You pack the easy stuff — clothes, linen, books, kitchen non-breakables. We come in and pack the breakables: china, glass, mirrors, art, picture frames, lamps, ceramics, electronics. The most popular packing option for our Sussex customers.
Fragile-only packing is the most popular packing option for our Sussex customers. You pack the boxes that won’t break — clothes, linen, books, kitchen non-breakables, garage and shed contents — and we come in the day before move day to pack everything fragile. China, glassware, crystal, mirrors, art, picture frames, lamps, ceramics, electronics. The split saves money compared with our full packing service but keeps the breakables in our hands, which is where the transit-insurance risk sits. Mark Ratcliffe Moving is a British Association of Removers (BAR) member working from our Lower Dicker depot just outside Eastbourne since 2017.
Fragile-only packing is most useful when the customer is comfortable packing their own clothes, linen, books and bedroom contents, but doesn’t want responsibility for anything that could break in transit. That split is real because the insurance treatment is different: items we pack are covered for their stated value under our full transit cover; items you pack are covered to a reduced “owner-packed” standard. Everything breakable belongs in the first category.
At the survey we walk every room and identify what counts as fragile. Typical inclusions:
If you’re unsure whether something counts as fragile, leave it for us. We pack everything you flag and a few items besides if we spot them on the day.
Mark or one of our senior surveyors visits your home for a no-obligation survey. We walk every room, identify what we’ll pack as fragile, count cartons and materials needed, and discuss the moving-day schedule. Within 48 hours you have a fixed-price written quote including the fragile-only packing line, the move itself, and any add-ons like unpacking on arrival.
One to two weeks before move day we drop off the cartons, packing paper and bubble wrap you need for the boxes you’ll pack — clothes, linen, books, kitchen non-breakables. Materials are double-wall BAR-spec cartons from our Lower Dicker packing shop, the same grade we use ourselves. Anything you don’t use we collect for re-use.
A crew of two arrives by 9am and works methodically room by room. Each fragile item is wrapped individually in packing paper plus bubble wrap, placed in a double-wall carton with foam corner protectors, and the carton is labelled with its contents category and the destination room at your new property. Pictures and mirrors get cardboard sandwich protectors before bubble wrap. TVs and monitors go in their original boxes where you have them; otherwise we use TV-specific cartons with foam.
At the end of the day you sign a packed-by-us inventory listing every fragile carton, the room it came from and a rough contents summary. That inventory is what the transit insurance treats as covered for full stated value. The cartons stay sealed in the rooms you packed them in until the lorry arrives next morning.
The full moving crew arrives Sussex 8 to 9am for loading. Your fragile cartons go into the lorry first (heaviest, most stable position) and come out last so they go into your new property in calm conditions. We place each labelled carton in its destination room so unpacking is a simple sequence rather than a hunt.
The materials matter because what fails fails the same way every time: cartons that flex under stack pressure, paper that is too thin to absorb shock, bubble wrap that has lost its air. We use BAR-spec materials throughout:
Most of our packing customers split between three options — full packing, fragile-only, and self-packing. Fragile-only is the middle ground and the most-chosen of the three. The people who pick it tend to fit one of these profiles:
Fragile-only packing is usually quoted as a line on the moving quote, not a separate invoice. Typical ranges from our 2026 Sussex pricing:
Compared with our full packing service (we pack everything), fragile-only is typically 40 to 60% of the price. Compared with self-packing, it’s the cost of about four to six hours of professional time per 3-bed house — less than you’d earn taking that time off work.
Packing fragile items isn’t complicated but it requires the right materials, the right method, and crews who care about getting it right rather than rushing through. We are a small, owner-managed Sussex firm working from Lower Dicker since 2017. The packers who handle your china in Eastbourne are the same packers who’ve done it on thousands of Sussex moves — not casual day-rate labour.
About 70% of our packing-service customers choose fragile-only. The repeat-customer rate on packing services is high because the alternative (cracked picture frames, chipped china, scratched mirrors) is the thing customers remember most about a poorly-packed move. We’d rather charge a fair price and not have the “arrived broken” conversation at the destination.
Read what customers say on our reviews page, see our packing in the gallery, or call Mark on 01323 848 008 to talk through what we’d pack for your move. We’ll give you straight answers about what’s worth packing professionally and what isn’t, what the cost looks like, and how the fragile-only service fits into the wider packing services we offer.
Anything that would break, scratch, crack or chip with normal handling: china dinner sets, glassware, crystal, mirrors, framed art and photographs, ceramic ornaments, lamps and lampshades, TVs and computer monitors, audio equipment, vinyl records, certain antiques, marble and stone tops, ride-on toys, musical instruments smaller than upright pianos. We make the call at the survey — if it would break we pack it.
For a typical 3-bedroom Sussex house, a fragile-only pack runs 4 to 6 hours with a crew of two, usually the day before move day. For homes with extensive art or large china collections we extend to a full day. Smaller flats are done in 2 to 3 hours.
Yes — original boxes are the best protection for TVs, computers and audio kit. Bring them out and we will use them. If you do not have the originals we wrap in bubble wrap and pack in double-wall export-grade cartons with foam corner protectors, which gives manufacturer-equivalent protection.
For a typical 3-bedroom Sussex house, fragile-only packing typically adds £180 to £320 to the removal quote. A 1-bedroom flat is £90 to £140. A 4-bedroom house with extensive art and china can reach £400. Materials are included in the price.
Yes — provided we pack them. Items packed by us are covered under our full transit insurance for their stated value. Items packed by you in self-packed boxes are also covered but to a reduced “owner-packed” standard. The fragile-only service exists specifically so that anything breakable is covered at the full rate.
Yes. Every box is labelled with the contents category (e.g., “kitchen — china”), the destination room at your new property, and a fragile-up arrow marker. On move day we place each box in its labelled room so you can unpack at your own pace without hunting for the right box.
From the blog
Step-by-step packing for china, glass, framed pictures, mirrors, electronics — from BAR-trained packers.
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Pro-packer technique for china, glassware, art, electronics. The five mistakes that cause most self-pack damage.
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How our signature method works — wrap in your home, never unwrapped in transit, only unwrapped in final position.
Read article →Call us today for a free, no-obligation quote — or use our online form. Whether it's a one-room move or a full international relocation, we've handled it before.