Handled twice · 2
Picked up once, put down once
The lowest count available, and the option we recommend wherever the dates and the budget allow it. Your goods leave one house and enter another without being put down anywhere in between.
Two handlings is the floor. Nobody can move a household with fewer, and plenty of arrangements involve more.
What a direct move involves
Why the same crew matters
Not for sentiment. The person who wrapped a marble top knows it is not to be stood on its edge; the person who took a bed apart knows where the fixings went. On a dedicated load that knowledge travels with the goods. On a transferred load it stops at the depot door.
It is also why a direct move needs fewer instructions from you. Nothing has to be written down for a stranger who will handle the item next.
The two places the risk concentrates
The doorway and the stair turn, in that order. More furniture is marked on a door frame than anywhere else on a move, because it is a hard edge at exactly the height of a table corner, passed twice by everything you own.
Frames are padded at both properties before the first item moves — not after the first one catches. And anything that will not pass the clear diagonal at the stair turn is dismantled rather than forced, which is a decision made at survey rather than on a landing.
Completion day, and the hour nobody owns
Where the move depends on a sale, keys are released once money has moved up a chain, and the household at the bottom is paid last. The load is built early and the plan allows for a wait.
Tell us how many households are in the chain when you book. It changes what we plan for and it is the piece of information most often left out.
When a direct load is the wrong answer
When you are moving a small flat a long way. Buying a whole vehicle for a quarter of a load and four hundred miles is poor value, and we will quote the part-load alongside and tell you which is cheaper rather than selling you the one that suits us.
Picked up once, put down once
Questions about picked up once, put down once
- 01
Is a direct move always a single day?
Usually, on a short or medium run. On a long one the vehicle stays loaded overnight, which keeps the count at two even though the move spans two days.
- 02
Can we collect from two addresses?
Yes, and it does not change the count, because nothing is set down between them. Say so at the enquiry so the load is built in the right order.
- 03
Do you dismantle furniture?
As standard, and rebuild it at the other end. Fixings are bagged, labelled and kept with the item rather than in a communal box.
- 04
What if the new place is not ready?
The load stays on the vehicle while we work out the best option with you. Unloading into a hall so it can be moved again later is a handling nobody counted.
- 05
Is this the most expensive option?
Per vehicle, yes. Per cubic metre on a full household, frequently not — and it carries the lowest handling count available, which is what you are actually buying.
- 06
Will you tell us if we do not need it?
Yes. On a small load travelling a long way we will quote the part-load alongside and say plainly which is better value.
How many handlings should your move have?
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and how much the dates can move. Where there is more than one sensible option we will quote both, with the count written on each.