Moving: compare inventory, access and services

1. Preparing a workable inventory

List the furniture, cartons, and items that require special attention. Note the useful dimensions, removable parts, and photos necessary for the evaluation. Report the outbuildings, cellars, and other places to empty. Present the same list to each company and update it if your need changes. A quick estimate should not hide a large object or extra task. Ask how the provider evaluates the volume and validates the inventory: the objective is to compare quotes for the same work, not to get only the lowest figure.

• All areas included.
• Special objects reported.
• Identical inventory for estimates.

2. Describe constraints at both addresses

Lift up floor, lift, crossing dimensions, distance between parking and entrance, and time constraints. Check what needs to be organised with the building or local authorities and ask who is responsible for it. Report information that is still unknown rather than implicitly leaving it favourable. If a remote visit or evaluation is proposed, prepare the necessary views. Ask how a change of access would be processed and encrypted. A service provided with a vehicle close to the door should not be compared without precision to an address requiring long handling.

• Departure and arrival described.
• Passes and parking checked.
• Explicit unknown information.

3. Distribute tasks and responsibilities

For each quote, indicate who supplies the cartons, packs, protects, disassembles, loads, lifts and removes the packaging. Identify the company with which you sign and ask if other stakeholders will perform the work. The control published by the DGCCRF highlights problems of subcontracting and information; do not deduct the identity of the team of a single logo on the page. Read exclusions, payment, documents and conditions of processing of a damage. Ask questions about specific items with their exact description, rather than accept a general answer on a supposed full cover.

• Tasks distributed in writing.
• Stakeholders identified.
• Exclusions and documents included.

4. Compare and control execution

Bring the quotes line by line with your inventory and both accesses. Note the amount, schedule, possible supplements and steps in case of change. Have any correction confirmed before selecting an offer. Then prepare the documents to be kept and check upon arrival, including items identified as individuals. DGCCRF mentions the estimate and the consignment note in its investigation; ask for the documents corresponding to your performance. In case of problem, record the facts and follow the steps planned without waiting to reconstitute the condition of the objects or the promises of the offer.

• Cost on a common basis.
• Confirmed corrections.
• Status and records retained.

Check that two quotes cover the same work

Fictional case: one quote includes dismantling and reassembling two pieces of furniture, while the other only covers transport. Ask for a separate line for each service and specify floors, lifts, carrying distances and access at both addresses. A lower total is not a comparable saving while these differences remain unresolved. Have the assumptions confirmed in the final quote.

• Identical scope and units.
• Assumptions and still-unknown charges identified.
• Terms of the specific offer confirmed.

Fictional example · No merchant prices

Include access constraints in both quotations

Fictional example: A lists €400 then adds €120 for the described access and €80 for an additional service, totalling €600. B quotes the same inventory and services at €560. B costs €40 less for this scope. An imprecise survey or inventory can still make the quotes incomparable.

• Describe floors, lift, carrying distance, parking and special items.

Enter these items in the comparison tool