As with anywhere, there will always be local quirks that occur when moving house. Whilst I was extremely excited at the prospect of a new abode with a balcony, I though I should share some factors that we hadn't considered when looking at removalists:
- Condo Move in/Move out fee - This fee can range from $30 up to $100. It is per condo (so in theory, if both your old and new residences charge this then you are up for an extra $200). This fee is borne by the client and is generally excluded from removalist quote.
- Condo Moving Deposit -This fee is also per condo, and in my condo it is $2,000! It is refundable, assuming no damage was done during the removal and generally the removalist will issue a cheque.
- Condo Move notification forms - Not a financial cost, but a pain. This varies between companies, some do it for you whilst others require you to complete yourself
- Boxes deposit -Admittedly, this is a handy feature in Singapore. Once a removalist company has completed a site inspection, upon securing your business, they will send you a predetermined amount of boxes for you to complete your packing. No need to hunt around your local supermarket! The deposit amount is usually $1-$2 per box and is refunded when the removalists come to pick up the box about a month later when you have finished unpacking. Ingenius! (Presuming the condition of the boxes are acceptable)
- Moving Blackout days - I was informed by the removalists that many condos ban moving on Sundays, perhaps in honour of the day of rest? To add to this, my condo only permitted a "half day" move on Saturday. Whilst this might not cost you extra, it may cost you in precious annual leave.
- Stair surcharge - If you have the luxury of living in a walk up (ie your dwelling is not serviced by a lift and is not on the ground floor), recognise that you may have ongoing costs and surcharges with any delivery you have. From memory, it can be $10 per flight of stairs for deliveries from Ikea
- Hard Rubbish Removals - If you live in a HDB, you are entitled to potentially 3 bulk item removals per month. Unfortunately, this does not cover condos. When we purchased a new couch, they didn't have an arrangement to remove the old furniture so we had to separately source a company to pick up and dispose of the old couch.
