Moving items – whether for a home, office, commercial property, and permanent or temporary – can often be stressful. Our removals tips are a good place to get started:

1. Make an inventory of the items that need to be moved. Do this systematically – targeting specific areas or rooms before moving on.

2. Package your items in sturdy boxes or packaging. Make sure you label items so you don’t lose them when you’re in the new property, especially valuable and fragile items.

3. Choose a reliable removals company. Price, location, ratings, feedback, team all matter.

4. The company should look at how many items need to be moved, including size and fragility and assess the number of team-members required and size of vans / lorries. This may also include a removals survey or video-based survey.

5. Choose the timing that suits you. Reduce the stress by choosing a time and day that suits you best, and make sure the removals company caters to that. Timing also includes knowing when to switch off certain appliances and equipment.

6. If you need storage facilities, make sure you know which items need to go there and inform the company.

7. Extras such as cleaning may be a requirement of a tenancy contract, so make sure your property is cleaned after items are removed.

8. Purchase insurance. As much as it is important to get a reliable and professional removals company, occasionally damage can occur by accident, and so it is important to cover your items.

9. Notify several groups when you are removing content and moving property – whether this is the council, utility suppliers (phone, Internet, water, gas, etc),TV license suppliers, insurance companies.

10. On the day, keep essentials on hand so that everything runs smoothly. Keep these altogether so you know where they all are – contacts, a phone, keys, chargers, temporary food and keys.

11. Check everything once you have moved your items to your new location and make sure nothing is damaged or missing.