Removal companies cannot carry everything. Some items are legally prohibited in transit, some create a safety risk inside a loaded van, and some fall outside goods-in-transit insurance. The main things a removals firm will not move are hazardous and flammable materials, gas bottles, paint and solvents, perishable food, plants, pets, and irreplaceable valuables. Knowing this list ahead of your move means you can make other arrangements rather than being caught out on the morning.

At Alltime Removals, a Bedfordshire family firm trading since 2002 and accredited with AIM, MoveAssured and the RHA, our advisers go through all of this during the free home survey, so nothing is a surprise on the day.

Why removal companies have exclusion lists

The exclusions exist for three reasons, and it helps to know which one applies to each item.

Legal prohibition. Some materials cannot travel on a public road in an ordinary removal vehicle without specialist haulage licensing. Compressed gas cylinders, corrosive chemicals and certain fuels fall into this bracket under UK road transport rules.

Insurance void. Goods-in-transit insurance excludes a defined list of items. A firm that loads excluded goods takes on a liability its insurer will not cover, and a leaking or shifting prohibited item can damage everything around it.

Operational risk. Some items are not banned outright but create conditions a crew cannot safely manage. Leaking liquids soak nearby boxes, loose items change the load balance, and some materials mark furniture on contact.

Items removal companies will not move

Below is the standard exclusion list. Individual firms vary slightly, and your Alltime adviser confirms the specifics at the survey.

Hazardous and flammable materials

These are prohibited in transit and excluded from insurance:

• Petrol, diesel, paraffin and other liquid fuels
• Aerosol cans with propellant left in them (hairspray, deodorant, spray paint)
• Fireworks and pyrotechnics
• Ammunition and explosives
• Compressed-air cylinders (air rifles, diving gear)
• Solvents such as turpentine, white spirit and acetone

What to do: drain petrol equipment such as mowers, chainsaws and pressure washers completely before the crew arrives. Take fuels and solvents to a household waste recycling centre.

Gas bottles and canisters

Propane and butane bottles, patio-heater cylinders, and camping-stove cartridges cannot travel on the van. They are pressurised and prohibited under transport rules.

What to do: use them up, or return refillable bottles to your supplier or a stockist. Most gas suppliers take empties back.

Paint, varnish and adhesives

Tinned paint is the most commonly overlooked exclusion. A tin that tips in transit warps its lid and leaks across other boxes. Part-used tins are almost always excluded, and newer sealed tins are only sometimes accepted at the crew’s discretion.

What to do: use up what you can beforehand, or dispose of surplus paint at a recycling centre. In Central Bedfordshire, the council runs household waste recycling centres, including sites at Thorn Turn near Houghton Regis and Rackley Lane in Leighton Buzzard, which take paint, chemicals and garden waste. Check the Central Bedfordshire Council recycling pages for opening times and what each site accepts.

Perishable food

Frozen and opened refrigerated food is not accepted. Defrosting in a sealed van creates moisture, odour and contamination risk for other items. Sealed tins and dried goods are generally fine.

What to do: run down the freezer and fridge in the two weeks before you move, and defrost the freezer 24 to 48 hours before load day.

Plants

Most companies exclude live plants. Soil can carry pests, and plants are fragile in a van with no temperature control and constant vibration, so the firm is not liable for damage.

What to do: for short local moves within the Dunstable and Luton corridor, our crews will often carry hardy potted plants on request, loading them last and unloading them first. For longer national moves, plants travel better in your own car.

Pets and animals

No licensed removal company moves live animals. Animals in transit need ventilation, temperature control and monitoring a loaded van cannot provide.

What to do: book a licensed pet transport specialist, or arrange for a friend or family member to drive them on moving day. Your vet can advise on settling animals into the new home.

Valuables, documents and medication

Goods-in-transit insurance has a per-item limit, so anything above that, and anything irreplaceable, should travel with you. That means jewellery, cash, passports, original documents, family heirlooms and prescription medication. Powered medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators or CPAP machines should also travel in your own car to avoid any power or handling risk.

What to do: pack a separate bag for these and keep it with you. Your written quote will confirm the per-item cover limit so you know exactly where to draw the line.

Items to flag at the survey

Some items are not banned but need a plan in advance:

• Firearms and air weapons must be unloaded and in a locked case, and the licensing obligations stay with the owner in transit. Many owners find it simpler to carry them in their own vehicle.
• Pianos: upright pianos are moved regularly, grand pianos need specialist equipment and are quoted separately.
• Slate-bed pool and snooker tables need specialist dismantling.

Who is liable: boxes you pack versus boxes we pack

This is the question most guides avoid, so here is the honest answer. It matters more than most people realise.

Boxes packed by the removals crew are covered for breakage under the firm’s goods-in-transit insurance. If the crew wraps and boxes your china and a plate breaks in transit, that is the firm’s responsibility, because they controlled how it was packed.

Boxes you pack yourself (known in the trade as “packed by owner”) are treated differently. The firm will cover the box against external events such as the van being in an accident or a box being dropped, but it will generally not cover breakages inside a box it did not pack and could not inspect. If a self-packed box of glasses arrives with a cracked glass and there is no external damage to the box, that usually falls outside cover, because the firm cannot verify how it was packed.

This is not a loophole, it is standard across the industry, and it is worth knowing before you decide how much to pack yourself. If you have fragile or high-value items, having the crew pack them shifts the liability onto the firm. Our packing service runs from a breakables-only option, where we pack the kitchen and fragile items and you do the rest, up to a full pack. Your adviser will explain exactly how cover differs for packed-by-owner and crew-packed boxes at the survey, in writing, so there are no misunderstandings if a claim ever arises.

Your pre-move checklist

Work through this before load day:

Common mistakes customers make

• Leaving the lawnmower full of petrol. The most frequent load-day issue. Draining it takes five minutes beforehand and avoids a problem on the morning.
• Packing part-used aerosols in boxes. A pressurised can in a compressed box is a risk, so dispose of these before the crew arrives.
• Assuming plants will be fine on a long move. A six-hour journey in a hot van in summer is damaging. Plan ahead for national relocations.
• Leaving valuables in bedside drawers. Jewellery, medication and passports can end up boxed with the furniture. Pack a separate bag that stays with you.
• Not mentioning the piano. A surprise piano on load day adds time the crew has not planned for. Flag it at the survey.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to book your free survey?

The simplest way to know exactly what travels on the van and what needs a separate plan is a free home survey. An adviser visits your property, walks each room, and confirms it all in writing before moving day.

Book a free home survey and written quote from Alltime Removals, a Bedfordshire family firm trading since 2002, accredited with AIM, MoveAssured and the RHA.

The honest answer is that no two moves cost the same. As a rough guide, independent guides such as the HomeOwners Alliance put the typical cost of a local three-bedroom house move in the UK at around £800 to £1,200, though the real figure depends on how much you are moving, how far, and how easy the access is at both ends. A one-bedroom flat in Houghton Regis costs far less than a four-bedroom detached in Luton moving to Bedford.

We are a Bedfordshire family firm based at Nimbus Park in Houghton Regis, trading since 2002 and accredited with AIM, MoveAssured and the RHA. This guide explains honestly what drives the price of a move, what the national averages actually say, and how to compare two quotes that look nothing alike, so you can work out a realistic budget before you enquire.

What does a removal company cost on average?

These are national averages from independent guides, not Alltime prices, and not a fixed price list. They give you a sense of the market before you get a proper quote. Costs rise sharply with distance and volume, and regional variation is large: one industry guide notes a three-bed move averaging under £700 in some areas and close to £2,000 in others.

Source: HomeOwners Alliance removals cost guide and MyJobQuote removals cost guide. These figures usually include the van, the crew and basic goods-in-transit insurance. Packing, materials, storage and furniture dismantling are normally quoted as extras.

The important point is that an average is not a quote. Your actual price depends on your property, which is why we give a fixed figure only after a free home survey rather than a number off a form.

What actually drives the price of your move

Understanding the variables lets you compare quotes properly instead of just picking the lowest number.

Volume. The single biggest factor. A full room-by-room inventory gives a far more accurate figure than a bedroom count. A three-bedroom house with one room full of home-office kit costs more than a lightly furnished one of the same size.

Access and carry distance. Older streets in Dunstable, Luton and Houghton Regis often have terraced rows where a large van cannot park directly outside. The further the crew has to carry, the longer the job. A parking suspension arranged with Central Bedfordshire Council a few working days ahead removes this. Newer estates with driveways load faster.

Floor level. A ground-floor flat is quicker than a third-floor flat with no lift. Upper floors and awkward staircases add crew time.

Packing. If the crew packs for you, that is extra labour and materials. If you pack yourself, the cost drops. More on whether that is worth it below.

Distance. Moves within the Dunstable, Houghton Regis, Leighton Buzzard and Luton corridor are shorter crew days than a move to London or further afield, where fuel and driver hours add up.

Day of the week and time of month. This matters more than most people realise, so it has its own section next.

What is the cheapest day to move?

Mid-week and mid-month are usually the quietest, and quieter days give you the best choice of crews and dates. The busiest slot in the calendar is the last Friday of the month, because most mortgage completions land at month-end and Fridays cluster around them. If your dates are flexible, a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday away from month-end is worth asking about. If you are tied to a completion date, book as early as you can, ideally four to six weeks ahead, so you are not left with the last slot available.

What will a removal company not take?

Every firm works to the same rules on what cannot travel in a removal van, and knowing this early avoids problems on the day. Removal companies generally cannot move:

• Flammable or hazardous materials such as paint, aerosols, gas canisters, petrol and cleaning chemicals
• Fuel in lawnmowers and petrol tools, which must be drained first
• Firearms, ammunition and controlled substances
• Perishable food
• Live plants in a closed van, particularly in summer

Cash, jewellery, passports, medication and irreplaceable documents should also travel with you in your own car rather than on the van. If you have items to clear before the move, our team can advise at the survey.

Is paying for packing worth it?

For many people, yes. Packing is the most time-consuming part of a move and the most common cause of breakages when it is rushed the night before. A professional packing service runs from a breakables-only option, where the crew handles the kitchen and fragile items and you do the rest, up to a full pack and unpack with material disposal.

It is worth paying for if you are short on time, moving a large home with a lot of glass and china, or juggling work and children around the move. If your budget is tight and you have time, packing yourself with proper materials keeps the cost down. The breakables-only option is the middle ground most families find best value, because it removes the riskiest part of the job for a fraction of a full pack.

Why a survey gives a firm price and an online estimate does not

An online estimate is a guess based on a bedroom count. It cannot see the loft that is full, the piano in the front room, the third-floor flat with no lift, or the narrow street where the van cannot park. That is why estimates so often change on moving day.

A home survey fixes that. An adviser visits your property, walks every room, notes the volume, the access at both ends and anything that needs dismantling, then produces a written quote you can hold us to. This is genuinely how we work. The survey is free, there is no obligation, and it is the only way to get a price that will not move on the day. If your move involves a gap between completion dates, we will also price storage into the same quote, so there are no surprises.

How to compare two removal quotes properly

Two quotes for the same job can look very different. Before deciding which is lower, check:

• Fixed or estimate? A fixed written quote commits the firm to the price. An estimate can rise. Ask which you are getting.
• What does the insurance cover? Goods-in-transit and public liability should be standard. If a quote does not mention insurance, ask before you sign.
• Packing included or separate? A low headline figure that excludes packing can end up dearer than a higher one that includes it.
• Did they survey the property? A quote from a photo or a bedroom count carries more risk of a change on the day than one from an adviser visit.
• What is the cancellation policy? Completion dates slip, so check how date changes are handled.

We do not claim to be the cheapest, and we would be cautious of any firm that does, because the lowest number often hides a rushed survey or thin insurance. What we offer is a clear, fixed, survey-led price.

Frequently Asked Questions

Get a written quote for your Bedfordshire move

The best way to know what your move will cost is a free home survey. An adviser visits your property in the Dunstable, Houghton Regis, Dunstable or Luton area, walks every room, and returns a written figure you can hold us to.

Request a free home survey and written quote from Alltime Removals, a Bedfordshire family firm trading since 2002, accredited with AIM, MoveAssured and the RHA.

Moving with children is one of the biggest changes a household goes through, and the little ones often feel it most: a new bedroom, a new school, new friends, and everything they know packed into boxes. At Alltime Removals, a family-run business based in Dunstable since 2002, we have helped hundreds of families across Houghton Regis, Luton and the wider Bedfordshire corridor through exactly this. Our 4.8-star rating on Reallymoving reflects how families trust us to get the details right, school run included.

With the right preparation, a family move becomes an adventure rather than an upheaval. Nothing is a problem for us, whether it is a tight deadline or keeping the kids calm on the day. This guide walks through how to prepare your children, what to pack separately for them, how to keep them settled on moving day, and how to help them feel at home in the new place.

Why Moving House Can Be Hard for Children

Children thrive on routine and familiarity, and a move disrupts both. They are leaving behind their bedroom, their favourite park, their friends and the home they have grown up in. Even the most exciting new house can feel scary at first.

Younger children might struggle to understand what is happening. Older children may worry about settling into a new school or making new friends. Some children regress a little during a move, returning to earlier habits or becoming clingy. This is normal, and it passes.

The good news is that children are resilient. When parents stay calm and involve them in the process, children adapt quickly. Preparation and clear communication make the biggest difference of all.

How to Prepare Children Before the Move

Start talking about the move early, in simple language. For a young child, a month’s notice is plenty. For a teenager, give them longer to process the change.

Show them pictures of the new house and the new area. If you can, visit the neighbourhood together and point out the local park, the new school and the shops they will recognise. Make it feel real and positive.

Let them plan their new bedroom in their head. Ask what colour they would like the walls, where they want their bed, what posters they will put up. Give them ownership of the space.

Read books about moving house together. Stories help children process big changes and make the idea feel normal and manageable.

Involve them in packing their own room. Let them decide which toys and books are coming and which they have outgrown and can give away. This gives them control and helps them let go. Our room-by-room packing guide has more on packing children’s rooms without the fuss.

What to Pack Separately for Children

When you move, some items need to stay within easy reach. Pack a “first night” bag for each child with clothes for the next day, pyjamas, toiletries and comfort items. Keep favourite toys, books and a comfort item, such as a teddy or blanket, easily accessible rather than deep in a box. On a long moving day, a familiar toy keeps a child grounded.

First-night bag checklist for each child:

• Change of clothes for tomorrow
• Pyjamas, underwear and socks
• Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap)
• Comfort item (teddy, blanket or favourite toy)
• Any medication or inhalers
• Phone charger for older children
• A book or tablet for the evening

Pack any medication, inhalers or medical equipment in a separate bag you keep with you, never in the removal van.

A tip from our crews: let each child carry their own first-night bag in the car and put them “in charge” of it. It gives them a small job on a big day, and it means their comfort items never end up on the lorry by mistake.

If you are using professional removals, let the company know you have children. Our packing service can take the fragile and time-consuming rooms off your plate, and we plan every job around a detailed inventory and a typical 8 to 10 hour day. Tell us about the school run and we build the schedule around it, keeping the move calmer for everyone.

Keeping Children Calm and Occupied on Moving Day

Moving day is loud, busy and full of people carrying boxes. It is a lot for a child.

If you can, arrange childcare for the youngest children on the day itself. A few hours at a friend’s house or with a family member keeps them safe and keeps the day moving. If children are staying, keep them away from the van and the main flow of boxes. Set up a “safe space” in one room with snacks, books, toys, a tablet for a film and someone to supervise.

Keep routines as normal as you can. Eat meals at the usual times. If it is naptime or bedtime, stick to it. Routine is grounding when everything else feels upside down.

Let older children help. Giving them a job, such as looking after a box of toys or keeping the first-night bags together, makes them feel involved and less anxious. We like to keep things simple: one call, one survey, one team, so you can focus on your family while we handle the logistics.

Take regular breaks. Move days are long, and a short family walk or a picnic lunch breaks up the tension.

Helping Children Settle into the New Home

The first few weeks matter most, so make the new house feel like home quickly.

Unpack their bedroom first if you can. Let them put up posters, arrange their toys and make decisions about their space. A familiar bedroom makes the whole house feel safer.

Explore the new area together. Walk to the local park, find the nearest shop, and walk the school route if they are changing schools. Familiarity builds confidence.

Keep bedtime and meal routines going. Routines signal safety, and they quietly tell a child that this is normal now.

Connect them with the community. Signing them up for a club, a sports group or a class they enjoy helps new friendships form and eases the whole transition.

Be patient with any regression. Some children become clingy or sleep poorly for a few weeks after a move. It is temporary. Stay calm and consistent, and it settles.

Common Family Mistakes When Moving with Children

Leaving the move too late. Last-minute packing is chaotic, and children pick up on that stress. Start early, even if it is just sorting toys a month before.

Packing everything at once. If a child cannot find a favourite toy because it is boxed, they panic. Keep essentials and comfort items accessible.

Not involving children. Children who understand what is happening and feel part of the plan adapt far better than children who are simply told the family is moving.

Moving and changing school at the same time. Where you can, manage these separately. Both are big changes, and both together is harder.

Trying to declutter everything at once. This is not the moment to sort the whole house. Keep what your family needs, move it, and simplify later. Our guide on how to declutter before a house move helps you do just enough without overwhelming the family.

Not asking for help. Friends, family and a professional removals team all make a move easier. We plan every move around a detailed inventory and your family’s schedule, so call early and let us take the logistics off your plate.

A family move takes planning. With the right team, the day runs more calmly than most families expect. If you are planning a move in Dunstable, Houghton Regis, Luton or across Bedfordshire, request a free family removals quote or get in touch with the team. We will plan the move around your family’s routine and a realistic day, with no rushed handovers.

For the full week-by-week plan, see our ultimate moving house checklist, and if you have pets as well as children, our guide on moving home with pets covers the four-legged members of the family.

Get a free family removals quote or call the team on 01582 753 329.

FAQ’s

Most damaged items in a house move are not damaged in transit. They are damaged at the kitchen table, the night before the lorry arrives, by someone trying to wrap a wine glass in a tea towel at half past ten with the kettle on. Moving fragile items safely is mostly about giving yourself enough time and using the right materials. The cardboard, the bubble wrap and the labels do the work. The crew on the day just carries what you have already protected.

We have been packing and moving families across Bedfordshire and the wider Home Counties since 2002. AIM and MoveAssured approved and rated 4.8 stars on Reallymoving, most of our work still comes from word of mouth in Houghton Regis, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Luton and Milton Keynes. Questions on fragile items come up on almost every home survey. The guide below is the one our team walks customers through, written out in full so you can use it whether you book a removals firm or pack everything yourself. If you would like an in-person estimate and a tailored removals quote, the form takes a minute.

Which Items Need Special Protection?

Three categories deserve a different level of care to the rest of your contents.

Fragile items are anything that breaks if you drop it from waist height. Glassware, china, ceramics, picture frames, lamps, vases, wine bottles, kitchen appliances with glass doors, mirrors, electronics with screens, and most light fittings sit in this group.

Valuable items are anything where the replacement cost is high enough to hurt. Televisions, laptops, watches, cameras, audio equipment, designer handbags, tools, musical instruments, and any electrical item still under warranty. The risk here is not only breakage. Boxes can also be lost during a long-distance leg if they are not labelled and tracked properly.

Sentimental items are the ones that cannot be replaced at any price. Wedding albums, christening gowns, your grandmother’s tea set, the urn on the mantelpiece, your child’s first artwork, a service medal, the framed photograph that has hung in the hallway since 1987. Treat these with more care than the valuables, because there is no insurance figure that puts them right.

If you sit down with a notepad and walk each room, you will usually find around fifty items between the three groups in an average three-bedroom house. That is the list that needs proper packing. The rest is bedding, clothing and books, and those forgive a lot. Our room-by-room packing guide covers the everyday items in full.

The Best Packing Materials for Fragile Items

A good fragile pack uses five materials, and the one that costs nothing is also the one that matters most: time.

Double-walled cardboard boxes do most of the work. Single-walled supermarket boxes will not survive a stack of six in a lorry. We supply double-walled book boxes, tea chests and dish-pack cartons to every customer who books a move with us, and we sell them on their own to anyone who needs extras.

Bubble wrap is the second layer. Use the small bubble for direct contact with delicate surfaces such as glass and polished wood, and the large bubble as a cushion around the outside.

Packing paper is the third layer and the one most people skip. Plain newsprint and butcher’s paper give you a wrapping flexibility that bubble wrap cannot, and they fill the gaps inside hollow items so they do not collapse under pressure.

Foam pouches and corner protectors handle the awkward shapes. Stemmed glassware, lampshades, picture frame corners and television corners all need a bespoke piece, not a generic wrap.

Tape and a permanent marker finish the job. Use proper packing tape, not parcel tape from the corner shop. Label every box with the room, the contents in one line, and the word FRAGILE on at least two sides if it applies.

Two things to avoid: do not use printed newspaper for white china or wedding dresses, because the ink transfers, and do not use bin bags for soft furnishings going to storage, because they sweat and bring damp into the unit.

How to Pack Glassware, Ceramics and Kitchenware

Glassware and ceramics are forgiving if you build the box from the bottom up.

Line the base of a tea chest or dish-pack carton with a generous layer of crumpled packing paper, around two inches deep. Wrap each glass individually, paper first then a single turn of small bubble wrap, with the open end tucked closed. Stand glasses upright in the box, never on their sides. Heavier pieces go at the bottom, lighter pieces on top, with crumpled paper between every layer.

Plates travel on their edges, not flat. Stack them upright like records in a sleeve, each one wrapped in paper, packed tightly enough that they do not move when you tilt the box. A flat stack of plates breaks under the weight of the plate above.

Bowls nest into one another with paper between each one, then go into the box upright in pairs.

Knife blocks travel with the knives wrapped separately and the block packed in soft furnishings. Slow cookers and stand mixers come out cleanly into their original boxes if you have kept them. If not, double-box them with bubble wrap between the inner and outer layer.

Finish every kitchen carton with a final layer of crumpled paper at the top before you close the lid. The aim is for nothing to shift when you give the closed box a gentle shake.

How to Protect Artwork, Mirrors and Electronics

Artwork and mirrors travel on their edges in custom flat boxes, not in tea chests. Wrap the face in acid-free tissue first, then a layer of bubble wrap with corner protectors, then slip it into the flat box. Tape across the front of any glazed picture in a star pattern with low-tack masking tape, so if the glass does break the shards are held in place rather than scattered into the canvas.

Televisions are the item we are asked about most often. The original box is always the right answer if you still have it. If not, we use a custom television carton with foam inserts, and we record the serial number on the inventory before it goes on the lorry. Disconnect cables in advance, photograph the back of the unit so you know what plugs into what, and bag the cables with a label.

Laptops and tablets travel with you in the car, not on the lorry. The same is true for jewellery, passports, cash, prescription medication and the contents of your home safe. Anything that cannot be replaced, or is needed within twenty-four hours of arrival, travels with the family.

Hard drives, gaming consoles and audio receivers go into double-walled boxes with bubble wrap on all six sides. Lampshades sit on their own in dedicated boxes, never under anything else. For the wider detail on protecting larger pieces, our professional movers’ guide to furniture protection covers sofas, beds and wardrobes.

How to Move Antiques and Sentimental Belongings

Antiques are where the adviser’s survey visit pays for itself. We talk through each piece on the inventory, agree which need a bespoke wrap, which need our Defenda Guard protective covers, and which need dismantling before they leave the room. Polished wood needs blanket wrap and corner protectors, never plastic in direct contact with the surface, because veneer lifts in transit if it sweats.

Grandfather clocks need the pendulum and weights removed and packed separately, with the movement secured. Pianos need a specialist if they are upright or grand, and we arrange that on your behalf rather than attempt it ourselves.

Sentimental items get the gentlest treatment of all. Wedding albums and family photographs go into archive boxes with acid-free tissue between each page. Christening gowns and shawls go into garment boxes, never folded into a regular carton. Urns travel with the family in the car.

If a piece is genuinely irreplaceable and you would rather not see it loaded onto a lorry at all, take it yourself. There is no shame in that, and no removals firm worth its salt will be offended.

Common Mistakes That Lead to Damage

Five mistakes account for almost every fragile item that arrives broken.

• Boxes that are too big. A book box stuffed with crockery is too heavy to handle safely and will burst at the bottom. Use the right box for the right contents.
• Boxes that are too empty. Air space lets contents move and break. Fill every void with crumpled paper.
• Stacking heavy on light. The crew loads by weight, but only if your boxes are labelled honestly. A box marked “kitchen” that weighs thirty kilos ends up on top of a lighter box and crushes what is inside.
• Skipping the inventory. If a piece is not on the survey sheet, the crew does not know it needs a bespoke wrap.
• Last-minute panic packing. The wine glasses you wrap at half past ten the night before are the ones that break. Start a fortnight out and you will not need to.

Our guide on common moving house mistakes covers the wider set of slip-ups that catch movers out.

When to Use Professional Packing Services

Most families do not need a full pack. They need a partial pack that takes the high-risk items off their plate.

Our packing service runs from a breakables-only option, where our team packs the kitchen and the artwork and you handle the books and bedding, up to a full pack and unpack with material disposal afterwards. The breakables-only option is the one we recommend most often. It costs less than people expect, takes a single day, and removes the part of the move that causes the most damage.

A full pack is worth it in three situations: you are short on time, you are moving from a large home with a lot of glass, art and antiques, or you are moving through a bereavement or a relationship breakdown, where the emotional load is already too high to add packing on top.

If you need somewhere to keep the fragile items between completion days, our storage at the Houghton Regis depot offers individually alarmed units priced by cubic feet, with 24-hour access seven days a week and long or short-term rental.

If you would like our team to walk through your home, list the fragile and sentimental items, and put together a plan with the right level of packing for your move, request a tailored quote or get in touch with the team. We will come back with a clear price and a written plan, not an off-the-shelf rate.

Get a free packing and removals quote

FAQ’s

Alltime Removals has been packing homes across Bedfordshire since 2002. AIM-registered, MoveAssured approved and rated 4.8 stars on Reallymoving, most of our work still comes from word of mouth in Houghton Regis, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard and Luton. The same moving-day chaos shows up house after house: the kitchen half packed, the loft untouched, and the kettle nowhere to be found. Packing room by room is the fix. It turns one giant job into a set of small ones, gives every box a clear destination, and lets you load the lorry in the order that helps you unpack fastest.

The guide below is the one we walk customers through during a survey visit, written out in full so you can use it whether you book a removals firm or pack the house yourself. If you want a survey visit and a tailored removals quote from our team, the form takes a minute.

Why a Room-by-Room Packing Plan Works

A move is not one job. It is twenty small jobs that all need to land on the same morning. A room-by-room plan keeps each one in its own box, both in your head and in the lorry.

It works for three reasons. The first is decision speed. Every item in a kitchen drawer needs the same call: keep, donate, bin, pack. Tackling a whole drawer in one sitting is far quicker than wandering between rooms. The second is labelling. When every box leaves the house with a single room name on it, the crew loads by destination and unloads straight into the right room. No stacking in the hall, no carrying boxes twice. The third is energy. You finish a room and you can see the progress. Half a kitchen and half a wardrobe at the end of an evening feels like nothing got done.

We always pack from the room furthest from the front door inwards. The kitchen and the hallway go last, so the house stays liveable for as long as possible and the loaded boxes are nearest the lorry on moving day.

You will need book boxes for anything heavy, larger tea chests for everything else, bubble wrap, plenty of tape, a permanent marker, and a roll of “fragile” stickers. We supply all of these to anyone who books a move with us, and we offer a separate packing service that runs from breakables only up to a full pack and unpack with material disposal. Decide which one you are doing before week two, not the day before. If you are sorting as you pack, our guide on how to declutter before a house move helps you decide what actually needs a box.

How to Pack the Kitchen

The kitchen is the room that breaks if you rush it, so plan it as the longest single packing job in the house.

Start with the cupboards you use least: the stand mixer you use twice a year, the roasting tins, the vases. Wrap each piece in bubble wrap or two layers of clean paper, stand glasses upright in the box rather than on their sides, and pack heavy items in the smallest box that will hold them. A book box full of crockery is liftable. A tea chest full of crockery is not.

Plates go on their edges, not flat. Stacking plates flat puts the weight of the whole stack on the bottom plate and crushes it the first time the box is set down hard. Stand them up against the box wall like records in a sleeve, with bubble wrap between each one.

Glassware fills the gaps. Wrap each glass, sit them upright in a tea chest, and use scrunched paper to fill the air pockets. Air pockets are what break things in transit, not the lorry.

Pack a “first morning” kitchen kit and keep it with you: kettle, two mugs, tea bags, coffee, sugar, a few spoons, a sharp knife, washing-up liquid, a tea towel, kitchen roll, a bin bag and the corkscrew. That kit goes in your own car, not the lorry, and comes out first when you arrive.

Run the freezer down for at least a fortnight before the move and defrost it fully the night before. A full upright freezer takes around twenty-four hours to defrost and drain, which is why this job belongs in the final week, not on moving day.

Label every kitchen box on two sides and the top with the word “Kitchen” and a one-line note on the contents. “Kitchen, everyday plates.” “Kitchen, glasses.” “Kitchen, first morning kit, do not load.” The crew loads by destination. You unpack by note.

How to Pack Bedrooms

Bedrooms pack faster than the kitchen if you do them in the right order.

Strip the wardrobe first. Wardrobe boxes keep hanging clothes on their hangers and ready to hang the moment the wardrobe is back together at your new address. Folded clothes go in tea chests with a soft layer of bedding on top to fill the box and protect the contents. Heavy coats go at the bottom. Hats and shoes get their own box.

Strip the bed last. Bag the bedding by room so each bed can be made up first thing the first night, and tape the bag to the headboard once the bed is dismantled. We always reassemble beds before anything else at the destination, because a tired family with a made bed copes far better with the chaos around it.

Children’s rooms get the gentlest treatment. Pack the room with the child if they are old enough, let them choose what goes in the “first night” bag, and keep favourite toys, comfort blankets and a couple of bedtime books out of the lorry entirely. Those travel with you. The bedroom is what makes a strange new house feel like home on night one.

Disassemble bed frames, wardrobes and chests of drawers either yourself or as part of a removals service. If you do it yourself, bag every screw, dowel and Allen key in a clear freezer bag and tape it to the largest panel of the piece it came from. Our crews dismantle and reassemble as standard.

Label every bedroom box with the room name as it will be used in the new house: “Master bedroom”, “Lily’s room”, “Spare bedroom”. Not the old room name. The crew loads to the destination, not the origin.

How to Pack the Living Room

The living room has fewer items than the kitchen but more fragile ones, and a lot more cabling.

Photograph the back of the television and the AV stack before you unplug anything. Bag each cable by device with a sticky label. The five minutes it takes the night before saves an hour at the property you are moving into.

Wrap pictures and mirrors with corner protectors and a layer of bubble wrap, then stand them on their edges between two flat-packed boxes in the lorry. Never lay them flat. A flat picture under any weight is a cracked picture.

Books pack into book boxes only. Lay them flat in rows, fill any gaps at the top with paperbacks or paper, and tape the box well. A full book box is heavy but liftable for one person. A tea chest of books is a back injury.

Lamps split into two parts. The base goes in a tea chest with bubble wrap. The shade goes in its own box, top down, with paper inside to hold its shape. Sofa cushions go in vacuum bags so the lorry takes the cushion contents but a fraction of the volume.

If you are short on time, this is the room a packing crew can finish in the smallest window. Living rooms are mostly soft, mostly fragile, and respond well to a fast pair of trained hands.

How to Pack Bathrooms

The bathroom is small, but it is the room people leave to the last hour and then panic over.

Throw out anything past its date: half-empty bottles, expired tablets, old sun cream and the makeup at the back of the cabinet. Most medication has to go to a pharmacy take-back scheme rather than down the sink, and the pharmacist will help you separate the prescription items from the rest.

Pack toiletries upright in a small box lined with a bin bag in case anything leaks. Stand bottles up. Put a strip of cling film under the cap of any pump bottle to stop the pump being pressed in transit. Towels and bath mats fill the gaps in tea chests around the rest of the house.

Pack a small “first wash” bag for everyone: toothbrush, toothpaste, hand soap, shower gel, a flannel and a clean towel. The bag goes in your own car. Two minutes the night before means a clean shower the first morning.

If you are renting, leave a clean bathroom. The end-of-tenancy clean is what you get judged on, and a quick wipe-down of the suite and a swept floor stops most deposit disputes before they start.

How to Pack the Loft, Garage and Garden Items

These three spaces are where most moves run out of time, because they are full of the things you stopped using years ago and never sorted.

Start the loft six weeks out, not the week of the move. A 1930s semi loft in Houghton Regis or a Victorian terrace loft in Luton holds a startling amount once you actually look. Lay a torch and a board across the joists, climb up with two boxes, one for keep and one for charity, and work along the joists in strips. Anything you have not touched since the last move is a strong candidate for charity or the household waste site.

The garage gets the same treatment. Power tools go in their original cases if you still have them, otherwise wrap each one in bubble wrap and bag the chargers and bits in a labelled freezer bag taped to the case. Hand tools go in a sturdy plastic box, not a cardboard one. Garden chemicals, fuel and gas bottles do not travel on a removals lorry by law. Use them up, take them to the tip, or hand them to a neighbour.

Garden items split into three groups. Pots and planters travel empty, with the soil bagged separately if you want to take it. Garden furniture dismantles in most cases and stacks flat. The lawnmower and any petrol tools must be drained of fuel before they go on the lorry. Petrol fumes are the most common reason a load gets refused on the day.

Label every loft, garage and garden box with the destination at the property you are moving into, even if that is “garage” or “shed”. If it is going into a storage unit during the move, label that too. Our units at the Houghton Regis depot are individually alarmed, available in various sizes, with 24-hour access and rental priced by cubic feet, which is the option most customers pick when a sale completes faster than a purchase.

Labelling Tips to Make Unpacking Easier

A box without a label is a box you will open three times before you find what you want. Labels cost almost nothing and save more time on the day than any other packing habit.

Label every box on two sides and the top, never the bottom. Boxes are stacked, so the top and sides are the only faces you see in the lorry and the hallway. Use a thick permanent marker, not a biro, which fades when the box gets damp.

Write three things on every box: the destination room, a one-line note on the contents, and a priority number from one to three. One is open first, the kettle and the bedding. Two is open within the first weekend, everyday clothes and crockery. Three is open when you have time, books, photos, decorations and the loft.

A colour code helps if you have time. A roll of coloured tape per room, applied as a stripe across the top of the box, lets the crew sort at a glance. Red for the kitchen, blue for the master bedroom, green for the spare room. A4 sheets of the same colour taped to each door at the new house turn the whole unload into a matching exercise the crew can do in half the time.

Keep an inventory sheet on a clipboard at the door. Number each box as it leaves the old house, and tick it off as it lands at the new one. If a number is missing at the end, you know exactly which box has not arrived rather than discovering it three weeks later when you cannot find the wedding album.

If this guide has confirmed you would rather hand the packing to a crew that has done it thousands of times, request a survey visit and a tailored quote or get in touch with the team. Pair it with our ultimate moving house checklist for the week-by-week timeline, and our guide on what happens on moving day for the day itself.

Get a free packing and removals quote

FAQ’s

Moving home is a big upheaval, and much of the hassle that comes with it is avoidable. The same handful of mistakes show up on move after move, and almost all of them happen weeks before the lorry arrives. Once you know what they are, you can plan around them.

We have been packing and moving families across Bedfordshire since 2002. From our depot at Nimbus Park in Houghton Regis we cover Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Luton, Milton Keynes and the wider LU5 corridor, and most of our work still comes from word of mouth. That means the same patterns come up move after move, told to us in customer kitchens before the kettle is even packed. This guide walks through the seven most common moving house mistakes we see, why each one bites, and the simple fix that keeps your move calm and on time. If you want a tailored removals quote from a survey-led team, the form takes a minute.

Leaving Packing Too Late

The single biggest mistake we see is leaving the packing until the week of the move. The kitchen is the worst offender. People assume they will pack it on the Saturday before completion, then realise on Friday night that there are eight cupboards, three drawers of utensils, a crockery set passed down from a grandparent, and a bin full of half-used spice jars to deal with.

The fix is to start two weeks out and start with the room you use least: the spare bedroom, the loft, the study or the garage. Pack everything you do not need day to day, label every box across two sides and the top with the room it is going to in the new house, and stack the finished boxes against an internal wall so the rest of the house keeps working. By the final week you should be living out of a kettle, a few mugs, two pans, a single set of plates, and your “first night” box.

If the time is not there, ask. Our packing service flexes from breakables only up to a full pack and unpack with material disposal at the end. People often book it for the kitchen alone and pack the rest themselves.

Underestimating How Much Needs to Be Moved

Plenty of customers tell us their three-bed semi will fit on a single Luton van. Often it does not. A fully loaded family home, lofts and sheds included, holds far more than people remember, and the lorry that turns up on the day needs to be sized accurately or the team ends up doing two trips at the customer’s expense.

The reason this matters is that a fixed-price removals quote depends on the volume an estimator measures during the survey. If the survey is rushed, or done over email with a quick room count, the volume comes out low and the quote comes out wrong. The remover then either runs out of space on the day or charges extra for the second run.

The fix is a proper survey visit. A good estimator takes around thirty minutes, walks every room, opens the loft hatch, looks in the shed, lists what is going and what is staying, and notes any access issues at both ends. They then quote a fixed price built around your real inventory rather than a guess. If a firm refuses to visit and only quotes by email, treat that as a warning sign.

It is also the moment to be honest about decluttering. Anything you have not used in two years is a candidate for a charity shop, a local selling site, or the household waste site. Clearing now is cheaper than paying a remover to load, drive and unload things you are about to throw away. Our guide on how to declutter before a house move walks through the keep, store, donate and dispose method.

Choosing a Removal Company on Price Alone

Picking a remover purely on the headline figure is the quickest way to ruin a move day. Some quotes look low because the firm is fitting your move in around another job, has under-counted the volume, has no insurance worth the name, or is using a sub-contracted crew who have never met each other. The day starts late, the wardrobe gets scuffed, the box of glassware gets crushed, and the saving is gone before the lorry leaves the drive.

The fix is to compare three written quotes, all built on a survey visit, and to weigh the price against four things: how long the firm has been trading, what insurance cover they hold, what accreditations they have, and what recent customers say. We have been trading since 2002 and hold AIM, MoveAssured and RHA membership. Our 4.8-star rating on Reallymoving is the result of crews who have worked together for years rather than agency staff hired for the week.

If a quote feels low, ask why. A genuine answer about an empty slot on a quiet Tuesday is fine. A vague answer is not. Our guide on how to compare removal quotes explains exactly what a proper quote should include.

Failing to Label Boxes Properly

Every removals crew has a story about the box marked “stuff” that turned out to be the children’s medication. Boxes that are not labelled, or that are labelled with the room they came out of rather than the room they are going to, slow the unload to a crawl and leave the family searching for essentials at ten at night.

Label every box clearly on two faces and the lid, using the destination room in the new house: “master bedroom”, “kitchen”, “kids’ bathroom”. A simple thick marker pen does the job. Write the contents in shorthand below the room name if it helps you find things later. Boxes of fragile items get the word “fragile” on every visible face and a separate stack at the end of the lorry, so the crew loads them last and unloads them first.

It is worth buying a couple of different-colour markers, one per family member, so the kids can pack their own rooms and the boxes still get sorted. The crew loads by destination, not by origin, and a clearly labelled lorry empties twice as fast as a guess-as-you-go one.

Not Preparing for Delays or Access Issues

Moves run late for two reasons: the chain slips on completion day, or the lorry cannot get close to one of the houses. Both are predictable, both are fixable, and both ruin a move when they are ignored.

Older Bedfordshire town centres are a common access challenge. Narrow Victorian streets, residents-only parking schemes, low railway bridges, and listed buildings with awkward stairwells all slow a move. If your new home is in one of these areas, walk the route the lorry will take a fortnight before move day and check it physically. If parking is restricted, ring the council to suspend a bay or apply for a permit. We help with the survey and the suspension paperwork in our patch.

Chain delays are harder to fix in the moment but easy to plan for. Ask your solicitor for a realistic completion week rather than a fixed day. Book your removals firm with a flexible window. Make sure the team you hire has access to short-term storage at their depot, so if completion shifts by a day or two your contents can sit safely overnight rather than in a layby. Our guide on moving during a chain or completion delay covers this in full. Our alarmed units at the Houghton Regis depot are individually secured, accessible 24 hours a day, and priced by cubic feet rather than an inflated weekly minimum, which keeps the cost fair if you only need a couple of nights.

Forgetting Essentials for Moving Day

Moving day is long. The crew arrives at seven or eight, the lorry is usually loaded by lunchtime, and the unload at the new house can run into the early evening. People forget how tired they will be and end up sitting in an unfamiliar kitchen at nine at night with no kettle, no clean mug, and a baby who will not settle.

Pack a “first night” box and keep it with you in your own car, not on the lorry. Include the kettle, mugs, tea, coffee, a few biscuits, toilet roll, hand soap, clean towels, phone chargers, a change of clothes for everyone, the children’s favourite toys, any prescription medication, a basic toolkit, and a torch in case the lights are slow to come on. Pack the children’s bed sheets, pillows and a couple of bedtime books in the same run, in a clearly marked bag, so beds can go up first and the family can get a proper night’s sleep.

Eat properly too. Sandwiches, fruit and a flask of tea on the kitchen counter from the off. A hungry crew works slower and a hungry family argues faster. For a fuller run-through of the day itself, see our guide on what happens on moving day.

How to Avoid These Mistakes

The fix to almost every one of these mistakes is the same. Start early, plan the move on paper, and pick a removals firm who survey before they quote.

• Six to eight weeks out: book three survey visits this week and sort the rooms you can declutter.
• Four weeks out: order packing materials, book time off, and update your address with the bank, employer, GP, DVLA, electoral roll and Royal Mail redirection.
• Two weeks out: start packing the rooms you use least and build the first-night box as you go.
• One week out: confirm the job sheet with your removals firm in writing, label every box on two sides and the top, and walk the access route at the new house.

For the longer week-by-week version, see our ultimate moving house checklist. For commercial moves, our office removals service covers the same ground for businesses, including IT and file-handling logistics.

If you would like a survey visit and a clear quote from a Bedfordshire team trading since 2002, get in touch and we will come back the same working day.

Get a free removals quote

FAQ’s

Most people get one number in their head when they plan a move: the removals quote. That figure matters, but it is rarely more than a third of what a house move actually costs. The rest hides in solicitor fees, survey fees, estate agent fees, packing materials, storage, post redirection, and the day-one costs at the new place.

We are a family firm based at Nimbus Park in Houghton Regis, trading since 2002 and rated 4.8 stars on Reallymoving, and our team sees the same thing every week. Customers in Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Luton and Milton Keynes book the lorry, then realise three weeks later that the survey, the searches and the new sofa they need on day one have eaten the buffer. None of that has to happen. This guide pulls every 2026 cost out into the open, with real UK figures, so you can budget properly and avoid the late-stage cash crunch that catches most families out.

What Costs Are Involved in Moving House?

A house move in the UK splits into six cost groups:

• Removals — the van, the crew and the mileage
• Packing and materials — boxes, wrapping and labour
• Storage — when there is a gap between completion dates
• Legal fees — conveyancing, searches and the transfer of ownership
• Survey, tax and admin — surveys, estate agent fees, mortgage fees and Stamp Duty
• Day-one costs — the essentials you need the moment you arrive

Get a number against each group and the total stops feeling vague. In 2026 the average cost of moving home in the UK is around £13,000 once Stamp Duty and estate agent fees are included, based on an average house price of roughly £292,000. Strip out Stamp Duty for first-time buyers or lower-priced homes and the figure drops sharply. The point is that “moving costs” is plural, and a written budget beats a guess every time.

For a sister read on how to phase the work itself, our ultimate moving house checklist walks through the eight weeks before the lorry arrives.

Removal Company Costs

The removals quote is the line most people fixate on, and it usually comes in well below the legal and tax costs further down the page. Realistic 2026 removal costs look like this:

• Studio or one-bedroom local move: £250 to £500
• Two-bedroom local move: £400 to £800
• Three-bedroom local move: £600 to £1,200
• Four or five-bedroom local move: £900 to £1,800

Add roughly 30 to 50 percent for moves over 100 miles. Three things move that figure up or down: volume, which is why a proper survey beats an online estimator; distance, priced by mile and by driver hours; and access, which covers parking, lifts, narrow lanes and stairs. A move out of a top-floor flat in central Luton with no resident permit can add a half-day in handling time before a single box is on the lorry.

Watch for two things on a written quote. First, it should be fixed against the inventory the surveyor saw, not capped against an hourly rate that drifts on the day. Second, it should state the goods-in-transit insurance limit in pounds. Our guide on how to compare removal quotes explains what else to check. Our own domestic removals quotes are built from a thirty-minute survey and locked in writing before move day.

Packing, Boxes and Materials

Packing is where the cheapest line on paper turns into the most expensive line in lost time. Doing it yourself with supermarket boxes feels free. It rarely is. A standard three-bed move uses around 60 to 80 boxes, plus large rolls of bubble wrap, several rolls of tape, packing paper for the kitchen, and wardrobe boxes for hanging clothes. Buying that bundle new in 2026 costs roughly £200 to £280.

A professional pack adds labour on top. Our team packs a three-bed house in a single day for a flat fee, materials included, with everything labelled by room. Customers who book the packing service tell us the same thing every time: they wish they had booked it on the first move, not the third. A “fragiles only” pack is a sensible middle option if the budget is tight, where the team handles glass, ceramics and electronics and you do the wardrobes and the linen.

Two costs that surprise people: mattress and sofa covers, which a removals firm will supply at cost or include, and disposing of all that cardboard at the other end. We take ours back to the depot and recycle it, which keeps the new garage clear on day one.

Storage Costs

Storage is the line item nobody plans for, and roughly one move in four ends up needing it. A chain breaks. A completion date slips by a week. The new home has a tenant clearing out and you have already loaded the lorry.

UK storage is priced two ways: self-storage by the square foot per week, which the big national chains use, and removals-firm storage by the cubic foot, which we use at our Houghton Regis depot. For a three-bedroom household, expect £35 to £70 per week with a national self-storage operator in 2026, plus a deposit and an admin fee. Removals-firm storage tends to come in lower for short stays because there is no separate access charge.

Our units are individually alarmed, available long or short term, and accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The right size depends on your inventory, so a surveyor quotes it at the same visit as the move. See our storage page for what is included, or our combined removals and storage guide for how the two work together.

If the gap is only a night or two, a sensible plan is often to keep the load on the lorry overnight and unload the next morning. We do that for local customers regularly, and it is almost always cheaper than a one-week storage minimum.

Legal, Survey and Admin Costs

This is the group that catches most movers off-guard. Conveyancing, searches, surveys, estate agent fees and Stamp Duty are not optional and they are not small.

Conveyancing for a freehold purchase typically runs £500 to £1,150 in solicitor fees in 2026, plus disbursements like local searches and Land Registry fees that often add £700 or more. That brings the all-in legal cost to roughly £1,200 to £1,850. Leasehold adds more for the management-pack work, and selling at the same time roughly doubles the legal bill because two transactions run in parallel.

Estate agent fees apply if you are selling. The average in 2026 is around 1.42 percent including VAT, so on a £292,000 home that is roughly £4,150. This is often the single biggest moving cost for sellers, so factor it in early.

Surveys come in three levels. A RICS Home Survey Level 1 starts around £400 for a small modern home. A Level 2 (homebuyer report) is £400 to £800. A Level 3 (full building survey) for an older property is £600 to £1,500. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors publishes the level definitions in plain English and is worth a read before booking.

Stamp Duty is the biggest single line for many buyers. The 2026 thresholds in England and Northern Ireland, unchanged since April 2025, are 0 percent up to £125,000, 2 percent from £125,001 to £250,000, 5 percent from £250,001 to £925,000, 10 percent from £925,001 to £1.5 million, and 12 percent above that. First-time buyers pay 0 percent up to £300,000 on properties worth up to £500,000. Second homes and additional properties carry a 5 percent surcharge on every band from £40,000. The GOV.UK Stamp Duty calculator gives a confirmed figure in under a minute. Scotland uses LBTT and Wales uses LTT, both with different thresholds.

Admin costs round out the group: mortgage product fees, valuation fees, an EPC certificate if yours is over ten years old, and Royal Mail post redirection. From April 2026, redirection costs £45 for three months, £66.50 for six months, or £95 for twelve months, per adult. None of these are huge on their own, but together they often reach £400 to £800.

How to Budget for a House Move

A working budget is one page. Put removals, packing, storage, legal, survey, estate agent fees, Stamp Duty, mortgage fees, post redirection, day-one costs and a 10 percent buffer in a single column. Put your honest cash position in the next column. The difference is the gap to plug, and you usually have eight to twelve weeks to plug it.

Three rules keep the budget honest:

1. Get the removals quote in writing and lock it. That alone removes the largest variable you control.
2. Ask the solicitor for a written fee estimate before you instruct, including the disbursements. A reputable firm gives you one without hesitation.
3. Run the Stamp Duty figure through the GOV.UK calculator the day the offer is accepted, then again the day before exchange. The rules can change at a Budget and the second check costs nothing.

Day-one costs are the line most underestimated. A new fridge if the seller is taking theirs. A locksmith. Curtains for at least one room. Cleaning supplies, light bulbs, toilet rolls, a kettle on the counter. Set aside £300 to £500 for the new-home essentials kit and you will not be ordering takeaway because the cooker is not plumbed in yet.

How to Avoid Unexpected Moving Costs

Most “unexpected” moving costs are not unexpected at all. They are the same six things, and they are avoidable:

• A removals firm that quotes by email without a survey, then adds hours on the day
• A solicitor who charges per phone call without flagging it upfront
• A storage contract with a one-month minimum when you only need three days
• Parking fines, because nobody booked the suspension on the loading bay
• A second lorry on the day, because the first was sized to a guess
• Losing a chain because the buffer was eaten by a survey downgrade

Six fixes match the six pitfalls. Insist on a survey visit for the removals quote. Ask for a written legal fee estimate with all disbursements listed. Use a removals firm with on-site storage rather than a separate self-storage contract for short gaps. Book parking suspensions for the loading day at both ends, with the council, at least ten working days ahead. Get the inventory right at the survey, not on the morning of the move. And keep the 10 percent buffer untouched until the keys are in your hand.

The single biggest cost-saver in any move is honesty at the survey. Tell us what is in the loft, the garage and the shed. Tell us about the parking, the stairs, the narrow gate. A move planned around the real picture costs less, runs to time, and finishes the same day. You can see everything we offer on our services page.

If you are weighing up a move in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire or anywhere we cover, ask for a survey visit and a fixed quote. We will sit at your kitchen table for half an hour, list every box and every awkward corner, and come back with a clear price in writing.

Request a tailored removals quote or get in touch with the team to plan the move properly from the survey on.

Get a free removals quote

FAQ’s

Alltime Removals has been moving families across Bedfordshire since 2002, and the same question comes up at nearly every survey visit: where do we start? We are AIM-registered, MoveAssured approved and rated 4.8 stars on Reallymoving, and most of our work still comes from word of mouth in Houghton Regis, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Luton and Milton Keynes. That means we see the same questions move after move.

This moving house checklist breaks the whole process into clear weekly stages, from eight weeks out to the day you unpack the kettle. It is the plan we walk customers through during a survey visit, written out in full so you can use it whether you book a removals firm or not. Work through it in order and you will arrive at your new home tired but calm, with the right boxes in the right rooms. If you would like a survey visit and a tailored removals quote, the form takes a minute.

6 to 8 Weeks Before Moving

This is the planning window, not the packing window. Use it well and the rest of the move feels easy.

Start with the date. If your sale is going through conveyancing, ask your solicitor for a likely completion week rather than a fixed day, then book a survey visit with two or three removals firms. A proper survey takes around thirty minutes. The adviser walks the house, lists what is going, what is staying, and any access issues at both ends, then quotes a fixed price built around your inventory rather than a per-hour rate that creeps. If a firm refuses to visit and only quotes by email, treat that as a warning sign. Our guide on how to compare removal quotes explains what a good quote should include.

Decide what you are taking. Anything you have not used in two years is a candidate for the charity shop, a local selling site, or the tip. Clearing now is cheaper than paying a remover to load, drive and unload things you are about to throw away. Our guide on how to declutter before a house move walks through the keep, store, donate and dispose method.

Order school records and medical notes if you are moving outside your current GP catchment. These take longer to transfer than people expect. Tell your landlord, your insurer and your mortgage provider in writing. Insurance in particular needs adjusting on the day, not after.

4 Weeks Before Moving

The four-week mark is when the move becomes real. The kit arrives, the diary fills up, and the small jobs start eating evenings.

Order packing materials, or ask your removals firm to deliver them. We supply book boxes, tea chests, bubble wrap and tape to anyone who books a move with us, and we offer a separate packing service that runs from breakables only up to a full pack and unpack with material disposal. Packing well is the single biggest factor in whether things arrive intact, so be honest about whether you have the time.

Book time off work for the move day and ideally the day either side. People underestimate how tired they will be. The day after a move is for unpacking the kitchen and finding the bedding, not for a Teams call.

Update your address everywhere it is on file. Bank, employer, GP, dentist, optician, vet, gym, schools, the DVLA for both your licence and your V5C, the electoral roll, and every insurer and subscription. Our address change checklist lists every organisation that needs telling, when to do it, and how to set up a Royal Mail redirection to catch the ones you forget.

If you have children, walk them through the new postcode and road on a map. Older children should know your new mobile number by moving day.

2 Weeks Before Moving

Two weeks out is for the active packing of everything you do not use day to day.

Start with the room furthest from your front door, usually a spare bedroom or study, and work back towards the kitchen. Pack books in book boxes only, as they are sized so a full one is still liftable. Tea chests work for everything else. Label every box on two sides and the top with the room it is going to in the new house, not the room it came from. The crew loads by destination, not origin.

Make a first-night box and keep it with you. Kettle, mugs, tea, coffee, a few biscuits, toilet roll, hand soap, clean towels, phone chargers, a change of clothes for everyone, the children’s favourite toys, any prescription medication, and a basic toolkit. Mark it clearly and load it into your own car last so it comes out first.

Confirm your moving date in writing and ask for a copy of the job sheet. Check the access notes match reality at both ends: lift access in a Luton flat, permit parking on a tight Hemel Hempstead street, a long carry to a barn conversion outside Woburn. A firm that knows about an obstacle in advance plans for it. One that finds out on the day charges for the time it costs.

Run down the freezer. Cancel the milk. Book a cleaner for the day after the move at the old address.

1 Week Before Moving

The final week is for closing loops, not for packing miracles. If you are still packing on day six you are too far behind, so call your removals firm and book a packing crew. We can usually fit one in at a few days’ notice.

Take meter readings on the morning you leave and again the moment you arrive. Photograph the dial both times and email the photos to yourself. Send the readings to your old supplier, your new supplier and your water company. The photo evidence is the only thing that consistently wins disputed bills.

Empty and defrost the freezer fully. A full upright freezer takes around twenty-four hours to defrost and drain, which is why this job belongs in week one, not on moving day.

Disassemble flat-pack furniture if you are doing it yourself, and bag every fixing in a freezer bag taped to the largest panel. If you would rather not, our crews dismantle and reassemble as part of the standard service.

Confirm parking at both ends. Most councils in our patch, including Central Bedfordshire and Luton, issue temporary suspension cones or removal permits if you ask in advance. The lead time is usually ten working days, so this belongs in week two if you live anywhere with controlled parking.

The Day Before Moving

The day before is for tidying loose ends, not starting new ones.

Pack the last of the bathroom and kitchen, leaving only what you need for breakfast and bedtime. Charge every phone, tablet and battery pack you own. Keep your important documents, jewellery, cash, passports and laptops together in one bag that travels with you in your own car, never in the lorry.

Strip the beds and bag the bedding by room, so each bed can be made up first thing the next night. Reassembling beds first is something we always do for our customers, because a tired family with a made bed copes far better with the chaos around it.

Walk the house with a notebook. Anything you find that has not been packed has thirty minutes left to be packed. Get an early night, and set two alarms.

Moving Day

Be up and dressed before the crew arrives. The lorry is usually with you between 7.30am and 8.30am on a domestic job, sometimes earlier on long-distance moves.

Walk the lead remover through the house. Show them anything fragile, anything that goes in your own car, and anything that stays. Hand over your room plan if you have made one. Get the coffee on, and keep children and pets out from underfoot, ideally with a grandparent or friend for the day.

Take a final meter reading. Sweep through every room, cupboard, the loft, the garage and the shed before you sign the inventory. Empty bins, lock windows, and leave the keys where the agent has asked.

At the new house, walk the lead remover through your room plan before unloading starts. Boxes labelled “Kitchen” go in the kitchen, not stacked in the hall. This is the single biggest time saver of the day. Take meter readings the moment you have the keys. For a fuller run-through of the day itself, see our guide on what happens on moving day.

After You Move In

The first week is for living, not for unpacking everything in one go.

Set up the kitchen, the bathroom and the beds. Connect the broadband. Register with a local GP and dentist if you have moved practice areas. Update your driving licence and V5C through the gov.uk portal, which takes around a fortnight to confirm, and update the electoral roll the same day.

If you used storage during the move, book your unloading window once the new place is straight. Our depot near Dunstable has 24-hour access seven days a week, so you do not have to do it on a weekend if a Wednesday evening suits better.

Walk the new neighbourhood properly. Find the nearest shop, pub, park and tip. The sooner the new address feels like home, the sooner the move feels finished.

If you are moving a business rather than a house, our office removals service handles everything from filing and IT to access permits and out-of-hours weekend moves. Different checklist, same plan.

If this checklist has confirmed you would rather hand the move to a family business built on recommendations since 2002, request a survey visit and a tailored quote or get in touch with the team. An adviser will visit, walk the house, and come back with clear pricing and a job sheet that fits your day.

Get a free removals quote

FAQ’s

The cheapest quote is not always the best one. We see it regularly at Alltime Removals: a customer in Dunstable or Luton books the lowest price, then calls us to step in when the crew fails to show or the van turns out to be half the size the job needed. A quote is not just a number. It is a plan, and the detail behind it tells you whether the company has actually thought about your move.

We are a family firm based in Houghton Regis, MoveAssured approved, AIM and RHA members, and rated 4.8 stars on Reallymoving. We have been building survey-led quotes for customers across Bedfordshire since 2002. This guide walks you through what a proper quote should contain, the questions worth asking before you sign anything, and the warning signs that a low number is hiding something.

What Should Be Included in a Removal Quote?

A proper removal quote is built on detail. It is not a guess, it is a plan. Here is what you should expect to see.

Inventory and volume. The company should have asked for a detailed list of what is moving: number of bedrooms, kitchen appliances, furniture, boxes and breakables. This tells them how much space they need and how long the job will take.

Transport costs. The quote should cover the van, fuel and mileage. Moving 50 miles costs more than moving 5, and a good quote makes that clear.

Labour. How many people will the job need, and for how long? A typical house move takes eight to ten hours with two or three crew. Your quote should reflect that.

Packing materials and services. If you have asked for packing help, the quote should itemise boxes, wrapping, tape and labour. If you are using your own boxes, the quote should say so.

Extras. Furniture dismantling and reassembly, protective covers, or access issues like narrow stairs and lift bookings all cost extra. They should be listed separately so nothing surprises you on the day.

VAT. The quote should show whether VAT is included or added on top.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Removal Company

Before you decide, ask these questions.

How long have you been trading? Alltime Removals has been trading since 2002, over 23 years of moves across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Ask any company for a specific founding year, not a vague “years of experience” line.

Are you insured? Accidents happen. Ask about their cover and what it includes. A professional firm carries insurance for accidental damage in transit.

Will the same team do the full job? Some companies use different crews for packing and moving. Others keep the same people from start to finish, which usually means fewer things get lost between stages.

Is it a fixed price or an estimate? If it is an estimate, ask what could push the cost up. You want to know the most you might pay.

Can you provide references or reviews? A company that does good work will be happy to point you to recent customers or verified reviews.

Do you offer what I actually need? If you need storage, dismantling or special handling for antiques, confirm they offer it and that it is in the quote.

Warning Signs to Watch Out For

Some quotes are red flags. Here is what to watch for.

A quote with no detail. A single line and a total price is a guess, not a plan. If a company cannot tell you what is included and how the cost breaks down, that is a warning sign, not a bargain.

A price far below the others. If two quotes are similar and one is much lower, ask why. Common reasons include hidden extras added on the day, fewer crew than the job needs, or a company that quotes low and renegotiates once your belongings are on the van.

No mention of insurance. If they do not talk about insurance, they may not have it. That is your possessions at risk.

Unwillingness to survey. Professional firms visit your home, or do a video survey, to measure and plan. A price given over the phone with no survey is guesswork.

Vague payment terms. Do they want a large payment upfront? Are you protected if they cancel? A professional company puts clear terms in writing.

Why Experience, Insurance and Service Matter

You are not just paying for a van and two people. You are paying for knowledge, care and protection.

Experience means they have handled your type of move before. A firm that has done thousands of house moves knows how to load a van properly, protect furniture, and get bulky items down tight stairs. They spot problems and solve them before they become disasters.

Insurance protects your possessions if something goes wrong. A firm that carries proper cover has invested in its business and takes responsibility.

Service is what you notice on the day. Our crews reassemble beds first at the new property so the family can sleep in their own home on the first night. They have watered plants kept in storage and worked through the rain to keep a job on schedule. That is what good service looks like in practice: a crew that solves problems before you even notice them.

How to Compare Value, Not Just Price

Value is not the same as price. Here is how to tell the difference.

Add up the true cost. A lower headline price is not always a lower total. If one quote includes full packing and another does not, add the cost of doing it yourself or booking packing separately. Compare what is actually covered, not just the number at the bottom. Our packing service is priced per job, so ask for it to be quoted alongside your removal to see the combined cost clearly.

Factor in the time saved. If a company can pack your house in a day and it would take you a week, that is time you get back. That has real value.

Look at what is protected. One quote might include protective covers and careful handling of breakables. Another might not. If you have antiques or expensive pieces, that protection is worth paying for.

Read the reviews. Look at feedback from real customers. Did the company turn up on time? Did anything break? Reviews tell you the true value behind the price.

If you are weighing up the whole move, our guides on the most stressful parts of moving house and how to declutter before a house move both help you plan before you book.

Final Checklist Before Booking

Before you sign anything, run through this list:

• The quote includes a detailed inventory of your items
• Transport, labour and any extras are clearly itemised
• The company is insured and can prove it
• The price is fixed, or you understand exactly what might change it
• Payment terms are clear and fair
• You have the company’s full contact details
• You have read at least two customer reviews
• The company has a verifiable trading history with a founding year
• The next steps, including access details and timing, are agreed in writing
• If your move is in the LU, MK, HP or WD postcodes, the company knows the local access conditions, as permit zones, estate roads and town-centre loading bays all vary and need planning in advance

Getting quotes is the first step. Choosing the right company is the next. If you would like a clear, survey-led quote with no surprises on the day, request a quote from Alltime Removals and we will visit, take a full inventory, and come back with a fixed price.

You can also read more about our domestic removals, packing service and storage options, or get in touch with the team with any questions.

Get a free removals quote

FAQ’s

Moving day can feel overwhelming, but most of that worry comes from not knowing what to expect. Once you understand how the day runs, it stops being a mystery and starts feeling like a plan.

We are a family firm based at Nimbus Park in Houghton Regis, MoveAssured approved, AIM and RHA members, and rated 4.8 stars on Reallymoving. We have been moving families across Bedfordshire and beyond since 2002, so we know exactly how a good moving day should go. Here is what happens, step by step, from the moment we arrive to the moment we leave you settled in your new home.

Before the Removal Team Arrives

The night before, or first thing on the morning of the move, do a final walk through your home. Make sure everything is packed and easy to reach. Clear the hallway and staircase so our team can work safely and quickly. If you have items in the shed or garage, bring them inside or stack them near the front door.

Think about access. Is the front door the quickest route, or would a side entrance be easier? Tell us about any tight corners, low doorways or narrow stairs. This matters more than people expect in Bedfordshire, where terraced streets around Dunstable and Luton town centres can have tight parking and limited space for a large van. We plan the route in advance and protect your walls with card or blankets.

If you are moving fragile items like artwork, mirrors or antiques, point these out when the team arrives. We will give them extra care and protective covers.

What Happens When the Team Arrives

Our team arrives within the time window we agreed. The first thing we do is walk through your home with you and check the plan. We confirm:

• How many items need moving
• Which pieces need dismantling, such as beds, wardrobes and shelving
• Any items that are fragile or need special care
• What to load first, and where everything goes in the new home

This takes ten to fifteen minutes and saves far more time later. If anything has changed since your survey, we adjust the plan on the spot. Nothing is a problem for us.

Loading the Vehicle Safely and Efficiently

Once the plan is agreed, the team begins loading. Heavy items like sofas, fridges and washing machines go in first, closest to the cab. This keeps the weight balanced and protects lighter items. Boxes and small items are stacked last, on top.

We wrap large furniture in Defenda Guard protective covers to prevent scratches and scuffs. Drawers come out of chests and dressers before moving, to cut the weight and protect the frame. We dismantle beds, wardrobes and shelving as needed, keeping the fittings safe so they are easy to reassemble at the other end.

Loading usually takes one to two hours for a typical house move, though this depends on the size of your home and how much you are taking. If you have decluttered first, this stage goes faster. Our guide on how to declutter before a house move explains how to cut the load before the day.

Travelling to the New Property

Once the van is loaded, our driver heads to your new address. You do not need to travel with the van, though many customers follow in their own car. If you do, try to arrive around the same time so the team can start unloading straight away.

If you are moving a long distance, or your dates do not line up and you need storage, we arrange this as part of your quote. Our units at the Houghton Regis depot have 24-hour access and are individually alarmed, so you can reach your belongings whenever you need them.

Unloading and Placing Items in the Right Rooms

At your new home, we unload room by room. Bedroom furniture goes up first if there is an upstairs, then the living room, kitchen and the rest. We place items exactly where you want them, so you are not shifting heavy furniture again later.

If you have labelled your boxes with room names, tell us, and we will stack them in the right rooms. We reassemble beds, wardrobes and shelving as we go. Many families ask us to set up the main bedroom first, so there is a comfortable bed ready for moving night. We are always happy to do this.

Final Checks Before the Team Leaves

Before we go, we do a final walk through together:

• Check every room is unloaded
• Check the van is completely empty
• Check the old property is clear, if we collected from there
• Make sure furniture is in place and reassembled
• Confirm you are happy with the layout

We collect our protective covers and wrapping, and we can take away cardboard and packaging if you would like. If you need clearance of unwanted items, we can arrange that too through our wider services.

On most moves we aim to finish by mid-afternoon, leaving you time to settle in and enjoy your first evening in the new home.

Tips to Help Moving Day Go Smoothly

Quick tip: Pack a small essentials bag and keep it with you in the car, not in the van. Include the kettle, tea, coffee, cups, phone chargers, medication and keys, so you can make a drink and settle in the moment you arrive.

A few more habits make the day easier:

Confirm the new address. Double-check the postcode and building number with us before we leave the old property. Sat nav does not always agree with street signs.

Be ready for questions. The team may ask where items go or how something comes apart. Being present speeds things up.

Take photos. Before we pack, photograph valuable items and note any existing marks in the new property. This helps if you ever need to make a claim.

Keep everyone fed and watered. Moving is physical work, and a tea or coffee for the crew is always appreciated.

Plan the next day, not the night. Unpacking can wait. Focus on rest on moving night and sort the boxes tomorrow.

If you are worried about any part of the day, just ask. We have handled house moves, office removals, packing and everything in between. We like to keep things simple. If you have questions before the day, get in touch and we will talk you through it.

For the bigger picture on keeping a move calm, our guide to the most stressful parts of moving house is worth a read, and first-time movers will find our first-time buyer survival guide helpful too.

FAQ’s