What a Pre-Move Survey Is Actually Looking At

A free survey sounds like a sales visit and customers often treat it as one. It is not. It is the twenty minutes that turn an estimate into a number we are contractually stuck with, and the more honest you are during it, the better the number is for both of us.

What we are actually measuring

The route out, before the contents

The first thing a surveyor looks at is usually not your furniture. It is the door, the staircase, the turn at the landing, the lift dimensions and where a vehicle can stand. Those determine crew size and vehicle size, and crew time is 35–45% of your quote.

The staircase turn, specifically

Not the width — the turn. A straight staircase takes a mattress and a wardrobe. A staircase with a right-angle turn and a low ceiling over it often does not, and that is what decides whether your bed comes apart or comes down whole.

Volume, in cubic feet

Room by room, in rough units. "2BHK" tells us almost nothing: two people two years in and a family of five twenty years in differ by a factor of three.

The items that need their own plan

Glass-fronted cabinets, marble tops, pianos, aquariums, treadmills, artwork, anything genuinely heavy. These get individual attention in the quote rather than being averaged in.

What is behind the doors

This is where surveys go wrong. Lofts, outhouses, the store room, the terrace, the space under the beds, the balcony. A surveyor who does not ask to see these is not surveying, and the quote will change on the day.

What to tell us without being asked

• Your floor at both addresses, and whether there is a working lift at each
• The society name at the destination, so we can clear the gate pass and lift booking
• Whether the road outside takes a full-size truck — you know this and we are guessing
• Anything you are undecided about taking. It is much easier to remove items from a quote than to add them on the day
• Any date you cannot move

Video surveys

For distant cities we survey over a video call and it works well, with one condition: walk slowly, open every cupboard, and show us the staircase and the street. A video survey that skips the approach is worth much less than one that shows it.

What you should get afterwards

A written quotation naming the vehicle size, the crew size, the packing materials included, whether unpacking is included, the dismantling and reassembly scope, the transit cover level, GST, and the expected delivery window. If any of those is missing, ask.

And one question worth asking outright: "Is this the final amount if nothing about my move changes?" Anyone who cannot answer that with a plain yes has something in the quote they have not mentioned.

Why we absorb our own mistakes

If we surveyed your house and missed the loft, that is our error and our cost. A survey exists precisely so the customer is not paying for our estimating. The only legitimate reasons for a price to change are changes you make — more goods, a different address, a different date.