How to quote for a house removal: a guide for removals firms

A removals firm turns an enquiry into a signed acceptance in seven steps, taken in the same order every time: first reply, missing details, survey, volume and access notes, written quotation, follow-up and acceptance. A quote usually runs late because a survey is waiting for a diary slot or a set of notes is waiting to be typed. Fix the order and the handovers, and aim to send each quotation the day after the survey.

Who handles a removal enquiry?

An enquiry arrives from your website, a comparison site or the phone. In many removals firms a move coordinator carries it from there, the surveyor sees the property, and the owner or a senior coordinator sets the price.

The seven steps from enquiry to signed acceptance

1. First reply. The coordinator confirms the enquiry has been received and says what happens next.

2. Missing details. Moving date and how fixed it is, both addresses, property size, floors, lifts and parking at each end, anything unusual (a piano, a safe), whether packing or storage is wanted. Ask for all of it in one message.

3. The survey. In person or by video, booked into the surveyor's diary and confirmed in writing. The code of the British Association of Removers (BAR) requires of its members an accurate assessment of the work, so the survey is what the price rests on.

4. Volume and access notes. The surveyor records the volume room by room, the packing materials, the crew and vehicle the job needs, and every access problem. If these notes use the same headings as your quotation, the next step is copying. If they are a page of handwriting, it is interpretation.

5. The written quotation. The coordinator builds it in your template or in removals software such as MoveMan, and the person who owns the price checks it and sends it.

6. Follow-up. A message on the days you have decided, asking whether the customer has questions and whether the date has moved.

7. Acceptance. The signed acceptance form, the booking confirmation, the deposit request where you take one, and the job sheet for the crew.

How is a removal price built?

BAR trains estimators to "cube" a job with a tape measure, record the volume on the estimator's form and work out what a vehicle can carry by volume and by weight. BAR's cost modelling training builds the selling price from fixed and variable costs (vehicle costs, business overheads and labour), using what the survey found.

What must a removal quotation contain?

If you are a BAR member the code binds you, and its list is a fair test for any remover selling to UK consumers. It requires of members a fixed price written quotation, free of charge, with a clear description of the work in a service specification. Where the customer has given you a list of items, the quotation says that it covers only the items listed. The contract that goes with it describes the services included for the price and the ones excluded, the terms of payment, the timings, above all on a part load, and the circumstances in which extra charges can arise, such as storage and redelivery when a delivery cannot be made. It draws the customer's attention to cancellation and postponement charges, limits of liability, the time limit for claims and the cooling-off period, explains how deposits are protected and refunded, and carries an acceptance form. Put those headings in your template once and every quote passes the same test.

Which steps an AI worker can take on

In quoting, an AI worker suits the steps done in writing. It can send the first reply as each enquiry arrives, in wording you approved, and ask for the missing details in one message, reminding by email if nothing comes back. That is the lead response and qualification role. It can offer survey times from the diary. Once the surveyor's notes are in, it can build the draft quotation from your rate card and template, line by line, mark every line it could not price from the rate card, and check the draft against the list above. It can draft each follow-up on its day. The quote and proposal preparation role sets out that part. An AI worker has a written job, your templates and a named person to report to. The page for removals and haulage offices covers the other office work it can take on, from job bookings to proofs of delivery.

What stays with a person, and why

• The survey. Someone has to see the stairs, the loft and the parking.

• The price. A fixed price commits the business. The agent applies the rate card; awkward access, a part load or a long carry is the owner's or the coordinator's call.

• Sending it. A person reads each quotation and sends it.

• Every phone call. The agent works in writing, so a customer who would sooner talk gets a person, and that includes the vulnerable customers the BAR code asks members to give extra help.

• Discounts, date changes and complaints. These are decisions and go to the coordinator with the history attached.

What to put in place first

• One list of the questions you ask every enquirer.

• A survey form whose headings match your quotation.

• A rate card that is written down, including the extras you usually price from memory.

• A quotation template with the included, excluded and extra-charge sections already in it.

• The days on which you follow up, and the wording.

• Last month's count: enquiries, surveys, quotes sent, and the days from survey to quote.

Why the days from survey to quote limit how far a removals firm can grow is the subject of how to scale a removals business without hiring more staff.

For a remover, an AI worker would prepare the replies, the survey bookings and the quotation drafts for your coordinator, and your people would keep the survey, the price and the phone. Work out last month's days from survey to quote, and talk to our agent about bringing them down.