- ESTIMATE OF COST AND FINAL EVALUATION OF PRICE The first step is represented by the cost estimate. The elements that determine the cost of a moving service are many and varied. The predominant factor is undoubtedly cubage, that is, the overall volume of the furniture and furnishings to be moved. How to calculate cubage. On paper, the calculation of cubage is quite simple; length x height x depth. Basic concepts that we all learned from the early years of school. When it comes to moves, this calculation becomes slightly more complex because, except for experts, it is not easy to determine the exact cubage until the furniture is all dismantled, packed, and well stowed, with the packages and other furnishings that we have prepared, on the truck or trucks that we have prepared. To get an approximate idea of the overall volume of your goods (furniture, furnishings, and packages) we recommend preparing an indicative estimate with a simple but effective method: measure the length, height, and depth of each individual piece of furniture and multiply these three coefficients. For each individual piece of furniture, you will have a maximum cubage. For furniture that needs to be disassembled (wardrobes, kitchen, bookcases, etc.), reduce the resulting value by 1/3, as the disassembly of the parts will reduce the cubage. Repeat the operation with the packages you have prepared and grouped in a single room, and add up the various measurements. You will obtain a number that represents, albeit in an approximate way, the cubage of your goods.
Obviously, in the case of a preliminary site inspection by us, you can avoid trying these maneuvers because we will determine, at a glance, the overall cubage.
Other decisive elements for the price evaluation are: the services you want to use. Packing fragile items, disassembly and reassembly, storage service, floor of the departure apartment and floor of the destination property, any operational difficulties.
Each of us has different needs for our move. Some need a complete service and some prefer to use only part of the available services. Some move their residence directly and some need to store their goods for an indefinite period at a storage facility while waiting for the new home to be ready.
In recent years, we have seen a growing demand for storage service. The so-called technical stop. It is not uncommon that, by selling the current property, one has to wait for the completion of the new one; perhaps due to a delay in delivery. In this case, you can take advantage of a storage service, at our terminals, which will allow you to temporarily "park" all your goods until the new apartment is available.
Your furniture will be well stored inside a professional box, dehumidified and under 24-hour video surveillance. Upon request, you can take advantage of a self-storage service: with a reserved alphanumeric code, you can access our terminals 24 hours a day and retrieve what you need from your box.
- CONTRACT / BOOKING DOCUMENT. When all the elements, terms, and conditions of your move have been defined, the contract will be formalized. We will send you, via email or regular mail, the Booking Document. It is the document that summarizes what has been agreed and sets the exact day and time of the start of the move. It is important to contractually and in writing fix what was agreed verbally to protect your planning of times and avoid hitches and/or misunderstandings.
- DEFINITION OF THE ESTABLISHED DAY FOR THE START OF WORK. The exact day for the start of the move is defined at your specific request and subject to our availability of operational teams. For this reason, it is advisable to book your move well in advance in order to organize all the related actions calmly and peacefully. An early booking, even a few months in advance, ensures a well-organized service and a more competitive price. Booking the date of the move well in advance does not mean being irrevocably bound to that established day. In case of hitches or different needs, you will have plenty of time to request to advance or postpone the start of the work. Your Tutor will take care of following your needs up to the day of the move.
- POSSIBLE EARLY SUPPLY OF PACKAGING MATERIAL. Packing the parcels is a topic worth lingering on as it represents a not insignificant amount of work. If you think you have the time and inclination for this first activity, we will supply you, well in advance and, in any case, according to your specific needs, with all the professional material necessary for a good packaging. Together, we will check which products are necessary.
- Multi-layer corrugated cardboard boxes of different sizes and dimensions
- PPL or PVC adhesive tape
- Simple bubble wrap and layered bubble wrap in cardboard
- Professional tissue paper
- Polystyrene chips and various polystyrene profiles
- Hanging clothes containers with relative internal stands
This material is delivered to your home, by appointment. At the time of delivery, we will provide you with all the necessary instructions for the best use of the various products and we will illustrate the most effective techniques and methods for preparing the packaging.
Usually, unless otherwise agreed, we deliver a greater quantity than estimated to allow the customer to have an abundance of material and not risk making the work incomplete. We want to emphasize that all the material we provide is new and used for the first time. This is an important aspect that we want to highlight: the use of new factory material guarantees maximum hygiene and respects the cleanliness of your goods and your items.
- START OF MOVE On the set day for the start of the move, our operational team will go to your home. Usually, unless otherwise required, the start time is set for 7:30 in the morning. The operational team consists of 1 team leader and 3 or 4 specialized workers, depending on the size of the move to be carried out. The team leader is the one who coordinates all the technical phases of the move and is your point of reference regarding timing and execution methods.
The number of men prepared for a move is always variable and is always defined by our operational management based on the technical characteristics evaluated in advance.
- POSSIBLE OCCUPATION OF PUBLIC GROUND. The Occupation of Public Ground is subject to authorization by the municipal authority. At the discretion of individual municipalities, authorization must be requested from a relevant office (roads office, Urban Police Command, etc.). After requesting and obtaining authorization to occupy the space in front of the main entrance to the property or the area designated for the parking of the truck and the external elevator, no-parking signs are set up 48 hours in advance so that drivers are informed of the impossibility of parking in that particular area. Occupation is almost always necessary except for internal courtyards and private areas where the passage of other vehicles is not allowed.
- TECHNICAL DISASSEMBLY OF FURNITURE AND RELATED PACKAGING For the perfect reassembly of the furniture, it is essential that the disassembly techniques are also carried out professionally and according to the standards of the art. The furniture and furnishings subject to disassembly are mainly: kitchen, living room furniture, bookcases, wardrobes. In some cases, it may not be necessary to completely disassemble the furniture; library elements or kitchen wall units and base units are simply detached from the walls and do not require complete disassembly. Each part of the disassembled furniture is perfectly packaged with bubble wrap or layered bubble wrap with cardboard for complete and anti-shock protection.
It is essential to take care of the hardware. At the time of reassembly, each screw must be quickly available so that there is no waste of time. Some furniture pieces are held together by bolts and hardware that are not easily available on the traditional market, and the accidental loss of one of these accessories would compromise the correct reassembly and the stability of the furniture itself.
Some antique furniture and those furnishing accessories that were originally built and assembled with glue or special inserts (interlocking souls) are excluded from reassembly.
- TECHNICAL DISASSEMBLY OF CHANDELIERS AND LIGHTING FIXTURES, PAINTINGS, CURTAINS, AND BLINDS. It is important to pay attention to some furnishings such as chandeliers, paintings, and curtains. The disassembly and reassembly of these accessories can sometimes be a significant factor in the overall working hours. For chandeliers, especially for those made of glass and particularly fragile, it is necessary to prepare individual containers in which to place each lighting fixture; we use immersion in polystyrene chips that guarantee complete protection during transport. For paintings, a homogeneous and resistant protection is indispensable; canvases, in particular, need a rigid covering such as the polystyrene panel. Each painting is first wrapped with a polystyrene sheet and then wrapped with corrugated bubble wrap. For the most important paintings, we make specific wooden cages, custom-made in our workshops.
Identical care and attention are given to curtains and blinds. To avoid creases, it is necessary to fold the curtains correctly and store them neatly in prepared boxes.
- DESCENT TO GROUND FLOOR, LOADING AND STOWING ON TRUCK. When everything is ready, i.e., when the furniture is perfectly disassembled and packaged and the parcels are finally prepared, we can start with the descent operations, i.e., bring everything to the ground floor to load it onto the truck or city-truck. The descent can take place "on the shoulder," i.e., through the manual movement of the goods through the building's stairs or by means of an external platform. The use of the elevator is often essential, so it is always preferable to use it. Adverse logistic conditions sometimes do not allow the installation of the platform from the ground floor to the balcony or window. Streets that are too narrow, balconies overlooking non-drivable internal courtyards, or excessive distances are often insurmountable deterrents to the installation of the platform.
The urban evolution of cities and the increasing density of buildings are pushing us to use more medium-small means rather than a single large truck.
This choice, in addition to making stowing operations easier, makes the load more compact and provides obvious superior stability during the journey.
- ROAD TRANSPORT When the load is ready, we set off for the destination. If the move is within the same city or province, the travel times will obviously be short. Particularly important, however, is the transport when the move is national and international. The distance between one city and another determines the duration of the journey, but unforeseen factors such as traffic and weather conditions can also affect the travel times. At the time of booking the move, your Tutor will provide a travel plan based on which you will know the arrival time at the new home.
Any delays due to the above-mentioned force majeure will be communicated to you in real time by the team leader who is coordinating your move.
It is our practice to provide the customer with the mobile phone numbers of our men on board the trucks so that there is a direct and constant connection.
- ARRIVAL, UNLOADING AND ELEVATION TO FLOOR AND REASSEMBLY OF FURNITURE. Finally at your new home. When you arrive at the address of the new apartment, the activities are prepared to bring everything inside the new home. Occupations of public ground will have been organized well in advance, and the eventual external platform for the elevation of the goods to the floor will have been set up. Out of consideration for the other tenants, in the case of a building, it is good practice to put up some signs inside the communal hall, perhaps near the elevator or on the notice board usually available in some buildings. Usually, a printed notice is sufficient, stating something like "On day XX we will carry out a move to the X floor. We will do our best not to cause inconvenience; Please forgive any extraordinary activities." It may seem superfluous, but it is a sign of attention and respect towards the other tenants who will certainly appreciate the gesture. It is our particular commitment to make our presence almost imperceptible, but a team of men working inside a condominium can attract the attention of the other tenants; for this reason, our work goes beyond the simple technical operability related to the move. During work, we give ample space to education and deference towards other people.
This clarification may seem trivial, but we assure you that long experience has taught us to consider these apparent details as important as the other activities related to the move.
As the goods are being elevated, they are arranged in the various rooms. The components of the bedroom and the pertinent parcels are placed in the assigned room, as well as the other well-positioned and orderly rooms in the various rooms of relevance.
Once the elevation work is completed, the operations of reassembly of the furniture that we had previously disassembled begin.
In this phase, a careful assessment of the arrangement is necessary. Mounting a wardrobe on a wall and then realizing that it was not the right wall can mean the need for a new intervention by our assemblers with an obvious additional fee to consider.
Plan well and well in advance, where possible, the exact position of your furniture so that there are no last-minute surprises that will force you to make hasty and inconvenient decisions.
Measure the height of the ceilings before deciding to bring a certain wardrobe. Especially abroad, the internal height of the rooms is often lower than our traditional Italian ones (27 mm) and does not allow the assembly of our wardrobes.
However, this often happens even in national moves. If you are not completely sure of the height of the apartment, measure it before proceeding with the move.
The same applies, even more accentuated, for the kitchen.
Impeccable hydraulic connections (loading and unloading) and electrical connections are essential. If the "group," as it is called by plumbers, is not located in an easily accessible position from the sink pipes in the kitchen, it will be necessary to make changes and technical interventions and, in the most complex cases, make changes to the water distribution system on the kitchen wall.
In this regard, following a preliminary consultation, we are able to provide professional carpentry interventions for the adaptation of the kitchen in the new home.
For this type of intervention, you can request more information and details from our sales office.
When all the furniture is perfectly reassembled and positioned inside the various rooms, we can proceed with the repositioning of the contents.
Upon request, we can offer this additional service, which will allow you to enter the new home at the end of the move and immediately enjoy your most beloved things.
