Do you cover the villages as well as the town?
Most of our work is village and rural, not town. Charminster, Puddletown, Broadmayne, Maiden Newton, Cerne Abbas, Martinstown and the lanes between them. The town itself is the easy half of the patch.
Questions
What people ask, answered plainly
The questions we are actually asked around here, answered plainly. If yours is not here, send it with your enquiry.
What is different about moving in Poundbury?
The layout, mostly. Narrow streets with a deliberately traditional plan, courtyards and rear lanes, on-street parking rather than driveways on much of it, and a management company with views about where vehicles stand. It is perfectly workable and it is not somewhere to turn up and improvise.
Can you get down a farm track?
Depends entirely on the track, which is why we look before quoting. Single-track lanes with no passing places, branches that will not clear a high vehicle, gateways built for a tractor, and surfaces that soften after a wet week. Where a full-size vehicle cannot reach, we shuttle from the nearest sensible point.
Do you do storage?
Yes, and it is a proper part of what we do rather than an afterthought. Containerised household storage between completions, and business storage for stock, records and equipment. Wrapped, listed on an inventory and racked indoors in our own yard.
Is this Dorchester in Dorset?
Yes — the county town, DT1, on the A35. Not Dorchester-on-Thames in Oxfordshire and not anywhere in London. If you have found us searching for one of those, this is not the right firm.
How do you work out a price?
Volume, access at both ends, how much packing you want done, and distance. Out here access is a bigger line than in most places — a cottage at the end of a quarter-mile track genuinely takes longer than a house on a Poundbury street with the same contents.
Does a survey cost anything?
No. And on rural work it is not optional — we want to see the lane, the gateway and the turning space before we commit a vehicle, because the alternative is a crew standing in a field.
Can you do a video survey?
For town and Poundbury addresses, often yes. For anything down a lane we would rather come and drive the approach ourselves. It costs nothing and it prevents the only genuinely bad outcome.
Do you move period and listed property?
Regularly. Dorchester has a great deal of Georgian and Victorian stock and the conservation area covers much of the centre. Boards and padding go down before anything moves — lime plaster marks where modern plaster would shrug.
What about downsizing?
A large share of what we do. Moving out of a family house into a bungalow or a flat rarely works in one step, which is why storage is quoted alongside the move rather than after it. We will also say plainly when something will not fit in the new place.
Do you do business moves?
Yes — offices, shops, practices and small units around the town and the trading estates, usually out of hours. Business storage for stock and records is part of the same service.
Are my things insured?
Goods in transit and storage cover are in place, with the usual conditions around owner-packed cartons and items of unusual value. Declare anything genuinely valuable at survey and we will confirm in writing what applies.
Do you move pianos?
Uprights routinely, with the correct board and straps. Grands we assess first. Out of a cottage with a low doorway and a turned stair we would rather bring in a piano specialist than improvise.
What if my completion slips?
The load stays on the vehicle or goes into store overnight rather than onto a driveway. Having our own storage makes that a simple answer rather than a scramble.
Do you pack, or is that on me?
Either, or a split. The usual arrangement is that you do the books, the clothes and the garage and we do the kitchen, the glass, the pictures and anything old.
Is the A35 a factor?
For anything leaving the area, yes. It is the main road east to Poole and Bournemouth and west towards Bridport and Devon, and it is single carriageway for long stretches with limited overtaking. A long move from here is planned with a realistic first leg rather than an optimistic one.
Do you go to Weymouth and Portland?
The Weymouth edge, yes — Broadmayne, Osmington, Bincombe, Owermoigne and that side. For work properly inside Weymouth, Bridport, Sherborne or the BCP conurbation, our county-wide sister site covers Dorset as a whole and is the better fit.
How far ahead should I book?
As soon as you have a date, even provisional. Fridays and month-ends go first, and rural jobs want more notice because the vehicle and crew size are decided after we have seen the approach.
Who handles the customs paperwork on a European move?
We do, built from the survey inventory. Since the UK left the EU a household move needs a proper packing list and the destination country's transfer-of-residence process, and each of the four differs.
Still not answered?
Put it in the notes on the quote form. Services covers what we do, coverage covers where, and European removals covers moves that leave the country.
Next step
Moving in or out of Dorchester?
Send both addresses and a rough idea of the volume. We come out and look — or do it on a video call if that suits you better — then quote in writing.