The standard pattern of a calm move day, from 7am at the depot to 5pm at the new property's front door.
This moving day step-by-step timeline walks you through the typical Sussex house move from the 8am crew arrival through to the final signed inventory at the new property after dark. Most customers have done two or three house moves in their adult lives, which means each move feels unfamiliar in its details. This guide walks through a typical move day hour by hour, from the moment our crew leaves the depot to the moment the lorry pulls away from the new property in the evening. Forty years of Sussex moves have given us a clear sense of the standard pattern.
The detail below covers the moments that matter most — the early-morning crew arrival, the load, the chain-day timings, the unload, and the end-of-day sweep. For the operational survival kit you’ll want to have ready, see our survival kit guide. For the wider preparation arc, the 8-week preparation guide covers the run-up.
Our standard start: the crew arrives at our Lower Dicker depot by 6:45am, loads the day’s materials (cartons, blankets, tape, corner-board, lifting equipment), and leaves the depot at 7am. The aim is to be on your driveway 10–15 minutes before the agreed start time.
For longer-distance moves (London-to-Sussex, for example), the depot departure shifts earlier — sometimes 6am for a London 8am arrival. The crew has done the route many times; the route planning is established. Mention any property-specific access notes (gate code, narrow lane, neighbours’ parking) at survey so the route accounts for them.
The lorry is loaded the previous evening with the standard kit for the move type. For pad-wrap-heavy jobs we carry extra blanket stock; for office moves we carry specific commercial-handling kit. The crew configuration matches the move — a routine 3-bed gets a 3-person crew; a large country house gets 4–5.
The crew arrives 10 minutes before the agreed start time. Standard greeting: introductions, a quick walk through the property to confirm what’s going where, agreement on the load order, and a question about anything fragile or particularly valuable that needs special handling.
The first item the crew usually unloads from the lorry is the protection kit: corner-board for doorframes, soft floor coverings for hallways, dust sheets for staircases. The property is dressed before any furniture moves. For listed properties this matters particularly; for newer properties it’s lighter-touch but still applied.
By 8:15am, the crew lead has typically agreed the loading sequence with the customer and the team is ready to start wrapping the first room. The customer’s job from here is mostly to stay out of the way, answer questions when asked, and not try to direct the load order.
Pad-wrapping happens in your home before any piece leaves the room. The crew works room-by-room, wrapping freestanding furniture in heavy quilted blankets and securing with webbing straps. The wrapped pieces are carried out to the lorry and loaded in a stack-safe sequence. See the pad-wrap service guide for the detail.
For a typical 3-bedroom home, the load runs from 8:30am to around midday. Larger 4–5 bed properties extend the load to 1–2pm. The crew works methodically; trying to rush the wrap is the single most common cause of damage. The customer’s patience during this phase pays back in protection at the unload end.
Make tea around 10am. The crew appreciates it and the conversation usually surfaces small details that matter — that fragile vase that should travel with you in the car rather than the lorry, the lift-booking confirmation for the new property, the keys that need to come back to the estate agent. Small things; useful to catch them before the lorry leaves.
The chain-day completion timing shapes the rest of the day. Most UK property completions land at noon or 1pm — your solicitor confirms funds transferred, and the estate agent releases the keys to the buyer. The same happens in reverse at the new property. The whole sequence usually plays out between 11am and 1pm.
If the chain runs to time, the lorry leaves your old property at 12:30, you follow in your car, and we’re both at the new property by 1pm. If the chain slips — which happens often — the lorry sits on the road outside your old property waiting for funds to release. We don’t charge for these waits up to a few hours; they’re built into the day’s schedule.
For long chain slips (over 3 hours), we’ll move the lorry to a holding spot rather than block your neighbours. For overnight chain failures (rare), the load goes into our Lower Dicker depot overnight and we redeliver the next day at no extra charge.
The lorry arrives 10 minutes before you do. The crew walks the new property with you to confirm the room layout, where each piece of furniture goes, and any access constraints (lift bookings, narrow doorways, stairs). For new-build properties, the crew checks whether any doorways are too narrow for the wrapped furniture — we’ve usually spotted this at survey but occasionally a piece needs additional disassembly on the day.
Unloading runs in reverse to loading. Lightest items off first; furniture in the middle of the sequence; heaviest base-load items off last. Each pad-wrapped piece is carried in still wrapped, placed in its final position in the room, and unwrapped there. By 3–4pm the lorry is empty.
For unpacking, see the order in the packing-order guide — the kitchen and the bedroom in the first hour, the rest over the following days.
The end-of-day sweep is the last formal phase of the move. The crew lead walks through the new property with you, checking every room against the inventory, confirming each piece is in the right room and right position. Any concerns — a scratch you spotted, a piece in the wrong room — get noted and resolved before the crew leaves.
This is the moment to flag anything that doesn’t look right. Standard goods-in-transit insurance covers transit damage but claims work much better when flagged on the day rather than discovered a week later.
The lorry leaves around 5pm. The crew is back at the depot by 6–6:30. Your move is done. Make tea, order a takeaway, sit down. The unpacking can wait until morning. The survival kit guide covers the first-night essentials.
We've been a family-run Sussex remover since 1982. Crews are directly employed and trained at our own staff training centre. Pad-wrap on every full removal, removal-grade cartons, BAR Advance Payment Guarantee on every deposit.
120+ independent Google reviews at 4.9/5. Survey, written quote within 48 hours, deposit-protected booking, calm move day. Whichever category your move falls into — routine local, overseas, antiques, business — the approach is the same.
Booking the survey takes ten minutes via the online form.
Free in-home or video survey, written fixed-price quote, BAR-protected deposit. Sussex’s family-run remover since 1982.
The standard moving-day pattern (7am depot, 8am at property, midday load complete, 1pm chain transition, 5pm finished) applies to most routine moves but several scenarios change the timing meaningfully.
Long-distance moves (London-to-Sussex, Sussex-to-the-North): the depot departure shifts earlier — sometimes 6am for an 8am arrival at the loading property. The transit takes 2–4 hours rather than 30–60 minutes. The unload may run into the evening or split across two days. The London-to-Sussex guide covers the route-specific timings.
International moves: the “move day” is actually a multi-day process. Pack and load at the property over 1–2 days, customs processing over 3–5 days, sea or land transit, customs processing at the destination, local delivery. The customer’s involvement is concentrated at the start and the end; the middle is paperwork-driven. See overseas removals.
Listed-building moves: the load takes longer because of additional building protection (corner-board, door-frame guards, soft floor coverings). A typical 3-bed listed-building move runs 6–8 hours rather than 4–5. The listed-building moves guide covers the wider considerations.
Office moves: typically run Friday evening through Sunday rather than a single weekday. The office relocation guide covers the after-hours pattern.
Care-home moves: span multiple days with phased resident transfers. The care-home guide covers the multi-day pattern.
For any non-standard move, the timing is in the written quote — we don’t hide the schedule details until move day.
Booking your move with us is a five-step process. One: enquire via the online quote form or call our office on 01323 848 008. We’ll arrange a survey within a few working days. Two: the survey itself, usually in-home and lasting 30–90 minutes depending on the move complexity. The surveyor walks the property, photographs access points, counts cartons by size, and discusses any specialist requirements.
Three: the written quote, emailed within 48 hours of the survey. Itemised by line so you see what every cost line covers. Four: deposit and date confirmation. Typically 20–25% deposit on confirmation, fully protected under the British Association of Removers’ Advance Payment Guarantee. Five: the move itself. Uniformed crew, our own lorry, no agency labour, blankets washed between jobs.
For pre-move questions, our office is reachable Monday to Friday 8am to 5:30pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm. We’d rather have the customer conversation early than late — a small clarification three weeks before move day saves a meaningful misunderstanding on the day itself. For the wider company history and our forty-year track record across Sussex, the about-us page covers the background.
For your specific move, we look forward to the conversation. Whichever category falls under (a routine local move, a complex international relocation, a specialist antique or office job), the principles are consistent: in-home survey, written itemised quote, deposit-protected booking, crew you can rely on, calm move day, post-move follow-up. That’s the standard we aim for on every job.
8am at your property is standard. We leave Lower Dicker at 7am and are on your driveway by 7:50.
A typical 3-bed loads in 4–4.5 hours including pad-wrap. Larger 4–5 bed properties run 5–7 hours. Smaller 1–2 bed moves often complete in 2–3 hours.
We wait. No extra charge for chain delays up to several hours. For 3+ hour slips we move the lorry to a holding spot; for overnight failures, the load goes into our depot and we redeliver the next day.
No — let the crew lead the sequence. Over-supervision slows things down. Make tea, point at rooms, answer questions but stay out of the lorry.
Flag it before the crew leaves. Day-of claims process much faster than week-later ones through our goods-in-transit insurance.