.

Kiwi Movers can price per job or per hour, depending on the nature of the move. But no matter how we quote, we always aim to ensure it represents the best value and lowest possible price for our customers.

The importance of removal quote surveys

At Kiwi Movers we will conduct a free quotation survey so we can give the most accurate (and best) quote we can. Without visiting your property and seeing how much, or how little, stuff you’ve got, we can’t accurately spec the job.

Visiting to do an in-person survey also gives you a chance to meet your removals team and gives the team a chance to spot any snags that you may not have noticed. For example, an awkwardly placed radiator or a tight turn at the top of the stairs may be invisible until you come to shift a sofa out of the building. When we conduct our free quotation survey, we typically look at the following.

• Stairs – moving things safely down stairs (or up if you live in a basement flat) can be a big factor on how long the job will take.
• Width of doors – Nice wide doors can make a huge difference to how quickly we can get your stuff onto the van. We can pretty much move anything, but a narrow doorway can be the difference between dismantling something or moving it in one piece.
• Parking availability – We understand that sometimes people just don’t have parking, so it’s important we come and have a look to how we can work around this.
• Volume and type of items to be moved – If you’ve ever moved house yourself, you’ll no doubt understand how easy it is to underestimate the amount of stuff you have. Until your belongings are packed and stacked, it’s actually quite hard to estimate. That’s why we do surveys.

Make sure you’re comparing like-for-like when reviewing removal quotes.

We’d always encourage you to compare quotes to ensure you get the best deal. But it’s super important to make sure you’re comparing like for like. For example, if you’re paying a lower per hour rate, but you’ve got a smaller team on the job, it’s going to take them longer to do it. This could result in you paying more and having your move take longer.

Double check whether the following are included in the quote.

Insurance – Extremely important no matter how much stuff and how far you’re moving.

Packing – Having professional packing can influence your insurance, so always check who is doing it. We recommend letting the professionals do it. FInd out why here.

Packing supplies – Again, good quality boxes and packing materials can make a move easier than you’d probably imagine.

Dismantling and assembly – This is included as standard in our quotes and we’ll advise you of any items that require special treatment when we’ve done our survey. Make sure you double check that this is included in any other quotes you get as some firms may charge extra.

Removal quotes online – Add-ons

Services that are typically not included in a removal quote include;

Storage – We offer both long term and short term self storage for an extra cost.

Shipping – Many of our clients find it useful to arrange shipping along with removals for convenience.

Cleaning – Some removals can unsettle dust and there’s always a bit of mess once your stuff is out of the way. We can take care of cleaning for you but it isn’t included in our standard quote.

Waste removal – We’re happy to handle this too, but again, it’s not included in the standard quote.

Packing and packaging materials – We recommend these services for insurance and expediency reasons, but they’re not included in typical removals quotes.

The key thing to remember is that you’ll never fully know whether you’re getting a good unless you completely understand the nature of the quote.