Everything we get asked

Usually, and it is a large part of what we do. We plan the job around the window rather than starting and hoping, which means we need to know when the last guests are actually out and when the cleaners need the property.

If the job genuinely will not fit the window we will tell you before you book, not on the morning. Blocking a night out of the calendar is cheaper than a bad review.

Yes. Old furniture can go into storage, go back to you, or be taken for disposal or donation — but those are three different destinations and they need deciding before the day, because they are loaded in different orders.

Anything going for disposal is handled under our waste carrier duty of care, and you get the paperwork.

Always, on every job. In a changeover there is no room for a pile of cardboard, and in a lived-in home nobody wants to be dealing with it either.

Yes, and it is common for second homes here. We need the keyholder named in writing from you beforehand, with a number we can reach them on, and we confirm the handover in writing at both ends.

What we will not do is collect keys from a lockbox we have not been told about, or hand a property over to whoever happens to be there. Those are the two ways this goes wrong.

That is a part-load, and it should be quoted as one. Furnishing a second home in stages is normal and it should not cost what moving a household costs.

Yes. If we open up a property that has been shut for a while and find damp, a dead fridge, a tripped consumer unit or a window that will not close, you get told and you get photographs. It is not our job to fix it, but it is a great deal better to hear it from us than to find it yourself later.

Margate, Cliftonville, Westbrook, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Northdown, out along the coast to Birchington, Westgate-on-Sea, Broadstairs, St Peter’s and Ramsgate, and inland to Minster, Monkton, Acol, Manston and Sarre.

The delivery end can be anywhere in the country. A great many moves out of Thanet go back up to London, and a great many coming in are arriving from it.

It is a consideration rather than a problem, and it is most of the housing stock in central Margate and Cliftonville. Original sashes, original glass, lath-and-plaster walls, narrow turns on communal stairs and no lift all mean the route is planned rather than improvised.

It is the main reason we survey properly instead of quoting off a room count.

Sometimes, and it depends entirely on where. Loading bays, permit bays, promenade restrictions and the one-way system around the harbour all decide where a van can stand, which decides how far your belongings are carried.

We check the specific address rather than the general area, because two properties on the same road can be completely different jobs.

Yes, and they are quoted the same way as any other day. In a town of lets and second homes the weekend is frequently the only time the property is free, so treating it as a premium would be absurd.

A full pack, a part pack of the awkward things only, or materials dropped off so you can do it yourself. All three are normal, and for a let or a studio the part pack is usually the sensible one.

Cash, jewellery, deeds and passports; controlled drugs; firearms and ammunition; fuels, gas bottles and fireworks; solvents, resins and other hazardous goods; perishable food; plants that may carry pests; and living animals.

The solvents one matters more here than elsewhere, because it catches studios out. Tell us early and it is a non-event.

Less than people expect, and we hold provisional dates at no cost. Changeovers and second-home deliveries are frequently arranged at short notice and that is normal rather than an emergency.