Moving day, hour by hour: what actually happens

The night before: a 20-minute head start

Four small jobs tonight save an hour tomorrow: charge your phone and keep the mover's number on it; put the essentials box and important documents in your car; defrost-check the fridge freezer and drain the washing machine; and clear the hallway so the first carry of the day is not an obstacle course. The British Association of Removers' guide to moving home adds one we always second: have "cleaning products and bin bags ready", because the old place needs a sweep-through after the van is loaded and before the keys go back.

If the boxes are not finished tonight, be honest with yourself and ring your mover first thing; a crew that knows can plan around it, a crew that finds out at 9am cannot. The full packing method is in our packing guide.

Arrival: what time do removals companies turn up?

For a full-day move, expect the crew between 8am and 9am; we aim for 8:30 unless the job plan says otherwise, and earlier starts get agreed in advance for long-distance days. A half-day or afternoon slot has its own pre-arranged window. You will know the arrival time before the day, because it is on the written quote, and the crew lead rings ahead if traffic interferes.

What you should see when they arrive tells you about the firm: a vehicle sized for the survey, the agreed number of crew, floor protection going down before furniture starts moving, and someone introducing themselves as the lead. If you are still choosing a firm, our guide to vetting a removals company covers the questions that predict this morning going well.

The walkthrough: ten minutes that run the whole day

Before a single box moves, the crew lead walks the house with you. It covers what goes and what stays, anything fragile, sentimental or awkward, which furniture needs dismantling, and where the van can legally sit. Say everything now: the wobbly leg on the dresser, the box of glasses your gran left you, the freezer that must travel last and arrive first. The crew can only protect what they know about.

This is also when labelling pays off. One of our Coventry customers had labelled every room, every box and almost every plant, and the whole day ran like a printed timetable because of it.

Loading: why the order matters

A van is loaded like a wall: heavy, square things first (washing machine, sofa base, dining table with the legs off), then wrapped furniture strapped against the sides, then boxes in tight columns with heavy ones low, then the soft awkward layer of bags, cushions and lampshades that locks everything in place. Transit blankets go over anything with a finish worth keeping, and the strap points get checked before the doors close.

A three-bedroom house typically loads in two to three hours with a proper crew. It is not slow; it is deliberate. Every minute spent making the load solid is a scratch that never happens at sixty miles an hour.

The midday key wait (and why nobody panics)

On a completion day, the money moves between solicitors during the morning and the estate agent releases keys when it lands. Midday is normal. Two o'clock happens. The crew expects this: it is lunch, it is the drive, and at the new place it is floor protection and a plan for the unload order. If the wait stretches, an experienced firm holds steady rather than charging panic money; the two jobs in our moving house checklist show how a two-hour key delay still ends with everything in the right rooms by teatime.

If the gap between houses is days rather than hours, that is a different plan entirely: see storage when moving house.

The unload and the final walkthrough

The unload is faster than the load, usually about half the time, and it is where destination-room labels earn their keep: boxes go to the rooms they belong in, not into a mountain in the hallway. Beds get reassembled first if that was agreed, white goods are positioned (plumbing them in is usually yours or your plumber's job), and furniture lands where you point.

Before the crew leaves, walk the van and the house with the lead: van empty, every room delivered, any damage flagged and photographed on the spot rather than argued about by email next week. Then sign, pay whatever the written terms say, and put the kettle on. Rain on the day changes none of this, by the way; it just adds double-wrapping and floor runners, as the Chambers family discovered when the sky opened over their sofas.

The first night in the new house

Make the beds before you are too tired to care. Find the stopcock and the fuse box while it is still daylight. Order food to the new address (it doubles as a postcode test). Meter readings, dated photos, both properties if you can. The deep unpack can wait for the weekend; the first night only needs beds, kettle, chargers and a takeaway.