St Ives Removals

Guides · the document

What a written move plan contains

Most moving quotes are a number attached to a hope. A move plan is different: it is the day, on paper, before you commit to anyone. Here is what one contains, and a worked sample to hold ours, or any removalist's, against.

The five parts

  • The house, as measured. Levels and half-flights counted, tight turns named, the agreed exit for every oversized piece. If the plan does not mention your stairs, it was written about a different house.
  • The sequence. Which rooms empty in what order and why, where cartons stage, what goes on the truck first because it comes off last.
  • The protection list. What gets boarded, felted, wrapped and guarded, surface by surface, before the carry begins. Details: the protection guide.
  • The crew and the rate. How many movers, how many trucks, the published hourly rate that crew carries, and the honest hours estimate with its assumptions written down.
  • The day's edges. Start time, truck position, access notes (the dock booking, the council permit, the neighbour's driveway agreement), and who to call when something changes.

A worked sample

Fictional house, real format: a three-level split on a battle-axe block, three bedrooms, one piano. Every plan we write looks like this; only the house changes.

Move plan · worked sample Three-level split · battle-axe block Crew 3 + 1 · $350/hr
StepStageThe detail that matters
01Protection runBoard both glass walls on the living level; felt on all treads and landings; wrap the stair balustrade.
02Bedrooms, top levelCartons stage at the upper landing; beds broken down last so the level empties in one pass.
03Entry levelStudy and hall furniture out through the front door; the two long bookcases exit via the garden slider instead.
04Piano legUpright, living level: trolley to the base of the lower flight, straps on the drop, three crew, one caller.
05Living levelLast, so the household keeps a base camp. Sofa exits via the garden slider, pre-measured at 2.1 m clear.
06The last 40 mGround boards on the handle path; trolley relay; one crew packing the truck while two feed it.
07UnloadReverse order at the destination: beds assembled first, kettle off last, protection collected on the way out.

Worked sample for a fictional house, shown so you know the format. Your plan is written from your walkthrough and carries your rooms, your measurements and your hours estimate with its assumptions stated.

Why we put it in writing

Three reasons, all of them yours. First, a written plan is checkable: you can walk the house with it and catch what we missed while it still costs nothing. Second, it makes the quote honest, because the hours estimate sits next to the assumptions it rests on, and if the assumptions change, you can see exactly why the hours did. Third, it survives the phone call. Whatever was promised is not a memory contest six weeks later; guidance on quotes and deposits from NSW Fair Trading says much the same about getting the essentials of any service agreement on paper.

The plan is free, it arrives after the walkthrough, and it is yours to keep even if you book someone else with it. We can live with that trade.

The short version: if it is not written down, it is not a plan. Send the enquiry to start yours, or preview one in the planner right now.

A removalist with a clipboard walking a couple through their living room, gesturing at the stairs
The walkthrough writes the plan; the plan runs the day.

Start yours

A walkthrough costs nothing and commits you to nothing

Tell us about the house and we will come and count its half-flights properly. The plan that follows is yours either way.

Get a quote

The next step

Tell us about the house

Send the enquiry and we will come back to you with questions worth asking, then a walkthrough and a written move plan. No obligation, no hurry, no hard sell.

Get a quote Section your house first