Before the day · F
Decide what happens if it slips
The last decision on the schedule and the one nobody wants to have. It takes five minutes while it is hypothetical and it is unmakeable once everybody is standing in a hallway with a loaded vehicle outside.
Every removals firm has this conversation. The only variable is whether it happens in advance or at the worst possible moment.
What gets agreed in advance
The chain, which nobody controls
Keys are released once money has moved up a chain and the household at the bottom is paid last. No removals firm influences that and no solicitor guarantees the hour.
So the load is built early and the plan allows for a wait. Tell us how many households are in the chain when you book — it is the piece of information most often left out of an enquiry and it changes what we plan for.
Naming one person
On the day, decisions need making quickly and the crew should be asking one person rather than three. Where a household has two adults, a relative helping and an agent involved, that is four opinions and no decision.
We ask for one name at the booking. It sounds bureaucratic and it is the thing that keeps a difficult morning from becoming a bad one.
The fallback that is almost always right
If the day fails entirely, goods go into store rather than back into the house you have just emptied. Unloading a full vehicle into an empty property so that it can be reloaded later is the most avoidable waste in this trade.
Agreeing that in advance means the storage is available rather than being found while a crew waits.
What waiting time actually is
The period a crew and a vehicle are at your disposal but unable to work. It is chargeable almost everywhere and it belongs on your quotation in writing.
A quotation silent on waiting time is not a cheaper quotation. It is an incomplete one, and the conversation about it happens later at a worse moment.
Decide what happens if it slips
Questions about decide what happens if it slips
01 What happens if completion slips?
The load stays secured on the vehicle while the agreed fallback runs. That fallback is settled before the day rather than improvised during it.
02 Is waiting time chargeable?
Almost everywhere in this trade, and it should be written into your quotation. A quotation silent on it is incomplete rather than cheaper.
03 What if the day fails completely?
Goods go into store rather than back into the house you have just emptied. Agreed in advance, the storage is available instead of being hunted for while a crew waits.
04 Why do you want one named person?
Because on a difficult morning a crew should be asking one person rather than three. Four opinions and no decision is how a difficult day becomes a bad one.
05 Can we change the date?
Usually, and how easily depends on what has already been committed. A local job is straightforward; a planned long-distance run with a vehicle and crew committed is not.
06 What if the lift is broken on the day?
We carry, reschedule or split the day — whichever was agreed. It belongs to the building and nobody in your contract has authority over it.
Which decision are you at?
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and how firm the dates are. Those three start the schedule and everything else follows from them.