Handled four times · 4
Into store, and out again
Two extra handlings on top of whatever the move itself needs, and no way round it. Goods go into store and they come out again, which is two events that would not otherwise exist.
Nobody chooses storage. It is what you do when two dates will not meet, and the job is to make the extra handlings count for as little as possible.
How storage works here
Why the list is written at your door
Because an inventory compiled later at a warehouse counter is a list of cartons. Twelve boxes, four chairs, one wardrobe. On a hold of a few weeks that is survivable. On a hold that turns out to be a year, it is useless.
Ours is written as the vehicle loads, in front of you, and it describes contents. It is slower at your house and it is the single most valuable thing about the service.
A stack for a hold is not a stack for a journey
A load built for a drive is built to resist movement for a few hours. A load built for a hold has to bear its own weight for months without anything compressing, sagging or bowing.
Soft items do not go under hard ones. Upholstery is not stacked to the ceiling. And anything you have told us you might want back sits where it can be reached without dismantling the stack — which is why it is worth saying so before collection rather than after.
The chain, which is usually the reason
Most storage on a UK move exists because a sale and a purchase did not complete on the same day. Where the gap is a night or two, holding on the vehicle may be better than storing at all, and we will say so.
Where it is weeks, storing is plainly right. Where it nearly closes — a day or two either side — it is worth pushing the solicitors, because closing that gap removes two handlings from your move entirely.
Building work at the far end
The other common reason, and the one where storing is most obviously correct. Delivering a household into a property with the floors up creates handlings nobody counted, as everything gets moved out of the trades' way and back again.
Into store, and out again
Questions about into store, and out again
- 01
Does storage really add two handlings?
Yes, and there is no way round it. Goods go in and come out. Where the dates genuinely do not meet it is worth accepting; where they nearly meet it is worth pushing to close the gap.
- 02
How long can things stay?
A single night between a load and a delivery, or months while a purchase or a building project settles. The storage agreement sets out the terms.
- 03
Can we get at our things?
With reasonable notice, and it works far better if you say beforehand roughly what you might want. The load is then built so that whatever you named stays reachable.
- 04
Can you deliver to a different address?
Yes, and it happens often — the destination frequently changes while goods are held. It does not add a handling.
- 05
Is it insured?
Held goods are covered as your storage agreement sets out, with the exclusions written into the same document. Declare anything of unusual value before collection.
- 06
What cannot be stored?
Nothing hazardous, nothing perishable, nothing alive. Money, documents, passports, medication and jewellery stay with you — a store is not somewhere you can call in on at short notice.
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.