Moving Office in Failsworth? Read the Quote Before You Compare the Price
Three quotes, three different numbers, and no way of knowing whether they cover the same work. Here is what to look for, including on ours.
- Scope written out, inclusions and exclusions
- Surveyed before quoted
- Fixed figure, no hourly rate
The cheapest quote is often the one with the least in it
Getting three quotes is sensible. The problem is that they almost never cover the same work, so what looks like a comparison is really a guess.
One includes dismantling. One does not mention it. One has a line about additional hours if required. Put side by side, the numbers appear to be telling you something. They are not, because they are answering different questions.
There is a second problem underneath that. The removal invoice is rarely the largest cost of moving premises. Exit obligations at the old building, fitting out the new one, connectivity and the hours your staff cannot work usually add up to more. A firm competing purely on the invoice is competing on the smaller number.
Six things that sit inside one quote and outside another
None of these is dishonest. They are simply scope decisions, and they are where two figures for the same move come apart.
Dismantling and reassembly
On some quotes it is included. On others it appears afterwards as an addition. Ask which, because on a typical office it is not a small line.
Crates and materials
Delivered, collected, and sometimes charged for separately. A price that looks keener may simply have left them out.
The destination survey
Plenty of firms look at the premises you are leaving and take the new one on trust. The new one is where the surprises live, and where a day gets lost.
Waiting time
If a lift is shared or a landlord holds you up, somebody carries that cost. On an hourly arrangement it is you.
The second visit
Anything that does not fit in one run becomes another journey. Cheaper quotes are sometimes cheaper because they have assumed a vehicle that will not hold it.
Reinstating at the far end
Putting furniture back together and in position is either part of the job or it is not. Find out before the crew leaves, not after.
Four questions to ask everybody, us included
Ask these of every firm you are considering. The answers tell you more than the totals do, and any decent contractor will answer them without hesitating.
An hourly rate is not a price. It is an invitation to find out later, and every risk on the day sits with you rather than with the firm that quoted it.
Ask directly. A quote built from a phone call is priced against uncertainty, which means it is either padded or it is going to change.
A good quote says what it does not cover. Silence on that point is not the same as everything being included.
A properly surveyed job should not overrun. If it does because the survey was wrong, that is the removals firm problem. Get that answer before you book.
Send us what you have been quoted
Tell us what you are moving and, if you like, what else you have been offered. We will tell you honestly how the scope compares rather than simply undercutting it.
What ours covers
We survey both premises before quoting, with the cupboards and the stockroom open. Then you get one figure in writing with the scope written beside it, including what is not covered.
Dismantling and reassembly are part of the job rather than an addition. Crates and materials are stated. The destination is surveyed as well as the origin, because that is where days get lost. And there is no hourly rate running in the background, so if the day takes longer than we judged, that is ours to absorb rather than yours.
The figure changes only if the job changes, and you would hear about it before the work rather than on the invoice.
Six ways to genuinely reduce what you pay
None of these involve haggling, and all of them work better than it.
- Decide what is not coming, three weeks out rather than three days
- Let stock run down before the move if you have any control over purchasing
- Have staff crate their own desks the afternoon before
- Move archive and slow stock early, during ordinary working hours
- Pick a midweek date outside month end if your lease allows it
- Sort the connectivity yourself, early, so nothing waits on it
The first one does most of the work. Moving stock or furniture you will scrap within six months costs money twice, once to transport it and again in the space it occupies afterwards.
Get a figure you can actually compare
Send us a rough count of desks, cabinets or bays of racking, both addresses, the access at each end, and the window you can afford to be down.
We will arrange a look round and come back with a fixed written price and the scope set out in full, so you can put it next to anything else you have been sent and see what is actually different.
Nothing is booked until you say so, and if somebody else is offering better value for the same work, we will tell you.
Questions about cost
Your quote is higher than one I have been sent. Why?
It may not be, once both are read properly. Check whether the other covers dismantling and reassembly, crates and materials, and reinstating at the far end, and whether anybody has surveyed the premises you are moving into. Genuinely comparable quotes are usually closer than they first appear. If ours really is dearer for the same scope, say so and we will explain what we have priced in.
Why do you not offer an hourly rate?
Because it moves the risk onto you. If a lift is shared, a landlord holds things up or the day simply takes longer than anybody expected, an hourly arrangement means you pay for it. We would rather carry that ourselves, which is only possible if we have seen the job first.
What would actually make the price change?
The job changing rather than our estimate being wrong. Substantially more to move than was there at the survey, a date moved into a more expensive window, or access at the new premises turning out to be different from what the landlord described. In each case we would tell you before the work, not after.
How can we bring the cost down?
Three things do most of it. Decide early what is not coming, because moving items you will scrap within six months costs money twice. Have your team crate their own desks. And take a midweek date outside month end if your lease gives you the choice.
Ask for the full scope
Send the details and we will price it properly, with everything written down.