Removal questions, answered straight.

Most customers get a written fixed quote back within two working hours. If we need to do a video survey first, we'll book that in within a day.

Yes, public liability up to £2.5 million and goods in transit up to £50,000 per load. We can send proof of cover before the move.

Never. Every crew is Marley Moves. The people who survey your move are the people who turn up on the day.

Yes. Our quotes are fixed and written. The only things that change the price are things you ask us to add, or access issues we didn't know about (which we'll always flag before the move).

We take a small holding deposit when you book, usually 10%, to secure the date. The balance is due on the day.

Yes. Our Gillingham storage is clean, dry, and monitored, and we can collect from your old home, store for as long as you need, then deliver to the new one. Priced as one simple quote.

Either. We can do the full house the day before, just the fragile items, or leave it to you entirely. Most customers choose part-packing, we handle kitchen and breakables, you do clothes and books.

Yes. We move anywhere in the UK, London, Cornwall, Scotland, the Lakes. Same crew, same truck, one fixed price including fuel, tolls, and overnights if needed.

A traditional man-and-van service is usually one self-employed driver with a single van, fine for the simplest jobs, but no backup if something goes wrong, and usually limited insurance. We run our man-and-van service with the same in-house Marley crew that handles our full house removals: properly insured (£2.5m public liability, £50k goods in transit), proper kit (blankets, straps, sack barrows, door protectors), and a real removal company behind it. Same care, smaller scale.

Often same-day or next-day, especially inside a 25-mile radius of our Shaftesbury yard. For bookings booked more than a week ahead we can usually slot you exactly when you want. Quotes go out inside two working hours of your enquiry, by email or WhatsApp.

Single-item collections start at £55 fixed if the item fits a Luton without help and you're inside our regular coverage area. Studio and single-room moves typically start around £180 fixed for defined-volume jobs. We tell you the exact number in writing before you commit, so there's no surprise on the day.

Yes, collections from IKEA, B&Q, John Lewis, Currys, Wickes and the local trade counters are routine man-and-van work for us. We can collect from store, deliver straight to your address, carry inside, and unpack the boxes so the cardboard goes back with us if you don't want it cluttering up your hallway.

Yes, every Marley man-and-van booking carries the same insurance as our full removals: public liability up to £2.5 million, goods in transit up to £50,000 per load. Insurance certificate is in the email along with your written quote. This is typically far higher cover than a self-employed one-man-one-van service offers.

All 16 of our regular Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire towns: Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Mere, Wincanton, Bruton, Warminster, Blandford Forum, Yeovil, Frome, Salisbury, Dorchester, Weymouth, Bath, Bournemouth and Poole, plus the surrounding villages. Outside that band we do longer-distance one-way pickups (collect from London, deliver to Dorset for example) on a fixed-price quote.

We'll do a quick phone survey or a five-minute video walk-through, then send a fixed price in writing with any contingencies spelled out (for example, additional charges if a parking suspension is needed, or if a third drop-off gets added on the day). The price doesn't move unless the job genuinely changes, and we'll always agree any extra in writing before doing the work.

Most local Dorset house moves run £450 – £2,500+ depending on size and access. A 1-bed flat is typically From £600, a 2-bed home From £800, a 3-bed family home From £1,050, and a 4-5 bed home From £1,600. Long-distance UK moves from Dorset (London, Bristol, the Midlands) are quoted as a fixed price per route, typically from £900 depending on volume and destination. We always confirm the exact figure in writing within two working hours of your enquiry.

Within two working hours of your enquiry, by email or WhatsApp, and frequently inside the hour. For 3-bed-plus homes we'll suggest a free pre-move survey (10 minutes on a video call, or in-person if you prefer) so the price we put in writing is the price you pay on the day. No estimator-tool guesswork, no quote that drifts upward as we get closer to move day.

No, we're not a member of the BAR. We carry £2.5 million public liability insurance and £50,000 goods-in-transit cover per load, every quote is written and fixed before you commit, and we have a 5.0 five-star Google rating across every town we cover. If BAR membership is a hard requirement for you, we're not the right firm and we'll happily point you to one. Most customers don't need BAR, they need fixed pricing, proper insurance, and a crew that turns up.

Two reasons: in-house crew and direct access to the owner. National chains quote remotely and dispatch a contractor crew, sometimes very good, sometimes the franchise has subcontracted again. We don't subcontract: every Marley move is run by Connor's small in-house team, the same people who survey it. You also get fixed-price quotes inside two hours, against the national chains' typical 24-48 hour turnaround. Pricing tends to be 10-25% below the equivalent national-chain quote.

Yes, listed-building and period-property removals are a substantial part of our Dorset work. We bring runner mats for original timber floors, door guards for painted period frames, blanket-wrap as standard for antique furniture, and we'll spec the right (smaller) vehicle for tight historic-street access. Examples: Cheap Street Sherborne, Gold Hill Shaftesbury, the Bath Georgian crescents, Bruton's Patwell Street. None of those are unfamiliar territory.

All of Dorset, plus Somerset and Wiltshire, 16 core towns with weekly routes: Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Blandford Forum, Dorchester, Weymouth, Bournemouth, Poole (Dorset); Yeovil, Wincanton, Bruton, Frome, Bath (Somerset); Mere, Warminster, Salisbury (Wiltshire). Plus the rural villages around each. Outside that band we run UK-wide long-distance moves from Dorset to anywhere, London, Bristol, the Midlands, the Lake District, Cornwall, Scotland.

Yes, long-distance from Dorset is a regular service. Common destinations: London, Bristol, the Midlands, Yorkshire, the Lake District, Cornwall, Scotland. One in-house Marley crew end-to-end (no handover at a depot), fixed price per route, free pre-move survey for any 4-bed-plus home. Most long-distance moves complete in a single day; multi-day moves use our crew overnighting at the destination so the same hands unload the next morning.

Yes, containerised storage at our Shaftesbury yard, quoted alongside your removal so you only deal with one company and one number. Common scenarios: between-move storage (a few days to a few weeks while completion lines up), and longer-term storage for downsizing or international moves. Insured, monitored, accessible by appointment. From £30 / week / container.

Yes, full or part packing as an add-on to any house removal. Crockery, art, glassware, antiques: proper materials throughout (acid-free tissue, double-walled crates for the most fragile, blanket-wrap on furniture). Most customers add part packing for the kitchen and the breakables and self-pack everything else. Pricing depends on volume, typically from £100 for a 1-bed, £200–£400 for a 3-bed.

Yes, see the 8-week countdown on our /removals/ hub page. Short version: 8 weeks out, get 2-3 written quotes and sort buildings + contents insurance for the new place. 4 weeks out, book us in writing and notify utilities. 2 weeks out, sort parking permits + post redirection. 1 week out, finish all packing except kitchen and bathroom; pack a clearly-labelled essentials box for night one.

From £30 per week per container at our Shaftesbury yard for short-term needs (a few weeks between completion dates). Longer-term contracts (3+ months) drop to around £25/week. Each container holds the contents of roughly a 2-3 bed home, so for a 1-bed flat we'd usually quote a half-container at £20/week. Quoted alongside your removal so you only deal with one company and one bill.

Yes, secure perimeter, monitored on-site, alarmed containers, restricted-access yard. Your contents go into a sealed timber container at our Shaftesbury yard, the seal stays on until you ask us to break it. We carry £2.5m public liability insurance and goods stored on our premises are covered against fire, water and theft as standard.

By appointment, yes, usually with 24 hours' notice so we can pull your container to ground level for easy access. Most customers don't need access during their storage period, so we keep the containers stacked to save you money. If you need self-access daily, a self-storage facility is a better fit than us, we'll happily point you to one in the area.

Yes, items in our containers are covered against fire, water damage and theft as standard, up to a per-container value we agree at the start. For higher-value contents (antiques, art, anything over £50,000) we can extend cover. The insurance certificate ships with your storage quote so you can see the limits before you commit.

One week minimum, no maximum. Short-term storage between completion dates is one of our most common scenarios, pay for what you use, no penalty for ending early or extending. Longer-term storage (3+ months) gets a small discount on the weekly rate.

Self-storage (Big Yellow, Safestore, etc.) suits you if you need daily access, want to drive your own van to the unit, and prefer per-square-foot pricing. Containerised storage (us) suits you if you're storing the contents of a home between moves, don't need daily access, and want the convenience of one company doing the removal AND the storage. We're cheaper for full-home volumes; self-storage is cheaper for single rooms or small loads with frequent access.

Our standard timber containers stay dry and ventilated; for ordinary household contents (furniture, boxed kitchenware, beds, sofas) that's plenty. For art, antiques, musical instruments, or anything with sensitive electronics, we recommend a climate-controlled facility, we'll point you to a partner facility in the area and combine the removal logistics if useful.

from £200 for a 1-bed flat full pack, from £200 for a 3-bed home, from £400 for a 4-5 bed family home. Part packing (kitchen + breakables only, you handle the rest) is typically around half those numbers. Quoted alongside your removal, no double-trip or set-up fees because we're already on site for the move.

Full packing makes sense if you're time-pressed (sale completion week, work commitments), have a lot of fragile contents (collections, art, antiques), or simply want it done properly without the box-cutter stress. Part packing, typically the kitchen and breakables, is what most of our customers add on; the rest of the house is yours to box up at your own pace using materials we drop off.

Acid-free white tissue paper for crockery and ornaments, double-walled cardboard boxes (small for books and breakables, medium for general, large for bedding), bubble wrap and foam for picture frames and electronics, blanket-wrap for furniture, double-walled crates for the most fragile pieces, ratchet straps and shrink film for the journey. All boxes labelled by room.

Yes, collections are routine work for us. Each piece individually wrapped in acid-free tissue, packed standing where possible, framed art double-faced with foam corners and bubble-wrapped flat in custom cardboard sleeves, large framed pieces crated. We carry £50,000 goods-in-transit cover per load and can extend it for higher-value contents on request.

Both options. For a 1-2 bed full pack we usually do it the morning of the move, an hour or two before loading. For 3-bed-plus homes we'll often pack 1-2 days ahead so move day itself is just loading the labelled boxes, much smoother. We work around your schedule; the survey conversation tells us what's right.

Yes, unpacking is offered as an add-on. Most customers want the kitchen and the bedrooms unpacked (essentials in the right cupboards, beds made up that day) and self-unpack the rest at their pace. Full unpacking adds typically from £200 to a standard removal but means you walk into a properly set-up home rather than a wall of boxes.

Yes, we'll supply boxes, tissue paper, bubble wrap and tape at material-cost prices, dropped off a week before move day. Most customers self-pack the books, clothes and non-fragile items and ask us to do the kitchen + breakables. Best of both worlds, lowest total cost.

From £350 for a small flat clearance up to £2,000+ for a 4-5 bed family home. The price depends on the volume to remove, the access (stairs, narrow lanes, parking), the proportion that's resaleable or donatable versus genuine waste, and whether we're co-ordinating with the removal of items you're keeping. We always quote in writing, fixed price, after a free pre-clearance visit.

Yes, probate work is a substantial part of what we do across Dorset. We work to the timeline of the executor or the solicitor, photograph each room before we start, identify any items the family wants kept or rehomed (jewellery, photographs, framed art, documents), separate donatable goods to local charities (Sue Ryder, Salvation Army, Air Ambulance), recycle what can be recycled, and only landfill what genuinely can't be saved.

Yes, we hold an Upper Tier Waste Carriers Licence with the Environment Agency (registration number on file with each quote). That means we can legally remove waste from your property, transport it, and tip at licensed transfer stations. Any contractor who can't show that licence is fly-tipping by definition, and the householder, not the contractor, gets the fine.

Sue Ryder, Salvation Army, the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance shops are our regular partners, usable furniture, clothing, books, kitchenware all get routed there with a Gift Aid form completed where applicable. We can also direct items to specific charities at your request (a hospice, a local cause). Anything genuinely valuable we'll flag back to you before donating.

Yes, common pattern. We clear the bulk of the contents, identify and set aside items you want to keep (often family photos, jewellery, specific furniture, framed art), and either deliver them to your address or store them in our Shaftesbury yard until you decide. Combining clearance with a smaller-volume removal is one number, one company.

Yes, landlord clearances are quick-turnaround work. You give us the keys, we clear the property to inventory standard, sweep through, photograph the empty rooms for the deposit dispute (if any), and return the keys. Typical 2-bed flat: ~4 hours, from £400. Combined with a deep clean if useful (sub-contracted to our partner cleaners).

All 16 of our regular towns: Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Mere, Wincanton, Bruton, Warminster, Blandford Forum, Yeovil, Frome, Salisbury, Dorchester, Weymouth, Bath, Bournemouth and Poole, plus the surrounding villages. Different councils handle the licensing for each (Dorset Council, Somerset Council, Wiltshire Council, BCP), we hold the relevant references and handle the paperwork.

Typically from £900 fully insured for a long-distance UK move. A 2-bed flat from Dorset to London usually From £1,050. A 3-bed family home Dorset to Manchester or Edinburgh from £1,800. A 4-5 bed home from £2,500. We quote a fixed price per route after a free pre-move survey, so the number doesn't move on the day.

Same crew, end-to-end. We don't operate the depot-handover model that the national chains use (where one crew loads, then the truck goes to a regional depot, then a different crew unloads). Our crew drives the route, sleeps overnight if needed, and unloads at the other end. No handover, no "sorry, that wasn't in our notes" at the destination.

Single-day UK moves: most common, Dorset to London / Bristol / Birmingham complete in a long working day. Two-day moves: typical for further destinations (Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Cornwall) or larger 4+ bed homes, we load day one, drive overnight, unload day two. Multi-day: occasionally needed for very large homes or remote destinations; same crew throughout, accommodation factored into the quote.

London (every week), Bristol and Bath (regularly), the M5 corridor down to Cornwall and Devon, the M4 corridor to South Wales and Cardiff, the M40/M1 to the Midlands and Yorkshire, the M6 to Manchester and Liverpool, the A1/M1 up to Edinburgh and Glasgow, the M5/A30 down to Cornwall. We also do less-common routes (Lake District, North Yorkshire, North Wales), fixed-price quote per route either way.

Yes, £2.5m public liability and £50k goods-in-transit cover per load apply identically to long-distance moves. For higher-value contents (over £50k, antiques, art, collections) we can arrange extended cover at quote time. The insurance certificate ships with your written quote so you can verify the limits before committing.

Yes, relocations from London / the South East / the Midlands / the North down to Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire are a regular service. Often we'll combine these with an outgoing Dorset-to-elsewhere route on the same day so you get return-load efficiency on the price. We collect at your old address, drive south, deliver to the new place, same crew throughout.

Yes, common scenario when completion dates don't line up. We collect from your old place, store in our containerised facility at Gillingham (£30 per week per container), and deliver when you're ready. One company throughout, one quote, one number.

Recommended for 3-bed-plus moves; mandatory for 4-5 bed and above. The survey (10 minutes on a video call, or in-person if you prefer) lets us see the volume, access at both ends, and any awkward items. That's how we lock in a fixed price that won't drift. For studios and 1-bed flats we can quote off a phone conversation and a few photos.

Yes, both. Uprights and console pianos: standard specialist work, usually 2-3 crew, slings and a piano dolly, 2-4 hours of careful handling. Grand pianos and baby grands: legs come off, dust-cover wrapped, slings underneath, 3-4 crew minimum. Concert grands by arrangement (we'll quote bespoke after a survey). Insured £50k goods-in-transit per load; higher cover available for instruments worth more.

Yes, antique-furniture work is a substantial part of our Bruton, Sherborne, Bath, Salisbury catchment. Blanket-wrap on every piece as standard, corner protectors, careful handling on listed-building original timber floors, wax-lined boxes for inlaid pieces, double-walled crates for Wedgwood / glass collections. We'll do a free pre-move survey on anything significant so the price reflects the care needed.

Yes, framed paintings and prints get foam-corner protection plus bubble wrap and a flat custom cardboard sleeve. Large pieces and unframed canvases get bespoke cardboard crates. Sculpture (stone, metal, ceramic) custom-crated to size. Climate-aware loading where humidity matters. We've handled gallery installs in the Bruton arts orbit and private-collector moves across Bath and Salisbury.

Piano-only moves: from £250 depending on stairs, access and instrument size. Antique-furniture moves combined with a standard removal: typically a £100 – £300 uplift on the standard price. Art and sculpture: bespoke per-item, quoted after a free pre-move survey. Gallery installs: contact us for a custom quote, depends on the install brief and timeline.

Standard cover is £50k goods-in-transit per load. For higher-value contents (antiques over £50k, art collections, instruments) we can extend cover at quote time, your insurer or a marine-cargo specialist provides an additional certificate that ships alongside our standard one. We'll always raise this proactively at the survey if it looks relevant.

All 16 of our regular Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire towns. Bath, Bruton, Sherborne and Salisbury are our most-frequent specialist catchments, the listed-property and arts overlap drives the volume. Long-distance UK specialist work also offered (Dorset to London, Bristol, the Midlands, the North) at fixed-price-per-route quotes after survey.

Eight weeks before completion is the sweet spot for a typical UK home move. That gives you time to book a removal company while there's still choice, declutter properly without binge-tipping the lot, line up redirected post and utility transfers, and pack methodically rather than in a 48-hour panic. If your timeline is tighter (4 weeks or less) you can still hit every step, you just compress the early phases and lean harder on professional help for packing day.

Across England (excluding London) the average UK house move sits around £8,500 – £12,000 once you add up estate-agent fees (1–2% of sale price), conveyancing (£800 – £1,500), stamp duty (varies), survey (£400 – £1,000), removals (£450 – £2,500 for local; from £900 for long-distance), and the smaller costs (mail redirect, insurance gap, Council Tax overlap, new white goods). Removals themselves are the smallest line item by a wide margin, but the one most people leave to the last minute.

Two weeks before completion is the standard window. Take meter readings on move day itself (photograph them with the date visible) and submit them to your old supplier within 48 hours. For your new place, set up the supply with whichever provider is currently active there (the seller should leave details in the welcome pack), then switch later if you want a better tariff, switching first then moving in often delays the new account.

Pack the 'first night box' (kettle, mugs, tea bags, milk, phone chargers, toilet paper, toothbrushes, pyjamas, fresh clothes for the morning, basic toolkit, important paperwork). Strip the beds, fold the bedding into a labelled bag. Make sure the kettle and one mug per person are accessible, not buried. Put the kettle in the first-night box. Park visitors' cars off the drive so the removal van has access. Get the kids' / pets' move-day plan locked in. Get to bed by 10.30pm, move day is long.

Most people self-pack the books, clothes and bedding (low-risk, low-skill) and add part packing for the kitchen and breakables (where DIY goes wrong in the last 48 hours). A typical part pack adds from £100 to a UK removal, about half the cost of a full pack, and usually saves you 1-2 evenings of stressful kitchen-cupboard archaeology. Full packing makes sense for time-pressed moves (sale completion week, work commitments) and homes with significant antique or collection content.

First week: register at the new GP surgery and dentist; transfer the school place if children are moving schools; update the V5C (vehicle log book), driving licence, and car insurance with the new address; update bank, credit card, mortgage, and any subscriptions still on the old address; tell HMRC if your tax code might shift (different council); register on the electoral roll. Second week onwards: install carbon-monoxide and smoke alarms in every relevant room (legal requirement in England since 2022), test the boiler service date, and locate the stopcock + fuse box.

Honest answer: from £30 per week per timber container at our Shaftesbury yard, no deposit, no padlock fee, no minimum-term contract. A typical 3-bed home fits inside two containers; a 1-bed flat or studio usually fits in half a container. Compared to the bigger national self-storage chains (Big Yellow, Safestore) we're 30–50% cheaper because we run a single small site rather than a 24/7 staffed retail facility, and because most of our storage customers are also using us for their removal, we offer combined pricing that drops the storage cost further. Quoted in writing within two working hours. £50k goods-in-transit cover applies to the move-in and move-out legs; secure, monitored, alarmed throughout the storage period.

From £25 a week or £100 a month per standard wooden container, the same rate whether you're in Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Yeovil, Salisbury, Dorchester, Bournemouth or anywhere else inside our 25-mile radius. A standard container holds the contents of a 1-bed flat (about 250 cubic feet); larger homes typically need 2-3 containers and bulk rates apply. Collection and re-delivery are quoted as a fixed price separately based on your distance from the yard. Quoted in writing within two working hours.