Professional house moving entails engaging a third party to handle your lifelong possessions. These are items that you highly value, are mostly priceless and full of your family’s memories. Relocating your home is a process that takes time to plan and sometimes consumes considerable financial resources. The actual move, therefore, is just the last step after a long process. The move day might even be emotionally charged based on your personal journey and sentiments of the place. A professional moving company will step out to give you the best experience which will help you settle with ease.
Based on our experience moving thousands of clients, we have picked a number of things that people do — mostly with innocent intentions — that bring discord to the moving experience. It should not be this way, and we have taken the liberty to share some of these moving morale-killers. The following are the most egregious habits you should refrain from to avoid sabotaging your move:
1. Failing to prepare for the move
You have hired professional movers, but it is still your move. You have a vital role to play, which in the end might determine how pleased you are with the results.
For example, a good moving company will advise in advance that you pack and handle your personal items like logbooks, passports, certificates, jewelry, and more. It is not that they do not care, but these types of items are very personal and difficult to account for. Consider this as well: a mover may have never seen a certain type of certificate in their life and may just pack it with other less important papers if they find it lying somewhere. It might take you a lot of time and agony to find it later.
It is also your duty to ensure that the house you are moving to is ready for habitation. Imagine discovering at the end of a move that the electric sockets in your new home have no power and thus you cannot use a TV, fridge, microwave oven, or even charge your phone.
Please play your role in preparing for the move for your peace of mind and a frictionless transition. Help us help you.
2. Inviting your friends and relatives to your house when the move is going on
Some of them will appear and say they want to help but then again, why did you hire a moving company?
As movers, this is a particularly important point to drive home, because having friends and relatives involved in the move only serves to cause confusion. Some start to control the move even though their knowledge of moving is scanty. More so, having 2 or more representatives is conflicting in terms of taste and preferences. We are professional movers, and we are keen on delivering the best possible service. Trust us to do so.
Furthermore, due to COVID-19 we discourage crowding, and we currently require the client to have only one representative from their side present during the move.
Having friends over at your house on move day is a bad idea. Here’s an alternative we suggest: invite them the following day for a cup of tea and let them ask you, “Did you really move in yesterday?”
3. Micro-managing the movers
You have hired moving professionals and this is what they do on a daily basis. They conducted a pre-move survey, and therefore the team that shows up at your door knows what to do.
Allow your movers’ space to work, trust them and they will deliver. Of course, if you have concerns about anything, you have every right to ask but imagining that you can pack your glasses better than them or following them up in every corner to inspect their work leaves an impression of mistrust and slows down the job. It may seem comforting/reassuring to you, but it actually sabotages your move.
Remember, movers are human beings and all people work better without someone looking over their shoulders.
4. Having other contractors on-site on the move day
First, we understand your need to move even though your new house may not be finished (especially during the current pandemic). We also understand that your landlord may require some minor repairs done before they refund your deposit.
The problem occurs when you involve other contractors on-site during your move day — carpenters, painters, stonemasons in your house alongside the movers who are packing and moving your items. It creates an accountability problem, for where something goes missing or gets broken, tracing the cause becomes very difficult with third parties involved.
Nothing scares moving crews more than finding fundis in the same house they’re working. Indeed, some moving companies may even cancel or postpone moves due to this particular issue. Even if you hire the best moving company in town with other contractors on-site, there’s a very high likelihood [90%] that a problem will occur during the move that will be very difficult to solve.
5. Insisting the move starts late because you need time to sleep in the morning or run other errands
Moving is laborious and methodical. There is a packing and handling formula for each item for its safety and therefore moving cannot be rushed.
Time is everything in moving. A good moving company will advise you on how long the move will take and also propose a time to start the move. We urge you to follow their advice for your own comfort and peace of mind. Remember, there are other issues like traffic and weather that are not within our control, and our movers also have to beat curfew to get home.
6. Open disrespect for the movers
Either by referring them to as small boys or small girls, shouting at them unnecessarily, or even scolding them. Scorn and disdain kill their morale to work, as it would with any other person. Like we have said in the past, a little courtesy goes a long way in ensuring you receive excellent service.
Our experience is that people who do such things are normally disrespectful to nearly all manual labourers and their household staff often talk behind their backs to the movers lamenting the troubles they undergo with their employers.
Everyone wants to see movers with inner energy and self-drive working with smiles on their faces. Don’t be the one to kill this spirit and make your move end very late.
7. Have you cleared with your landlord or agent beforehand?
Imagine movers are in your house packing and the landlord blocks the gate demanding you pay three months’ rent before the moving truck is allowed to pass. It is embarrassing and nasty, but movers sometimes encounter such scenarios.
Check your tenancy agreements ahead of the move and fulfill your part a few days ahead of your move date. A 2-3 hour delay may force your mover to revise their charges upwards while it also heaps undue stress on your family.
8. Hiding crucial information from the movers
Some clients say they are selling/getting rid of some of the items before the moving date and then fail to do so. This affects planning and usually causes delays, that may require making a second truckload or extending the move for another day. This also creates friction when the movers do review their moving charges, and precious time is wasted in the process.
If you have any unforeseen changes to the items you will be moving with, the best move is to inform the moving company ahead of time to ensure that they prepare for your move adequately and to foster a good relationship.
9. Booking your move in the eleventh hour
There is a category of moves referred to as “SOS moves”. Unless you are running away from a flooded house or the NEMA is out there with a bulldozer demolishing the entire building because the landlord built on riparian land, it is always advisable to contact a moving company a few weeks ahead of the planned moving date.
Don’t treat your move like an emergency unless it actually is. The biggest resource a good moving company has is its trained employees and once they are all assigned to moves, they cannot do extra work.
10. Being drunk on the move day /drinking as the move goes on
Your moving day is not your drinking day but surprisingly, this happens more often than one would expect. Movers will need to consult you and liaise with you on various issues; remember, you are the one who is moving in the first place. Being drunk impairs your decision-making ability, which often impedes the quality of service that we will be given to you. Rest assured that we will set up your home bar nicely and when the move is executed in good time, will leave early enough to allow you to celebrate your new home.
Remember, you have a role to play in making your move a success, and the way you conduct yourself before and during moving day will have an impact on the quality of service you receive, and how you feel about the move. Above all, remember that movers are humans too, with emotions. By being friendly, honest, and humane with your movers, we enjoy serving you and do so to the best of our abilities. So let us work together to make moving an enjoyable and harmonious adventure.
As a moving company, we do not move things, we move people and people are very unique!
