House removals · West London
House removals in West London, where the house is large and the route through it is narrow
House removals in West London usually mean a large property with a narrow route through it. The period houses around Ealing, Chiswick and Hammersmith run tall rather than wide. A lower-ground floor is usual, reached down steps from the hall, and above it sit two or three storeys plus a converted room in the roof. The staircase joining them is the original Victorian or Edwardian one, and it changes direction at every landing. So the number of flights decides the day, along with whatever must be dismantled to clear the return. We walk every flight at the survey, before a price is written.
Written by Daniel, founder, Metro City Moves
Usual house
Period, three or four storeys, stairs only
Sets the hours
The flights, and the landing return
Quote
In writing, after a survey
What is different here
House removals in West London is its own job
What changes the plan and the price here, rather than a list that would fit any London postcode.
Storeys multiply the carry, so the footprint tells you nothing
These are vertical houses. Around Ealing Broadway, Northfields and Hanwell the typical arrangement is three or four storeys on a narrow plot. Add a lower-ground floor, reached down steps from the hall. Anything stored on the top floor travels four flights to reach the pavement, and the crew then climbs those flights again, empty. So a tall house with two rooms to a floor is a longer day than a wider house holding identical furniture over two storeys. At the survey we count flights rather than bedrooms. The flights determine the crew size and the hours, while the bedroom count determines almost nothing.
The landing return is narrower than the staircase itself
The staircase in a West Ealing or Shepherd's Bush house is the original. It winds, or it is cantilevered off the wall, and it doubles back at every half-landing. The flight itself rarely stops a piece of furniture; the return at the top of it does. The handrail and the newel post reduce the usable width to less than the width of a wardrobe. Mattresses, three-seat sofas and tall chests of drawers are the usual casualties. We measure the tightest return, we measure your widest item, and we settle at the survey what is dismantled and what is not.
The features are original, so the protection goes down first
Nobody wants a scored banister, a chipped cornice, or a gouge in the plaster above a half-landing. Those are the parts of a period house you cannot buy back. So nothing is lifted until the protection is in position. The handrail and the newel are wrapped, and the treads are covered. The door frames and the corners of every return are padded, and the hall floor is sheeted. Where an item will not clear a turn it is dismantled instead, and occasionally it leaves through a window opening. Forcing a piece is how a staircase gets damaged, so we take it apart and carry it in sections.
The pack is a bigger share of the job than the lift
The contents of these houses are careful rather than bulky. Framed pictures and mirrors, glass shelves, a china cabinet, decanters, table lamps with shades that crush easily. A Brentford terrace and a Hanwell villa carry a similar inventory: very little that is heavy, a great deal that is fragile. None of it is quick, because every piece is wrapped individually and then boxed with the surrounding space filled. A part pack or a full pack is usually the sensible answer here, and it is agreed at the survey. A piano belongs to neither the packing nor an ordinary crew's day, and it is arranged separately on its own equipment.
Where this applies
The parts of West London this page is about
Named, because a page about an area in general is no use to anyone standing in one. These are the places where what is written above is what we actually find.
- Ealing Broadway
- West Ealing
- Northfields
- Hanwell
- Shepherd's Bush
- Brentford
- Before you fix a date
- Count the storeys, including a lower-ground floor and any converted room in the roof, and say which floor every large item is standing on today.
- Photograph each flight of the staircase from the bottom, including the handrail and the turn at the landing immediately above it.
- Measure the tightest point on a landing return, measure your widest piece of furniture, and send us both numbers.
- List everything framed, glazed or china, then decide between a part pack and a full pack — packing services belong in the same written quote.
- If the house contains a piano, say so before the survey, because piano removals is a separate arrangement with its own crew and equipment.
Questions
House removals in West London, answered
- Our house is on four floors. Does that cost more than a wider house the same size?
- Usually, yes. Every flight is another carry down and another climb back up empty, and the top floor pays that four times over. Storeys determine the crew size far more than the bedroom count does. We survey before we quote, the quote comes in writing, and the number you accept is the number you pay.
- The staircase is original and we do not want it marked. What do you actually do?
- The protection goes down before anything is lifted. Handrail, newel post, treads, door frames and the hall floor are all covered first. Then the route is walked again. Anything that will not clear a return is dismantled rather than pushed at it.
- Do we have to pay for packing, or can we do it ourselves?
- Either, and plenty of people divide it. A part pack is common in these houses: you do the books, the clothes and the wardrobes. We do the kitchen, the glassware, the mirrors and anything framed, because that is where the hours are. Decide at the survey, so packing services appear in the written quote rather than arriving afterwards.
- What happens if a wardrobe will not go round the landing?
- It is dismantled, or it leaves through a window opening, and which of the two is a decision for the survey rather than for the morning. A window route needs the room cleared and the opening measured beforehand, so it is planned rather than improvised. If neither method works, you hear about it while there is still time to decide what happens to the item.
Keep reading
Everything else on house removals and on West London
House removals elsewhere in London
Related reading
Before you book in West London
Parking suspensions, red routes and the ULEZ — read from the councils' and TfL's own pages, with the date each fact set was checked.
- Guide
London parking suspensions for moving house: what every borough charges
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Parking suspension vs dispensation: which one a house move needs
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ULEZ, removals vans and the Congestion Charge on moving day
ULEZ charges a non-compliant removals van £12.50 a day, everywhere in London, and the Congestion Charge is £18 in the centre. What applies on moving day.
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What people say
Reviews left by people we have moved
Left on our Google profile. Every card links back to it, so you can read the rest — including any we would rather you did not.
Good experience with Metro City Moves. 4 bedroom house seemed bit difficult to move from London to Liverpool, but they planned well and successfully executed. Thank you.
Saqib AwanRead on Google, opens in a new tab
Get started
Tell us where you are moving from
Send a postcode and we will come back to arrange the survey, which we can do on a video call.
What you get before you commit
- A survey first, by video call or in person, so the price is built on what is actually there.
- The quote in writing, listing what is included and what is not, so both sides read the same list.
- Anything you add before you accept is priced into the quote you sign off.
Talk to us about your move
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