Careers at Mark Ratcliffe Moving

What working at Mark Ratcliffe Moving actually looks like

Removals work is physical, social and surprisingly varied. A typical day starts at 7:30 am with crew brief at the depot — the lead checks the job sheet, confirms vehicle, materials and crew, then drives to the customer’s address by 8 am. From there it’s pad-wrapping furniture in the bedrooms, loading the lorry by 11, driving to the destination over lunch, unloading in the same order so the customer’s essentials come out first, and reassembling beds and wardrobes by mid-afternoon. Most jobs finish by 4 pm; cross-county and long-distance jobs run later.

The crew rhythm

We run permanent two-, three- and four-person crews, not casual day-rate teams. Each crew has a lead (responsible for the day, the inventory, customer contact) and one or more crew members. Junior crew pair with a senior on every job for their first six weeks before leading a section of work themselves. A typical week is four to five jobs — mostly local Sussex moves, one long-distance run, and one packing day for a larger move the following week. Saturdays are common; Sundays are reserved for genuine emergencies.

Training is on us

You don’t need removals experience to apply. Most of our best crew arrived from completely different backgrounds — landscape gardening, warehouse work, hospitality, even teaching. We train every new starter from scratch at our in-house facility: pad-wrap method, fragile handling, antique care, piano-lift technique, the inventory paperwork, the customer-facing communication, the BAR Code of Practice. Training continues throughout your career — new vehicles, new materials, international-move protocols, customs paperwork updates.

What we look for

Three things, in this order: character (we work in customers’ homes — trustworthiness, politeness and care matter more than anything), reliability (the team needs you on time, every day, in the right uniform with the right kit), and physical capability (the work is heavy; stairs and awkward access are routine). We’re less interested in a perfect CV than in references that confirm the first two and a willingness to be trained on the third.

Pay, hours and benefits

Pay is hourly with overtime for weekend and evening work, plus a clear bonus structure tied to customer feedback — we share the rewards when customers go out of their way to praise the crew. Hours are mostly daytime with the occasional early start or late finish; we don’t do split shifts. Holiday is statutory plus a Christmas-New Year shutdown. We have a pension scheme, sick-pay arrangement and a long-service uplift after five years. Most importantly, we treat people the way we’d want to be treated — the proof is that average crew tenure is over eight years.

How to apply

The application form above takes about ten minutes. Tell us about you, your work history (we don’t need a polished CV), and when you could start. We respond within five working days — either to invite you in for a chat at the Lower Dicker depot, or to keep your details on file for future openings. If you’re passing the depot and would prefer to drop in, we’re open Mon–Fri 8:00–17:30 and someone will always make time. Read more about how the business is run if you’d like a fuller picture before applying.

Career progression at Mark Ratcliffe

Most people start as crew — learning the pad-wrap method, handling fragile items, loading lorries, and managing customer interactions on the day. After two or three years, the natural progression is to crew lead: running a job from start to finish, holding the inventory paperwork, briefing the team and being the customer’s point-of-contact on the day. From there, paths split. Some crew leads become drivers (we put them through the C+E licence ourselves), some move into the office (estimating, scheduling, customer liaison), and a few take on training roles at the depot to bring new starters up to standard. Mark sits down with every team member at least twice a year to talk about what they want next — there’s no fixed ladder, but there’s a real conversation about where the role can go.

What we don’t do

We don’t employ zero-hour contracts, we don’t fine crews for vehicle damage out of their wages (we have proper fleet insurance for that), and we don’t take a percentage of customer tips. We don’t require crew to provide their own kit beyond steel-toed boots; uniform, gloves, fleece, hi-vis and waterproofs are all supplied and replaced when they wear out. We don’t hold back pay or make you wait for an invoice cycle — PAYE wages go out weekly, self-employed contractor invoices are paid within 7 days. It’s a small thing, but it’s the thing that separates a real employer from the casual end of the removals industry. Crew who’ve worked elsewhere in the trade often comment on how different the experience is once they’ve been with us for a few months — the predictability of the rota, the quality of the kit, and the fact that the office actually backs the crew when a customer is unreasonable rather than passing the cost on.