Before doing all the quotes etc, roughly how much 'stuff' can you get in a 20 ft shipping container. Can you have half of a container....at what point does it become cheaper to buy everything over there! Has anyone had less than a full container to ship? Are there any 'extras' we're not being told about?????Not cheap is it?

28 square meters normal size house they say we have a 4 by2 here and we are taking all we can

"4 by 2"? Does that mean contents of a 4 BR 2 BA into a 20ft container? You must be kidding, surely? Are you shipping all your furniture? IMO, it won't all fit.

20 ft container might fit the entire contents of a 2 BR dwelling with one or two occupants. Once you get to 3BR+ and family possessions, you need a 40ft. Of course, if you sell all the big stuff (beds, furniture, etc.) the story changes completely.

The partial shipment vs. full container question is one I've never seen a straightforward answer to. A lot depends on what you are shipping and whether they charge on weight or volume.

We only shipped back 20 shipping boxes, a super king bed frame, and a small assortment of other odd shaped items. We were charged just over $1,000. What happens is that your stuff goes into a container shared with someone else who has less than a container load.
We used Chess removals who were great.
A word of advice though. Dont pack the boxes yourself. We spent time and effort doing. Not so. They prefer to pack it for you to lessen the likelyhood of customs this end searching through all your gear. Apparently it is more likely to happen if the removal company states that the customer packed it and not them

in a 20 foot container you can get 28 sqare meters in it. which is yes the average contents (we have fiited wardrobes so cant take them )

We'd try to reduce what we'd take but would take our washing machine & dryer and the concert harp!!!!

- plus, self-packed stuff may not be covered by insurance if it gets broken due to your poor packing (and you know which way most insurance companies swing ...)

...good advice!

Still not clear - so 4 by 2 means a 4BR 2 BA house?

4 bedroom 2 bathroom

We fitted the contents of a four-bedroom house into a 20ft container. We brought all our furniture over (no wardrobes - they were fitted), a piano, two bikes, 3000 books, waaay too many clothes and shoes , garden furniture and tools, curtains from all the windows - the lot .

All the furniture was taken apart - even the dining room table (which we didn't know you get take apart). The only items not taken apart where the three-piece suite and the piano (piano went into a special crate and that went into the container).

Our container really was FULL. After the last box went in, you couldn't have squeezed anything else in.

(We used Crown - in case anyone is interested.)

When are you hoping to go Ezzie?

Ezzie - one way to look at it - a 20ft container is roughly the size of UK single garage. I'm better at visualising that way! HTH

we were told that about the garage to imagine the space so thats what we did we emptied the garage and then just packed the space with boxes. we fitted the contents of a 3 bed house, inc living room dining room playroom and tons of toys plus large shed, garage contents and loft, so loads!!!!!
we had a lot of the boxes already packed but our shippers repacked some and checked the others so we were covered by insurance we didn't want any comeback with you packed yourself so tough luck ( but everything was fine anyway)

we packed a 4 bed uk house into our container to come to NZ we had various quotes as to won't fit will fit etc and in the end were told we could of put another sofa in. In the 9/10 mths been here we have accumulated more stuff (larger house) and now trying to rationlise as do not want 40ft container especially as uk houses smaller (could always send OH and DD in with doggie bags I suppose! ? would it be cheaper than an airfare?)