| |
Posts Tagged ‘move<’
Moving home is a stressful business, so you need to manage the potential pain and trauma by planning wisely. This applies especially to the moving company you decide to use – you must be totally happy with your selection. A good start with any relocation is to find a mover as soon as possible, so that you can continue with all the other activities that will need to happen. It is imperative that moving companies visit you in your home to properly understand your needs. Only then, can they quote properly for the move itself. 
Planning the Move
Relocation can be down the street, to a neighbouring town, across country or even abroad. Each has its own considerations and you need to listen carefully to the advice any good mover should provide. It’s all part of their business, and they should understand your specific needs – and the best way of transporting you and your possessions to your destination.
Charges
Make sure that you fully understand the quotation, and ask the sales representative to explain anything you don’t understand. The charges applying are going to depend on the size of your household, and the number of items needing moving. Then, the mover will also need to know whether their team is to pack for you, and then unpack once they have your goods at your new home. There could be additional charges too if you require storage facilities for your goods, between moving out of your old home and into the new one.
Insurance
It certainly pays to look for the best cover to suit your specific needs, but don’t skimp because you may regret it later. When it comes to your removalist quote, ask for details and costs of insurance cover as well. Then, read through and understand the policy wording carefully. If you have any concerns, seek clarification, and insist that any changes to the insurance manifesto be confirmed in writing. 
Accreditation
Check that the moving company you plan to use is registered with the relevant industry body, and has full current membership too. Bill, our London mover of many years standing, says that you must be adamant, and appoint a reputable moving company. He goes on to offer this sensible advice: “Don’t trust all your worldly possessions to a cowboy, because you will be taken for a ride!” And, it’s a good idea to check the authenticity of any testimonials too!
Tags: find a mover, home move, insurance, local move, london mover, manifesto, move, move abroad, move city, mover, movers, Moving Home, registration, relocation, removalist, removalist quote, storage, store, terms and conditions
Posted in Moving Homes & Hauliers, Moving Homes & Hauliers | 1 Comment »
Well, let’s hope you get all your maintenance chores finished before you move. If not, you’ll never know how the bathroom might have worked out, and that’s half a shame. But never mind about all that. It’s time to start evaluating Removalist Quotes. Wait a minute! You first need to plan your move don’t you, and  there are three ways to do it.
DIY MOVING
This one’s the easiest in theory, but the most frustrating in practice. You just hire a van, pack everything in and then transport it. How long do you think that’s going to take you with just one pair of arms? And who will give you insurance at both ends? It’s a bad idea – unless you are a glutton for punishment.
PROFESSIONAL MOVERS
This is the simplest solution, although also by far the most expensive. A surveyor writes everything down and prepares a quote. On moving day a team arrives with a mountain of packing materials. Once they’ve got everything in the truck they’re off to your new home. It’s so easy you could go off and watch the  soccer while they move you back in. You can Find a Mover here.
MAN WITH A VAN
This is the middle of the road solution many people are learning to prefer. Every suburb in the City has a London White Van Man now. When you have wrapped everything up or stuffed it into boxes the van arrives with a couple of strong lads who deliver it to your new home. Just make sure the price includes offloading too, and watch out for insurance issues.
Isn’t it handy to have a Website like Mr-Skill where you can source all your service requirements in one place? They have stacks of plumbers, electricians, builders, gardeners, handymen and much more. And they don’t charge the consumer a single penny in commissions for their service.
Tags: box, cost, deliver, DIY, do it yourself, expensive, find a mover, hire, home, insurance, london white van man, move, mover, moving day, pack, professional, quote, removalist, removalist quotes, stuff, Survey, team, transport, truck, van, wrap
Posted in Moving Homes & Hauliers | Comments Off
Theoretically, a door is a rectangular piece of wood sitting inside a perfectly rectangular, slightly oversize frame, and attached to it with hinges. The owners of a well-built home should never need to Find a Door Fitter unless they want to make some changes. However the world is seldom such a perfect place. If your  doors start sticking, this is what you might need to do.
• Begin by examining the gap between the door and frame, to determine where it is catching, and why. Reasons could include a door that’s swelling in humidity, and a frame worked loose through slamming.
• If the frame is coming loose, your first step is to re-attach it to the opening in the wall with some solid screws and plugs. Make sure it remains exactly square, or you could be worsening the problem!
• If the frame is firmly in position, and square too, examine where the door is catching. If this is on the handle side at the top corner, either the top hinge must move in, or the bottom hinge must come out. The converse applies if the door is catching at the bottom.
•  If the door is sticking on the handle side from top to bottom, then both hinges need adjustment. This is not a difficult task, providing you understand what to do. If not, and you live in the City, then you need to consult with London Door Fitters to play safe.
• To move a door towards the handle side, loosen off the offending hinge and insert a shim between hinge and frame. To move it away from a sticking point, loosen off the hinge and chisel out a little wood to recess it more.
If his does not solve the problem or the door is sticking at the top or bottom, then the answer is to remove the door and plane it down to size. This is a more complex job. Perhaps you should play safe and get Door Fitting Quotes on Mr-Skill instead?
Tags: adjust, attach, bottom, catch, chisel, complex, door, door fitting quote(s), down, examine, find a door fitter, frame, handle, hinge, home, humid, in, london door fitters, loose, move, out, plug, rectangular, screw, shim, slam, square, stick, swell, top, up
Posted in Window & Door Fitting | Comments Off
Moving between homes is traumatic enough without being involved in a moving scam too. The difficulty is that most us move seldom and have little experience. Follow these suggestions and increase your prospects of a seamless move. Find a Mover on Mr-Skill and you virtually guarantee it.
•  Don’t choose the first person who walks in through your front door, and be put off, not impressed by a smooth act. Start by asking standard questions on the phone about professional registration and how many years in service. There’s a lot more to a successful move that accepting the cheapest Removal Quote.
• Your next step is to pay a visit to your shortlisted moving firms at their local offices. No Local offices? We suggest you move on because buying local means getting local support in time of trouble too. There’s little point in dealing with a London Moving Firm unless you live in London or are moving there.
Look out for the following warning signs as you make your visits:
• Shoddy premises and dirty vans and trucks
• Phones ringing unanswered off the hook
•  No decent reception and waiting area
• No license displayed and no advice about insurance
• A firm that offers to quote without visiting, on the basis of the number of rooms involved
When the representative comes round to quote ask detailed questions about what exactly is included. Do they supply packing materials and what exactly do they pack? Do they load your goods into their vehicle, and do they deliver them and unpack them at the other end in the right rooms? You’ll soon find out why removal quotes vary so much.
When you have chosen your removal firm (and we have many good ones listed here), our advice is to leave them to get on with it, and to try to stay out their way. Leave one member of the family to answer any questions they may have. The rest of the family should be elsewhere preparing their new home. That’s how you Find a Mover and have a successful move.
Tags: cheap, choice, choose, deliver, difficulty, dirty, experience, find a mover, guarantee, home, insurance, licence, load, local, london moving firm, material, move, mover, moving, office, offload, pack, phone, prepare, professional, question, quote, reception, registration, removal quote, removalist, remover, scam, select, service, shortlist, suggestion, support, truck, van, visit
Posted in Moving Homes & Hauliers | Comments Off
Posted in Cleaning Services on Jun 07
We all tend to travel with too much gear, and that includes when we move between homes. As a result we pay movers to  pack, transport and unpack goods that we really no longer require, and may pay dearly for that privilege too. And when we do try doing something about all the junk we have accumulated, we invariably are distracted or cannot find the time.
And the answer? Find a Cleaner to take the pain out of the gain! Why so?
o A cleaner has the time to do the job thoroughly, and often has a sharp eye to make suggestions too. Moreover, when you Find One on Mr-Skill the chances are excellent that you could trust them.
o A cleaner is objective and will ask you probing  questions when you allow them to. They will not hang on to all the alibis that you sometimes use either. For them an anorak without a sleeve, or a cell phone without a battery are both useless junk, although they may hold memories too for you.
o A cleaner is also an expert at tidying up and finding storage places for the goods that you decide to keep. When negotiating for Cleaner Quotes to de-clutter it is fairer to agree an hourly rate instead of a fixed price one, because neither of you probably have the faintest idea how long the job could take.
Several Cleaners in London that I know well make their main living out de-cluttering people’s lives from time to time. Why not try the experience too? You could be amazed at the difference this makes to your peace of mind.
Tags: agree, amaze, baggage, cleaner, cleaner london, cleaner quote, clutter, de-clutter, declutter, expert, find a cleaner, find a housekeeper, fixed, gear, goods, honest, hourly, housekeeper london, housekeeping quotes, job, junk, move, negotiate, objective, pack, peace, possessions, questions, rate, storage, store, stuff, thorough, time, trust
Posted in Cleaning Services | Comments Off
We all move homes from time to time thanks to the demands of modern society, and pressure from peers to be socially upward moving too.  Although moves can go well if you plan properly and find a removalist to suit you, they can equally be a disaster when they go wrong. It can be tempting to go for lower man-with-a-van-quotes – however you do choose a dodgy one at your peril.
Here is how to make the optimum choice from those that you are considering:
o Get five quotes and discard the highest and lowest ones. Chances are good that the highest one is a rip-off and that the lowest one will cut corners. Interview the remaining three.
o Conduct the interview at your own home, and ask the white-van-man to bring their vehicle with them. You will learn a lot about a mover by the wear on their van tyres, and the condition of the interior. To get a look inside, just say, “I’ve never been in one of these before… do you mind” as you step up into the interior. Reject a removalist with an unsavory vehicle out of hand. Remember, they will bring their best van with them.
o Make sure that the man-with-a-van you are considering has a permit, and is adequately insured. If not, vote with your feet. If you find one with professional registration too, grab them with both hands. Check insurances carefully.
o  Make sure that the extent of service is in the quote. Do they load your packaged goods from inside your house? Do they deliver them to the correct rooms in your new home too?
o Finally, check all three sets of references carefully, and keep your wits about you when you decide whether they are genuine. There are con artists and crooks among delivery people too. If you follow my advice, you should find a man-with-a-van in London for you. A final word of caution – when you buy cheap, you know what you will get. Play it safe, and stick with Mr-Skill.
Tags: check, collect, deliver, find a man-with-a-van, find a removalist, insurance, interview, man-with-a-van london, man-with-a-van quotes, move, mover, moving, moving home quotes, pack, packages, packed, permit, professional, quotation, quote, register, registration, relocate, removalist quotes, removalists london, removals, remover, service, van
Posted in Moving Homes & Hauliers | Comments Off
Whether you are thinking of moving or just improving, at this time of year our thoughts inevitably turn to sprucing up the outside of our house. First impressions definitely count and, whether it’s friends and family or potential buyers, visitors to your home will judge the outside before they even step foot in your house. If you are planning on putting your house on the market it’s worth remembering that viewers are buying into a lifestyle – you want to ensure that lifestyle looks as attractive as possible.
 Example of kerb appeal For instant kerb appeal, think about fitting a new front door. Whether wooden, PVC or glass, a new front door makes the world of difference to how the front of your house looks. If you have an existing wooden door, it may be possible just to paint your front door – an inexpensive way to make a big impact. However, unless you’re an aspiring artist it might be best to bring in a professional painter and decorator – drips of gloss or untidy edges can spoil the whole look in an instant.
Take this one step further and refurbish or paint your windows, fence and gates. The uniform look that this will achieve will far outweigh the extra financial outlay. Choosing the right colour is important – if you want to stand out from the crowd why not pick a bright colour that complements your neighbours’? This way you set your house apart but maximise on the collective look of the neighbourhood.
Pointing and tidying up your brickwork can transform the way your house looks. A good London builder will be able to do this quickly and easily. Our eyes enjoy symmetry and perfect brickwork looks a lot better than shabby, crumbling bricks and mortar. Especially if you are thinking of selling your home. You never get a second chance to make a first impression and, when you consider that it can take buyers as little as eight seconds to decide whether they want to buy a house, your property needs to look as good as possible at first glance.
If you are lucky enough to have a garden, make sure it looks as tidy as possible. A landscape gardener will be able to transform your garden into an oasis of calm and luxury, but you don’t have to blow your budget. If you can’t stretch to landscape gardening, simply planting a few flowers, re-turfing the lawn or even just giving it a trim and tidying the hedges can make a huge difference at a low cost. Our eyes are automatically drawn to the edges of a lawn so, if you don’t have the correct tools, get a gardener in to use a round edged lawn cutter to get a crisp, even finish. Planting a few bulbs and tidying borders also enhance the appearance of your garden easily, as does adding window boxes and hanging baskets. Gardeners are relatively inexpensive and you might find that it makes sense to get someone in to maintain your garden once you’ve got it looking spick and span – after all, you want to have time to enjoy it!
Hone your exterior style by tidying up paths and driveways using monoblock or, less expensively, woodchip, gravel or crazy paving. The former will give a gorgeously uniform look to the front of your house but, if price is a factor, woodchip, pebbles, gravel or crazy paving will achieve the look on a budget. Building a new wall to surround your entrance will finish off the look perfectly.
If you want to be a little more extravagant, why not consider creating a garden pond or water feature? The sound of running water is perfect for disguising traffic noise and giving your garden a tranquil feel. While this is a bigger job than simply tidying up the garden, the effect will definitely be worth it and will transform your outdoor space.
So, next time you get home after a long day at work, have a look at the front of your home and see what it says about you. After all, it’s the only bit of your home that 99% of people ever get to see. If you don’t feel it shows you in the best light, why not put together a ‘to-do’ list and get quotes from our tradesmen today?
Tags: bricks, brickwork, builder, building a pond, building a water feature, building garden wall, bushes, crazy paving, doing up house, drive, driveway, fence, front door, Garden, garden fence, garden wall, gardener, Gardening, gardens, gate, glass, gravel, hanging basket, Home Improvements, house, improve, landscape, landscape gardener, lawn, lay, London, monoblock, mortar, move, moving, mow, mowing the lawn, new, new front door, new windows, paint, painting fence, painting front door, painting windows, path, pebbles, plant, planting, planting bulbs, plants, pointing, prune, pruning, PVC, re-turf, re-turfing, re-turfing lawn, reconditioning windows, refurbish, refurbishing windows, renovate, shed, tidy, tidying, trim, turf, turfing, wall, window, window bo, windows, woodchip, wooden
Posted in Improving the appeal and value of your home | Comments Off
|
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
