Pricing removals by volume or by day, and access changes both

2 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

Introduction

Removals are usually quoted on volume or on a day rate, and both models share the same blind spot. Neither accounts for access, which is frequently the difference between a straightforward job and one that overruns badly. A three-bedroom house with a driveway and wide doors is not the same job as an identical volume on the fourth floor of a building with a narrow stair, a lift too small for a sofa and permit parking a hundred metres away.

Access is also the thing a customer never mentions, because to them it is simply where they live. They have carried shopping up those stairs for years. It has to be asked about specifically.

Pricing well means surveying properly and pricing access as its own factor. Both take minutes and save days.

1. Pricing removals by volume or by day both need an access assessment

Ask the questions the customer will not volunteer.

Ask about both ends

Floor, lift, stairs, door widths, parking, distance from the vehicle to the door, permits, restricted hours. Eight questions, asked every time. Both properties, not just the origin. The destination is the one most often skipped.

Do a video or in-person survey on larger jobs

Volume estimated over the phone is consistently wrong. Fifteen minutes on a call with a camera prevents most overruns. Ask them to walk through every room.

2. Choose the model to fit the job

Each suits different work.

Volume pricing suits standard, predictable moves

Known access, straightforward properties, a single destination. The customer gets certainty and you can estimate the hours. Most domestic moves sit here.

Day rate suits complicated or uncertain moves

Multiple drops, storage, difficult access, an uncertain completion time. The customer carries the uncertainty because you cannot price it. Explain why rather than loading the volume price.

3. Price access explicitly rather than absorbing it

Make it visible in the quotation.

Load for floors without a lift

A stated amount per floor. Carrying furniture up three flights is real labour and it should not be hidden. State the figure per floor on the quotation.

Charge for long carries and parking problems

Distance from vehicle to door, permit costs, or a shuttle vehicle where a lorry cannot get close. Check the street before quoting.

4. Quote the extras as their own lines

Removals quotations are often too thin.

Separate packing, materials, dismantling and storage

Each is real work and each is frequently assumed to be included. Price them individually. Say what is and is not. Materials are the commonest assumption.

State the insurance position clearly

Cover level, what is excluded, and what happens with customer-packed boxes. Ambiguity here becomes a claim dispute. Put it on the first page.

5. Protect the day itself

Completion dates move and moves overrun.

Set terms for delays and postponement

Exchange delays are common. A stated policy is fairer than an improvised one on the day. Say what notice you need.

Say what happens if the job overruns

An hourly rate beyond the quoted time, stated at booking. Customers accept it when told in advance. Nobody accepts it on the driveway at seven in the evening.

Conclusion

Both pricing models share the same blind spot, so assess access first: ask about floors, lifts, stairs, door widths, parking and permits at both ends, and survey larger jobs by video rather than estimating volume over the phone.

Use volume pricing for predictable moves with known access and a day rate where access is difficult or the completion date uncertain, because then the customer carries an uncertainty you genuinely cannot price. Load explicitly for floors without a lift and for long carries, quote packing, materials, dismantling and storage as their own lines, state the insurance position including customer-packed boxes, and set terms for postponement and overrun before the day.