Alfred Cove Removalists

The best way to ensure a successful move day is to be prepared. One way to do this is to notify your removalist about any very heavy or awkward-to-move items before move day. It can never hurt to double-check with them that they understand that you have these items, even if you have also submitted an inventory list. These sorts of items include:

• Grand / Baby grand piano
• Pizza oven
• Concrete furniture
• Pool / snooker tables (particularly slate)
• Many pot plants / large pot plants

No one expects that you keep the original box that your TV came in when you bought it. Most removalists can provide special TV moving cardboard boxes that can help to keep your TV safe and secure while being transported (make sure you enquire about this before your move day. Otherwise, you can protect your television by wrapping it in blankets and then wrapping that tightly in cling film. Finally, as a peace of mind measure, we recommend purchasing one of our affordable moving insurance policies to protect your most valuable possessions like your TV in case of an accident.

The earlier you book your move the more confident you can be that the date you wish to move will be available. However, the time in advance that you should book is heavily dependent on the time of year. Between October and March we recommend booking at least 3-4 weeks in advance of when you want to move. From March - September you can leave it a little later, booking 2-3 weeks out.

Each company has differing policies about notification before the pickup and delivery. Some companies can provide a time window on booking, others provide this the day before, while others will provide notice within an hour of their arrival. 

Reading reviews is a great way to determine if a removalist is the right one for you. Platforms like Google, Product Review or Muval are great for this because they have built-in mechanisms to ensure reviews are from genuine people that have actually interacted with that business.

However, we advise to be cautions of moving companies with hundres of reviews and a perfect 5 star rating on these platforms as reviews unfortunately can be faked. Don't get us wrong: honest companies with a perfect 5 star rating do exist and they are excellent (we have a few on our platform!). But, given the nature of furniture removalist work, something, at some point, is bound to go wrong. Maybe the truck breaks down and is late for a job. Maybe someone accidentally trips and some items in a box are damaged. Whatever it is, accidents unfortunately do happen and these sorts of occassions rarely attract a 5 star rating.

Because of this, companies with a 4.5 or above rating are often just as good as a company with a perfect 5. So, we suggest, instead of looking for all 5-star reviews, take a look at a companies worst reviews and pay special attention to how they responded to the issue. Were they sympathetic? Did they respond promptly? Did they offer a resolution? Were they contactable for the customer to voice their concerns? These are the sorts of things that separate the best removalists from those who don't deliver a high level of service.

Read more about how to avoid dodgy removalists here.

A cubic metre is 1m x 1m x 1m. A full-sized container size is 38m3. 

Truck sizes vary from 20m3 to 70m3 and sometimes 100m3.

When looking at your kitchen, the industry standard is one book carton to each cupboard door. 

If you have the original TV box, please use it. You can also purchase TV storage/removal boxes from storage centres. If you don’t have a box and can’t source one, the removalist will use heavy-duty blankets to protect the TV.