Debbieken

Hi everyone,

I've read all the numerous threads on here regarding moving companies and have had most of the good recommendations on here round to give us a quote. Out of the 5 or 6 we have had here, White Company and Abels have both said we are over a 20 foot container by a certain amount of cubic feet whereas today we had the Moving Partnership (Hamiltons I think) tell us we would "easily" fit into a 20 foot

The last thing we want is for anyone to pull a dodgy on us and try to get us to pay more on moving day but it seems we keep getting conflicting information. Abels has suggested they quote us on the 20 foot and then a separate quote based on the excess and see what fits on the day.

Anyone else have similar experiences? Both PSS and GB Liners have also said we would fit a 20 foot container. We live in a 4 bed house and have 2 small kids.

It's all stressing me out!

jimmydean

We lived in a 4 bed detached plus garage before we came with two kids aged 11 and 8 and we self packed everything ourselves into a 20 foot container with room to spare. The only things we left behind were fridge/freezer and dishwasher. Everything else (and I mean everything) came with us. So unless you have excessive amounts of things I would be surprised if it wouldn't fit in a 20 foot.....having said that though I saw a friend of mine's container (40 feet) and the company he used in my opinion 'over packed' stuff ie used 2 boxes when 1 would do...

Yandros

I don't know how JimmyDean got everything in a 20' container but well done.

We also had a four bed detached and garage and we used about 3/4 of a 40' container. We had GB Liners & PSS also tell us we could get everything into a 20' container, and Foxes told us we had too much for that, but that we wouldn't completely fill a 40'. Having had a similar experience before when moving in the UK (ie the estimators said we needed a smnaller lorry than we actually did need) we were suspicious of the lower estimates and went with Foxes. Their estimate turned out to be almost exactly right and we were glad we'd gone for the bigger container. I also watched them pack and load the container and there certainly wasn't any over wrapping (as mentioned by Jimmy) or any spare space in the container.

One thing to think about is what is difference in price on 40' versus 20', and how much of that difference will you use for the additional groupage space if you go for a 20' plus some extra. Also if you have some stuff going groupage it's likely to arrive at a different time to your container which will just be more hassle at this end. Finally, try asking the companies if they can sell the spare space you'll likely have in a 40'. We did this and got about #500 back as a result.

Good luck

Miss Clinique

We lived in a 4 bed house, just two of us, and we filled a 40ft to the rafters. Different people have different amounts of stuff. Not all 4 bed houses will fit into a 20ft.

Almost Canadian

Ours did. 2 adults, 3 kids, kayaks, tons of wine making equipment and stuff in the garden

YMMV of course

Miss Clinique

Must be just me that has tons of stuff then

Geordie Lass

We were moved by GB liners and they were exactly right about the storage we needed. They told us to lose 75% of what was in the loft and said that our kitchen table may not fit (we left it anyway). We got the contents of a 4 bed house in a 20 foot.

It was packed to the rafters which is a good thing because things can't move around so much.

Have the companies not gone round and literally opened every cupboard and written down the cubic feet for each room? if they haven't - I suggest you keep going with quotes to get an accurate idea.

They also told us to pick what we weren't desperate to take with us (like the kitchen table and garden bench) and put "pack last" stickers on them.

I had 5 quotes and all came in within 10 cubic metres of each other.

Hope that helps

jimmydean

DebbieKen guess we have now established that it is

easily possible
probably possible
possible
very unlikely
impossible

to fit the contents of a 4 bed house into a 20 foot container

take your pick and good luck

Howefamily

we had a three bedroom house and managed to almost fill a 20foot container, there was about 3 foot left at the end and we took everything too including sofas from our living room and sofas from our playroom. We didnt bring wardrobes as we have closets here or any white goods but we brought everything else.

chrissyb

I was told sometimes they tell you you need a bigger container and without knowing you end up sharing it . They then make more money off of each party.
The downside is it would mean more handling which isnt a good thing!

Geordie Lass

That's bad... our container was padlocked infront of us and the lock was broken infront of us this end so we knew that it hadn't been tampered with. I would ask the question about it getting locked infront of you when getting quotes if some companies are doing this.

Dashie

It depends how they pack as well. Some will tell you to fill all drawers and use vacuum bags etc. to save space, others will just throw it in and take up a lot more. Some people I know moved here with a 40 foot, bought some stuff, then went back in a 20 foot, but packed better.

Miss Clinique

You just cant trust these international moving companys. Not sure how the people that run them sleep at night!

KJM

I have quotes from GB Liners and Moving Partnership as well. I have used GB Liners on 2 previous occasions and they have be spot on with estimations. I am considering them for the 3rd move, however they are dearer than MP.

DandNHill

We self packed a 20' when PSS told us we needed 40' or ideally 30' if it existed...

We have 4 kids, tons of stuff and also brought a few bits of my Mom's and it all fitted...just....
We lived in a 5 bed, 3 reception house which was relatively full... A lot does depend on the packing...