Moving house can be a costly business, Abu Dhabi Week looks at how to get more for your money
We all know how easy it is to accumulate a lot of ‘stuff’ living in Abu Dhabi, but moving our belongings to a new location is not quite so easy.
There are many options to choose from that can help make your move to a new home run smoothly.
Rajesh Kandiyan, business development manager at Unicorn Movers, warns against hiring anyone other than professionally trained movers.
“Many people get in contact with unregistered companies and they try to use the cheapest available means of moving by asking untrained labourers to do it,” said Kandiyan.
“The drawback with using this method is that your household items could get damaged and your belongings are not secure.
“Also customers often get contact numbers of movers without a company name and if any issues arise they are unable follow this up or take legal action against the people they hire,” he added.
There are numerous professional moving companies to choose from and the best thing to do is ask three different companies for a quote in order to find out the cheapest price. Often the movers will come to your home to weigh and measure your belongings before providing an estimate.
According to The Box, the cost of moving the contents of a one-bedroom apartment should be in the range of AED 1,800 to AED 2,200, and to move from a three-bedroom villa to a local destination should cost in the region of AED 2,800 and AED 4,500.
“The fee will vary depending on the access to both properties, if there is a service lift for example, and other factors are the time the move will take and the distance from the original property to the new property,” said Lisa Jackson from The Box.
Unicorn Movers offer customers three different options and you can save money if you are prepared to do some of the hard work yourself.
“Dismantling and packing of household items can be done by the customer and we would do the moving which includes loading, transportation and unloading goods at the new residence,” said Kandiyan.
“Using this method, to move the contents of a one-bedroom apartment would cost between AED 1,000 and AED 1,200, a two-bedroom apartment would cost between AED 1,500 and AED 1,800, and a three-bedroom apartment would cost between AED 2,000 and AED 2,500 to move.”
Or you could do just some of the packing and pay extra.
“The second option would be that we will provide the customer with cartons and packing materials and they would pack all their small household belongings including clothes, utensils and food items, and we would dismantle the furniture and pack it and all the electrical items.
“We would move everything, unpack and reassemble the furniture and electrical items. To move the contents of a one-bedroom apartment would cost between AED 1,300 and AED 1,500, a two-bedroom apartment would cost between AED 1,800 and AED 2,200 and a three-bedroom apartment would cost between AED 2,800 and AED 3,300.”
Alternatively, for a higher fee, the company would do every part of the moving process.
Remember, when choosing a moving company – as with purchasing any service – it pays to shop around!
