The ESPC Property Show: How to move home smoothly

Paul
Hello, welcome to the ESPC show and as ever, it's Paul and it's Megan. So today, interesting show. I always say that I'm going to have to come up with a new line. But it really is. We talked to Claire Duff, international moving consultant, and we talk about all things removals.

Megan
So Claire is from Doree Bonner International, who are, as you said, as a removals company and they do storage solutions as well. But it was really interesting to learn all about the services that they provide.

Paul
They talk about decluttering service as well. Yeah, which is really interesting. We talk about, you know almost way in advance of moving maybe when you first go on the market that they can take some of your trinkets - we've all got them and we all got that clutter and they'll take them and put them into storage for you. So it means that when you are selling your property, it's a little bit cleaner and there's more space and it's not quite as cluttered because we know that helps when you're selling.

Megan
Yeah, absolutely. So I think everything that Claire mentioned was really useful, especially if you're currently in that kind of stage where you're either away to put your home on the market or you've you're sold and you're getting ready to move. I think she's got some really nice piece of advice, and if you're looking for any removals help, then the Doree Bonner can help.

Paul
Yeah, and the logo includes a cat. So who doesn't like a cat? The perfect move as they say. Anyway, let's dive straight in. So here's our chat with Claire...

Paul

So welcome to the ESPC show. Today we have Claire Duff - Move Consultant from Doree Bonner International and we're underlining the international. We're going to talk about that later because you will ship anywhere in the world we hear. First off, Claire, do you want to talk a little bit about what Doree Bonner is, what you do and what services you offer?

Claire
Yeah, of course so Doree Bonner International is one of the most recognized international removal companies in the UK. With an expert team of removals, professionals and handpick reputation of overseas agents, we offer an higher range of products and we do local moves domestic within the UK, we do storage so we can store your effects and again within the UK we also offer office relocation, European moves and also international, so anywhere in the world.

Paul
OK, so if you've got it, you can move it.

Claire
Correct, Yes.

Paul
And we were we were chatting just at the start there about. Often they start with an assessment doesn't it? An estimate of the scale of the job and and and since COVID, you do a lot of that sort of virtually now, is that right?

Claire
So we do video surveys. It's an app that we use, very easy to download and we walk around the house with the consultant, we're on the video with them. The customer can choose to show themselves or not and they walk around and we just ask them questions as we go. Very similar to us being in the the house previously, but we're also more than welcome like happy to go out to the house as well. There are some people that prefer the the home visits as well. So whatever suits the the client, the the video surveys seem to be very popular because people are short of time and it suits their kind of lifestyle. We can do Saturdays or or late nights as well, yeah.

Paul
I often think, do you ever get to a point where something just won't go out of a room. You can't get a bed out. It got in there, but you can't get out does that happen?

Claire
It does happen. We have had the case, you know, if you have to move out the windows or things like that. But we can. That's why it's good for us to assess it as well. We can assess all that also in the video survey with Google Maps and everything. We assess to access, we check everything in advance, so things like that are all done in advance and we can, you know, arrange a handyman or anything that is required if it's a tight.

Paul
Like a saw, yeah. I remember I had to get my sofa. It was orange. The orange was the colour back in the day it burnt orange and they had to soar off the arm to get it out. I got it in, I don't know, I got it in, couldn't get it out. Oh no, it was going, it was going in the skip. Anyway, the point is I couldn't get out of the room.

Megan
Yeah, we I had a unit like that when we moved into our our flats. So yeah, I know it's can be a bit of a nightmare but Claire, I think another thing we were going to chat through was the benefits of using and removal service like yourselves. What what are those for anyone moving house?

Claire
I think the main kind of benefits is to reduce the stress for a client. You don't want it to be stressful or any way for them because moving home is one of the most stressful things you probably will do. Other than obviously marriage or or a child moving home you can can be stressful. So by choosing a professional moving company and that's the best thing to do so that they can talk you through it step by step and and arrange it all. Experience is obviously experienced staff is essential as well. If you've got a experienced team, an experienced crew, then they're going to arrive, they're going to know what they're doing, they're going to fully label it, pack it, wrap it, etcetera. Also with that in mind, you want to make sure that they're in something called the BAR, which is the British Association removals. It's very important. That is something I would highly recommend because we get it takes the customer but also protects us that we have to do certain training and stay to certain aspects of it as well. Also insurance, that's a key factor you want to look at insurance. We can offer optional insurances for the client to ensure the items are completely covered as well for their house.

Paul
So it'll be like breakages, scratches, I think that and it's going to happen, isn't it? It's going to happen.

Claire
So just to make sure that it's all in place as well reliability as well knowing that there's a professional moving team was.

Paul
Just a worry isn't it You know there's that you don't turn up and then you the the removal van for the people moving in do and and and what happens that Yeah and.

Claire
You want to make sure as well. As you'll be aware, all our staff are fully uniformed, fully IdD'd. The vehicles are obviously all labeled and the thing. So you want to make sure that you feel comfortable with the staff that are in your house as well. So you get a phone call the day before to let you know what team are coming, the guys names, everything like that. You have a team leader, which tends to be the driver. He's in charge and he walks around the house before they even begin, just to put your mind at ease and make sure that everything that was agreed is still the same. Because sometimes you've agreed that the survey that something's moving and then you've decided to sell it to the person buying the house. So it's all done very, very smoothly that way.

Paul
Sounds it. And in terms of a homeowner, well, how can they best prepare for a move? What? What do how they should they do in advance of of the move?

Claire
So in advance of the move, I would always recommend you know four to six weeks in advance getting in touch with ourselves and arranging a video survey or a home survey and and even just having a chat with us as well. Even if you don't know your moving dates, it's really important to make sure you contact us and at least get a quote. It's a free of charge and no obligation quote that we supply and it just gives you what you really want to put together is the whole budget for the whole move and the removal as part of it. So we can do that as early as as you like, and then also if you get the quote and you've got everything in place, then as soon as you get that move date you've let it's just a phone call rather than then still having to arrange everything.

Paul
And do you? I guess you would never say because I often wonder because most people move on a Friday, I think surely that must be a really, really busy day for removals. And have you got enough staff to cope on a Friday?

Claire
So it is a common and not as much now I've been to this for about 15 years myself and it used to be the end of the month and the Friday they were the busy times. We also used to have peak times and things with July and August et cetera. Nowadays it's not as as bad but it still is the case. So I do always recommend when I do a survey, I check the dates and before I do the and I speak to the customer and let them know for example that so many vehicles are left. And we are a very large company and we have two branches in Scotland, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. So it's very rare that we can.

Paul
Completely capacity.

Claire
Straight away, but again, if that is the case then we would give them a call and let them know that the dates are getting filled quite quickly and they would recommend them booking in. We also offer something called the Declutter Service, which is really, really.

Paul
Can we sign up for that?

Claire
That which is really recommended to customers and what we do is it's actually very handy for the state agents as well. What we do is we come into the house and well, advance of the move. We declutter the home, we do it free of charge, we move it into store. We offer four weeks free storage based on one container and it stays there and it lets the estate agent take nicer pictures. It also declutters the house for the actual viewings and things like that. And it's all in advance of even the move, even.

Paul
Way ahead.

Claire
So customers like it, estate agents like it. It it also because as you can understand, people have to make it minimalistic. Looking for the photos and for people viewing the house. And you have to find places in the house to put it. Yeah, absolutely. So that's why why we offer that service. And I said it is free of charge and the collection's free. And then what happens is the declutter. When we go to do the move, the declutter comes out with the move and then is moved into the new house.

Paul
And if you don't fancy doing your own bubble wrapping and packing, you can offer that as a service?

Claire
So we offer we can do as much as little as you like us to do. We can do the full packing, wrapping, loading. We can arrange a handyman to dismantle the furniture and resemble it at the other end. We can do really as much as you like. We offer many different services, so it's really a client can get a basic move from, you know, from A to B or they can get the full work, sit back and relax and we the our team come in and do it all for you.

Paul
Wow. I suppose all you ask is on the day, anything that's going in the boxes, in that box when you turn up hopefully.

Claire
And the boxes and things are labeled. And the way it works out is we wrap and protect everything, we label it for the correct rooms and then we move into the corresponding rooms at the new house. So for example, the kitchen boxes will be placed back in the kitchen. And then you can guide us if anything's moving. Obviously a different house, different size, but we in general just matter what we we took it from.

Paul
Sure. So the kettle, which is always the most important thing, I think you need to help with your kettle as.

Megan
Well, so Claire, we also mentioned at the start that you guys will work anywhere in the world. How do the international removals work?

Claire
So international with regards to international removals, we obviously will move you worldwide. We have there's different different ways you can do it because some people want to move a few boxes overseas, some people want to move a full house. So again it's exactly the same as domestic. We'll arrange a video survey or an on site survey and we'll give them a price for it. We have agents based throughout the whole the the world as well and the corresponding countries. I myself have worked with Grace which is our Australian agent. I worked over there for a year with them and it's just creating relationships so that they're we're the leading company in the UK and they are in Australia and it's so that we're we're mirroring the complete service and it with that in mind they introduce themselves as soon as we introduce the client and they have contact details with them as well. But we can do as much or as little.So we can do a full container door to door, we can do a shared container which reduces the cost but it's a longer transit time and they get an allocated section of the container. But bear in mind, it is only our our customers in the one container, but we do as much or or as little as the customer would like. And as I said, there's nowhere in the world we can't ship to.

Paul
What's the most remote or the most unusual place you've shipped to?

Claire
There's been a few. I did one recently and it was Italy and it was a really remote area of Italy. So it it literally had to go. We got it over there and then I had to go to another agent to get over. It was just very remote.

Paul
And then on a Vespa...

Claire
I remember when I sent the client the quote she was also a bit surprised, but I think once she did the actual research and realised.

Paul
Yeah, you had to relay it a few times.

Claire
And I think she, she booked with herself and and had a great move. But I think once you do something if you get a bit of a comparison and then you see the difference between the moves. One thing obviously that is really, really important with international as well, it's it's very similar to, it's very similar to BAR which is the British association for removals. You've got fame and FIDEE which FIDEE are the regulations and the rights for everything you can ship into the country. They will be emailed to you custom regulations and things and fame is just the accreditation like the BAR which is the international one. So it just puts the homeowner at ease that that we've got these because they are very important. As I said, we, our staff are fully trained and we have to adhere to these standards to stay in there. If you don't, we obviously have our own personal training school as well and we just make sure the guys are fully, regularly trained.

Paul
OK, good. And sometimes in an ideal world, you you move out of one house, you move into next house the same day. Doesn't always happen. So what happens in that situation, I guess you can provide storage, you've already mentioned that. How's that work and what's the sort of cost of that of?

Claire
Of course so storage is very easy to do and to be honest with you, my advice would be to select the removal company that has a storage facility with that in mind. If you don't select the removal company that doesn't have any storage and for any reason on the day you have to be out of your current property and you don't get the keys for the new property, where's the stuff going. So and if you select that removal company that has a storage facility and it's Peace of Mind as well as a backup, We are also more than happy to give you the worst case scenario and give you the price for the storage and give you the cost and things as well. But our storage facility is storage containers we use as well. They are BAR recommended as well. So they are 7 foot by 5 foot by 5 foot. Now the way that the work is the our vehicles are designed in a way that containers fit into the vehicle. They're wooden storage containers and they're forklifted in and out. So they're loaded and as they're loaded a full image is taken of old items with the container number and then we move on to the next one. And the advantage to this is when it goes back to our storage facility, it's then forklifted and placed away until the customer needs it. And as the the advantage to this is you're not handling the furniture too many times because obviously that's where damage and human error can occur. So it's a good way to do it, CCTV and protected and as I said we've got branches throughout the whole the UK and if.

Paul
You're missing seeing your sofa, your TV. Can people visit the storage facility?

Claire
Yeah, you can attend it anytime.

Paul
You just take little bits and pieces out, you.

Claire
Can take things out, our Storeman's there every day. So he'll do it for you and he'll, he'll get the container down, he'll get it ready. So you just give us a call, let us know that you're planning on coming in and we'll get it all prepared and ready for you. As you can imagine, we have long term storage customers and things.

Paul
Like that, Yeah. Do you get people that may be going overseas for a year or two and just leave? Leave it in storage.

Claire
Very common. Or sometimes what people do is they'll leave some of their stuff but not all. So we have a bit of that. We have people that you know store stuff for for for years on end. It just is a a mix of stuff, but very easy for us to do. And again, something like that. Again, I would just recommend the survey. We'll give you costs upfront as well and things so you're fully aware of it. It's not necessary. It's very different as if it's containerized storage, it's not a self storage facility. So you don't get a key and you don't have regular access. It's actually very secure. So CCTV  protected and as I said, we have our own staff that that'll I hope you can assist you. Yeah. So it's a very different service from the kind of standard.

Paul
Good stuff.

Megan
So we were thinking about chatting through your top tips for a smooth, home move. So yeah, Claire, I don't know if you want to chat us through what those might be.

Claire
Of course. So I would direct you obviously to the Doree Bonner International website, our top 10 tips are there. The main ones, obviously. I'll point out a few. We recommend that people always ask friends and family. Ask them for recommendation. If you moved recently or you know who did you move with, you know because it's always good to know and to be honest with you. You'll always get a good advice from a family member or a colleague. And there's always somebody that's moved recently. Someone is always moving house. Plan well in advance. I would always say four to six weeks. Not not saying no. If you were last minute or anything we would still be able to assist you, but more just for a Peace of Mind than for you to relax in the whole process. You want it to be as stress free as you can. So that that was what I would recommend. Always use a moving company for the BAR I know I've mentioned it a few times but I'll be honest, it is key. The British Association removal is very important as I did mention it, we've got all all the feedee, the fame and the BAR and these are accreditation companies. We among amongst the top 600 movers in the world that have all three. So it is very important. So I would just make sure that they have a look at it and if you're comparing quotes you you're not necessarily comparing them like for like if they're not in the BAR as well. So you've just got to watch that. Remember, make arrangements for like your children, pets, things like that in advance of the move. Last thing you'd want is the guys to arrive and a dog or a cat or anything, it's out. You're better to arrange all that in advance. Passports, important documents, any paperwork. Keep it out of place and a safe place. Make sure it's not anywhere that the guys won't see or wrap. For example, most people keep them in their bedside cabinet. The bedside cabinet may just be wrapped. We had a customer recently that did leave his passports. So we just have to obtain that. As you can imagine it's all wrapped and placed away. So then you've got to go through, So I'd say paperwork, anything important to you, keep it out the way, make sure it's, it's very important. And then also you mentioned that previously toaster kettle, keep a box with tea bags kettle, toaster and keep it so that at this property or the next property you can get a good good cup of tea or anything.

Paul
It's always a good start, isn't it?

Claire
Yeah, we also do that as well. The beds and things tend to be the the first, the last thing on the vehicle, so that they're the first thing off.

Paul
OK. Yeah.

Claire
Yeah, with that in mind, it's just in case there's any delays or issues with keys and for any reason you get them so late that we can only deliver your beds and your your toaster and kettle. It means that you're comfortable overnight to stay in the house, but then we'll arrive the next morning with the rest of the effects. It's it's a a good way to do it when there's a key exchange on the day.

Paul
Brilliant. But I've learned a lot. I always say that, but I really have. I always do, but yeah.

Megan
That was great.

Paul
That was really good.

Megan
That's great. Thanks so much for for coming on and chatting to us. I don't there's anything else you wanted to add?

Claire
Just to point out, we we do a lot of referral schemes with estate agents and things like that. If a customer was looking, my recommendation would be to look at if if you're a state agent has any of the referral schemes or anything with a removal company. Because if you're using a professional estate agent and then getting past the the professional removal company and they're linked then you're getting the the whole nice experience straight the way through. So we are linked with with a lot. So it's good to to do that and Peace of Mind and and if you're linked then they're recommending both, which is always always good and then you know that the move will be in safe hands.

Paul
So I'm sure with ESPC and our solicitor agent network over 140, there's probably some some links there you.

Claire
Of course, definitely, definitely.

Paul
OK. Thank you, Claire