25 cubic metres

[mint]

does anyone know what 25 cubic metres look like?  let me explain myself.  my appeal is to anyone who has moved or who are in the removal business.

i am in the process of obtaining quotes for our move.  we are ditching quite a lot and leaving even more "stuff".  i think the remainder (to be moved) would be the equivalent of, say, a 2-bedroom house.

i have had 2 quotes which are pretty close (only about £300 in it) and one WAY below these.  the only problem is, the low quote (obtained through a broker) specifies 25 cubic metres.

i have tried to compare like with like, that is, whether insurance is included, storage for 4 weeks, VAT, cartons provided, packing or no packing.  so i am making due allowance for these variables.

the 2 higher quotes do not give any "volumes" but this lowest quote does.  now, if i were certain that 25 cubic metres is all we need, then the choice would be obvious.  after all the difference is about £1500

can anyone remember or indeed know the cubic metres of their possessions when packed?  do you mind just posting, please, and saying the amount.

now i am perfectly aware that your possessions would not necessarily equate to ours, but just so's i have an idea of a fairly typical household.  

alternatively, does anyone know what volume a removal container is?  would a typical container be 25 cubic metres?

sorry to go on a bit about it.  this is getting near to crunch time and i can feel a sore throat (and worse) coming on

  

[Chezstevens]

25 cu m is not a lot - even if they do an international pack, involves wrapping pieces and putting them in your larger furniture.  To give you an idea when we went to Gibraltar we had 18 cu m and that did not include beds, wardrobes or any large furniture however did include BBQ etc.  I forget how many cu m we used for both our moves to France but it was 1/3 of a truck inc trailer.  We had our removal companies quote room by room so there was no misunderstanding later on the day of the move.  Our directness with removal companies is after 9 moves, 3 of which were international.  They will break something or do something stupid - The gaffer may be experienced but the folks he employs will be jobbers - they may not appreciate the transport of fine wines (you need to tell them or drink it before departure) or that your favourite glasses are £50 a pop.  Make sure your insurance is bullet proof, if anything is damaged take photos, make sure they unpack everything (they have quoted for that?).  Favourite game is to arrive at 1800hrs so that by the time they have unloaded you just want shot - don't, just let them burn the midnight oil so there is no dispute on damage.

If you are not insuring 'cos it is a few sticks of furniture etc then why pay for them to be moved.  Ebay yours and spend a delightful few months/years collecting french, apart from their sofas which are the cheapy italian jobs by and large.  

regards

Vern

[Ssc]

Imagine a room with a floor area 3 metres x 3metres ( about 10 foot square) If its roughly normal height of about 2.5 metres then the total is 22.5 cubic metres. i.e can you get almost everything you want to take into a 10ft square room. Hope that helps

P.S The company quoting for 25 cu.m. will certainly charge extra per cu.m. over the 25. I would also check with the other two quotes re volume unless they have seen exactly what you are taking. 

Tony

[mint]

thanks for your replies.  it is as i feared.  when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

i thought long and hard about dumping everything and buying new (there is another thread on here precisely about this dilemma).  really, my most treasured possession is probably my piano. we are, obviously, taking the dog in the car and my husband's violins.  everything else is just "stuff" we have rather than anything of great monetary value

on the other hand, it feels somehow wrong and very "ungreen" to just get rid of everything.  can't be doing with ebay as time will be of the essense and i can't handle anything extra in addition to what i already have to do within a tight schedule.  it's taken us a year and a half to get a sale (after 3 lots of people pulled out just before exchange of contracts) so that by now we determine to go at whatever timescale the purchaser dictates.  all of a sudden, this last purchaser needs the property in a hurry.  sod's law isn't in it

i am glad in many ways; no time to get cold feet and just have to get on with it

thanks for taking the trouble to talk me through this one

 

[Anton Redman]

25 cubic metres is 2.5 metres tall  by  2.5  metres wide by 4 metres long = a small box bedroom

[powerdesal]

If this helps, a standard 20 ft shipping container has an internal volume of 33.2 m3 and a 40 footer has 67.6 m3.

Our reasonably standard 2 bedroom (the third is the office) house contents will not fit in a 20 ft container (maybe I have too many tools!!!!)

The last 20 ft one we sent was stuffed absolutely full and did not include things like dining room furniture, sitting room, book cases etc.

The shippers insurance rep attended the packing and loading and took many photos, including the last one of the seal on the container.

[Valleyboy]

We had to store for a short period, so rented a 20' container., which was the same capacity as the 7.5 ton GVW truck we hired. This took most of the contents of a two bedroom town house, including all white goods, two large sofas, two beds, dining table and chairs (packed flat), hundreds of books, my wife's clothes, and some of mine of course, (but no wardrobes), and the other detritus of life. It all fitted beautifully, but the ferry company's weighbridge at Newhaven said that we were 1.5 tons overweight!

[mint]

thanks, guys.  sounds like 20 footer is a definite no-no.  it's not anything like large furniture or white goods.  it's more cases of books, bookcases, dressers, garden furniture.  i have been surprised in the past how much these people can cram into a container but i shall be even more surprised if, in the 13 years or so we have lived in this house, we have not acquired loads more "stuff"

i am being as ruthless as i can be and giving things away or junking them.  my original plan was to just go over to france with dog and husband and come back to sort things out in my own good time.  however, the situation changed somewhat when the wished-for buyer arrived and wanted to move in pdq!

i now know to go for the family firm because they have assured me that they do not go by "volume" and will transport all our stuff AND store it for 4 weeks at the quoted price

valleyboy, i think all of us (me, husband and dog) are probably a bit overweight but not to the extent of 1.5 tons!

steve, you've given me an idea about taking photos so, if the firm does not offer to do it, i shall be out there with my camera doing the shooting 

[Deimos]

Another way of looking at it is 25 1m2 boxes. A 1m2 box is moderately large and ignoring its weight when full, maybe think about could you get all the stuff you want in 25 1m2 boxes (e.g. 2 boxes of linen, 1 box of kitchen stuff, 21 box of books, ? boxes of clothes, 1 chair taking ? "boxes", etc.)

Ian

[powerdesal]

sweet 17,

The insurance guy also made certain that each carton was numbered and the number was on his packing list together with the photo number and of course the contents list for each carton.

re reading your posts I assume that it will be a 'removal van' type move rather than a shipping container,which means you get delivery at the door rather than the container being "unstuffed" (correct term) at the container port and then reloaded onto a delivery truck.

I suppose we were lucky, but the only breakage after a 4000+ mile trip was one cheap mirror. I only hope the associated bad luck was for them not us! but so far I'm not too sure.   [:(]