Dealing with Moving Day Problems

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house move

When it comes to removals, Leicester residents can normally take it easy, knowing they have one of the city’s top firms right on their doorstep. At Stoke Removals and Storage we try to make your big move as stress and hassle-free as we possibly can.

Unfortunately, we can’t always do that. Life sometimes throws problems at you at the most inconvenient times – including when you’re moving house. While they can’t all be avoided, here are some of the more common ones and how to deal with them.

Weather

It’s impossible to control the weather and, as we move into the winter months, its increasingly likely that your moving day will be marred by wind, rain, and maybe even snow. While it can put a dampener (no pun intended) on your move, it’s normally not the end of the world. Most professional removal companies are well-experienced in driving under inclement conditions. They will work quickly to get your belongings on and off the van to limit any chance of water damage and drive carefully to your new home.

Bad movers

This is a particular bugbear for us as, when it comes to removal companies, Leicester has some of the best. Unfortunately, those few removal firms that treat their customers and their belongings poorly give the rest of us a bad name. We recommend researching your removal company before you commit to a contract with them. Check out their website, look for online reviews, and speak to friends and family for their recommendations.

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How to Move Your Garden

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plants

We invest a lot of time and effort into our gardens, cultivating flowers, plants and trees over many years. When the time comes to move house, it’s not nice to think of all that hard work going to waste.

Here at Stoke Removals & Storage, we have been helping the residents of Leicester with their home removal needs for years – and that includes their gardens.

Here are a few top tips for moving the key components of your garden to their new home.

Plan ahead

Rehousing your plants safely in your new garden is a time-critical process. Make sure you have a diagram of the new garden, so you can draw out precisely where everything is going to go. This means you can replant your flowers and plants quickly and efficiently, minimising their travel trauma and improving their chances of success.

Talk to us

At Stokes Removals & Storage, we’re happy to help in any way we can with moving your plants and flowers, but we need a little advance notice. If you tell us what plants you’re taking with you, we can arrange our removal vans to offer optimal support for the journey. This includes providing sufficient space for them, or even arranging an additional trip specifically for your greenery.Continue reading →

Preparing for a House Move During the Covid-19 Pandemic

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woman wearing a face mask

With the country still feeling the impact of the coronavirus lockdown, moving house has been difficult over the last few months. Difficult – but not impossible. At Stokes Removals and Storage, we have continued to assist our customers in the Leicester area with all of their removal needs.

The safety of our removal teams and our customers remain our top priority. While we try to make your moving day as worry and stress free as possible, it is each of our responsibilities to maintain social distancing and minimise contact wherever possible.

To make things easier for you, we have put together the following tips that may come in handy when preparing for a house move during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Physical distancingGive yourself extra time: unfortunately, we won’t be able to pop round and assist you with your packing, like we normally would have done. This may mean you have to book us a bit more in advance that you may have liked, if only to ensure you have the time to pack, especially if you’re also working from home.

Keep your distance: we have to insist on social distancing, wherever possible, keeping a minimum of 2 metres away from our team of movers. Ideally, you should be in a different room, while we load the contents of another room onto the van.Continue reading →

Our New Procedures During the Coronavirus Lockdown

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Why Self Storage?

As all our valued customers in and around the Leicester area will be fully aware, the UK is currently engaged in a nationwide lockdown to curb the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Here at Stokes Removals and Storage, we completely support the government’s advice to stay home, stay safe, and stop the spread of this virus. To protect both our staff and our customers during this difficult time, we are taking the following safety measures for the duration of the lockdown.

Our self-storage services in Leicester

We are open for business but until we are given further guidance, Stokes Removals and Storage is limiting face to face interactions. If you need to contact us, we are still available by telephone and email.

Our self storage facility is available for emergency access but we ask customers to follow the government guidelines and follow social distancing at all times whilst on the premises.

All storage contracts will operate as normal during the lockdown and our 24-hour CCTV surveillance system will continue to operate. The safety of your belongings is assured.

Our removals services in Leicester

Stoke Removals and Storage remains in operation for removals. We have amended the way in which we work to minimise risk. Our service will now be 100% contactless. We ask that all customers have their items boxed up and ready for removal and that they relocate to a different room as our team loads up each room’s items into the removal van.

For our part, our workers will be equipped with additional protective clothing, including gloves and face masks, and we will ensure that our vans are thoroughly cleaned after each job to prevent transmission of the virus. We are also respecting social distancing recommendations and will remain at least two metres apart from our customers.

Our packing services in Leicester

We regret that we will no longer be able to provide a packing service for our customers in Leicester. While we understand many customers make good use of this service, in the current circumstances it constitutes too high a risk to have our removal team in your property for an extended period, moving from room to room to assist you in your packing. We are still able to provide you with packing materials, and are happy to drop these off at your door, prior to your move.

We fully expect life to return to normal sooner, rather than later. In the meantime, we trust that all our valued customers across the Leicester area will support the measures we have taken. This is solely to protect our customers and our staff.

For more information, or to book a removal, please call Stokes Removals and Storage today on 0116 239 3000.

office

How to Prepare for an Office Move

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Moving office is an exciting time for any business, but can also cause disruption for the day-to-day running of your business. By making use of the following hints and tips, you can help to keep that disruption to a minimum.

Start early

It’s never too soon to start planning your office move. Indeed, most commercial removals companies advise planning at least three months prior to the move itself. This gives you a chance to think through the moving process in some detail.

Declutter your old office

Moving office is an ideal opportunity to get rid of any old equipment or files that you are no longer required to keep. Anything you haven’t used in over 18 months is unlikely to be used again any time soon.Continue reading →

Moving House at Christmas

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Moving at Christmas

Here at Stokes Removals, we have been assisting our clients with their removals in Leicester for more than half a century. While moving house at Christmas might make things a bit more frantic, there are ways to minimise the impact of the holiday season on your big move.

Here are just a few of them…

The weather

With any winter move, you run the risk of getting snow on your moving day and, the further you get into December, the greater the likelihood of this occurring. Most removal companies operate heavy-duty vans and lorries that can easily handle inclement weather. For your own safety, make sure you have a supply of sand, grit, or road salt to keep your pathways clear of snow.

Christmas shopping

Always a conundrum? Do you buy it all beforehand and load onto the removals van? Do you wait until you move and risk getting everything delivered on time? One alternative is to ask a friend or family member to look after your Christmas shopping for you until the big move.Continue reading →

Reasons Why You Should Move to Leicester – Right Now!

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Whether you are looking for a residential removal in Leicestershire or thinking of possibly a commercial removal – Leicester has a lot to offer you.

Here at Stokes Removals, we decided to help you with making your decision, making sure you not only learn about the city but what opportunities Leicester offers (whether you are moving for an office relocation or house removals) and why you should call for help with a removal company.

Location

Situated in the East Midlands, Leicester lies on the River Soar and stands at a convenient distance of cities such as Nottingham, Birmingham, and London.

With the hustle and bustle of city life, there is a wealth of opportunity within this area. Outside of the city you are relieved of the city ambiance and greeted with countryside roads and smaller villages.

A city of business 

You will find a wealth of business, ranging from small to global across the city and surrounding areas.

With a range of close amenities closeby, Leicester is the perfect place to move to – whether it is for business opportunities or you are moving there with your family.

Tourist Attractions

Leicester has many attractions for you to explore, especially with the most famous attraction of King Richard III Visitor Centre coming into light.

Leicester will be able to provide you with a wide range of touristy features, from family all-time favourite events to enriching historical attractions and multi-cultural cuisine experiences – there is something for the whole family (or new office staff!).Continue reading →

When Should You Consider Packing Services?

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bubblewrap and scissors

As one of the top removal companies Leicester has to offer, we’ve lost count of the number of clients who wish that someone else could take over their packing duties. Of course, our customers in and around Leicester are lucky enough that Stokes Removals and Storage is around to do just that.

But when should you consider a packing service, and what advantages do they offer over doing the job yourself?

Removal manTime and Effort

For many customers, this is the big one. Packing up a lifetime of personal belongings is no quick task. By hiring an experienced and professional removals company to do the job for you, the whole thing can be accomplished in a matter of hours? How? It’s largely a combination of practice, team effort, and a well-rehearsed system, but there is one other key element…

The Right Materials

An aspect of the packing process that is often overlooked is using quality materials. Flinging your belongings into the nearest cardboard box is a sure-fire way to end up with a collection of broken pieces at the other end of the journey.

At Stokes Removals and Storage, we use only the best boxes, bubble wrap, wrapping paper, and packing tape to do the job. Of course, if you really want to handle it yourself, we’re happy to supply you with some from our stock.Continue reading →

How to Stay Calm on Moving Day?

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Stay calm

Moving day is an exciting time. It comes after months of preparation, finalising a sale, confirming a new property, arranging with a removals company and more. All of this brings stress. Though moving can be a joyful time, it is often linked to a big life change which can introduce a lot of uncertainty.

It’s normal to feel stressed when it comes to moving house or apartment, but too much stress can have an impact on your health and impair your judgement – something you want to limit if you’re going through a big change like moving house!

Stokes Removals have helped thousands of clients since starting in the removals business over 50 years ago. As a family-run business, the knowledge and experience of how to organise moving day has been passed on and refined. We know how best to help clients experience a stress-free moving day, so read on to find out our tips.

Take Care Of Yourself

Even in the case that you are moving house under happy circumstances, it is still a major upheaval. You are breaking away from your usual routines and familiar environment and this is sure to affect you. If possible, take a few days off work prior to the move so that your focus is not divided. Before moving day you will be busy but don’t skip meals or cut down on sleep.Continue reading →

5 Factors to Consider when Requesting Removal Quotes

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In the early planning stages of moving house, it’s a great idea to get a range of removals quotes so you can make an informed decision on which mover to choose.

Once you have a few quotes to compare, the cost might guide your decision, but it’s important to understand what you are getting for the price, and whether you are comparing apples with apples.

At Stokes Removals we are always happy to go through our quotes with you, so you understand exactly what’s included and what options you might need to consider. To help you get started requesting quotes, we’ve put together a video to explain some of the points you should think about when requesting a quote. Have you factored these into your moving plans?

 

To request a free, no obligation quote, call us on 0116 239 3000 or complete our quick estimate form.