The Moving and Relocations business grants us the privilege to meet people from all walks of life who are experiencing some sort of transition. Each move delivers its own unique set of lessons to learn from and emotions to be felt. On most days, we have very fulfilling encounters that leave us happy and excited to have made our client’s day less stressful. On the flip-side, other days; we have tough experiences that we often choose to learn from.
Like any field of work, we’d be lying to say that all days are rosy and tension-free; especially with the common misconception that exists with many people that movers can’t be trusted. An assumption that we, as Nellions, are working tirelessly to reform through extensive staff training and proper vetting. Either way, we thought it wise to share with you a number of challenges that we sometimes go through.
Inland Moves : Moves within the borders of Kenya commonly referred to as local house moves
Clearing with management and caretakers ahead of move day:
This applies to those living in apartments and gated communities. As the move is confirmed clients are always advised to clear any existing issues; with landlords from both the origin and destination house. Failure to do so will result in delays during the day of the move. Many adhere to this but some don’t, and this leaves movers caught up in the back and forth, and involved in some uncomfortable crossfire which they ought not to see. Sometimes the truck is even refused to leave the compound causing delays that resulting in revision of initial charges.
Once your moving date is set please look at your exit terms in that facility and play your part ahead of time.
Weekend Moves :
Very many people understandably prefer to move on the weekends and many wake up early on such days to receive the moving crew in time. We however have two challenges specific to Sundays. First, some people believe in catching up extra sleep on Sundays up to 10 or 11 AM causing serious delay which affects finishing time. Movers, are human beings too! Having arrived at 8.00AM (as scheduled) they get de-motivated. Professionalism doesn’t allow them to show these emotions, but trust us, they feel very demoralized. secondly, most people are home on Sundays and so securing adequate parking for our trucks is often a challenge especially in apartment blocks.
Presence of Third Parties:
Nothing is as scary to a moving crew as this! Arriving at a clients premises and finding 3-4 other faces (other than client’s immediate family) like other contractors ( a painter once grabbed a table that we had unpacked and set up and stepped on it while using it as his ladder), visiting friends (some attempt to start controlling the movers), etc.
These issues compromise accountability and in case something goes wrong, our hands are tied in a situation that is difficult to resolve.
The Condition of The Destination House:
You will always be asked when booking your move if the destination home is ready. By ‘ready’ we mean if the house is painted, connected to power, has running water, has been cleaned, etc. We have seen a few cases where no tests were done on whether the electric sockets had power ahead of the move, meaning appliances can’t work. We care about such things and we are sometimes called in to get quick solutions, that slow us down. It is not possible for a trained mover to place clean clothes on dirty shelves, or clean wine glasses on dusty cabinets.