Playbook, removals company
The shape of the bill, before anybody talks about the figure
This is not the question of what a move costs, which cannot be answered before a survey. It is the question underneath it, which is what the money is for, and that can be answered in full from published material. Somebody comparing three firms is usually comparing three different shapes of bill without realising it, and the firm that explains its own shape tends to win the comparison.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for pricing questions holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- Two completely different structures are both normal here: a fixed price for the job, and a day rate for a crew of a stated size with the hours counted, so a customer holding two quotes is frequently comparing one of each.
- The volume figure the survey produces, in cubic feet, decides the vehicle and the crew size, which makes it the number the entire bill hangs off even though it is never quoted at the customer.
- Packing is three separate services under one word: a full pack where the crew does everything, a part pack of the kitchen and the fragile things, and self pack, where the boxes are also treated differently afterwards.
- Several charges sit outside both structures and are triggered on the day rather than agreed in advance: waiting time, a long carry from wherever the van could stop, dismantling that was never surveyed, and a permit fee.
How it arrives
- is your quote a fixed price or a day rate
- how many men come with the van
- what does a full pack include
- is dismantling the beds extra
- what is a long carry charge
- how much are boxes and tape
What has to be indexed for this to work
| Which structure you price on, and what it covers | Fixed price for the job, or a day rate with a named crew size, the hours it covers and what happens past them. A customer with two quotes in front of them cannot compare anything until somebody names the structure. |
|---|---|
| The three packing services, priced apart | Full pack, part pack and fragile only, what materials each includes, whether crates and wardrobe cartons are hired or bought, and whether the crew collects the empties afterwards. |
| The charges that arise on the day, each with its trigger | Waiting time, long carry, an extra crew member, dismantling and reassembly beyond the survey, a permit fee. The trigger matters more than the amount, because these are the lines customers dispute. |
| What the volume figure is doing | That the survey measures volume in cubic feet and that the volume sets the vehicle and the crew. Explaining the unit costs one paragraph and heads off the entire bedrooms argument. |
The reply
We price the job rather than the hour, so the figure on the quote is for the move as surveyed [1]. What sits outside it is worth knowing before the day: waiting time if we cannot get in, a long carry charge where the van cannot get near the door, and dismantling that was not seen at the survey [2]. Packing is quoted separately as a full pack, a part pack of the kitchen and fragile items, or self pack using our materials [3]. I cannot produce a figure for your move, because it comes out of the volume the surveyor measures, but the structure above is what that number will be made of.
It names the structure first, since somebody holding a rival quote is comparing shapes without knowing it. Each day charge is given with its condition attached rather than as a bare list, because a charge with a trigger reads as a rule and a charge without one reads as a surprise. It then stops at the figure and says why, which is more convincing than a flat refusal.
Where it stops
The trigger. The visitor asks what their own move would come to, asks for a range, or asks the assistant to compare the structure above against a quote they already hold.
I can explain how the bill is built but not what yours would come to, and any figure I invented would be the one you remembered. Leave your name, an email and both postcodes and a surveyor will get you a real one.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never quote a day rate, a crew rate or a price per cubic foot, because a unit price is a price and the customer will multiply it.
- Never say packing materials are included when the quote lists them separately, or extra when the fixed price covers them, since both errors surface on the invoice.
- Never describe a charge that arises on the day without the condition that triggers it, which is the difference between a rule and an ambush.
- Never compare your structure against another firm's quote, since nobody here has seen what their figure covers and the comparison will be read back to you later.
Questions
- Should we publish our day rate?
- Publishing a rate is publishing a price, and the customer will multiply it by the hours they imagine their move needs, which is always fewer than it takes. Publish the structure and the triggers instead. That answers the real question without handing over a number to be held to.
- Customers keep asking for a price per cubic foot. Can it give one?
- No, and it is worth knowing why they ask. They have read that volume drives the price and assume the relationship is a straight line. It is not: volume decides which vehicle and how many people, and those come in whole units, so the figure steps rather than slides.
- Does spelling out the extras frighten people off?
- The ones it frightens off were going to dispute the invoice anyway. Everybody else reads a firm that has thought carefully about the day and says so, which is a better first impression than a round number with nothing behind it.
Keep reading
- Everything for a removals companyPrice depends on volume and access, so a survey comes first. Insurance limits are what customers misunderstand most, so say them plainly.
- Handling pricing questions in generalPublished price versus the price for this buyer. Bands, ranges and from pricing, and why a firm number for unscoped work is the damaging failure.
- What the deposit buys, and why the charge climbsA deposit takes a van and a crew off the calendar for your day. What it costs to release them climbs as the move gets closer.
- Payment before the tailgate opens, and the lines that arrive laterThe balance is normally cleared before the van is unloaded. Anything counted on the day, waiting time or extra materials, invoices later.
- Three things called a refund, and only one of them is oneA deposit under the scale, a storage period paid ahead, and damage are three different conversations arriving in the same single word.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.