Terms & Conditions

1. Who we are

Great House Move ("we", "us") is a removals company based in Durham, covering the North East and the whole of the UK on long-distance work. You can reach us on 0191 743 2754 or at info@greathousemove.co.uk.

2. Quotes and prices

• Prices quoted online or in writing are fixed for the job as described. If what we find on the day is materially different from what was described — significantly more to move, no parking, a floor we weren't told about — we'll tell you the revised price before we start, not after.
• The figure you're quoted is the figure you pay. No tax, fee or surcharge is added to it — not a fuel surcharge, not a card fee, nothing at the end.
• Online prices assume standard access. Where there is no lift, stairs are charged per flight from the first floor up, at each end, as shown at checkout.
• Tolls, the Tyne Tunnel and clean-air or congestion charges (for example Newcastle CAZ, London ULEZ) are passed on at cost where a route requires them.

3. Time on the day

Two moves that look identical on a booking form can take wildly different days — the loft nobody mentioned, the wardrobe that has to come apart, sixty metres from the van to the door. We stopped trying to sell you a number of hours for that. A fixed-price move is priced by the size of the move, not by the clock. The price you pay is the price you were quoted, and the crew stays until the job is done.

• There is no time limit on a fixed-price move and no overtime charge. Running an hour over, or an hour under, makes no difference to the bill.
• Waiting is not charged either — keys not ready, a completion running late, the building's lift already booked by someone else. It happens on most moves and it is not your problem.
• You pick a real start time when you book — any half hour between 8am and 8pm that we still have a crew free for. We arrive within half an hour of the time you chose.

We still tell you roughly how long to expect, because you have a day to plan. These are estimates from the size booked, not windows we hold you to:

Package	Crew	Typically takes
Studio / 1-bed	2 movers + Luton van	around 4 hours
2-bed home	2 movers + Luton van	around 5 hours
3-bed home	2 movers + Luton van	around 6 hours
4-bed home	2 movers + Luton van	around 8 hours
One item / small load	2 movers + Luton van	1–2 hours — charged hourly

• The figure on your quote is usually longer than the table, because we add for stairs, carry distance, the drive and every extra you book. It is still an estimate, and it still does not change your price.
• Hourly work is different, and it says so. Man & van bookings — including the one item / small load tier — are charged by the hour from £45. The hours you book are your window, and extra time continues at the hourly rate you booked, in half-hour blocks. The crew will tell you before that happens.
• Long-distance moves are a day rate. The day and the fuel are the price; there is no hourly clock.

4. Deposit and payment

When	What's due
At booking	30% deposit, taken securely by card. It comes off your final bill.
On completion	The remaining balance — card, bank transfer or cash.

Card payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your card details.

5. Your deposit, and changing your date

• The deposit is non-refundable. Once it's paid we stop selling that date, and turning other work away is what it covers.
• Moving your date costs £25, and we need 72 hours' notice or more. Your deposit moves with you and still comes off the final bill. The £25 covers re-planning the day and putting the slot back out.
• Inside 72 hours the booking can't be moved and the deposit is lost. That's the window where we can't fill the slot again.
• Not exchanged yet? Say so and we'll pencil you in without taking a deposit at all, so a date that slips costs you nothing.
• If we have to cancel, for a breakdown, illness, or weather that makes the job unsafe, you get every penny back including the deposit.

6. What we need from you

• Accurate details of what's being moved and the access at both ends. The commonest cause of a price changing on the day is a garage, loft or shed nobody mentioned. A garage is included in our 3-bed and 4-bed packages and is a £50 add-on to the 1-bed and 2-bed, but either way we need to know it's there so we send the right crew and book the right window.
• Reasonable parking at both properties. Where a permit or bay suspension is needed, that's your responsibility to arrange — tell us and we'll advise.
• Someone over 18 present at both ends, or a nominated person who can direct us and accept delivery.
• Appliances disconnected and drained, and freezers defrosted, unless you've booked us to do it.

7. Things we can't move

For safety and legal reasons we can't carry: petrol, gas bottles, paint thinners or other flammables; illegal items; plants or foodstuffs on long-distance moves where they'd spoil; or live animals. Please carry cash, jewellery, passports, prescription medication and other irreplaceable items with you personally.

8. Insurance and liability

• Items you have packed yourself are covered against loss and against damage caused by our handling, but not against damage arising from how they were packed. If you'd like that risk removed, book our packing service.
• We're not liable for pre-existing damage or wear, for electrical or mechanical failure of appliances where there's no external damage, or for items we advised against moving where you asked us to proceed anyway.
• Higher-value single items should be declared before the move so cover can be confirmed.
• Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

9. If something goes wrong

Tell us as soon as you can, and in any case within 7 days of the move, with photographs if you have them. Email info@greathousemove.co.uk or call 0191 743 2754. We'll acknowledge within 2 working days and aim to resolve matters within 14. We'd always rather put something right than argue about it.

10. Delays

We plan realistically and we turn up when we say we will. Traffic, weather and other people's completion chains occasionally have other ideas. Where a delay is ours — a late crew, a breakdown, a van short-handed — you are never charged for it, and on hourly work the clock starts when we actually arrive.

Where the delay is outside everyone's control, the first 30 minutes of waiting are free and after that it counts as time on the job under section 3. We'll always tell you where you stand on the day rather than settle it afterwards on an invoice. Either way we can't accept liability for consequential costs such as missed appointments or storage.

11. Your rights

Booking online or over the phone makes this a distance contract. People often assume that means an automatic 14-day right to cancel, so it's worth being straight about it: a removal booked for a specific date falls within the exception at regulation 28(1)(h) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which takes contracts for the transport of goods on a named date outside that right.

So the terms in section 5 are the ones that apply. The deposit is non-refundable, but with 72 hours' notice you can move your booking to another date for a £25 rebooking fee and the deposit goes with it, and before exchange we'll hold a date without taking one at all. None of this affects your other statutory rights, including your right under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to have the work carried out with reasonable care and skill.

12. Your data

How we handle your details is set out in our Privacy & Cookie Policy. In short: we use them to quote and carry out your move, we don't sell them, and you can ask us to delete them.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and disputes fall to the courts of England and Wales.