How we chose
We built the candidate list from business listings around Telford, Companies House records [4] and each firm's own website. Every business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Twelve firms met all three and ten made the table. What customers say counts most toward each score, then trade credentials, then trading history and stated cover, with pricing clarity and website detail counting next. All evidence is dated early September 2026.
How to hire
Start with a walk-through, not a phone guess. A careful firm surveys both premises in person or by video, counts workstations, storage and servers, and notes lifts, loading bays and parking before pricing. Give every firm the same written brief of desks, archive, servers and both addresses, and get two or three quotes on it so the figures compare. A price given blind over the phone, with no questions about access or kit, is a number the mover can revise on the day.
Then check the protections. Office moving has no mandatory register, so voluntary scheme membership is what there is to check. Look for membership of the removals trade body: members are inspected, follow a code of practice and protect advance payments through the association's guarantee if the firm fails before moving day [1]. For office work specifically, the body's workplace relocation arm certifies members to a commercial moving standard [6]. Check any claimed membership on the association's own site. Ask for goods-in-transit and public liability insurance with the cover limits in writing: standard per-item liability is often low, so declare valuables or take extended cover where offered.
Get the quote itself nailed down. It should state whether the price is fixed or an estimate, whether VAT is included, and the exact inventory and addresses it covers, including stairs, lifts and parking at both ends. Confirm the crew size, who does the work on the day, the arrival window, and what happens if your dates slip, including storage charges and free date-change notice. Ask for any out-of-hours premium as a separate line, since evening and weekend working typically adds a quarter to a half to the daytime figure [2]. Get every answer written into the quote, not left in a phone call.
Plan the computers before the furniture. Agree in writing what the mover handles and what stays with your own IT supplier: decommissioning, protective packing, transport and recommissioning in sequence at the new building. Take full backups before anything is unplugged, photograph cable layouts, and label every workstation to its destination desk. Server estates and comms cabinets need specialist handling, so name them in the brief rather than hoping the crew spots them [2]. Test phones, printers and logins before the crew leaves.
Decide what is not moving. Old desks and dead monitors cost the same to shift as useful kit, so audit first and dispose of the rest. Where the mover bundles clearance or disposal, ask for the waste carrier detail in writing and check it on the public register yourself [7]. Confidential files need a shredding route with a destruction record. If there is a gap between leases, compare the mover's own storage against self-storage on access hours, insurance for stored goods and notice terms, and price it alongside the move.
On the day, walk the crew through every room including stores and server cupboards, photograph valuables, and read the inventory before you sign it. Keep one signed copy with you rather than on the lorry. If anything is damaged, report it in writing within the time limit your terms set, and keep the signed inventory until the claim is settled [5]. When the last crate is off, close the paperwork: the signed inventory, the receipt showing what you paid and how, and the terms with the claim deadline marked. If a detail on this page is out of date, the corrections box at the foot of the page tells you how to send a fix.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, rough planning brackets for a straightforward daytime move run: a micro office of up to six desks £650–£1,100, seven to ten desks £850–£1,400, and eleven to twenty desks £1,200–£2,800 [3]. National industry figures for weekday moves run £1,500–£3,000 for up to ten staff, £2,500–£5,500 for ten to thirty, and £4,500–£9,000 for thirty to fifty [2]. Read Telford toward the lower end of national spans, since removal fees run lower outside London and the south-east.
What moves the price is volume and density, access at both ends with stairs, lifts, long carries and awkward parking, plus distance, packing and crate hire, and the IT estate: a server-heavy office needs specialist packing and recommissioning on top of the base figure [2] [3]. Timing matters too. Evening and weekend working typically adds a quarter to a half to the daytime figure, and month-end slots book first, so fix the date early [2] [3]. Storage between leases is a separate weekly line, so price it alongside the move rather than discovering it later.
Get in writing whether the price is fixed or an estimate, exactly what the insurance covers per item, whether VAT is included, the arrival window, and the cancellation and delay terms [5]. A deposit by card or transfer leaves a trail; a large cash deposit does not. With a trade-body member, advance payments carry the association's guarantee if the firm fails before moving day [1], which is worth confirming on your quote rather than assuming.
Red flags
Quotes a whole-office move without surveying either premises, in person or by video [6].
Cannot name the insurer or the per-item cover limit behind “fully insured”.
Claims trade-body membership you cannot find on the association's own site [1] [6].
Bundles furniture disposal or clearance with no waste carrier detail you can check on the public register [7].
Will not say whether the price is fixed or an estimate, or whether VAT is included.
Demands a large cash deposit before giving you written terms.
Offers no written inventory or claim time limit for damage found after unloading [5].
The bottom line
For most Telford office moves, start with White & Company: a branch-backed mover with stated commercial credentials, surveys before quoting and liability terms you can read before moving day. Pricing is bespoke after survey, so ask for an itemised quote showing the cover level you chose. If you would rather have a price in minutes, WHG is the instant-quote alternative.
Match the firm to the job: Jays where storage sits inside the move, Wrekin Clearances for clearing rather than relocating, and the Madeley haulier for freight. Then get two or three surveyed quotes on the same written inventory and check the liability limit before you sign.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.